Increasingly in today’s more fluid and flexible organizations, people get things done by networking.
Networks are loosely organized connections between people with shared interests. Networking takes place within them when people exchange information, enlist support and create alliances getting agreement with other people on a course of action and joining forces to make it happen.
It occurs outside the usual formal communication channels. It is an essential way of getting things done in organizations – it ensures that the informal organization works.
Networks inside organizations are often fluid and informal. They exist to meet a need and can be dispersed if that need no longer exists, only to be reformed when it reappears. Networks may just consist of people with similar aims or interests who communicate with one another or get together as required.
Networks are sometimes set up formally in organizations, for example the ‘communities of interest’ that are created to exchange and share knowledge and experience as part of a ‘knowledge management’ programme.
Networks can also exist outside the organization. Again, they may consist of like-minded individuals exchanging information and meeting informally, or they may be set up formally with regular meetings and newsletters.
Networks are loosely organized connections between people with shared interests. Networking takes place within them when people exchange information, enlist support and create alliances getting agreement with other people on a course of action and joining forces to make it happen.
It occurs outside the usual formal communication channels. It is an essential way of getting things done in organizations – it ensures that the informal organization works.
Networks inside organizations are often fluid and informal. They exist to meet a need and can be dispersed if that need no longer exists, only to be reformed when it reappears. Networks may just consist of people with similar aims or interests who communicate with one another or get together as required.
Networks are sometimes set up formally in organizations, for example the ‘communities of interest’ that are created to exchange and share knowledge and experience as part of a ‘knowledge management’ programme.
Networks can also exist outside the organization. Again, they may consist of like-minded individuals exchanging information and meeting informally, or they may be set up formally with regular meetings and newsletters.
Here are 10 steps you can take to network effectively:
1. Identify people who may be able to help.
2. Seize any opportunity that presents itself to get to know people who may be useful.
3. Have a clear idea of why you want to network – to share knowledge, to persuade people to accept your proposal or point of view, or to form an alliance.
4. Know what you can contribute – networking is not simply about enlisting support, it is just as much if not more concerned with developing knowledge and understanding and joining forces with like-minded people so that concerted effort can be deployed to get things done.
5. Show interest – if you engage with people and listen to them, they are more likely to want to network with you.
6. Ask people if you can help them as well as asking people to help you.
7. Put people in touch with one another.
8. Operate informally but be prepared to call formal meetings when necessary to reach agreement and plan action.
9. Make an effort to keep in touch with people.
10. Follow up – check with members of the network on progress in achieving something, refer back to conversations you have had, discuss with others how the network might be developed or extended to increase its effectiveness.
1. Identify people who may be able to help.
2. Seize any opportunity that presents itself to get to know people who may be useful.
3. Have a clear idea of why you want to network – to share knowledge, to persuade people to accept your proposal or point of view, or to form an alliance.
4. Know what you can contribute – networking is not simply about enlisting support, it is just as much if not more concerned with developing knowledge and understanding and joining forces with like-minded people so that concerted effort can be deployed to get things done.
5. Show interest – if you engage with people and listen to them, they are more likely to want to network with you.
6. Ask people if you can help them as well as asking people to help you.
7. Put people in touch with one another.
8. Operate informally but be prepared to call formal meetings when necessary to reach agreement and plan action.
9. Make an effort to keep in touch with people.
10. Follow up – check with members of the network on progress in achieving something, refer back to conversations you have had, discuss with others how the network might be developed or extended to increase its effectiveness.
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