Visible Us Blog

The Visible Us Blog is home to all our articles written by our team and our partners and guests. Try searching for a topic related to network leadership, social connectedness, or network science, or explore another content category below. Interested in contributing a guest blog? Contact our team for more info.

Want to learn about network science? Have a collaborative problem you need to tackle? The Visible Us Blog is our space for sharing stories, advice, and inspiration with our community. Subscribe to our newsletter on the right so you don’t miss any blog updates! Have a suggestion for a new blog topic? Shoot us an email at hello@visiblenetworklabs.com

twenty quotes to inspire collaboration and teamwork
Blogs

Quotes to Inspire Collaboration and Teamwork

Collaboration isn’t easy – sometimes, a good quote can inspire us to keep working towards our common goals. Here are thirty quotes to inspire collaboration and teamwork that we’ve come across in our work. They’re perfect for your next network gathering, training, publication or program!

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Blogs

Networks are Inclusive, Equitable and Diverse… Right?

This is the first follow-up to the introductory blog “Networks are the Answer…Right?“ by VNL’s CEO, Dr. Danielle Varda, exploring the question of whether we have pushed the limits of collaborative networks, and how the risks might outweigh the benefits. She posed three big questions:

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Blogs

Create Bias-Free Surveys: Three Pitfalls to Avoid

Bias is pernicious: it creeps into all kinds of research, including surveys and social network analysis! The more bias you introduce into your survey, the less reliable and accurate your data will be. This is why it’s important to check your survey for bias, at

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Blogs

Networks are the Answer… Right?

While most of us think networks are the answer, it’s not always true. It’s okay to get a little overwhelmed by how over-networked we have become: I certainly do. That might surprise you, given that I run an organization whose mission is to support collaborative

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Blogs

Why Most Network Maps Miss the Point

Network maps are becoming more popular than ever, and it’s not surprising at all. People are realizing more than ever how much social connections matter and influence outcomes. Network maps are an easy way to visualize your relationships, and begin analyzing a network of partners.

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Blogs

Three Tips for Better Network Facilitation

Network Stuck? Get Unstuck with a Facilitator! One of the most important, yet overlooked roles in a network is that of a facilitator. A facilitator is a person that makes an action or process easier by keeping discussion and decision-making processes moving along.  Making things

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Blogs

Using Network Analysis to Tell Your Network’s Story

Using data to enhance a network’s story highlights the impact of collaboration amongst community members sharing a common goal. Networks can use data to demonstrate to partners, stakeholders, and funders how the quality of their partnerships are progressing over time and why working together is

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Blogs

Defusing and De-escalating Conflict in a Network

If you’re part of a network of organizations working towards a common goal, you know that conflict and discord is inevitable. While we often agree on a great deal, no two partners agree on everything. When making major decisions, about long-term strategy, goal-setting or funding,

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Blogs

How to Leverage Value in your network

People collaborate for a simple reason: We find value from building networks with other individuals and organizations. We can do more together than we can alone. However we often view value one-dimensionally through the context of our needs. For example, if we feel we need

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Blogs

How to Survive Change: Trust is the Key

My wife and I have a tradition of watching the sunrise together every year on our anniversary. The first time was on the day we got married. Like most couples, we had planned to spend the day apart until meeting at the end of the

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Blogs

How to Nurture a Culture of Exchange

Almost a decade ago, Dutch blogger Joitske Hulsebosch used a phrase in her blog that has stuck with me. The phrase has proved to be quite useful, and as relevant to networks today as back then. She wrote that the bigger challenge in a network

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