Networking for Introverts
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Some of us will never enjoy walking into a room of strangers and making connections. Does that mean we’re doomed professionally? Not at all! In this webinar, participants learned about the science behind networking and how that science can help engineers, technologists, and introverts make connections successfully and strategically. We drew on insights from researchers and practitioners in the social sciences and business to learn about the networking practices of high performers. We dispelled the myth that people who want strong networks should “never eat alone” and participants learned about the simple actions that significantly contribute to the health of a network. Presented September 20, 2012 for Women in Technology International (WITI): http://www.witi.com/users/teleclass/media/ http://partneringresources.com/event/networking-basics-for-introverts-2/
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Networking for Introverts
- 1. The Antidote to the 10,000 Name Contact List Networks for Introverts WITI Webinar September 20, 2012 Maya Townsend Partnering Resources http://partneringresources.com maya@partneringresources.com 617.395.8396
- 3. The Point The top 20% of performers in organizations are more likely to cultivate and leverage their networks in ways anyone can replicate. 3
- 4. Learning Objectives • Understand the science behind networking • Identify networking practices of high performers • Conduct a first pass at an analysis of your network’s strengths and gaps • Understand which network traps they are most likely to imitate and how to remedy those tendencies 4
- 5. Agenda • What is a network? • How networks operate • Q&A Session #1 • How high performers use networks • How to network • How people get stuck in network traps • Q&A Session #2 5
- 6. What is a Network? Public transportation networks help people travel in cities Computer networks move data from location to location The circulatory system Networks are about movement carries oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from our cells 6
- 7. The Simplest Network Human networks are also all about movement: The movement of information Sam knows how to answer the question so Mary connects you to Sam You have a You ask your She doesn’t know question friend Mary the answer and calls Sam for advice Problem solved! 7
- 8. All In All… • A network consists of the trusted relationships created in order to… ► Exchange information ► Complete work ► Get advice ► Solve problems ► Socialize 8 Image: TouchGraph.
- 9. Companies like Org Charts… Jane is at the individual contributor level on the org chart 9
- 10. But Networks Tell a Different Story Jane 10
- 11. Quick Case: Critical Connector Lost • Technology organization • $75M operating budget • Annual trade show was a major revenue generation vehicle • The company let go of a low- level administrator citing the need to reduce overhead. • They realized afterwards that she was single-handedly responsible for securing millions of dollars each year for the trade show. 11
- 12. • What is a network? • How networks operate • Q&A Session #1 • How high performers use networks • How to network • How people get stuck in network traps • Q&A Session #2 12
- 13. Quick Quiz Question #1 Using the poll feature, click YES if you can answer YES to the following question: • Do you interact on a 1:1 basis with more than 25 colleagues each day? • Do you enjoy collecting information about your organization or its people? Question #2 Click YES if you can answer YES to BOTH of the following questions: • Will your work suffer if you are absent because only you can make certain decisions or only you have certain knowledge? • Are most of your acquaintances unknown to each other? Question #3 Click YES if you can answer YES to BOTH of the following questions: • Do you have a range of interests and belong to very different organizations (sports clubs, art groups, volunteer organizations, etc.)? • Are most of your friends different from you in terms of their careers, tastes in social activities, and lifestyles? 13
- 14. The Secret to Managing Networks: Critical Connectors • Identified by Dr. Karen Stephenson • Exist in all networks • Critical Connectors comprise only 5% of the network • Three Critical Connectors ► Hubs ► Gatekeepers ► Pulsetakers 14 Image: © 2005 NetForm, Inc. Used with permission.
- 15. The Hub Cathy Harry Gary Chris • Highly and directly connected with many people • Communicate and disseminate knowledge through the organization 15
- 16. The Gatekeeper Cathy Harry Gary Chris • Serve as links between departments, functions, and groups • Act as information gateways • Broker knowledge between critical parts of the organization 16
- 17. The Pulsetaker Cathy Harry Gary Chris • Have maximum influence using minimum number of direct contacts • Work through indirect means 17
- 18. The Pulsetaker: 6º of Separation Master 18
- 19. Q & A Session #1 What are your burning questions? 19
- 20. • What is a network? • How networks operate • Q&A Session #1 • How high performers use networks • How to network • How people get stuck in network traps • Q&A Session #2 20
- 21. Network Knowledge & High Performance 41% • 36 - 42% more 34% likely to exceed 30% expectations 24% • 43 – 72% more likely to be 15% promoted 11% 12% 11% 5% • 42 – 74% more likely to stay with "Far Exceeds" Promoted to Higher Left Company Expectations Rank the company BLP Graduates Control Group Others in Top 5 Job Ranks 21 From Burt & Ronchi, ―Teaching Executives to See Social Capital: Results from a Field Experiment.‖
- 22. High Performers are More Likely to… • Build high-quality relationships • Invest in relationships to extend expertise, balance biases, and prevent career traps • Position selves at key network points and leverage people The top 20% of employees are more around them likely to build and maintain personal networks • Cultivate select ties with external experts 22 From Cross, Thomas, & Light, How Top Talent Uses Networks and Where Rising Stars Get Trapped.
- 23. Quick Assignment Jot down the ten people you interact with most frequently on the job 23
- 24. Network Considerations of High Performers • Operational • Personal • Strategic 24
- 25. Operational Networking • People who can help you… ► Get work done ► Fulfill your work responsibilities • Contacts are usually internal and focused on current demands • Your job: build strong working relationships • Who do you need in order to get things done? 25 Three types of networking from Ibarra & Hunter, Harvard Business Review.
- 26. Personal Networking • People who can help you… ► Grow personally and professionally ► Provide referrals to useful information and contacts ► Give honest, caring feedback • Contacts are usually external and share current interests or future potential interests • Your job: Reach out to people who can make referrals or give advice • Who do you need in order to develop professionally? 26 Three types of networking from Ibarra & Hunter, Harvard Business Review. Image by Wonderlane on flickr.
- 27. Strategic Networking • People who can help you… ► Figure out future priorities and challenges ► Get stakeholder support for the future you want to create • Contacts are future-oriented and can be internal or external • Your job: Create leverage— draw on resources from one area to achieve results in another • Who do you need to build the future you want? 27 Three types of networking from Ibarra & Hunter, Harvard Business Review. Image: Aussie Gal on flickr.
- 28. • What is a network? • How networks operate • Q&A Session #1 • How high performers use networks • How to network • How people get stuck in network traps • Q&A Session #2 28
- 29. Network Size Remains Constant Tribe 1155 Village 148 Overnight Camp 38 Core Group 2-6 29 Data: Christakis & Fowler, Connected.
- 30. The Power of the Tribe • Weak links outperform strong links when attempting to connect to a different world • 25% of jobs secured through contacts who were hardly ever seen (Granovetter study) 30 Data: Koch & Lockwood, Superconnect.
- 31. What We Want 31
- 32. The Minimalist Approach Identify the critical connectors and gaps in your network. Then… 1. Schedule two coffee meetings per month 2. Forward two emails per week 3. Walk around the office and talk with people two times per day 32
- 33. The Key to Building Your Network 33 Photo: Sizumaru’s Photo Stream, Flickr.
- 34. • What is a network? • How networks operate • Q&A Session #1 • How high performers use networks • How to network • How people get stuck in network traps • Q&A Session #2 34
- 35. Watch out for network traps… The bottleneck The formalist The biased learner The disconnected expert The surface networker 35 Images: Gijs van Kooten et al. Traps: Cross, Thomas, & Light, How Top Talent Uses Networks and Where Rising Stars Get Trapped
- 36. Quick Quiz: Network Traps Which network trap are you most likely to fall into? (A) Bottleneck – Has too much on their plate or has a tendency to be controlling (B) Formalist – Relies too much on the formal structure and misses the nuances (C) Disconnected expert – Knows what they know… but doesn’t keep up with new learning (D) Biased learner – Draws too much on old relationships or ―like‖ individuals (E) Surface networker – Knows a lot of people superficially but hasn’t built trust 36
- 37. What can you do if you’ve fallen into a networking trap? Bottleneck Biased learner Formalist Identify areas of Find Identify brokers, informal overinvestment and information, decisions, and decision makers, and other underinvestment and take tasks that can be key network players and steps to balance the reallocated and/or mentor align with the formal system network others to provide backup Surface networker Disconnected Expert Refocus attention on what Identify skill gaps and build can be offered, not just ties to those who can help what can be received, and fill gaps build relationships with critical individuals 37
- 38. Q & A Session #2 What are your burning questions? 38
- 39. About the Presenter • Founder of Partnering Resources, a management consulting company. • Specializes in helping companies meet complex change and collaboration challenges using network knowledge. • Client list includes Alcatel-Lucent, Andover / Phillips Academy, eCopy, eTeck, Fidelity Investments, Financial Profiles, Hanover Insurance Group, MIT, and Merrimack Pharmaceutical, National Air and Space Administration, and the National Braille Press. • Teaches leadership, strategy, collaboration, and alignment through Boston University Corporate Education Center. • Published by CIO.Com, Mass High Tech, Chief Learning Officer, Talent Management, and other magazines and journals. • Serves on the Editorial Review Board for OD Practitioner, the premier organization development practitioner journal in the US. • Blogs at http://partneringresources.com and http://www.futureofworkenabled.com • Likes chocolate a lot. maya@partneringresources.com |617.395.8396|http://partneringresources.com
Editor's Notes
- MESSAGE: Networking experts give advice that I disagree with.Keith Ferrazzi says “Never Eat Alone.” For an introvert, this is torture.However, it’s not the quantity that matters. It’s the quality: breadth across operational, strategic and personal; and diversity in geography, hierarchy, knowledge; and network position.So, you don’t have to spend every waking moment networking to have the network of a high performer!
- MESSAGE: The top 20% of performers in organizations are more likely to cultivate and leverage their networks in ways anyone can replicate.We can learn from their practices and replicate them even if we’re not raging extroverts.
- MESSAGE: We have 4 learning objectives.
- MESSAGE: Our agenda includes 2 Q&A sessions.XX will moderate. Send in your questions; we’ll get to them during the Q&As.
- MESSAGE: Networks are about movement.
- MESSAGE: Human networks are about movement of information.
- MESSAGE: Networks consist of the trusted relationships created in order to get things done at work.
- MESSAGE: Organization charts are important, but don’t tell the whole story.
- MESSAGE: Networks can show you the people who keep the company running.
- MESSAGE: Not knowing people in the network can cost millions.In one such example, a software company let go of a low-level administrator citing the need to reduce overhead in the organization. Little did they know that this woman was single-handedly responsible for securing millions of dollars each year by nagging companies until they finally sent in sponsorship checks for the annual trade conference. Once she left, the leaders realized their error, but the damage was already done. Her expertise about the sponsors, and how best to influence them, left with her.
- MESSAGE: Our agenda includes 2 Q&A sessions.XX will moderate. Send in your questions; we’ll get to them during the Q&As.
- MESSAGE: Take the quiz!
- Can be positive or negative:+ Center of expertise- Over-dependency or negative influence From Karen: “The first archetype, the Hub, is the most intuitive as in a hub and spoke system. This pattern rapidly disseminates information and centralizes work processes. Hubs can be highly social (although they don’t have to be) and know how to directly connect one on one with the most people. By force of habit, they are excellent multi-taskers and often connect people for the sheer joy of connecting.” Rob Cross: “More apt to be interested than interesting.” To communicate a message to 500 employees, task Hubs with deploying the message
- Can be positive or negative:+ Shield organization from abrasive CEO- Control staff interactions From Karen: “The second archetype, the Gatekeeper, pops up on critical pathways because it can either create or loosen bottlenecks. Gatekeepers live by the rule “less is more.” Very strategic, they make it their business to know the “right” people and only the “right” people. They are judicious, circumspect, and judgmental. In a healthy organization, they are extremely useful in making sure the right people are connected to move projects and objectives along.” To communicate a message to 500 employees, engage Gatekeepers to make sure the message gets through
- Find only through algorithms – can’t see from the maps From Karen: “The third archetype, the Pulsetaker, is someone who is connected to almost everyone via indirect routes. This is the most abstract of the three positions. Pulsetakers are the Machiavellis of the world, behind-the-scenes, in-between, and unseen persons. They know how to get to the right people using indirect means. In this way, their influence is hard to detect and often overlooked.” Quality, not quantity To communicate a message to 500 employees, check in with Pulsetakers after 3 months to confirm that the message travelled accurately and successfully. If you haven’t sent the message to them, but they get it, you’ll know it was successful
- MESSAGE: The Pulsetaker takes fewer hops than the average person to make a connection. Possible video: http://youtu.be/-EI36P9Wfh0
- MESSAGE: Our agenda includes 2 Q&A sessions.XX will moderate. Send in your questions; we’ll get to them during the Q&As.
- MESSAGE: It pays to help people develop high performer networks.Burt & Ronchi “Teaching Executives to See Social Capital” in Social Science ResearchBusiness Leadership Program at Raytheon.24 – 28 executives spend 5 days at U Chicago Grad School of BizTeaches executives about networks: how people grow orgs by building bridges & increase trust and efficiency by solidifying linksIncluded written and video cases, application, active learningProgram goals: (1) Improve Director & VP alignment with company strategy (2) Enhance market-driven collaborations among senior staff Chose group of similarly rated / performing staff as a control. Included invited participants who could not attend and uninvited people. Participation was voluntary. People often enrolled after being invited before. Compared to peers in a control group, participants were:Executives active in a network learning course were over 2 times more likely to far exceed expectations on performance reviews than the control group Active executives were 3 times more likely to be promoted to a higher rank than the control group Active executives were less likely to leave the company
- MESSAGE: We can use network knowledge to help people become high performers.High performers use networks in specific ways that help them be successfulCritical connectors have specific attributes that help them develop others more successfully
- MESSAGE: Three considerations when building networks: operational, personal, strategic.Operational: Members of the value chain, project team members, other stakeholders.Personal: Mentors, coaches, truth tellers, those with expertise you don’t have.Strategic: Alliance partners, innovators, implementers.
- MESSAGE: Three considerations when building networks: operational, personal, strategic.Operational: Members of the value chain, project team members, other stakeholders.Personal: Mentors, coaches, truth tellers, those with expertise you don’t have.Strategic: Alliance partners, innovators, implementers.
- MESSAGE: Three considerations when building networks: operational, personal, strategic.Operational: Members of the value chain, project team members, other stakeholders.Personal: Mentors, coaches, truth tellers, those with expertise you don’t have.Strategic: Alliance partners, innovators, implementers.
- MESSAGE: Our agenda includes 2 Q&A sessions.XX will moderate. Send in your questions; we’ll get to them during the Q&As.
- MESSAGE: Our network habits are based on thousands of years of human behavior. Dunbar’s definition of group: Maximum number of humans in which ever member knows every other member Number of people whom you recognized and with whom you can maintain stable, coherent relationships Informal definition : “number of people you would feel comfortable joining, uninvited, at a chance meeting in a bar”Dunbar’s Number 2 – 6 Core group38 – Overnight camp 148 – Band / village / group 1155 – TribeCore Group: The average American has four close social contacts Range: 2 – 6 people 12% had 0 while 5% had 8 50% are friends 50% don’t fall into a specific group (they include spouse, partner, family, coworker, adviser, consultant) Core discussion group size decreases with age No overall difference between women and men College graduates have core networks nearly 50% larger than those without a HS diploma The average Facebook user has 110 friends, 6.6 close Facebook friendsThe magic number 150: Hutterites, a fundamentalist communal group, limits communities to 150 members Gore limits to 150 The basic unit in the Roman army was 120 Neolithic villages in Mesopotamia from 6500 – 5500 BCE: 150 – 200 Connected by Christakis & Fowler
- Granovetter (1995, 1974): White-collar workers find jobs faster through weak ties that bridge otherwise disconnected social groupsBurt (1992, 1995, 1997a) & Polodny & Baron (1997): Senior managers with networks richer in structural holes are more likely to be promoted early (study in high tech orgs)Mizruchi & Stearns (2000): Loan officers whose networks span structural holes are more likely to be successful bringing deals to closure
- MESSAGE: Relationships develop in specific ways and we have choice in how we build them. We start not knowing a person. We’re disconnected.We meet someone at a networking event, a company meeting, in the hall. We now have a weak tie. We evaluate whether we want to have a stronger relationship with that person. If so, we do work to build and maintain the relationship. Otherwise, the person remains a weak tie.Remember, weak ties are important! Not everyone can and should be a strong relationship. If we do want that strong relationship, how do we do it? Let’s start with how NOT to do it.
- MESSAGE: Here’s the minimalist approach to building your network.ALSO, pay attention to who. Top 20% of performers:Structural: Position themselves at key points in a network, and leverage network around them better when implementing their plansRelational: Invest in relationships that extend expertise and bridge aspects of formal structure: level, function, geography. Behavioral: Value networks and engage in behaviors that lead to high-quality relationships
- MESSAGE: The key to building you network is GIVING.Don’t think about what you can get from your network. It will be there when you need it if you do a good job giving to your network. Example: Constantly thinking about how to give to my network. A few months ago, I had an unexpected and critical problem. A former boyfriend of my cousin, who is currently living with us, was upset by the breakup and decided to hack into our home computer network. I sent out an urgent SOS to a few key people in my network. They responded immediately with step-by-step instructions about how to lock down the network and keep it safe. I could have lost all of my information. They saved me.I had never known that I would need IT security experts until I did – they were there when I needed them.
- MESSAGE: Our agenda includes 2 Q&A sessions.XX will moderate. Send in your questions; we’ll get to them during the Q&As.
- MESSAGE: There are networking traps that can prevent you from being successful. The bottleneck – has too much on their plate or has a tendency to be controllingThe formalist – relies too much on the formal structure and misses the nuancesThe disconnected expert – knows that they know… but doesn’t keep up with new learningThe biased learner – draws too much on old relationships or “like” individualsThe surface networker – knows a lot of people superficially but hasn’t built trust
- MESSAGE: Take the quiz!
- MESSAGE: You can get yourself out of networking traps.
- MESSAGE: Questions?