Enhancing Personal and Professional Development: The Role of Peer Networks

Michael Dulworth

© 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ert.20116

In a business environment of unprece-dented and rapid change, it’s no wonder

that employees across all industries are find-ing strong personal and professional net-works increasingly important. Properly used,networks can help you improve your perfor-mance in a number of ways, broadening yourexposure to new ideas and solutions and giv-ing you increased access to the expertise ofleaders in your field.

Effective investments in your networkscan make you smarter, more knowledgeable,and better grounded, as well as a more agilelearner and collaborator. These capabilitiesare critical to solving problems and takingadvantage of opportunities at the pace neces-sary for success today. An MIT/Sloan Manage-ment Review article titled “The Social Side ofPerformance” stated, “What really distin-guishes high performers from the rest of thepack is their ability to maintain and leveragepersonal networks. The most effective createand tap large, diversified networks that arerich in experience and span all organizationalboundaries.”1

To accelerate your personal and profes-sional growth, enhancing your networksmust become a much bigger part of yourdevelopment plan. This article describes howto evaluate your current networkingresources, what participation in networksinvolves, and the many personal and profes-

sional benefits you can expect to gain frominvesting in your network development.

WHAT IS YOUR NQ?

It’s clear that today’s business world providesrich rewards for networking maestros—thosepeople who are extremely skilled at cultivat-ing and utilizing varied and effective net-works. These people can be described as hav-ing a high networking quotient (NQ). As youbegin to strengthen your networking abilities,you may want to measure your own NQ.

We can create such a measure by dividingnetworking into two key components. Thefirst is your networking universe, which con-sists of three main areas of relationships: (1)life network, (2) social network, and (3) worknetwork. Your life network is made up ofyour family, extended family, school friendsand contacts, all your lifelong friends, and thelike. Your social network is made up of youractive friends (people you see at least once amonth), people from your religious commu-nity, fellow club members, neighbors, contactsin online communities, and the like. Yourwork network includes contacts from previousjobs, colleagues from other firms, contacts inyour current organization, mentors/coaches,and the like. Each of these networks canimprove your NQ, so you’ll want to spendsome time identifying their members.

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The second aspect of your NQ involves: (1)the number of people in your various networks;(2) the depth of your relationships with thosepeople; and (3) how often you interact withthem. Quantity matters (i.e., the more people inyour networks, the better), but quality is just asimportant. For each individual identified above,ask yourself: Is the person in your network anacquaintance (someone who knows who you areand will probably return a call); a personal con-tact (someone who will do you a favor if asked);or a close friend (someone you can always counton when the chips are down)?

Using this information, you can quicklyassess your NQ by honestly answering thefollowing questions on a scale of 0–4:

1. What is the total number of people inyour life, social, and work networks?

0 5 fewer than 10, 1 5 fewer than 50, 2 5 51 to 100, 3 5 101 to 200,

4 5 more than 2002. What is the overall quality of your net-

work contacts?0 5 very poor, 1 5 poor, 2 5 good,

3 5 very good, 4 5 excellent3. Do you actively work on building your

network relationships?0 5 never, 1 5 rarely, 2 5 sometimes,

3 5 often, 4 5 frequently4. What is the strength of your relationships

with your network members?0 5 very weak, 1 5 weak, 2 5 moderate,

3 5 strong, 4 5 very strong5. Do you actively recruit new members to

your network?0 5 never, 1 5 rarely, 2 5 sometimes,

3 5 often, 4 5 frequently6. To what extent is your relationship with

your network members reciprocal (that is,you’ve helped them as much as they’vehelped you)?

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0 5 not at all, 1 5 rarely, 2 5 sometimes,3 5 often, 4 5 frequently

7. To what extent do you use the Internet tobuild and maintain your networks?

0 5 not at all, 1 5 rarely, 2 5 sometimes, 3 5 often, 4 5 frequently

Multiply your total score by 10. You’ll endup with a score between 0 and 280. If yourscore is in the range of 0–70, your NQ is verylow. If it is in the range of 71–140, your NQneeds improvement. A score in the range of141–210 is good, and a score of 211–280 rep-resents an excellent NQ.

How did you do? Are you a networkingneophyte or a world-class contender? This self-

assessment may point to some areas you canwork on to enhance your NQ. No matter howyou scored, though, you can always improve.

UNDERSTANDING PEER-TO-PEERNETWORKS

Having assessed your own networking skills,it makes sense to more closely examine thestructure and potential of peer-to-peer net-works; this will help you fill gaps in yourdevelopment process. Exactly how do net-works work, and what are the benefits?

How Networks Function

Peer-to-peer networking can take manyforms. It may include components such as:

• Meetings. Most networks hold severalmeetings each year. One meeting may

Quantity matters (i.e., the more people in your networks,the better), but quality is just as important.

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focus on an in-depth profile of an indi-vidual member company; another mayfocus on a theme chosen by the membersfor discussion, perhaps including an out-side speaker to promote dialogue. Somemeetings may be devoted purely to net-working time, giving members the oppor-tunity to present current projects and getideas, support, and recommendations.

• Internet. Networks may establish a pri-vate Web site to facilitate communica-tion among members between meetings.They may also use e-mail forums inwhich network members pose questionsor gather information on particularissues.

• Teleconferences. Networking among mem-bers constrained by time or distancemay be facilitated by regularly sched-uled teleconferences.

Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Networks

Participants in peer networks say theseforums are an extremely valuable experi-ence. They produce tangible personal,career, and organizational benefits, includ-ing the sharing of information, the opportu-nity to learn from peers, and the ability topromote best practices in their field or pro-fession. The sections that follow explainsome of the primary advantages.

Accelerating Innovation

The speed of global change and the increas-ing demands of global competition requirecorporations to accelerate their own pace ofinnovation and improvement as both adefensive and offensive strategy. Networksfacilitate innovation in human capital man-agement, which strengthens the corpora-

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tion’s overall performance. Dr. RichardO’Leary, director of human resources, scienceand technology at Corning Inc., commented,“One of the key impacts of my network is inaccelerating the speed with which you canget things done. It has accelerated the speedof our work.”

In some cases, network members experi-ence this on a very personal basis, savingprecious hours or even days of their owntime accessing information on best prac-tices. As Deborah Swanson, national direc-tor of talent and organizational development

for Sony Electronics, noted, “I was recentlyrequested to help find a highly credible con-sultant to facilitate a national sales strategysession. I was able to send a request to thenetwork for recommendations and personalreferences and was able to do in a fewhours what would have taken a week of mytime to research.”

Reducing Risk

As several network participants have toldus, one of the values of their network is notonly the knowledge that they gain aboutbest practices, but also the opportunity toavoid “worst practices.” As in life in gen-eral, corporate failures are often as instruc-tive as successes.

The strong level of trust establishedbetween network members promotes a highlevel of openness in their dialogue. Thishelps members to share their failures, sothat the entire group can learn from themand brainstorm on ways to avoid them.

Networks facilitate innovation in human capitalmanagement, which strengthens the corporation’s overallperformance.

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Improving the Use of Resources

Efficiency has always been important, butwithering global competition makes cost con-trol and reduction increasingly critical. Mem-bers often find that the network helps themreduce their costs and improve their use ofresources in a variety of ways. First, itdecreases their reliance on expensive consult-ing resources by providing what is essentiallyfree consulting from a network of their peers.When members do need to use consultants,they avoid the costs of poor vendor selectionby relying on the experiences of other net-work members.

In addition, their companies may reapboth cost and revenue improvements fromthe greater effectiveness of adopted bestpractices. Chuck Presbury, senior director ofleadership development for McGraw-HillCompanies, Inc., recounted one example inwhich his participation in a network saved

him several million dollars on one decisionalone: “At my previous firm we were in theearly stages of designing a large-scale execu-tive and leadership development process.The COO of the firm was willing to build aphysical facility (like GE Crotonville) as afocal point for the initiative. I posed thisquestion to the network, and the resoundinganswer was ‘don’t do it!’ The experience ofcompanies who had such facilities advisedthat it was too expensive and time-consum-ing, and it would be a distraction from thecore mission. The advice was to focus thismoney on the programs, processes, and peo-ple, not a building. We took this advice and

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saved an estimated $2 million or more incapital expenditures alone.”

Improving Quality

One of the major benefits of network mem-bership is the impact it has on corporatequality. For example, at a recent networkmeeting, the head of executive developmentfor a major U.S. bank said that she wasrecently charged with developing a coachingprocess. She described the bank’s existingprocess as the “wild, wild West of coaching,”saying that there were no standards, metrics,hiring criteria, or pricing guidelines in place.In other words, the bank had an out-of-con-trol process with no quality management.

She said that her firm was spending mil-lions of dollars on external coaches; nobodyhad any idea who these coaches were orwhat value the bank was receiving from theirservices. After recounting this situation to hernetwork peers, two colleagues told her thatthey had recently been in the same situation.They had spent the last six months puttingtogether comprehensive coaching processesfor their companies—and they’d be happy toe-mail her their completed plans. In additionto the immediate savings of $100,000 to$200,000 that the bank would have spent tocreate a plan on its own, the sharing of bestpractices undoubtedly improved the qualityof the solution.

Improving Individual Effectiveness and Job Satisfaction

Network participants benefit from theirmembership in a number of ways. On a per-sonal level, they develop strong professionalrelationships and friendships with true peersin other leading companies—people with sim-

Efficiency has always been important, but withering globalcompetition makes cost control and reduction increasinglycritical.

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ilar problems, opportunities, and challenges.There’s significant comfort knowing that youhave a group of trusted and objective col-leagues whom you can call on when youneed help, advice, and support.

On a professional level, members andtheir companies benefit from constantly tap-ping into what other leading companies arethinking, planning, and doing. As Ray Vigil,vice president and chief learning officer ofHumana, noted, “I have found networks tobe invaluable to me on a number of occa-sions, such as conducting best practices exer-cises, sharing new and innovative programs,dialoguing with some of the best thoughtleaders in the field and gaining valuableinput on program design andeffectiveness . . . I consider participation asone of my ‘must do’ activities in my annualpersonal development and planning.”

Advancing the Field

Peer networks provide a way of poolingmembers’ and experts’ intellectual resourcesto address long-range challenges of the pro-fession and contribute to the development oftheir field as a whole. Although this is some-times an intangible benefit, it may also take

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the form of research projects and reports thatadd materially to the knowledge base.

CONCLUSION

Faced with great challenges, today’s organiza-tions must seek new ways to learn rapidly,organize and leverage knowledge, and fostercontinuous innovation. Peer networks,whether inside or outside the organization,can help organizations adapt to and takeadvantage of the rapid changes in their busi-ness environment.

An increasing number of forward-thinkingsenior executives say that the ability to net-work will be an increasingly important skill forleaders in their organizations, and that develop-ing powerful external networks will be criticalto both the success of individual leaders andtheir enterprise. These trends suggest thatsmart investments in your networking quotientare not only necessary, but will also be bothpersonally and professionally rewarding.

NOTE

1. Cross, R., Davenport, T. H., & Cantrell, S. (2003). Thesocial side of performance. MIT/Sloan ManagementReview, 45(1), 23.

Michael Dulworth is the president and CEO of EDA Networks (www.edanetworks.com).Prior to joining EDA Networks, he was a vice president at the Concours Group, where hewas responsible for the firm’s learning services practice, and has served as chairman andCEO of Learning Technologies Group, Inc. He is the coauthor of Corporate Learning:Proven and Practical Guidelines for Building a Sustainable Learning Strategy (Pfeiffer,2005), Strategic Executive Development: The Five Essential Investments (Pfeiffer, 2005),and an upcoming book titled Networking Smarter: What Is Your NQ? He may be reachedvia e-mail at mdulworth@executivedevelopment.com.