Building Networks: Is bigger always Bigger Always Better?
 | | Nancy Lamberton, VP, Mentoring Solutions |
Your networks can be one of your most effective tools in reaching your goals - be it career, organizational or personal goals.Through your networks you can gain introductions, resources, collaboration, trusted advice, knowledge, and even purpose and balance. Yet in this Facebook age, it seems that many are in a race to have the "most" connections or the biggest network. In the article "Managing Yourself: A Smarter Way to Network" (HBR, July 2011), authors Rob Cross and Robert Thomas make the case that top performing leaders have a "diverse, but select" network that they have been purposeful in creating and utilizing over time. Those networks are "made up of high-quality relationships with people who come from several different spheres and from up and down the corporate hierarchy." Case in point, I recently offered to write a recommendation to a MBA program for a young woman, whom I got to know through a professional women's organization, where I am on the board and she is a volunteer.In turn, the young woman asked her company if they might be interested in becoming a sponsor of the woman's organization - an important goal of mine, but something that I had not been able to do on my own.We both benefited from this relationship and continue to do so, despite a significant difference in hierarchy, age and experience. Making personal and professional connections is an important skill for successful leaders.A few of our favorite tips for building purposeful, effective networks include: - Value and nurture your contacts - stay connected
- Pay it forward - offer something to those in your networks or those you want to add to your network
- Build a core network of support -- people who offer new information, developmental feedback, innovative ideas, and common purpose
- Edit your networks - eliminate or limit contact with people who sap your energy and distract from your goals
My final tip - share this issue of Visionary Leader with someone whom you would like to build a relationship and add to your network! ~ This article was submitted by Nancy Lamberton, VP, Mentoring Solutions, The Nebo Company. To learn more about our Mentoring Solutions, click here.
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Visionary of the Month: Carole Martin
Bridging Sectors:
The Power of Using Networks to Find Creative Solutions
"I am passionately committed to the highest and best use of all resources and I hold a deep belief in the power of healthy working relationships. I envision a future when all organizations are able to open up, think collaboratively, and see all of the resources that are available."
-- Visionary of the Month Carole Martin
While many people are focused on beating the competition, Carole Martin takes a very different approach to achieving goals. An independent consultant with expertise in helping others to maximize the opportunities that come with unplanned change, Carole encourages her clients to take a networking approach to manage change and reach shared solutions that benefit everyone involved.
As a consultant, Carole specializes in offering training on collective action to build sustainable communities. Formerly the director of labor relations and human resources for a large corporation, Carole is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding professional achievement. Her work has become even more important in recent years with the downturn in the economy as philanthropic foundations require collaborative techniques in grant applications rather than donate to one organization. Today, foundations would like to see groups with similar missions come together and create the biggest "bang for the buck." Thus, the skills of networking and collaboration are essential to success for many organizations.
Carole begins her work by asking clients to identify:
· What do you do well?
· In which areas do you need support or have room to grow?
Once the client has identified strengths and weaknesses, Carole helps to design a process of building a network of other organizations that could help strengthen her client's areas of weakness. This may require her client to offer another organization some kind of benefit.
For example, animal rescue organizations often work in isolation: they are small and frequently have limited financial and staff resources. Yet they all have a common problem: the high cost of food for the animals. Using Carole's resourceful networking approach, she may suggest that all of the animal rescue organizations collaborate around the purchasing of food, which would in turn increase their collective bargaining power. Not only does this approach save money, it also respects the missions and unique approach of each organization. The collaborative network approach creates mutually beneficial solutions for all involved and can be applied to meet a diverse set of needs and concerns.
Carole Martin envisions a world in which we share our resources and meet our challenges by creating solutions together that benefit everyone. Contact Carole Martin.
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