Building your network strategy
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This document discusses building networking strategies. It begins by posing questions about what makes a good network and how networks can provide competitive advantages. It then covers various networking themes like power dynamics, reciprocity, and open vs closed networks. The document discusses how power is distributed in organizations and how to develop soft power through networks by following the law of reciprocity. It emphasizes the importance of managing relationships laterally and upwards. Finally, it provides advice on developing different types of networks for operational, personal, and strategic purposes to extend one's impact.
Building your network strategy
- 1. Building your Networking Strategy Kathy Harvey 10 June 2014
- 2. Questions and Challenges What makes a good network? How can you use your networks for competitive advantage? What kind of relationships matter in networks?
- 3. Themes Hierarchy and power Reciprocity, influence and social capital Network boundaries and connectors Open and closed networks Bottle necks and facilitators 3
- 4. Adapted from French and Raven (1984) POSITION POWER PERSONAL POWER Reward Power Legitimate Power Expert Power Coercive Power Where does power lie in organisations? Informational Power Referent Power Indirect Direct Bases of power bestowed by the organization
- 5. The Limits to Formal Power Reaction of Less Powerful Power Gap Diversity Interdependency Solutions? Develop Soft Power Law of Reciprocity Networks
- 6. Managing Upwards & Sideways Outsourcing; alliances; matrix structures; working groups; ‘professional’ models of organisations Most of the time direct power (authority) is not available to managers in their day-to-day interactions Managing laterally or upwards is more important than managing downwards Influencing others has become one of the key skills for effective management of organisations
- 7. Reciprocity “Although the obligation to repay constitutes the essence of the reciprocity rule, the obligation to receive makes the rule very easy to exploit” “The obligation to receive reduces our ability to chose who we wish to be indebted to and puts the power in the hands of others” (Cialdini, 1993)
- 8. Two contrasting views of ‘the organisation’ Organisation as ‘machine’: • Rules • Roles, Responsibilities • Top down flow of authority • Human capital • Rigid Organisation as sets of inter-related ‘networks’: • Relationships • Authority is ambiguous & contested • Negotiation, advocacy, coalitions • Social capital • Fluid
- 9. ‘Seeing’ networks in everyday work
- 10. Information Network with 5 Key Boundary Spanners
- 11. Information Network without 5 Key Boundary Spanners
- 12. Information Flows Across Countries, Alliances...
- 13. Network within an Alliance
- 15. New information flows 9 months later….
- 16. Strengths of Network Forms Clique Networks Boundary-Spanning Networks Advantages • High Cohesion • Loyalty and support • Increased efficiency of decision making • Leverages diversity • Capitalises on opportunity • Greater Innovation • Earlier Promotions • Higher Salaries Disadvantages • Redundant Communication • Biased Communication • Groupthink • Dispensable Members • Greater conflict in both task and relationships • Power Struggles
- 17. 3 kinds of networks to extend your impact YOU Operational Getting work done efficiently; maintaining the capacities and functions required of the group. Personal Enhancing personal & professional development; providing referrals to useful info & contacts. Strategic Figuring out future priorities and challenges; getting stakeholder support for them -- from A McQuater 2007
- 18. Operational Personal Strategic Purpose Getting work done efficiently; maintaining the capacities and functions required of the group. Enhancing personal & professional development; providing referrals to useful info & contacts. Figuring out future priorities and challenges; getting stakeholder support for them. Location and temporal orientation Contacts are mostly internal and oriented toward current demands. Contacts are often external and oriented toward current interests and future potential interests. Contacts are internal and external and oriented toward the future. Players and recruitment Less choice in who - prescribed mostly by the task and organisational structure, so it is very clear who is relevant. Key contacts are mostly discretionary; it is not always clear who is relevant. Key contacts follow from strategic context & org environment; specific membership is discretionary; not always clear who is relevant. Network attributes and key behaviors Depth: building strong working relationships. Breadth: reaching out to contacts who can make referrals. Leverage: creating inside-outside links. Effective networks for leaders (Ibarra & Hunter HBR 2007)
- 19. Networking, Influence and Effectiveness Networks are key to personal influence and organisational effectiveness How effective are your networks at: ‒ helping you achieve your professional objectives? ‒ enabling you to implement goals and influence outcomes? ‒ ensuring your organisation is efficient, effective and innovative? Do you know what your organisational & personal networks really look like?
- 20. • Rational analysis may not spur or promote action • Across networks formal authority is often fragile, incomplete, unavailable • Major decisions involve hearts and minds and “brokers” need to tailor communication across boundaries to persuade Influence and persuasion become crucial tools to accomplish outcomes….. because Influence and persuasion in networks Using ‘soft’ power (relating, persuasion, informal structures) allows you to influence at different levels of a hierarchy.
- 21. Networks Basics Ron Burt et al • Society is a market in which people exchange all sorts of goods and ideas in pursuit of their interests • Some get higher returns than others for their efforts • Human capital view says individuals with more ability receive greater rewards. • Social capital view says individuals who are better connected receive greater rewards. • Being more connected makes resources accessible (knowledge, expertise, ideas, influence) • Information tends to circulate within groups more than across groups. • Structural holes are brokerage opportunities to connect different pools of information and resources (additive not overlapping)
- 22. Conclusion • Find ways to invest in building your networks and social capital • Build goodwill by depositing ‘credits’ • Think more specifically about the different ways in which you use your different networks • Take account of process (strategy), skills and your own mindset, when seeking to exert influence across the wider organisation • Consciously develop a range of influencing tactics and skills 22