PietroEBMgt
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Hi Guys, thank you so much for your thoughful contributions to the post on networking. I am happy you did not take the thing of looking for evidence too seriously, still you made some research to get informed 🙂 In my view there’s no right or wrong answer, just learnings and experiences that can be great inputs for discussion.
Defining networking….
As @lorenzobersano @federicolandorno @foreversin pointed out, networking is about helping others. People at the University of Michigan thought that too stating that “the goal of building networks is to contribute to others” Wayne Baker (2000, p. 70), and the great Adam Grant in his book Give and Take says helping others is the way forward to success (TED Talk). This view opposes to a more selfish way of exploiting others for personal interest.
In fact, I believe effective networking behavior involves developing trusting relationships (@fabioceresa) with others: when we help people by providing information, advice, support, friendship and resources we build a foundation for further interaction. How do we get things back? Psychologists call this the norm of reciprocity: by helping others, one is more likely to receive help in return.
In this framing, the three keywords to build trust are benevolence (the quality of being well meaning; kindness), ability (possession of the means or skill to do something), and integrity (the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles) (@fabioceresa).
Good resources:
Baker, W. E. (2000). Achieving success through social capital: Tapping the hidden resources in your personal and business networks.
Adam Grant (2014). Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success.
Listing some motives and benefits of networking….
In my experience, networking is a career competence that is crucial for early careers. By interacting with people I’ve had the chance to ask myself who I am, and who I want to become (@lorenzobersano).. It helped me evolving (@leonardo @filippogalli), both personally and professionally wise. Networking is about knowledge sharing, but a latent feature of networking as a dynamic interaction between people with common interests, is that it helps developing numerous career competences, on top of which stand: the knowing why, knowing how, and knowing whom competencies.
Inkson and Arthur (2001) discuss these career competencies, which I find incredibly meaningful as people frame themselves through this lens:
First, the knowing-why competency refers to an individual’s career identity. People who have developed this competency understand what gives them purpose in their working lives and how they would like to expend their energies. Such knowledge provides them with a greater sense of what types of jobs would be more appealing to them and satisfy their needs and values.
Second, the knowing-how competency refers to an individual’s human capital— that is, the past investments that he or she may have made. Human capital includes a person’s past work experiences, education, training, skills, and abilities. That’s a big part of what we bring to the table when it comes to negotiating job offers.
Third, the knowing-whom competency refers to one’s social capital. This represents the resources available to a person within his or her network of contacts, is built through networking, and is critical for career success. Whom an individual knows can provide numerous benefits, as social capital extends to the contacts of the other person. That is, a person may gain not only from information provided by a contact but also by those people who are part of the contact’s network.
Besides these competencies, research shows networking to be a powerful tool for career advancement within organizations. Those people who build networks with strong ties, and put effort in cultivating such relationships, turn out to have better careers.. a surely a lot more.
Good reading:
Inkson, K., & Arthur, M. B. (2001). How to be a successful career capitalist.
Providing a blueprint for effective networking…..
In my view the most tricky part of networking is how to do it… Especially if one aims to build networks with people who have high standing in organizations, whom might be of tremendous help in developing the knowing why-how-whom competencies. I consider crucial at this stage of the career building at least two trustful relationships with adults, people who can be mentors, give advice and support, as well as access to connections and opportunities. I think what we might be undervaluing is the very fact that older people might be happy to help, if we just put effort to learn what help are we seeking for, how to access them effectively, and how to cultivate the relationship in a mature way.
Provided that networking effectively is also about sharing knowledge, researchers at IBM Institute of Knowledge Management have identified four features that distinguished effective relationships: 1) valuing what other know; 2) having access to them; 3) having them actively engage in problem solving; and 4) having a sufficiently safe relationship to ask important questions. Let me sum it up:
Knowledge. People turn to contacts for information because they consider those people knowledgeable in relation to some aspect of the problem they are facing (implies seemingly accurate understanding of what one’s contacts know). Two ways: seek people for specific knowledge they have due to technical skills; seek people for their ability to think through an issue.
Access. Helpfulness depends on the contact’s willingness to make oneself accessible in a timely manner. Here, how to gain access to someone else’s thinking should be foreseen, and is a feature of the relationship that makes it successful. Understanding a person’s response style and what medium is most effective for establishing contact is the means by which granting successful access.
Engagement. Effective contacts tap for knowledge willingly and actively engage in problem solving with the person asking for help. Two steps: people would first ensure that they understood the other person’s problem and then actively shape what they knew to the problem at hand. In this sense, energies are better spent attending to the sender of knowledge, rather than the acquirer. This means, the more clear the problem is to you, the more likely you will get the right person willing to help you.
Safety. asking for information can require the requestor to have some degree of trust in the other person. Trust shapes the extent to which individuals will be forthcoming about their lack of knowledge and concerns. People must not be afraid to admit their own ignorance. The advantages of trust when one engages in problem solving is that of more learning value, and more creativity over taking risks with ideas (more creative solutions), as people feel safe to make mistakes.
Very good readings:
Cross, (2001). Knowing what we know: Supporting knowledge creation and sharing in social networks.
Ragins (2016). From the ordinary to the extraordinary: High-quality mentoring relationships at work.
Now I’d love to share stories where this things are seen on practice, but won’t make this post a poem. If you’ve stories to share, take the lead and I will be happy to follow 🙂
As @foreversin wisely reflected, start networking before you need it, because networking is a competence one should be aware of practicing in order to unleash all the benefits and meaning it can offer.
Cheers guys, hope you found stimulating hints to learn more and more 🙂
Hello SVST aspirants,
my name is Pietro – interestingly I share Paolo’s surname 🙂 I am Psychologist by training and I specialise in the study of people at work (yes – what you know as HR!). In my spare time I help managers making better decisions by communicating management science – see @ScienceForWork on LinkedIn and Twitter – you are free to follow us!!! 😉 The objective of improving managerial decision-making through science falls within the framework of Evidence-Based Management – see Center for Evidence-Based Management at http://www.cebma.org/
I have been involved in the SVST both in 2011, after writing a diploma’s thesis comparing Olivetti’s SpA and Google organisational culture, and in 2014, prior to enrolling into a double master degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Bologna and Valencia.
After combining a deal with Paolo, I took charge of stimulating a reflection on a topic which I am familiar with by training and personal inclination:
NETWORKING AS CAREER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
The thread is a formal discussion like those you’ve been participating previously in this forum, and it will involve 2 steps:
- I will ask you to share your knowledge and experience about networking (what, when, and how), and support your statements with evidence as much as you can.
- Later, I will share few selected (scientific) evidence on networking as career management strategy.
Let’s get started right away…
STEP 1: please, answer the following 4 questions trying to be clear and concise; you can use bullets and highlight key concepts.
Think of NETWORKING as a CAREER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Q 1: What is networking? How can you define it?
Q 2: When do you (or other people) do networking? In what contexts, and for satisfying what needs, do you do networking?
Q 3: How do you (or other people) do networking? What is important in the process of doing networking? Are there strategies that work better than other?
In elaborating these logical but challenging questions, I ask you to be explicit about what source of evidence (=information) you base your statements on:
your (or others’) personal experience (share examples!)
best practices in place in your organization/non-profit association/university
scientific sources of information
…and anything you deem relevant and accurate.
END NOTE: from our experience, the Silicon Valley Study Tour involves a great deal of networking. This discussion aims to put our heads around it to get there with a refined sense of this competence.
Thank you for your attention, I am looking forward to learning together.Pietro
Hi @martinavalentini thanks for your comment.
I agree that networking has different functions at different stages of one’s career. I also think that people in this forum are intellectually curious, those who hold a ‘hungry and exploratory mind [which will] ultimately transform into intellectual maturity’. This means there’s little we cannot achieve if we stretch ourselves to be wisely ambitious.
At this stage of the career what is most relevant is learning how to develop trustful relationships with at least one or two experienced persons, so called mentoring relationships, which have benefits both for mentors and mentees http://scienceforwork.com/blog/career-benefits-for-mentors/
Take the case of Augusto Marietti, who’s been speaking to SVST hungry minds since years. The guy just raised 18 millions from a major SV venture capital. At 18 years old (eighteen years old!!!) He was sleeping on Kalanick’s couch (future Uber CEO), who helped him raise the first 100k dollars to get Mashape started. https://it.businessinsider.com/how-uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-and-airbnb-brian-chesky-saved-mashape-2017-3/?r=US&IR=T
All in all, from what I understand, networking is, and will be, a core competence for any kind of professional who wants to break the rules of what can be achieved!
Cheers
Thank you to all those who have contributed to my thread, I am glad you this was engaging for you as it was from me! Andrea Annalisa Baiardi, Matteo Cagia, Carlo Zanotti, Martina Valentini, Ivan Lombardo, Domenico Talento. Your reflections were insightful, and many of you tapped onto what science says about effective networking! It’s good to hold beliefs that are supported by evidence, as well as it is to #ask4evidence to back-up beliefs!
What follows is a short selection of scientific evidence which may give you some accurate hints about effective networking, however, is by no means all what we can learn about it. The fact that the main sources listed are scientific ones is on purpose: it falls under the framework of evidence-based management, which means making effective decision by critically appraising the quality of evidence (information) from multiple sources. You can learn more in the resources (Barends, Rousseau & Briner, 2014)
I accessed the following information in the context of my master thesis, which was about networking in job search (Forret, 2014). Mainly, the sources come from Monica Forret, a scientist who has explored networking across various context. These info are reliable, can be applied for different purposes and so extend beyond the context of job search.
Source:
Forret, M. L. (2014). Networking as a job search and career management behavior. In Press. U. C. Klehe & E. W. J. van Hooft (Eds.), <i>The Oxford handbook of job loss and job search</i>. New York: Oxford University Press.
Defining networking….
Networking behavior refers to proactive attempts by individuals to develop and maintain relationships with others for the purpose of work or career benefits (Forret & Dougherty, 2001). According to Wayne Baker (2000), “the goal of building networks is to contribute to others” (p. 70). Effective networking behavior involves developing trusting relationships with others. In helping individuals, by, for instance, providing information, advice, support, friendship, or resources, a foundation is built for further interaction. All in all, networking is about helping others, and, based on the norm of reciprocity, receiving their help in return. The evidence supports the notion that networking is a competence that requires time, effort and wise experimentation to be developed, but can effectively be developed with the help of others, of course!
Source:
Baker, W. E. (2000). Achieving success through social capital: Tapping the hidden resources in your personal and business networks. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Media:
Adam Grant, Warthon Professor , ‘Are you a giver or a taker?’ https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grant_are_you_a_giver_or_a_taker
Listing some motives and benefits of networking….
Networking behavior may help people in their job search and career management in multiple ways. When looking for a job, for instance, people turn to their networks to access information, get emotional social support, feedback, and instrumental support. As most of you mentioned, networking is about knowledge sharing, but a latent feature of networking is that it helps developing numerous career competences, on top of which stand: the knowing why, knowing how, and knowing whom competencies. Inkson and Arthur (2001) discuss these career competencies, which are vital to remaining competitive in one’s career:
First, the knowing-why competency refers to an individual’s career identity. Those who have developed this competency understand what gives them purpose in their working lives and how they would like to expend their energies. Such knowledge provides individuals with a greater sense of what types of jobs would be more appealing to them and satisfy their needs and values.
Second, the knowing-how competency refers to an individual’s human capital— that is, the past investments that he or she may have made. Human capital includes a person’s past work experiences, education, training, skills, and abilities.
Third, the knowing-whom competency refers to one’s social capital. This represents the resources available to a person within his or her network of contacts (Baker, 2000) and is critical for career success (Seibert, Kraimer, & Liden, 2001). Whom an individual knows can provide numerous benefits, as social capital extends to the contacts of the other person. That is, a person may gain not only from information provided by a contact but also by those people who are part of the contact’s network.
Besides these competencies, research shows networking to be a powerful tool for career advancement within organizations. Those people who build networks with strong ties, and put effort in cultivating such relationships, turn out to have better careers (Wolff & Moser, 2009).
Source:
Inkson, K., & Arthur, M. B. (2001). How to be a successful career capitalist. Organizational Dynamics, 30, 48–61.
Providing a blueprint for effective networking…..
Provided that networking effectively is also about sharing knowledge, researchers at IBM Institute of Knowledge Management have identified four features emerged that distinguished effective from ineffective relationships: 1) valuing what other know; 2) having access to them; 3) having them actively engage in problem solving; and 4) having a sufficiently safe relationship to ask important questions.
Knowledge. People turn to contacts for information because they consider those people knowledgeable in relation to some aspect of the problem they are facing (implies seemingly accurate understanding of what one’s contacts know). Two ways: seek people for specific knowledge they have due to technical skills; seek people for their ability to think through an issue.
Access. Helpfulness depends on the contact’s willingness to make oneself accessible in a timely manner. Here, how to gain access to someone else’s thinking is a learned feature of the relationship that makes it successful (by understanding of a person’s response style and what medium is most effective for establishing contact)
Engagement. Effective contacts tap for knowledge willingly and actively engage in problem solving with the person asking for help. Two steps: people would first ensure that they understood the other person’s problem and then actively shape what they knew to the problem at hand. In this sense, energies are better spent attending to the sender of knowledge, rather than the acquirer. This means, the more clear the problem is to you, the more likely you will get the right person helping you.
Safety. asking for information can require the requestor to have some degree of trust in the other person. Trust shapes the extent to which individuals will be forthcoming about their lack of knowledge and concerns. People must not be afraid to admit their own ignorance. Advantages in problem solving: more learning value, and more creativity over taking risks with ideas (more creative solutions).
Source:
ps. Reading many posts can be hard as writers may overlook orthographic mistakes which do not ease the words’ flow. To help each other a bit, I recommed you a software that can help anytime one wants to proof-read a text checking for grammar: Ginger Software, I consider it a great way to indirectly improving our writing! http://www.gingersoftware.com/it
Cheers!
Pietro
Hello SVST aspirants,
my name is Pietro – interestingly I share Paolo’s surname 🙂 I am a Psychologist by training and I specialise in the study of people at work. In my spare time I help managers making better decisions by communicating management science – see ScienceForWork on LinkedIn and Twitter – you are free to follow us!!! 😉 The objective of improving managerial decision-making through science falls within the framework of Evidence-Based Management – see Center for Evidence-Based Management at http://www.cebma.org/
I have been involved in the SVST both in 2011, after writing a diploma’s thesis comparing Olivetti’s SpA and Google organisational culture, and in 2014, prior to enrolling into a double master degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Bologna and Valencia.
After combining a deal with Paolo, I took charge of stimulating a reflection on a topic which I am familiar with by training and genetic influence:
NETWORKING AS CAREER MANAGEMENT COMPETENCE
The thread is a formal discussion like those you’ve been participating previously in this forum, which will involve 2 steps:
- I will ask you to share your knowledge and experience about networking (what, why, when, and how), and support your statements with evidence as much as you can.
- After one week from the present post, I will share few selected (scientific) evidence on networking as career management competence.
Let’s get started right away…
STEP 1: please, answer the following 4 questions trying to be clear and concise; you can use bullets and highlight key concepts using bold and italics.
Q1: What is networking? How can you define it?
Q2: Why do you (or other people) do networking? What for?
Q3: When do you (or other people) do networking? In what contexts, and for satisfying what needs, do you do networking?
Q4: How do you (or other people) do networking? Are there strategies that work better than other?
In elaborating these logical and challenging questions, I ask you to be explicit about what sources of evidence (=information) you base your statements on:
your (or others’) personal experience (share examples!)
best practices in place in your organization / non-profit association / university
scientific sources of information
…and anything you deem relevant and accurate.
END NOTE: from our experience, the Silicon Valley Study Tour involves a great deal of networking. This discussion aims to put our heads around the topic by sharing stories, beliefs, and personal judgement of any kind of evidence to get there with a refined sense of this competence.
Thank you for your attention, I am looking forward to learning together about one of the most important career management competencies one CAN acquire.
