Networking

The current issue of Harvard Business Review has a useful article entitled How Leaders Create and Use Networks by Herminia Ibarra and Mark Hunter. It’s a no-brainer that to succeed in business, you’ve got to take advantage of your network. But not just any old network will do. To be a successful business leader, you must build and maintain three types of networks:

Your Operational Network is made up of the people it takes to get your job done. Most of them are insiders. It’s pretty evident who they are. Your goal is to foster deep working relationships with them.

Your Personal Network are the people who help you develop personally and professionally. They also keep you informed. Most of them are outsiders. They can come from anywhere. Your goal is breadth, not depth, of these relationships

Your Strategic Network becomes more important the higher you go in the organization. These people help you see what the future holds and how to line up stakeholder support. Some come from inside the organzation, some from outside. It’s not obvious who you want to participate: that depends on the strategy. Your goal is to work with people who leverage the linkage between inside and out.

WORKING is part of networking. You shouldn’t blow off networking because you don’t have time.

The authors caution against the common error of spending too much time on tweaking Outlook entries and not enough time picking up the phone. A network only thrives if it is used.

A former friend of mine considers himself a great networker. He’s not. Whenever he calls, I know he’s after something. “Hi, how you doing? How’s the wife? You still have those cute dogs? By the way, do you know anyone high up in Intel?” A great networker calls when she doesn’t need anything.

Networking is not in most people’s comfort zone, but it’s a good investment of time on a cost-benefit basis.

In 2007, nurture your networks.