ona76

Networking is definitely a broad-church term encompassing online/offline; internal/external; work colleagues/friends; and acquaintances/family. But how do we grow our networks without looking narcissistic and shallow?

Ibarra and Hunter (2007) say that networking is about “creating a fabric of personal contacts that will provide support, feedback, insight, resources, and information”. But many managers, from their study of 30 managers, find networking insincere or manipulative and fail to utilise their contacts effectively. Being time-poor is also an issue.

Singleton and Tarnowska (2010) answer to this is that you should learn to cultivate your relationships whether they be from work, school, college, home or clubs. Probe, ask questions, be interested and share information. Keep in touch, and offer relevant information such as thought-provoking articles, and tips, as and when appropriate. There is no point just collecting more and more business cards and LinkedIn contacts if you are not willing to make an effort to build on your relationships.

There is also the issue of working out how to manage your networks. Ibarra and Hunter (2007) suggest that there are three main types of networking: operational, personal and strategic. Operational networking is about good working relationships both internal, such as peers and superiors, and external, such as suppliers and customers, to the organisation. These connections are relatively straight-forward in the sense that everyone is connected to the organisational network so there are obvious synergies in working with one another even if the relationships are not always easy.

Personal networking encompasses connections made through professional associations, clubs, personal interest groups and alumni. These connections are made out of choice. Ibarra and Hunter (2007) state that this group provides important referrals, information and development support. It can also create a good basis for strategic networking. The issues with personal networking are that you are most likely surrounded by like-minded people who you share personal interests with. Therefore it becomes difficult to work out how valuable this type of network is. It can also reinforce mind-sets.

Strategic networking, however, is about creating inside-outside links for future business and functional purposes. These types of connections can be political, but if you are not in touch with the “bigger picture” and aspire to leadership roles, you can often lose out to someone who is. Strategic networking also requires a lot of time and dedication. It is often one of the reasons given for why women rarely reach a board-level position in an organisation. Balancing the demands of family-life with organisational development is no easy task for anyone.

For the novice networker, Ibarra and Hunter (2007) suggest finding a networking role model and watch and learn. Maybe find an outside interest, say the cinema, and find ways of encouraging it within the organisation and with clients in order to find time to interact with them. Re-allocate your time and workload effectively to find time to network and connect. Nurture your connections. The benefits of networking take time and need constant gardening. In time, it will bloom.

References:

Ibarra H, & Hunter M (2007). How leaders create and use networks. Harvard business review, 85 (1) PMID: 17286073

Singleton, T., & Tarnowska, I. (2010). Take Networking to the Next Level Strategic Finance (February), 19-20

Recently, I’ve turned my attention to networking theory as I hope to incorporate these ideas into my EBI. So far I’ve reread Krackhardt and Hanson’s (1993) article on Informal Networks which I previously read for the B822 module. They argue that it’s extremely important to map informal connections within the workplace in order to gain more effective work relationships. They say that if a manager learns who wields power inside a company and how various internal coalitions function, the manager can work within the informal organisation to solve problems and improve organisational performance.

They advocate using a three-step process. Step one is to conduct a confidential internal employee network questionnaire to discover who trusts whom, and who advises whom on technical matters. Step two is to cross-reference the answers and create a map based on the consensus of the group. The third step is to process the information using computer-aided mapping software.

In the David Leers case study quoted in the article, Leers discovers after implementing his own organisational trust and advice network survey that the wrong employees are leading the cross-boundary taskforce. The workgroup fails to achieve anything of note because it’s lacking the right people managers. Leers realises that technical expertise does not necessarily mean that an employee has the right diplomatic skills to negotiate organisational change with other employees. And in Leers’ situation, good people management skills were crucial to the success of his strategic workgroup. Once Leers reorganises the taskforce, the team is more successful, and his longer term strategic growth plans for the business started to look more promising.

In theory, mapping an organisation’s internal network seems very pragmatic, but I’m slightly apprehensive about how successful one would actually be in gathering the data. There is a risk that employees would not volunteer the information, they may make it up, or may even feel exploited by the whole process. I don’t think it is very scalable either. A large organisation spanning many countries would probably find this very difficult to undertake whilst cultural issues may influence the results.

Overall, I think that Krackhardt and Hanson are wise to point out that hierarchical job titles do not necessarily mean that an employee has the skills necessarily to work across internal boundaries and functions. It’s also illustrates that few people adhere rigidly to the remit of their job descriptions, particularly in professional services. Also, just because an employee has manager in their title does not necessarily mean that they are able to manage people who don’t report directly to them. I imagine that as more organisations abandon formal job titles and opt for general labels such as associate or executive, developing good powers of persuasion as an employee are probably more important than ever.

References:

Krackhardt, D. and Hanson, J. R. (1993) “Informal Networks; The company behind the Chart”, Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business School Publishing, pp104-11 cited in Henry, J. (2006) 3rd Edition, “Creative Management and Development”, Open University, Sage Publications, pp 191-196.