Michael Arena is the Chief Talent Officer at Social Capital. His document discusses how understanding and leveraging social capital can benefit organizations. It provides evidence that executives who received training on social capital were more likely to be promoted and stay at their organizations compared to peers. The document also discusses how social networks impact performance, innovation, and productivity within organizations. It emphasizes the importance of brokers, connectors, and energizers in networks and highlights principles for spreading ideas across networks, such as following energy, embracing conflict, and maintaining proximity through face-to-face interactions.

1. Michael Arena PhD
Chief Talent Officer
Social Capital:
using ONA to
unleash
potential
across an
organization

2. 2
Human
Capital
Social
Capital
Shifting from Human to Social Capital

4. Network Performance
Source: CEB, CLC Human Resources, High Performance Survey
Percentage of Employees
% Change in Profit by Percentage of Enterprise Contribution N=23,339
0% 100%75%25% 50%
5%
10%
15%
Social and
Human Capital
Human Capital

5. Zaheer
Mitchell
Klimchuck
Angelo
Keller
Integration
Dhillon
Myers
Engineering
Avery
Cordoza
Sutherland
Ramirez
Operations
McWatters
Waring
Senior Vice President
Mares
Manufacturing
Milavec
Smith
Schultz
Design
Crossley
Production
Hussan
Safety
Hopper
Formal Organization
Hussan
Hopper
Milavec
Waring
Mares
Myers
Klimchuck
Angelo
Keller
Smith
Cordoza
Sutherland
Ramirez
Dhillon
Crossley
McWatters
Avery
Schultz
Zaheer
Mitchell
Informal Organization

6. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Far Exceeds Promoted Departed
SC Program
Control Group
42%
43%
35%
Understanding Social Capital makes a Difference
Burt and Ronchi, “Teaching executives to see social capital: results from a field experiment," Social Science Research (2007).
Executives who
underwent training in
social capital were:
• 35% more likely to be
evaluated as far
exceeding
expectations
…than peers in a
matched control group
• 43% more likely to be
promoted group
• 42% more likely to stay

7. Intentional Networks
Loose
subgroups
improves
development
by up to
25%
Tight core
improves
Execution
by up to
30%

8. Brokers
Early access to novel ideas, wider
access to diverse information, and
control over diffusion. More likely
to be in top 20% of high
performers within organizations.
Connectors
Ideas within cohesive sub-groups
are more likely to be socialized,
developed and adopted locally.
However, ideas are 43% more
likely to be dismissed by others.
Energizers
Energizers are 4Xs more likely to
influence within and across sub-
groups. They are also more likely
to get ideas noticed and their
reputation spreads quickly.

9. Team 1
Team 2
Managers
Team 3
Team 4
Intervention Impact:
 Cohesion increase: 30%
 Productivity increase:
Estimated 25%
Intervention:
Series of in-team Experiments
all Center Study: Improvements
Cohesion matters; productivity (r = 0.61)
Productivity Study

10. face-2-face
Passion Spreads
Pentland, S. (2009), Honest Signals
As much as 70-80% of our
ability to influence is a result
of face-2-face exchanges

11. 6 Degrees of Separation

12. The Oracle of Bacon
6 degrees

13. Network Patterns of High Performers
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/
Jim
Kevin

14. Jobs Stephen P

15. Jobs Stephen P

16. your Network says a lot about you !
gossip
2008, Burt, R., Gossip & Reputation

17. If you want people
to be interested
Start by being
interesting

18. Network Principles

19. "Anything amazing presumes the courage
to explore the edge”
• Discovery happens on the edge at the
intersection of networks
• Brokers challenge the network to think big by
discovering new information, insights, and
ideas.
• Scientists have long marveled at how life
emerges on the edge where the sea thrust
upon the shore, or the tidal pools. A diverse
set of life forms from mussels, to sea stars, to
crabs and anemones lurk in beds of kelp and
sea grass.
• The same is true for organizations

20. • Ideas alone are cheap, often discovered
and tossed aside. The true value of an idea
can only be realized though successful
implementation.
• The natural propensity secure leadership
support. This rarely works, most leaders
are inundated.
• A better strategy, find a friend.
• Socialization with a friend provides an initial
gut check on the surface merit of idea.
• Local, cooperative interactions are over 50%
more likely to have creative ideas as a
result of positive emotions.

21. • The best way to spread ideas across the
network is to follow the energy.
• Organizations aren’t ready for all ideas. The
level of energy around a given solution
constantly evaluated.
• With adaptive solutions, energy is
everything, and great innovators know how
to sense it, leverage it and follow it!
• As individuals migrate towards a solution, it
can grow into a movement, generating
interests from others.
• Energizers provide a 4X lift on new solutions

22. • Not all energy is positive, quite often the
initial response to a new idea is conflict.
• New ideas are disruptive to the status quo
and are often met with resistance. They
compete against other priorities and
initiatives.
• This conflict needs to be embraced. For a
solution to be broadly successful, it must
develop organizational fitness, or be
meaningful for the larger network.
• The fitness of an original idea can only be
enhanced with a useful response to conflict.
Conflict therefore is essential to adaptation.

23. • Proximity is fundamental to creating and
maintaining momentum across a network.
• If individuals aren't talking about the idea it
can’t gain momentum.
• Energy generates buzz across a network so
that ideas and concepts can quickly spread.
If the network is too broad, too early, these
same ideas can dissipate quickly.
• In general, on-going face-to-face interactions
are critical to generating network buzz and
creating an “eco effect” around innovative
solutions. Serendipity maters.