The tradition image of the super connector as the sales director or charismatic MD did not hold up under investigation and was more likely to be "some random guy"usually over worked and over stressed.
In a world on LinkedIn, Facebook, BeBo and organisers stuffed with names and numbers it is very easy to think you are building an amazing business network. The reality is that a business network, be it a project team or business partners, are significantly more affective when the people have met, have an experience or at the very least spoken to each other . The scientific expression is "the office metabolism tightens", I call it "doing business with friends".
So what to do with these insights from Thomson and the researcher Weber?
- Find that diamond in the rough, the super connector and leaverage their skills inside and outside the organisation. Maybe you're "that randon guy", go get some credit!
- Put the same effort into your face-toface network as you do your online one, quality not quantity.
1 comment:
Being in a network is not the same as networking. Much is made in the media about the huge numbers of people who are members of so-called social networks. The reality for many is that they are little more than names on a list and in real networking terms very little is happening!Sad, but true!
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