Though social networking on the web is hot, it's important to recognize that your work network is even more imperative. Those entry-level salaries don't get you very far when you're paying the rent, buying a car, trying to keep yourself in clothes and still put food on the table. What you should be noticing by your third year into your career is that there's a growing mismatch between the skills you brought from college, the competencies you've gained at your job(s), and what you're going to need to progress.
Your technical skills will not be enough. Your success will depend more and more on your ability to get things done with and sometimes through other people. In recent years, I've begun talking about "smart power." Though it comes from government and international relations, I use smart power to refer to the necessary mix of technical power (skills) and people power. The further you get in business, the more you understand that the people power is usually more important than your technical power.
Early on it's important to identify, build relationships and network with a very specific small group of people at work: the ones you have to depend on and the ones who depend on you. These questions will help you identify the all-important people that that belong in your network.
- Whose cooperation do I need? No matter your experience or your job, there are always people whose help, support and cooperation you'll need to get your work done. One of those is your boss, but it's usually a colleague or two and the admin assistant.
- Whose compliance do I need? There are always occasions, even at entry-level, in which there are one or two whose help we must have when we're caught in projects and deadlines. These are must-have people.
- Whose opposition would keep me from accomplishing my work. You can get blindsided by someone whose position, relationships or power you didn't anticipate.
- Who needs my cooperation and compliance. You may have been solely responsible in school, but that ended the day you walked into your first job. You're now obligated to help and work with others.
This is a list of perhaps eight or ten people that is the starting place for your network. Some will be inside your organization, but some will also be outside your organization. If you haven't yet started, map your dependencies. These relationships go a long way toward giving you a future.
I'm especially indebted to Linda Hill for her smarts in thinking this through and giving us this network start.
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