Networking is one of those things that people know they should do, but at the same time, they dread it more than anything.
“People are daunted by the task and believe it requires inauthentic, uncomfortable behavior and is an activity that is inconsistent with focusing on job performance,” Jeffrey Pfeffer, a Stanford professor of organizational behavior
I have even gone so far that I decided to do my own survey. Not a proper scientific one – just a quick poll meant to satisfy my curiosity. I have asked people in one of the networking groups I belong to, if, how, and when they network. The majority answered that they either avoid doing anything specific or only do it when somebody else at their work requires it: either via a task, project or during a work event, like a Friday bar. Especially those working in technical roles avoided networking rather than embracing it. Including leaders.
Unfortunately, networking is one behavior that is really important: for career success, to implement changes in the organizations and achieve pretty much anything. I have looked through a lot of studies and it all pretty much states: go and network right now, unless you want to stay behind:
Networking is crucial for your career. There seems to be a consensus that “better-connected people do better in life.” As one article states, “Network resources have an impact beyond mentoring on both extrinsic (promotions and salary increases) and intrinsic (job satisfaction and respect) elements of career success” (Bozionelos, 2003).
Networking supports successful change management. If there is anything constant, it is change. One more thing that is constant: failed change management initiatives. It is simply not enough to just do great work: develop great software or define a perfect process. Effective implementation of change requires sharing the knowledge and “selling” your ideas, which is done… exactly, by networking. For example, research by Stare and colleagues (2018) showed that informal networking among managers led to greater knowledge sharing and improved organizational performance in a sample of Slovenian firms.
Networking can enhance leadership effectiveness. A study by Xu and Huang (2019) found that networking behaviors such as seeking advice from colleagues, participating in social activities, and attending professional events were positively associated with perceived leadership effectiveness.
Networking leads to better decision-making and improved problem-solving. A neat paper on students solving murder mysteries shows evidence of that but it is also valid for more serious things. Morten Hansen wrote about this in 1999 in his very influential paper about the search-transfer paradox. “In high technology development, it is often the case that ideas, techniques, even pieces of software code or hardware, can be used in multiple products—if people know about these technologies (the search problem) and if they can access this knowledge and technology (the transfer issue).” He found out that it is the right combination of weak and strong ties that leads to the most effective knowledge sharing and by that, effective problem-solving or decision-making.
I have listed a few papers, but there are many more. One does not need to look far to find evidence on why networking is important. However, many people find networking difficult or unpleasant. Even if we understand the importance of it, most of us under-invest in our networks. As Jeffrey Pfeffer states in his book “People are the name of the game”, “there is a dilemma–on the one hand, people know that relationships matter–research shows that network skills are crucially important for promotions and earning more money–but on the other hand they do not do it.”
How to change that? What are effective ways to make networking less dreadful and unpleasant? Follow the blog to find out in the near future.
