A Smarter Way to Network by Rob Cross and Robert Thomas & How Leaders Create and Use Networks by Herminia Ibarra and Mark Hunter

Why Network in the first place???

Benefits from networking fall into one of six basic categories:

a) information

b) political support and influence

c) personal development

d) personal support and energy

e) a sense of purpose or worth

f) work/life balance

The different Networking types:

1. The Formalist: focuses too heavily on his company’s official hierarchy and misses out on opportunities from informal connections

Example: the case of a director at a leading professional services firm .When things went well at work, he was happy; when they didn’t, he wasn’t pleasant to be around.

2. The overloaded Manager: Has so many contacts within and outside the organization that serves little purpose and utilizes a huge bandwidth .

Example: head of research in a consumer products company, had a network of almost 70 people just at work. But he got many complaints from people who said they needed greater access to him. His productivity, and his unit’s was suffering

3. The disconnected Expert: sticks with people who keep him focused on existing competencies and not on any lateral thinking opportunities

Example: A production manager and board member , did what he needed to do in order to prepare for board meetings but did not associate with fellow board members outside those formal events. As a result, he was frequently surprised when other board members raised issues at the heart of his role

4. The biased leader : relies on advisers much like herself

Ex: the chief information officer of one of the world’s largest life sciences organizations, was under constant pressure to find new technologies that would spur innovation and speed the drug commercialization process at his company, and he needed a network that would help him. Unfortunately, more than 70% of his trusted advisers were in the unit he had worked in before becoming CIO. Not only did they reinforce his bias toward certain solutions and vendors, but they lacked the outside knowledge

5.The superficial networker: engages in surface level interaction with as many people as possible, mistakenly believing that a bigger network is a better one

Steps to Building a Better Network

1. Analyze your Network : Research suggests that roughly 90% of anxiety at work is created by 5% of one’s network so its important to classify the entire network and identify solutions within the network.
2. De-layer: The next step is to ask yourself which of the six categories of networking(information, political support etc.) have too many people in them.Look at eliminating or minimizing contact with people who sap you of energy . You can do this by reshaping your role to avoid them, devoting less time to them, working to change their behavior, or reframing your reactions so that you don’t dwell on the interactions.
3. Diversify: Now that you’ve created room in your network, you need to fill it with the right people ?
4. Capitalize: Don't just rely on one sphere like political support, a network that provides a sense of purpose can help you be more happy and a happy employee is also a productive employee