The Power of Diverse Learning Networks

The advent of Google+ got me thinking about my networks. They’re terrific sources of learning and great avenues for sharing, but how can I tell if I am maximizing their potential?

According to the research, one measure might be diversity. It turns out that the diversity of your network can determine the quality of your learning. We all get caught in an “echo chamber” sometimes – surrounding ourselves with people who think like we do. As early as the 1970s, researchers such as Herbert Simon found that getting out of the echo chamber produces more inventive problem solving. Translation: people with diverse networks are more likely to transcend their own points of view and arrive at more creative solutions.

So how do we measure the diversity of our networks? Well, one way is to create an image of your connections that measures how many people in your network know each other. For example, this spaghetti-like picture above is a map of my LinkedIn contacts. (Click on the picture to view it in full size. You can produce your own map at LinkedIn Labs.) I’ve always thought of LinkedIn as one of my better learning sources, but until the release of Google+, I’ve never really reflected on how it differs from my other networks. In one word — diversity.

Each color on this map represents a group of people who know each other, but not necessarily the people in the other groups. I created a key in the lower left to label each group by color. Because LinkedIn is used across many industries, my network taps into people from K12 schools (public & private), higher education, corporations, non-profit organizations and more. You can also see how many people in each group know each other. For example, my contacts in K12 public education know some of the folks from my K12 private education network, but they don’t know many of my colleagues from my MBA program.

This diversity makes LinkedIn different from my other networks. For me, my Twitter network is my education Mecca, and I use Facebook for my personal friends. Make no mistake – all my networks are invaluable! My Twitter feed, for example, is a lifeline to a hundred terrific education ideas every day and that’s a good thing. My point is that we need to cultivate different kinds of networks for different tasks — diverse networks for creative problem solving, narrower networks for research & ideas, close personal friend networks for support, etc. Your use of a network probably won’t match a colleague’s use of the same network.

So, as you think about Google+, think about what networks you want to grow. Each one delivers to your doorstep unique possibilities. What opportunities will your Google+ network deliver?

Tags