POSITIVE NETWORKING BLOG

SEVEN KEY POINTS FROM THE POWER OF RECONNECTION How Dormant Ties Can Surprise You, by Daniel Z. Levin, Jorge Walter and J. Keith Murnighan (MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 2011)

1. Most of us are uncomfortable connecting with someone we have not contacted in a long time and we wonder if they will take our call.  The authors had people reconnect with dormant ties of three years or more to ask their advice or get information that would help them on a current work project.

2. It was not as hard as they thought, and people were surprised at the quality of the advice–it was better than advice from current contacts.  That’s because these dormant connections offer a unique or fresh perspective.  Imagine if the information you needed involved the nuances of manufacturing offshore and you contacted a dormant tie who now works in Mumbai.

3. The people involved in this study learned that their network is always on, albeit operating at a lower frequency. The authors found that feelings of trust do not fade much, if at all. “Our research shows that old feelings and sense of connection typically come rushing back quickly.”

4. It is highly efficient asking dormant ties for information.  You aren’t asking them to meet you for lunch, or be your BFF (best friend forever). Instead you are contacting them because they may be able to offer some advice or perspective in a brief conversation.

5. It’s a ‘feel-good’ interaction.  You are flattering them because you consider them an expert, a person with knowledge. This is quite different from contacting a dormant tie and asking for a job, a lead, or a favor.

6. This reconnected tie does not require intense maintenance. There has been a positive sharing of information.  You may discover that there is something you can do for them, but even if that is not the case, it becomes a short, sweet reconnect.  You simply close the loop with a heartfelt thank you for their time and expertise.

7. Levin, Walter and Murnighan’s best advice: “The next time you have a problem or issue at work, dust off your Rolodex and get on the phone, Facebook or LinkedIn. In a word: Reconnect.”

The complete article is available through MIT Sloan Management Review

Posted In: Build your network tips

Could the person in the middle be that random connection?

We have written about LinkedIn’s InMaps program in our Build Your Network Tips. It’s a cool program allows you to visualize your network. Once you try this mapping exercise you’ll be keen to start working on building your network. So how to do it? Bigger is better or not?

We are huge fans of Rob Cross and the work he has done on formal and informal social networks (Hidden Power of Social Networks and Driving Results Through Social Networks.) His latest article with Accenture’s Robert Thomas in HBR July 2011, Managing Yourself: A Smarter Way to Network offers some terrific thoughts on building the right kind of network. The idea of developing a core network, one that Cross and Thomas says helps you gain influence, broadens your expertise, helps you learn new skills and find purpose and balance is a good place to start when you look at your own network map.  Cross and Thomas talk about the real-world kind of networks, as do we, but you can still map your network using a tool like InMaps and use LinkedIn to stay connected.

Cross and Thomas in Managing Yourself say that people “who know a lot of people are less likely to achieve standout performance because they’re spread too thin.”  Yes, if you are the Paris Hilton of networking, going the opening of everything, you can spread yourself too thin.  She  hardly makes the cover of the trashy magazines anymore. (Kim and your other Kardashians beware!) Having a large network has its benefits if managed effectively.  Deciding to focus only on having an exclusive ‘core’ network does limit your ability to build your brand and raise your profile.  We believe you should also be looking at the most effective ways to build connections and a bigger network. Why? Randomness.

Why Big Networks are a Good Thing

Firstly, there’s the work by Granovetter on the  “strength of weak ties,” those mere acquaintances you meet who link you up to people in networks you’d never be able access yourself. Remember, your close network probably knows the same people you know.

Why Knowing Lots of Connectors is a Good Thing

Secondly, building a large network means that not only do you know more people, but more people know you.  The ability to pick up the phone and get something done or be a connector is powerful.  That’s why we are so keen on people joining business organizations (don’t mean industry organizations) because that is where you build diverse networks.  Get involved in those organizations, sit on committees, volunteer for leadership roles and show up on a regular basis.  The same holds true for volunteer work in the community.  Get involved in a number of organizations over the years.  That doesn’t mean being disloyal to Habitat for Humanity, but maybe the United Way may introduce you to a new group of business leaders.

Cross and Thomas also warn that being connected to “corporate and industry leaders don’t win the day, either.”  They say that if these folks “account for too much of your network, your peers and subordinates often perceive you to be overly self-interested, and you may lose support as a result.”  This is a bit of ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’ because being connected to The Connectors, having relationships with corporate and industry leaders is not something to dismiss.  You sometimes punch above your weight because you work with these folks on a political campaign, play pick-up-hockey with them or build respect and rapport because of your hard, smart work on a volunteer committee.  If you dismiss your peers and suck up to the movers and shakers then you do so at your peril, but common sense suggests that you treat everyone with respect and genuine interest.

Why Being Too Strategic is Not Always a Good Thing

Last but not least, and while Cross and Thomas don’t focus on it, none of this effort on building a network that works for YOU is really going to be effective if people see it as too planned, too transactional–in other words, all about you.  You’ve got to be a Positive Networker, which means it is not all about you, it’s discovering what you can do for others.  And this goes beyond reciprocity, it’s about randomness.  Randomness is you do something  for someone you meet outside your core circle;  that person then meets someone who is looking for someone like you or your service or product.  You were memorable and likeable so the first person connects you with that random connection.  That’s what makes networking so exciting.

Posted In: Build your network tips

In our tip this week we talk about QR Codes and how these two-dimensional bar codes are popping up everywhere –in advertisements, on wine bottles, even on business cards. (For example, that black and white maze of lines is my Judy Thomson LinkedIn address as a QR Code). As long as your smartphone has a QR scanning application you will be able to decipher the information encoded in the bar code. If you don’t have this app, qrstuff.com can help you choose the right QR code reader for your specific phone.

Why would you want to put a QR code on your business card?  Rich Brooks in his Fast Company article “13 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes for Marketing” suggests: “Rather than overload a business card with all of your contact info you could include the bare minimum for reaching you, then create a QR code that leads people to your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Plaxo, Yelp, FourSqure, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Whrrl, and MySpace profiles. Little muss, little fuss.”

It also might just make you more memorable. According to a 2011 survey conducted by MGH, a Maryland based marketing company “72% of smartphone users would be likely to recall an ad featuring a QR code. Of those respondents who had previously seen a QR code, nearly 50% said they had used one. Among those who were identified as being interested in the technology, 87% responded with an interest in using QR codes to gain coupons, deals or discounts.”

QR codes… something to consider the next time you are going to reprint your business cards.

Posted In: Positive Networking thoughts

There are so many ways to connect using social media: You can use Facebook, LinkedIn, Facebook only for friends and family, Facebook for fans, and then there’s Twitter and now Google is getting into the act with the Google+ Project.

And, in the back of your mind are you thinking about MySpace? It was the big thing and it just sold for $35 million. In other words, peanuts. Here is what’s scary: in 2005 News Corp paid over half a billion (yes that’s a B) for MySpace. So if you are wondering how much time to invest in these social media sites, the best advice we can give is that LinkedIn has 100 million professionals in 200+ countries and there were 2 billion people searches in 2010. What we like is that most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about their network, it’s kind of this big amorphous blob and LinkedIn helps clarify your network. That is why this LinkedIn InMaps tool is so cool. It shows your network visually and can get you thinking about the gaps in your network. Here is a really helpful little video of how to color code your groups within your network. Do this labeling exercise, and then ask yourself:

Who should be in my network but isn’t?

Is my network diverse enough or does everyone in my network pretty much know the same people I do? For example is your LinkedIn network primarily in your industry or within your organization? Branch out.

Who are the Connectors in your network? Hey, are you one of them? As Malcolm Gladwell says in The Tipping Point–you want to be a connector or know them.

Now about this Google+.  Watch it very carefully. Is it competition for Facebook or LinkedIn? It has got some very cool features and could catch fire. I know it looks like in-the-face competition for Facebook, but for business and professional relationships we think we love the Circles and Huddles. Here’s a short interesting article to read. I am going to talk more about it at LinkedIn, how ironic!

Share this blog posting with other friends who are trying to build their networks. It’s a great way to reconnect and keep your network warm.

Image from Google+

Posted In: Build your network tips

I have been reading Nicholas Boothman’s book, How to Make People Like in You in 90 Seconds or Less. In it he suggests that you can build great rapport with someone if you figure out their sensory preferences– Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic. No, you don’t have to give them a quiz, you just have to listen to the words they use, watch their eye movements and notice how fast they talk.  So, I decided to put this to the test at a recent CA seminar on corporate governance. (If it works here, it can work anywhere!)

During the presentation, I concentrated not only on the subject matter but also on the words the speaker was using. Suddenly, I started hearing phrases such as: back against the wall, fill your boots, slipped through the cracks. And, once you start to notice the pattern, you can’t turn it off. Hmm, this guy likes physical words; he must be a Kinesthetic person.  After the session, I decided to thank the speaker for his terrific talk. I walked up to him, introduced myself by name, shook his hand and gave him a business card. He immediately gave me one of his. I told him he gave some great, concrete examples that supported some of my previous directorship situations. I felt his session really gave me a better handle on some of the pitfalls of being a corporate director.  (All physical words– I was speaking his language). As we walked out of the room together, he smiled, touched me on the shoulder, like we were old friends, and said goodbye. A sure sign of rapport!

Want to know what type of person you are? Take the VAK quiz.

Posted In: Positive Networking thoughts