Networking Inside Your Own Organization

At my consultant's group's monthly meeting last week, Richard Snyder of Cost Reduction Partners gave a presentation on networking. Basically, his main premise was that you don't network by looking to see what you can get out of other people, but to try to establish relationships where you might be able to help others, and, in return, those same people will be there for you when you may need them.

Years ago, I took it upon myself to try to set up an event of some sort for employees of this particular hospital I was working at. The facility had been going through some rough times, and many employees were feeling depressed about the circumstances.

I knew how to undertake the project, but what I didn't have was enough knowledge of the area. I lived over an hour away, so I really didn't know all of the recreational types of things the area had to offer. Truth be told, because it was a small rural area, I didn't know if they had any at all.

What I decided I needed was a committee. What I also decided is that I didn't want it to be a bunch of directors. So, I went around the hospital to many different areas and asked employees if they would be on the committee. This may not sound all that strange to many of you, but even at a relatively small hospital, there are many employees that do very diverse jobs, and not everyone gets to know or interact with everyone else. In some hospitals, there are people who never meet each other because of the specialization of their jobs; that's just how it goes.

Yet, I knew everyone at that hospital. I had walked around and found the time to meet everyone; okay, I didn't know most of the people who only worked the 11-7 shift, but I'd met everyone who worked the day shift. It really wasn't a part of my job, yet I made it a part of my job, and it turned out to be one of the smartest things I'd ever done. For this particular project, we ended up having a night of bowling, and we had over 100 employees who showed up for the event on a Friday night, and everyone had a good time. For long term success, though, it was even more important.

What I had done, in essence, was networked my way around the facility. I hadn't thought much about it at the time, because my general purpose was always to just get the job done. But there's a freedom in being a manager where, because part of what your job is supposed to be is talking to people, you get to take some time out of your day to go and do just that, talk to people. So, I talked to nurses and doctors; I talked to technicians and certified professionals. I talked to accounting, and I talked to purchasing. I talked to the people in the cafeteria, maintenance, and housekeeping. And, of course, I talked to administration. Sometimes it was in the course of trying to get something specific accomplished; other times, I might have had a purpose, but ended up taking the time to talk to someone I either hadn't met yet, or had met but now could get to know better.

In Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone, he has a chapter titled "Build It Before You Need It", and opens it with a quote from Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press, and author of many books, including The Five People You Meet In Heaven, where he says "Build a little community of those you love and who love you." Though it may be presumptuous to say these people loved me, I had established levels of trust and camaraderie that many others in like positions as mine, but doing other jobs, never had. In essence, I could go to anyone and pretty much get anything I needed, whether it was information, supplies, or even food during times the cafeteria was closed. But I gave back also, and in more ways than one. And that was the most important thing; when I did for me, I did for them, and I always made sure everyone else got credit for what we did together.

As a manager, it's easy to get tunnel vision because you start concentrating on getting the job done, writing reports, and managing your own employees. And that's fine, but it's not enough. No one can do everything alone, and you never know when you might need something special. Think of how easy it would be to get things done in areas that you're unfamiliar with if you take the time to meet people in some of those other areas. Being a manager is a lonely job at times; think of how much easier it could be on you if you took the time to meet some of the other managers and directors and supervisors, where you'll probably discover that either some of them have the same problems as you, or have solutions to help you that you've never thought about. Think about the overall credibility you could build up overall if you took the time to say hello to employees in other departments when the opportunity arises, and engage them in a little bit of conversation. It really doesn't take much, and it comes back to you tenfold.

As with everything, there are some steps that could help you do this networking more effectively. They're easy steps, and within every one of us. They are:

1. Smile and say hello. Is it really all that difficult to be friendly?
2. Look people in the eye when you talk to them. There's something about making eye contact and showing a person you're really interested in talking to only them that helps seal the deal.
3. Keep your attention on those you're talking to. People know when you're just going through the motions.
4. Talk about what they want to talk about. If they're interesting and interested enough, you'll get your opportunity to talk about your needs soon enough.
5. Be yourself. You're not auditioning, and people know a phony when they encounter one.