Hi, welcome! Today I would like to talk a little -
about networking and leadership.
Why networking is so important for you as you advance as a leader, but also -
it is important for you doing and completing your job as a -
leader in every day. So -
career growth through networking has been established -
and is very very clearly presented in different kind of -
resources studies done etc, so please visit the center for creative leadership -
and check out some of them their things. Another thing is that you can check out -
the forums, you can check out Harvard Business -
review and you will find a lot of tips related to the how essential -
networking is for your career. Because networking is an avenue to -
exchange ideas, it makes you noticeable, it is an avenue for new opportunities -
it's reassessing your quality -
qualities and qualifications, it is also, improves your creative intellect, because -
you hear about other things and it is an extra resource library -
because you tap into your network's network in a way, and you can grow in -
status you can grow in self-confidence.
You can develop long-lasting relationships and you can get support -
from high profile individuals. So if you pause for a second -
and you think about okay, where are you 10 years -
from now and then you start reflecting -
the network you have now or the networks, I hope, several of them.
Are they actually supporting you for your dream, where you want to go in -
10 years?
If not what kind of networks do you need to build?
So networks can be divided into three -
we have strategic networks, we have personal networks and we have operational -
networks and I'm going to take you through each one of them. I have picked -
this from Harvard Business review, how leaders create and use networks by Ibira -
and Hunter so please go and read the whole paper, I've borrowed their way of -
thinking. So if we -
look at this from, we'll take the personal network first -
the purpose of a personal network is enhancing personal and professional -
development. It is to identify contacts -
that are mostly external, but they are oriented towards current interest and -
future potential. There are key players, mostly -
discretionary that you have chosen randomly and -
they are not always clear why they are relevant and perhaps not even you are -
clear why they are relevant in your network.
But the -
the key attributes to the personal network is that is where you get where -
you can breathe. It gives you an opportunity also to read -
out, to contact, you can make referrals. Then we have the operational -
network, the network that you actually -
develop in order to support the organization that you're working in.
So that you can getting the work done more efficiently and these contacts are -
mostly internal and oriented towards the current demands in the current job -
and the key contacts are relatively non-discretionary, they are prescribed by -
the task as well as the organizational structure.
So if you come to a new job within an organization, very soon there will be -
a network with people that actually has different kind of position different -
kind of roles that is needed for you to do your job efficiently, so that's an -
operational network. And the depth here is in -
enabling you to build a stronger organization, as well as working -
relationships. Then we come to the strategic networks -
it is then to figure out what kind of -
future priorities and challenges, is it both for you as a person and for -
the job and then you have to get stakeholders -
support, so these people are selected strategically.
Then they could be both internal and external, but they are oriented towards -
the future and the vision that you as the leader -
have then articulated. The key contacts, mostly strategic -
context and organizational environment, but -
the specific membership in your network is discretionary -
and here is where you have the leverage. You really want to create inside outside -
links, you also want to create networks and connections to people that can also -
be perhaps a sponsor for you in your next move within the institution.
organization or outside, so -
here women and men work on their network differently -
and women tend to view career advancement as a test of skills, whereas -
men tend to view it as a game of strategy and reputation, so very often -
men are a little better than picking the right networks and they -
usually start extremely early. So while men are focused -
usually on the short short-term need -
women are more focused on building long-term personal connections or -
friendships. Women often make contacts through people -
they know and tend to form smaller deeper networks -
based on trust. They also frequently seek advice -
for both personal and professional needs in these small networks.
and it's very interesting, that it was just -
the publication by Young and co-workers in 2019, that had looked at the placement -
of men and women -
given what kind of network they have, while they were in -
during their school time and in university -
and it demonstrated actually that the women -
that had very tight-knit small personal networks in addition to -
build external networks had a higher -
ability to get their first job than the man.
Wow, this is interesting, so it looks like when women are true to their way of -
operating with smaller personal networks as well as external networks -
they actually are more successful.
So working smarter means for women having a network that addresses the dual concern -
of women leaders simultaneously access to public information, but also private -
gender specific networks, so -
women with tight gender networks were more successful -
than those that had a mix of men and women networks.
I didn't know that, so i thought this was very interesting.
So this was published in Pnas, a very very good journal and they said that -
after controlling for the students, personal characteristics, work experience -
and academic performance, we find that students' social networks -
strongly predict placement into leadership position and this was -
particularly for women.
So, ladies and gentlemen -
heed your network that you start early on -
take care of them, think strategically what kind of network -
you need within your current job in order to be more efficiently -
operationally in your current job, think about what kind of personal -
network you need in order to enhance your skills and that could be a -
community of practice personal network to -
advance as a leader in your current situation.
And then in order to -
both advance your institutional organization or externally -
as well as for yoursel,f with the future moves 10 years down the road -
think about a long-term strategic network.
good luck on your journey, piece mill by piece mill building your leadership -
skills and do not lose heart, even though I know what you're supposed -
to do, not always I do it and even though I know what is best for -
me to do, not always I manage to do it because stress -
personal situation, covid what not, so -
just rest assure that a future career is created -
one step at the time, one relationship at the time -
one job at the time. Good luck -
take care, have a blessed day.