Social network analysis fosters cross-organizational, cross-sector collaboration
The Client: This project was funded by CSU’s Office of the Vice-President for Research and developed for sustainability professionals who practice within Fort Collins, Colorado.
The Challenge: IBE research fellow Carolyn Conant, a CSU sociology masters student at the time, was interested in helping sustainability practitioners create greater community impact by collaborating across projects to address common challenges.
Our Approach: Guided by IBE’s Dr. Elicia Ratajczyk, Carolyn created a social network map to help people and organizations across sectors and fields of specialty in Fort Collins better work together to accomplish important, time-sensitive goals relating to local sustainability. Carolyn first conducted a social network analysis, using an online survey, to identify working relationships between organizations and individuals involved in sustainability and to pinpoint factors promoting or inhibiting interagency collaboration. The survey gathered data on 645 people, 46 organizations, and 455 projects.
The Outcomes: The resulting interactive web map and tool illustrates stakeholders’ positions in the network and offers tips to improve resource sharing, information flow, and trust-building to more effectively collaborate toward synergistic environmental outcomes.
Key Outcomes
- Mapped the social network structure of sustainability practitiones in Fort Collins, Colorado
- Identified factors that promote or inhibit interagency collaborations among stakeholders
- Developed interactive web tool to support cross-organizational, cross-sector collaboration to work toward similar or complementary environmental outcomes
Project Deliverables
-
Interactive web tool: Fort Collins Network Environmental Sustainability Tool (NEST)
-
Website presenting research findings and providing network coaching to stakeholders
-
One-on-one workshops with stakeholders to promote understanding of their network position and how they can improve collaborative efforts
