Build Your Strategic Network
Struggling with Career Derailers? - Part 5
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |
You don’t need a “network” — you need a strategic network. Lets take a look at flawed generic advice about networking and use Business Savvy to connect it directly to the business so you can better build your strategic network.
What Conventional Advice Gets Wrong About Networking
Mainstream advice shouts at us about the importance of networks and strategic relationships inside and outside our organizations. Nearly 74 million pieces of advice tell us to
“Network!” and
“Networking is working!”
— and they’re right about the importance of networks. But they stop well short of telling us what actually matters.
3 Most Important Reasons for a Strategic Network
Why do we need strategic networks?
The number one reason to network is to move the business forward. It is not about having an extensive network. It’s about having the type of network that will advance key outcomes and deliver on the organization’s strategy.
A strategic network strengthens your chances for advancement. When you use relationships with others on behalf of the business, you are seen as a partner in the business (see Mentoring to Earn Sponsorship).
Further, you debunk the prevalent mindset that men are good at using relationships to advance the business and women aren’t. Although managers see women outperforming men on skills related to engaging the greatness in others, they see men as outperforming women on using their networks to advance the business!
So when conventional advice tells us to map our network, identify the resources we need, read the situation, or seek advice — it isn’t wrong, exactly. It just leaves out the most important question: strategic toward what? Without that anchor, you end up with a smorgasbord network rather than a strategic network. And for women with little discretionary time, a smorgasbord network is a costly mistake.
PRO-TIP: As you form and nurture relationships inside and outside your organization, be sure you are using them for the reasons above.
Advice Through the Business Savvy Lens
Advice through the Business Savvy lens guides us toward developing a strategic network — and to build yours, you have to start with clear goals. Here are three that make sense.
Goal #1 — Succeed at your current job
Your strategic network must include people in your customer value creation chain, as well as industry and professional colleagues.
Ask yourself: What co-creators of business value and value to customers are in my strategic network? Who should I add?
Goal #2 — Grow as a partner in the business
This is why all of the above AND getting PIE Mentors into your strategic network matters.
Ask yourself: From whom am I getting — or could I get — PIE Mentoring?
Goal #3 — Advance your career
Career decision-makers who can create or offer opportunities are added to the mix.
Ask yourself: What career decision-makers are in my network and how do they see me?
These three goals — succeeding in your current role, growing as a business partner, and advancing your career — and related questions are the filter through which your strategic network should be built. I hope they help you see that conventional tips (e.g. simply mapping your relationships, randomly seeking advice and reading vague situations) aren’t winning strategies for building your strategic network.
With that filter in place, the question becomes concrete: who belongs in it? Here are the seven important categories to get you started:
7 Most Important Categories of a Strategic Network
Use your business savvy to identify key people who should be part of your network:
Colleagues along the Value Creation Chain
Other colleagues required to hit your key outcomes
Staff function employees who support your/your team’s work (e.g. HR, Finance, IT, Marketing)
Key customers/consumers, if you have reason to interact with them
Key service providers/vendors who are important for fulfilling your Positional Purpose and/or are in your value creation chain
Professional and industry colleagues who can add insights about the profession or industry that will help you stay at peak performance — including mentors outside your organization
Career decision-makers, including not only your boss and others above them in your hierarchy, but also mentors inside the company
Everyone else is icing on the cake.
PRO-TIP: Consider who you spend “networking”/conversational time with. From a strategic networking perspective, are they the right ones?
Networking Topics Outside Your Organization
Conversations inside the organization are fairly easy since you’re more or less all in the same boat. Outside of it, your business acumen will help you:
Hold your own when the discussion turns, as it inevitably does when men are around, to, “How’s business?”
Introduce yourself in a compelling way with a focus on the key business outcomes you’re responsible to move forward
Focus conversations on your impact and expertise rather than just your title.
PRO-TIP: Yes, personal topics are terrific for building rapport — but men will try to keep you there (as sister, potential mate, caretaker, cheerleader). You will have to be assertive in shifting the conversation to the business and keeping it there. They don’t expect it!
**If you’re thinking that now’s the time to Be (more) Business Savvy, consider starting your journey here.
The Be Business Savvy Course
Are you frustrated with your career progress, disappointed by career advice that hasn’t worked, angry that mediocre men are moving and you aren’t?
I’m Susan Colantuono, best known for my TED Talk, “The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get.”
I’ve devoted most of my working life to supporting the career advancement of women.
Now my work is exclusively focused on offering women tools for developing and demonstrating Business Savvy - the business, financial and strategic acumen we need to succeed and to close The Missing 33% of the career success equation for women.
That includes offering my groundbreaking course in a self-paced version (with coaching support) right here at Be Business Savvy. Check it out!
You will find additional useful and actionable content in my books and other online resources:
No Ceiling, No Walls ebook
No Ceiling, No Walls soft cover
Make the Most of Mentoring soft cover
Coaching Executive Women (occasional) newsletter
Lead ON!
Susan