Networking Effectively
Networking is an important skill for chief executives and networking generally can lead to all sorts of benefits in business as new suppliers, advisers and advocates emerge.
It may also prove to be the shortest distance between jobs. A friend was made redundant from his job as CEO in a large company. He called on his network for help and after a few conversations and lunches had built a database of over 1,000 people who might be able to help him He found a new job within 10 days. Had he been looking for a business idea or opportunity, I‘m convinced he would have found one.
Networking is not new as an activity. It happens everywhere and we often do it without realising that we are networking. We meet someone on a train, or in a café or hotel and the conversation often begins with what you do.
We are pattern-seeking beings, so we soon start noticing similarities in our views or situations and we find that
ideas can flow, or we find nothing much of interest in each other and move on. Sometimes we pursue these ideas and sometimes we don’t. A lot of networking is very random – though it needn’t be.
Where it gets organised a little more is where communities of interest begin to develop and people find that they get on with other members and begin, maybe, to do some business with each other or even create a business together. Business has been done over coffee for many years. It is how the insurance markets around Lloyd’s of London began.
For a chief executive, there are some very focused needs that networks can support. Leaders may find themselves alone, especially when it comes to making major decisions. When you aren’t able to confide in even your closest colleagues within the business, you may need to have people external to the business who you know and trust to give you advice and support.
Organisations like the Institute of Directors ought to be a good place to find such people, but of their approximately seventy thousand members, only about five thousand are chief executives or managing directors. Networking to find a reference group of other chief executives is not so easy.
There are organisations that are set up to make this possible, though. Vistage, the Young President’s Association and my own Academy for Chief Executives, for example, can make it easier for you to find yourself new people who understand your role and the nature of the problems it throws up, have experience of confronting and overcoming similar issues and can offer support when you need it – as you will when they need it.
You need a mixture of random and focused networking to succeed in business. It doesn’t really matter how you start networking, but you do need to start.
