a guide to 21st century networking

21ST CENTURY

NETWORKING

A GUIDE TO

BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Published in 2014 by Head Resourcing Ltd, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Written and edited by

Scott Torrance & Ross Coverdale

Design and layout by

Ross Coverdale & Mirka Voláková

Illustrations by

Scott Torrance & Mirka Voláková

Downloadable PDF of this white paper is available online at

www.headresourcing.com

WWW.HEADRESOURCING.COM

CONTENTS

What networking is

What has changed

Impact of technology

Drop your old tools

Being a connected employee

Clustering

Brokerage

Closure

The strength of weak ties

Scale-free networks

Social capital

Generation C

Social networking 101

What does matter?

1. INTRODUCTION

2. (UN)CONNECTED

BUSINESS

3. NETWORK SCIENCE & THE CONNECTED AGE

4. ADDING VALUE IN YOUR NETWORK

5. SIZE DOESN’T

MATTER

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INTRODUCTIONNetworking always has been and always will remain important in business.

However:

How networks are constructed has changed

How we network has changed

How you go about creating value has changed

How you scale your network has changed

And these things are changing fast.

Unfortunately, not enough of the thinking in business has changed, and

the tools that we have are no longer fit for purpose. We need a new

approach for the 21st century.

While social networks are playing an increasingly important role in how

business is done, we have a poor understanding of how they work. The

same is true of building human social networks to help you achieve your

business goals.

In this white paper we are going to introduce you to the world of network

science and explore how it can change your behaviour to significantly

improve your results. Network science is not a new discipline, but

recent findings coupled with an ever changing business landscape has

challenged many of the core principles of relationship building, and offers

invaluable advice that, until now, business has largely ignored.







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WHY SHOULD YOU READ THIS GUIDE?WHY SHOULD YOU READ THIS GUIDE?

THIS GUIDE WILL HELP YOU:

In a world where customers and consumers are becoming increasingly

connected, being a connected employee is no longer something that only

the social media-savvy intern does, in the same way that networking is no

longer just a task for sales people looking to hit their targets.

To remain competitive in the future individuals need to understand how to

conceptualise, understand, and leverage their networks to get things done.

Learn about the mindset

required for success in 21st

century business

Understand how networks

are constructed and how

value is added

Learn how to leverage

your relationshipsUnderstand power and

control in networks

This is the first in a two-part series of white papers on networking in the

21st century, where we take a look at the theory to better understand the

impact of social networks in business.

In the second white paper we will apply that theory into an actionable

strategy for success.







There is a lot

that SCIENCEknows about

NETWORKINGthat is largely ignored

by BUSINESS







7

Networks have always been important in society – they have been the

cornerstone of various social evolutions and revolutions, and, of course,

they are key to success in business.

What’s interesting is the

increasing scope of areas

networks are influencing in

business...

...and that social media platforms are making

connections more explicit.

INNOVATION

LEADERSHIP

CAREERS

500+CONNECTIONS

PEOPLE CONNECT IN WAYS THAT BUSINESSES DON’T

YOU

MARISSA MAYER

How you’re

connected...







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Most business leaders now accept the importance of informal networks in

driving performance and innovation, but so few spend the time to assess

the implications for organisational structure and personal networking.

Just as someone who is IT illiterate will make incorrect decisions about

how best to accomplish a task, so too will the network illiterate make

incorrect decisions about how to network to get things done.

The importance of social networks in business are being accelerated by

two factors:

the unstoppable rise and adoption of technology

the use of that technology for people to connect and

self-organise

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGYTechnology is changing how we communicate and interact with each

other and this is having a significant impact on how relationships are

formed and developed.

When we talk about networking in business it is easy to get caught up

in the technology and social network platforms that have interwoven

themselves into the very fabric of our every day life. While Facebook,

Twitter and LinkedIn are important, we must not underplay the role

that mobile devices – and in particular the smartphone – has played in

accelerating both the adoption of these platforms but also in drastically

altering the communication landscape.







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Just think, in the last 24 hours how often have been more

than 10ft away from your smartphone? Whether you’re

always aware of it or not, you are more connected to your

network than you may realise.

(UN)CONNECTED BUSINESSHow information is created, accessed and shared has been significantly

altered by technological advances and the social networks that sit on top of

this technology. These changes are creating a shift from an ‘information age’

following the industrial revolution, to a ‘networked age’ where employees,

customers and organisations are becoming increasingly connected.

As such, more traditional or formal channels are being bypassed both

internally within businesses but more so in the marketplace; customers

nowadays are continuing to connect, creating informal networked

communities that allow them to share information and experiences

throughout the buying journey – and this is all beyond the control of

businesses.

Think about how many companies have

had well-publicised marketing initiatives

hijacked by their consumer base on

Twitter?

In many spheres of your life you are the

connected customer; you are using your

social media connections to decide which

restaurants to go to on a Saturday night

or what books to buy, but most people are

not applying this thinking to their own careers

or business interests.







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BUSINESSES IN GENERAL ARE SLOW TO REACT AND WILL NEED TO ADAPT TO SURVIVE.

This is all having an impact on how relationships are formed and develop.

We are using outdated tools and approaches to relationship building that

are not fit for purpose in a networked world. The capability is available to

us as we have all the communication tools at our fingertips – in fact, they

have never been more available – but we don’t

have the skills to use them effectively in business.

We need to drop our old tools and ways of

thinking and adopt a new approach to networking

that is fit for a connected age.

However, this is easier said than done.

Organisational theorist Karl Weick investigated this topic by

looking at wild fire fatalities where firefighters refused to

drop their tools when ordered to do so, and as a result were

overrun with fire and died within sight of safe zones. The

firefighters could have made it if they had been lighter and

more agile, if they had dropped their tools.

One firefighter who was unable to outrun a fire was found

250ft from a safety zone still carrying his back pack and

chainsaw.

Source: Drop your Tools: On Reconfiguring Management Education (Weick, 2007)

While this is a rather dramatic example, the inability to drop your old

networking tools and bad habits, and pick up new ones, could signal the

demise of your competitiveness in the workplace.






http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/exec/programmes/nhs_sath_reading/accommodation/weick_tools.pdf


As 21st century employees and business leaders

we need to REVIEW our APPROACH to

NETWORKING.







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To be able to navigate this new business landscape we need new tools and

new ways of thinking.

Network science provides these. Network science is the study of complex

networks; from computer networks, to biological networks, and cognitive

and semantic networks.

Networks are everywhere in our life. A network is basically a set of nodes

and the connections between those nodes.

When things are deeply connected they act and behave differently.

NETWORK SCIENCE & THE CONNECTED AGE

Take for example a single ant. It

is not overly intelligent in that it

cannot achieve much by itself…

…but when networked

together ants can create

remarkable structures and

communities that they

wouldn’t be able to alone.







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The first step in adapting to this new business landscape is to understand

social networks. When you have an understanding, the sometimes

complex and seemingly unpredictable nature of networks starts to make

sense, and you can use that understanding to your advantage.

When it comes to relationship building we are interested in social

networks and the field of social network analysis.

WHAT IS A SOCIAL NETWORK?

A social network is simply a network where:

The nodes are

organisations and

people......and the connection

between them

are the links.

formal

informal

logical

emotional

Think of your workplace, school, church, clubs and associations that you

are involved in, these are all social networks.

Social networks are interdependent; they rely on each other for survival

and ultimately success.







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We’ve all heard of Generation X and Generation Y – these relate to the

period in which you were born (between the 1960s and early 80s, and

between the early 80s and early 2000s, respectively). Certain trends and

assumptions around motivations and aspirations in life and work can be

attributed to these generations.

Generation C is

not a demographic

designation

but rather a

psychographic one

driven by a specific

set of values,

opinions, attitudes,

interests, lifestyle

and personality.

The best networkers are paid more, get more promotions... but this is too

broad; it’s not just about being a networker, and it’s not about having the

most connections or the biggest rolodex.

The top networking performers have very specific characteristics, and

build their networks in a very specific manner to maximise value, which

we will go on to explore.

Become a part of Generation C

“Social networks are patterns

of behaviour and interaction. As

behaviours are repeated, they form

stronger associations over time.”

DAVE GRAYAuthor of ‘The Connected Company’







Do you speakNETWORKING ?







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ADDING VALUE IN YOUR NETWORKTo be able to fully utilise these new tools we must first improve our

network literacy. We refer to network literacy because it is a fundamental

skill that will determine a person’s success in business. Entrepreneur John

Battelle identified the competitive edge that the ‘search literate’ had in the

Information Age in being able to find and make sense of the ever-increasing

amount of data in the information age1. This is no longer enough; in the

Connected Age we must improve our network literacy to better navigate an

increasingly uncertain landscape and identify opportunities along the way.

When we start to understand the structure of our social networks we start

to understand that there are two main activities that create value in small-

world networks: clustering and brokerage.

1 – Source: The Information Age to the Networked Age: Are You Network Literate? (Hoffman, 2014)

Information flows quickly and

repeatedly within clusters

Information doesn’t flow easily

between clusters

CLUSTERING

Your network is a group of clusters. There are two key points that are

important to note about clusters:







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BROKERAGE

Brokering is about developing the weak ties—building the bridges and

relationships between clusters.

BROKE

RS

(connecting clusters)

CLOSURE(building trustwithin a cluster)

loosely

connected

densely connected

clusters

And this is how clusters and brokers relate in a wider network:







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As a networker in the 21st century your job is to bridge the gap between

diverse networks by becoming a broker between two separate networks.

Research consistency shows that brokers within a network receive higher

salaries, more promotions and increased industry recognition. In Rob

Cross’s research into high-achievers, no other factor was as important for

determining career success than the extent to which a person is a broker

within a network2.

When you have the

opportunity to learn

how someone in another

group does what you do

differently, jump at it.Brokerage & Closure (Burt, 2005)

Brokers are in a position

to see the differences

between clusters, cross-

pollinate ideas, and

to capitalise on these

differences to co-create

value and opportunity

where previously there

was none.The Connected Company (Gray, 2012)

ROB BURT

DAVE GRAY

2 – Source: The Hidden Power of Social Networks: Understanding how work really gets done in organisations (Cross; Parker, 2004)







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Burt identifies three advantages that brokers have in a network:

BREADTH OF INFORMATIONBrokers are able to pull information

from multiple, diverse networks

and cross-pollinate those ideas. By

identifying the differences between

networks they are able to capitalise

on these opportunities and create

value where there was none before.

TIMINGThey are the first to introduce an

idea into a cluster.

TRANSLATIONAs we discussed above, closed

networks can develop a unique

language. Develop the skills and

abilities to be able to translate

knowledge from one network

and introduce it into another in a

language they understand.

This gives brokers access to diverse,

often contradictory information and

interpretations.

While there is a lot of competitive advantage to be accrued to the person

who can bridge the gap between networks it means stepping out of the

comfort zone of closed networks. This means increased discomfort and

requires intellectual flexibility to handle the increased uncertainty.







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CLOSURE

Whereas brokering is about developing the weak ties between clusters,

closure is about building strong ties within a cluster by building trust and

alignment within the community.

These are two very different ways that you can add value to a network. It

is important to develop the right balance between brokering and closure

that aligns to your role and the goals you are tasked with achieving.

Sociologist Brian Uzzi carried out a study looking at why

certain Broadway musicals made between 1945 and 1989 were

successful and others flopped. The explanation he arrived at

had to do with the people behind the productions. For failed

productions, one of two extremes was common. The first

was a collaboration between creative artists and producers

who tended to all know one another. When there were

mostly strong ties, the production lacked the fresh, creative

insights that come from diverse experience. The other type

of failed production was one in which none of the artists had

experience working together. When the group was made up of

mostly weak ties, teamwork and group cohesion suffered.

In contrast, the social networks of the people behind

successful productions had a healthy balance: there were

some strong ties and some weak ties. There was some

established trust, but also enough ‘new blood’ in the system to

generate new ideas.

Source: The New Yorker – Groupthink: The Brainstorming Myth (Lehrer, 2012)

Understanding this can also help you to understand and navigate the

informal power structure in any large complex organisation.







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There is an inherent tension between the two roles.

Brokers are striving to increase

variation within networks by

bridging knowledge and this

means focusing on freeing oneself

from the restrictions of one group.

Closers on the other hand are

looking to reduce variation and

are looking to drive common

behaviour and alignment within

the group.

Build high-quality

relationships with

trusted allies and

establish a broad

network of weak ties.The Start Up of You (Hoffman, 2012)

REID HOFFMANFounder of LinkedIn

Being a recruitment consultancy it feels right that we look at

challenging long-held assumptions regarding job hunting and

give some advice on how to overcome it.







23

When you are looking for a job, who do you turn to? Most people would

say that you turn to those closest to you. This of course makes sense,

because they are the ones who know you the best and would do anything

to help you succeed.

While these strong ties are important in many situations, when job

hunting, this is often not where the real advantage comes.

A Stanford sociologist, Mark Granovetter, set out to test the

assumption that we get the most help from our strong ties,

surveying people in professional, technical and managerial

professions who had recently changed jobs. Nearly 28%

percent heard about the job not through their strong ties, but

in fact through their weak ones, compared to 17% from strong

ties.

Source: The Strength of Weak Ties (Granovetter, 1973)

It is often the people with whom we are least connected to that offer us

the most interesting and diverse career opportunities. Why is that?

STRONG TIES

WEAK TIES







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These connections work in the same places, read the same things and

socialise with the same people. Weak ties on the other hand are our

acquaintances, the people we know casually and potentially haven’t

seen for a few years for whatever reason. It is these weak ties that

offer a connection to new networks, introducing new and interesting

opportunities and job leads.

Often a short conversation with a relative

stranger over coffee can spark a deep

connection and open up a whole new world

of opportunities that were previously not on

your radar.

Now that you know this, what comes next?

Start building those weak ties now... before you need them. Engaging with

lots of different people will increase the likelihood of these serendipitous

encounters. Start thinking about how you can grow your network, be it

through social media, hobbies, industry events, alumni groups or any other

social groups and occasions.

OUR STRONG TIES ARE TOO CLOSE TO US







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The basic idea behind Metcalfe’s Law is

that the ‘potential value’ of a network

increases exponentially as you add new

interconnected nodes. In the context of

relationship building, this means

that as you build relationships that are

connected to each other, the value of

the network increases exponentially3.

Metcalfe’s Law becomes significant when a critical mass is

achieved and hockey stick like growth occurs.

Small world networks only tell part of the story.

In the early 1990’s, economist George Glider postulated a theory that

would change how we think about networks from telephones to the

Internet and social networks. He called his theory Metcalfe’s Law, named

after the founder of Ethernet.

SMALL-WORLD TO SCALE-FREE NETWORKS

Most networks are what Ron Burt defined as small world networks. Small

world networks are a combination of densely-connected clusters that are

loosely connected with each other.

VALUE

# O

F C

ON

NE

CTI

ON

S

3 – Source: Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy (Shapiro, 1998)







27

When small world networks combine and grow

a higher order pattern emerges.

PREFERENTIALATTACHMENT

SUPERHUBS

When new nodes

join a network,

they don’t do so

randomly

They are more

likely to attach to

large nodes

No matter how

large they grow, the

distribution of nodes

and hubs doesn’t

change

SCALE-FREENETWORKS

What emerges are so-called

This becomes significant

when a critical mass is

achieved and a hockey

stick like growth

appears







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SIZE, STRUCTURE & SOCIAL CAPITAL

The size of your network is often held as the ultimate

measure of the value of someones network, but

network science challenges this core assumption.

Luckily the field of network science starts to offer some actionable

insights that help to challenge our long held beliefs about networking.

It is not the size of your network that matters but rather the structure

and the resulting social capital you have. Your position within that set of

relationships — the benefit you get from this is your social capital.

While there are many definitions of social capital they all agree that social

networks have intrinsic value. The social connections and relationships

you have affect your productivity and your ability to get stuff done.

Social capital explains how some people do better because they are

somehow better connected to people.

THE SIZE OF YOUR

NETWORK DOESN’T

MATTER

IF SIZE DOESN’T MATTER, THEN WHAT DOES?







29

SOCIAL CAPITAL

Imagine the situation, you have a new business

idea for the healthcare sector that you want to

move on but you need a software developer to

work with you to make it a reality. You know two

developers in your network who have the perfect

skill set to make it a reality.

The question is: who are you likely to approach

with the opportunity, Alex or James?

Who has the most value?

James

Alex

YOU MUST LOOK AT THE WIDER NETWORK

All of Alex’s connections are within

the software developer network,

with indirect connections to VCs

and the healthcare sector through

friends of friends.

Alex is likely to have a lot of

redundant information as many of

his connections are what network

scientists would call ‘structurally

equivalent people’.

James’s position affords him a

number of advantages:

Given James’ position in the

network, he is a bridge between

the groups and therefore a conduit

for information between the three

groups.

Healthcare

Professionals

Software Developers

Alex

James

VCs

James is

what network

scientists call

a broker; he

bridges the

gap between

separate groups.

Early access to information

Access to a wider variety of

information

Control over information

diffusionIn short: you should approach James.







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HOW WILL EFFECTIVE NETWORKING IMPROVE MY PERFORMANCE?

Rob Cross at The University of Virginia, carried out research

over 5 years looking not at what people with big networks do,

but rather on how the high performers in an organisation use

their network to drive results.

Cross found that there is often a statistically significant

negative likelihood of knowing a lot of people and being a

top performer.

Source: The Hidden Power of Social Networks: Understanding how work really gets done in organisations (Cross; Parker, 2004)

If this is the case then what do high performers do?

Cross found that high performers manage their networks in very specific

ways:

They look to develop and encourage a range of different ideas and

information in their networks.

They get out from behind their desk and maintain balanced

relationships across organisational lines, departments within their

organisation as well as out with the company’s four walls. As well

as balancing of kinds of benefit, information, political support they

receive from their network.

They look to extend their abilities; to build networks that challenge

them, not surrounding themselves with people who only know

what they know.

They build purposeful, high-quality relationships that actually drive

ideas and innovation towards them on a voluntary basis over time.







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In the next white paper we will take this knowledge

and put it into action, looking at how to develop a

robust networking strategy for the 21st century that

will ensure your competitiveness in the marketplace.

Building up a large number of connections within your closed network is

easy because it is comfortable, but it is not where the value lies.

As you build and nurture your network, ask yourself: are you following

these principles or are you falling into old comfortable habits?

While there is a lot of competitive advantage to be had by the person

who can bridge the gap between separate networks effectively, it is not

always an easy thing to do. It is often very enticing to stick with what

we know best, but becoming a high performer requires stepping out of

your comfort zone and stepping into the discomfort that comes from the

increased uncertainty that will ensue. Being an effective networker in the

21st century requires you to hold many different and often contradictory

viewpoints; join the dots that others may not see and translate that insight

into a language that people will understand.

Now that we have a better understanding of how how social networks

affect business and our ability to get things done, now what?

THE VALUE OF OUR CONNECTIONS GROWS WHEN WE REINFORCE THE MOST

IMPORTANT CONNECTIONS.






Thank you for reading our guide to networking in the 21st century.

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