Nutshell: How to build a strategic network?

We may know that building a strategic network is a priority for our development as leaders, but it’s not always easy to know where to start.

If our boss were to remind us that an upcoming industry conference would provide an excellent opportunity for networking, what might our response be?

Excitement at the prospect of meeting new people? Mixed feelings at having to juggle our natural introversion with the chance to make new connections? Complete, palm-sweating dread?

We wouldn’t be alone. Networking is one of those work-related activities that comes with all sorts of emotions and associations, not all of them appealing or helpful. And even when we know – intellectually – that it’s the right thing to do, it often ends being one of those “important but not urgent” things that never seems to make it to the top of our to-do lists.  

In the words of London Business School’s Herminia Ibarra: “Networking is a lot like nutrition and fitness: we know what to do, the hard part is making it a top priority.”

But whatever we think, and no-matter how time poor we are, we neglect our strategic networks at our peril. As leaders, building those key relationships gives us the support, challenge and sense of connectedness that can make all the difference. 

Here are four key steps we can take to build and boost the networks we’re going to need as we progress in our careers.

Analyse

If we want to work on those strategic networks, we need to know more about the networks we have right now. 

We need to map the connections we already have, asking some key questions:

• Who are they?

• Where do they sit in our organisation – or beyond?

• What do they bring to us, and we bring to them?

• Who do they know?

• Do they energise us, or are they energy-sappers? 

• Are our current networks mostly operational or personal?

• How well are we reaching out to the people we know less well?

Network weaknesses

Herminia Ibarra also has a characteristically colourful way to help us identify and address some potential network weaknesses:

Birds of a feather 
Too many connections with people who are just like us.

Network lag
A network fit for our past, rather than our future.

Echo chamber
Contacts who all know each other.

Pigeonholing
Contacts who might find it hard to see us being or doing something different.

Once we’ve done our analysis, we can identify the gaps and work on filling them. Some strategic filtering might be appropriate at this stage, moving (carefully) away from relationships that might be less than helpful or of limited ongoing value.

Show up

Woody Allen famously said that “80% of success is showing up”. Developing a more strategic network takes effort and time, and we have to reconcile ourselves to that, to give ourselves permission to see it as time well spent.

We also need to plan.

That could be researching other attendees at an event in advance and identifying the people with whom you’d like to have a conversation. It might be a case of making a list of three to five senior people in your organisation you’d like to know better and finding ways to develop those relationships in the coming months.

It might help to write down three key objectives you’d like to achieve in the year ahead and then thinking of the people who might help us to achieve them. Setting some goals around the people we want to connect with – and following through – can help make building a network a more natural part of our jobs.

Building our profile will also help us to network more actively.

Could we speak or play some other role at a key industry event? How might we use the next project or assignment to make ourselves known to new people? Can we create our own community of interest or practice? What can we share or give that will add value to others?

Start with them

Organisation psychologist Adam Grant has a simple rule for making meaningful connections:  don’t talk too much about ourselves.

We may think that, to open doors, we need to give the other person chapter on verse on why we’re worth talking to. But we need to remember that people don’t want to be impressed; they’re looking for connection.

So, start with them. Ask them something about themselves:

• Share something interesting or new.

• Open up a conversation about something they’ve done that you admire or interests you.

• Look for “uncommon commonalities”, things we might have in common beyond the obvious like attending the same university.

At all times, remember to be a ‘giver’. The more we can find diverse and interesting ways to connect with people, the more meaningful those connections are likely to be.

Ibarra believes that one of the most effective ways of convincing ourselves that networking is a proper use of our precious time is simply to try it.

Set some goals and experiment, balancing contact with people inside and outside our organisations or immediate circles.

It can also help to have a role model, someone we admire for their ability to build and maintain a wide range of connections. We can learn by observing these people and how they operate, and benefit from feedback from them about how we’re doing.

Meet friends of friends

One way of re-thinking networking is not to see it as meeting strangers at parties and events, but as knowing who’s a friend and who’s a friend of a friend.

Sometimes, the best way to extend our reach beyond our immediate circle is to go through our immediate circle. 

The great thing about being a connector is that it helps our networking efforts in two ways. We can add value by connecting others and helping them to build their own connections. And using the six (or fewer) degrees of separation principle, we can link to just about anyone through the people we already know.

We should be a generous giver anyway but, when we want to receive, reciprocity really matters. It’s much easier to ask for referrals and introductions if we make them for others too. We can both ask for and offer simple favours to start and build relationships.

Being a connector like this provides a bridge between people who don’t already know each other - and means that we’ll benefit from other people’s bridging too.

Maintain

Networks can’t just be built and then ignored. Nor can we expect to reach out or rely on others only when we need them urgently. Networks need to be maintained.

We must take every opportunity we can to give and receive, whether we need help or not. If they are not to wither away, networks need to be active, living things.

Even the smallest things can make a difference: send a thank you note or email (physical mail can make a refreshing change); share links to articles we think others will enjoy; use social media to show our appreciation.

Mark McCormack, founder of sport management giant IMG and author of What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, was notorious for his attention to detail and follow-up when it came to the people he knew.

Using his famous index cards to keep track of other people’s interests and relationships, he championed the power of communications that build personal as well as business connections, whether that’s keeping up with others’ family lives or a well-honed Christmas card list.

Dormant ties

Some of the “lowest-hanging fruit” in networking comes from re-activating dormant ties, reaching out to reconnect with old friends and colleagues.

We can make a list of four or five people we haven’t talked to in a while, and get in touch. The chances are that most people will be pleased to hear from us and they’ll have extended their own network again too.

As with building a network, it can help to give ourselves some goals (such as getting in touch each week with two or three people we might not have communicated with in a while) to help us integrate network maintenance into our working lives.

However we feel about the idea of networking, we’re going to find it much easier to be an effective leader if we have the right connections and relationships to help and guide us along the way.

Having a strategic network to call upon gives us the support, challenge and inspiration we need as we develop our leadership skills and take on new challenges.

It might just be the best investment in time we ever make.

Test your understanding

• Identify the four key steps you can take to build a strategic network.

• Outline two of Herminia Ibarra’s “network weaknesses”.

What does it mean for you?

• Reflect on what you currently do to build and maintain your own networks. Plan for three new activities you might try to extend and nurture the connections you have.