Hiring the Strength of Weak Ties: Building a Team for Innovation

Network theory demonstrates the importance of “weak ties” for diffusion of innovation. Weak ties are the agents who bridge the gap between two otherwise distinct communities or cultures. Librarians often find themselves in this role, serving as conveners of interdisciplinary groups or interpreters of cultural practices. I believe we can strengthen our libraries’ ability to serve this connecting role if we apply some theory in both how we make hiring decisions and how we utilize professional development funding. In this presentation I plan to bring together several concepts for understanding culture and connection to create a model for hiring and development for innovation. Though my argument will be framed from the perspective of an academic library, others will find value in the approach. Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, has popularized the concept of the “T-shaped” employee, first articulated by David Guest in 1991. The T-shaped employee has a firm grounding in one discipline (the vertical stroke) but also has an inclination toward working with others (the horizontal stroke). Others have written of the “H-shaped” employee, someone with two areas of expertise who looks for connections between the two knowledge areas. Etienne Wenger’s “community of practice” provides a useful model for talking about inter-cultural communication and diffusion of ideas. Ideas move between communities of practices through boundary objects intended to coordinate between the perspectives of the two communities, such as websites or syllabi. Ideas are also exchanged by brokers, members of both communities who can provide translation services. T-shaped employees seek to make these connections. H-shaped employees are natural agents of connection with their “multimembership” status. In my presentation I will argue that, if we are interested in innovation, the practice of hiring T’s is good, but hiring H’s is better. To move the organization forward, we should also encourage our T’s to develop into H’s