Networks and Networking: Skills for Cultivating Leader Social Capital
There's an adage that goes it's not what you know, but who you know.
As leaders, you need the knowledge and skills to lead a leader network. A leader network is made of the connections that link leaders and others, builds relationships, and influences the outcomes of teamwork (Whitney et al., 2022). A leader network is made of professional and personal connections that can help leaders and followers positively influence salaries, promotions, and job satisfaction. Networks help or facilitate actions in a leader’s career, creating value called social capital (Coleman, 1994 in Whitney et al., 2022).
Example
Situation: Joe is a Food Bank volunteer. Last Friday, while volunteering to box up goods, he learned from another volunteer, Janice, a managing partner at a local law firm, that there's an opening for Associate Director with the county's homeless shelter.
Benefits of networking: Janice is a volunteer connection who is part of Joe's social network, and the potential job connection she shared can influence Joe's leadership career.
Opportunities:
- Joe could be interested in the job and enhance his social capital.
- Joe can share this information with one of his followers who might be ideal for the position, increasing social capital for himself, his follower, and Janice by expanding everyone's connections with the shelter organization.
Not all leader networks have been created equally since time, and the number of interactions are essential to maintaining connections. Nakamura (2021) found that cultural components can influence the strength of connections, mainly when practices differ cross-culturally. The power of a connection is related to how much time and knowledge sharing is spent together, which can promote interpersonal relationships and create more trust and exchanges (Nakamura, 2021). Whitney et al. (2022) reported that followers benefitted by positioning themselves in a key point of a "prominent" network and by communicating strategically with their leader about their network. Leaders, like their followers, benefit from the number of connections they have and how well-connected their relationships are outside their primary leader network (Whitney et al., 2022).
Benefits of a leader network:
- Increase opportunities for professional growth
- Provides mentorship and support
- Increases the quality of relationships between leaders and followers
- Creates exchanges of trust and mutual benefits
Nakamura (2021) wrote that time spent at social events and seminars can increase the levels of trust created with connections in a leader's network. Different networking activities offer additional opportunities to leaders. For example, Iyengar et al. (2022) found that a fruitful discussion at a conference can leave 92% of attendees hopeful of future collaborations with new connections, but nearly half (45.8%) will have failed to follow up within three months of the conference meeting. Leaders may (unconsciously) develop a closer relationship with select followers based on their network size, hoping to leverage the social capital for themselves, which can cause the follower to withdraw from interactions (Whitney et al., 2022).
How to cultivate your leader network:
- Be intentional in selecting a networking event
- Have clear reasons for attending a networking event
- Do your research about the conference speakers list ahead of time
- Exchange contact information or send a LinkedIn message and request
- Engage in pre- and post-collaboration events
- Use virtual meetings, email exchanges, and coffees to enable knowledge sharing
- Reach outside of your local leader network to find new connections and expand your network
It is important to remember that networking is not about selling your skills but about developing relationships that can influence you and your organization in a positive way (Coleman, 2005). Knowledge sharing within a team can indicate trust and safety, facilitating teamwork and production (Whitney et al., 2022). Additionally, knowledge sharing within a leader network helps to influence and create access that aids leader development (Iyengar et al., 2022). There is a benefit of mutual support in having a leader network where one leader can positively influence another and their organization.
References:
Coleman, A. (2005, 12). Leadership: In any event, get networking. Director, 59, 26.
Iyengar, S., Ehrlich, J., Chung, E., Marconi, A. M., Matusevich, A. R. K., Abubakar, A. A., … Kalbarczyk, A. (2022). Evaluation of a Virtual Networking Event for Emerging Women Leaders in Global Health. Annals of Global Health, 88(1), 54.
Nakamura, Y. T. (2021). Developing global organizational leaders’ social capital (take out "Introduction"). European Journal of Training and Development, 45(2), 120-135.
Whitney, J. M., Henry, S. E., & Bradley, B. H. (2022). Maybe It Is Who You Know: Social Networks and Leader–Member Exchange Differentiation. Group & Organization Management, 47(2), 300–341.
