The Pros and Cons of Networking Steve Macaulay Steve Macaulay We want to hear your views on networking. Now first of all, we have got three different perspectives and then we would like you to contribute. The first is Catherine Berney who is an undoubted enthusiast. Catherine Berney For individuals, it is exceedingly important because they are thinking about how to be more efficient in a very complex business environment and they are also, funnily enough, interested in the individuals looking at their long term careers. And so, networking, in a way, is thinking about where are they are going to be in the future – maybe with this particular company, maybe not. And so networking affords them an opportunity to focus on relationships that might promote ‘brand me’ – their own brand. That is true for generation Y, but older people; I worked with a board last week and one of the senior non executive directors confided that in all his years he regretted that he had spent so much time at the desk with his sandwich doing work at lunchtime when he should have been out networking. But ultimately it is organisations really, they need networking in order to extend their reach globally and also to leverage their resources in terms of contacts and information and ideas. I think you need to remember to be very strategic – who you are going to network with, why and for what? Steve Macaulay The second is Mike Bourne who takes a pragmatic, but quite optimistic perspective. Mike Bourne Networking means very different things for different people, but it is creating your own networks within your own organisation for a start off – understanding who the people are, who are the gatekeepers? Talking to one of the secretaries this morning, she is saying, look people need to understand that secretaries are the ways to get in to meet, so that is the first step. Talking to people and getting the chance to network with people who are within the organisation, different functions, different areas, so you have got somebody when you have got a problem. But going outside too is, I think, critically important. Being able to have people in other organisations that you get to know through conferences, through supplier relationships, through customer relationships, again gives you another basis maybe just to have new ideas from, maybe a chance for another job. Lots of opportunities for people you know to take you forward. © Cranfield University www.cranfieldknowledgeinterchange.com 1 Steve Macaulay
Steve Macaulay Lastly, Andrew Kakabadse. Now Andrew takes a perspective of some caution, but also sees some benefits. He sees some issues around confidentiality, but also about having too narrow a group in your networking. So is networking a good thing or a bad thing? Andrew Kakabadse It is both; the dangerous and bad cynical part is when you would get one group that has an overwhelming reach and is pushing their agenda in one direction. The good thing about it is you will always get people who will talk to each other under confidential circumstances because they need to explore, because they need to let their hair down and because they need to have a confidential conversation that allows, if you like, half truths to be spoken and half ideas to be explored. Just imagine if the CEO of a major corporation was at a meeting expressing his doubts about the future concerning his strategy – which are real doubts by the way – and that became public. The share price of that organisation would drop. But most CEOs have doubts about the future; how can a CEO predict what is going to happen for years with the rapid turbulence that we face right now? So you always need the confidentiality of a meeting to explore ideas that help you clarify your own. The cynicism is when one point of view predominates over the other – and I have to say that is a concern. Steve Macaulay Three views; now, we would like to hear from you. We would like you to contribute your thoughts. © Cranfield University www.cranfieldknowledgeinterchange.com 2