Stereotypes are one thing which can cloud the judgements of most people by making them excessively narcissistic in dealing with others. This posture transcends family and social settings and invariably seeps gradually into the corporate world as well. In such a situation, it harms not just the people but by greater extent, the organization further dipping it into oblivion.
One team can indeed make a difference regardless of the number it is made up of. Hence, building networks is more than just swapping business cards or adding another connection to an organization’s social media pages. The network must first start with the internal organs of the business and move fur- ther outside to building a stronger bond with potential clients on the periphery. Once that is achieved, this is how work gets done in today’s complex and interconnected business environment, where establishing and sustaining a diverse array of network relationships is a key element of effective leadership.
CONTRADICTING FROM FORMAL STRUCTURE
Basically, most businesses that respond to organizational dysfunction without fully thinking through its causes have found themselves on cliff edges quite a few times. These issues when left unresolved can fester into something bigger than it actually was. An organization plagued by sluggish decision making might decide that decentralization is the remedy to tackling an innately networking challenge within an organization. For instance, McKinsey reckons that a company suffering from poor communication, inflexibility, or an inability to pull together product offerings and expertise might try breaking down barriers that make functions or business units operate as silos. Yet as sensible as such interventions look on paper, they often yield disappointing results; so, reorganizations come and go with surprising regularity, often without significantly boosting organizational effectiveness.
This indicates that a key part of the problem is that the boxes and lines of formal organizational charts mask myriad relationships in networks that crisscross the borders of functions, hierarchies, and business units.
“These networks define the way work actually gets done in today’s increasingly collaborative, know-edge-intensive companies. Little wonder that total-quality-management projects and the reengineering of business processes to take just two examples of organizational-change efforts that largely ignore these essential but invisible networks fail at least two-thirds of the time.”
SCRAPPING OLD SCRIPT IN ADDRESSING NEW CHALLENGES
When it boils down to network analysis there are a number of issues that can’t be solved solely by deploying an integrated organization and governance structure. This is so because information sharing across geographies is usually limited within an organization where there are no real friendships beyond work. Although professionalism is the apex requirement to the thriving of an organization, the autonomous structure of the firm’s hierarchy might pose more problems than meets the eye. This is so because experts at the lower levels within an organization are usually found communicating with superiors rather than with colleagues across the organization, whose knowledge might have proven useful. With this, McKinsey expresses that not surprisingly, network connections clustered around several people who had become bottlenecks, and awareness of colleagues’ expertise was very low. Many of the people who were now expected to work together seamlessly had never even exchanged e-mails, let alone met in person. This gap can pose significant if not malignant problems when unresolved holistically.
IMPACT OF INTERNAL NETWORKING
When people think of networking, what usually comes to mind is networking online via LinkedIn, email or with people outside of their organization (say at a tradeshow or industry event). But what about internal networking?
Networking is what we do every day when we talk, text, email and meet new people with the purpose of sharing information. While external networking helps people grow their connections to professionals out- side of an organization, networking with coworkers helps employees grow and strengthen connections with professionals inside our organization – with the added benefit of increasing productivity and engagement internally. Internal networking is something many of us do naturally every day. Like external networking, internal networking is about building a group of people who know you and will help you if they can.
Despite the fact that internal networking is talked about less, there are many advantages for both the employee and the organization. For organizations, encouraging internal networking leads to lower rates of employee turnover because team members feel connected and tend to have a clearer picture of their organization’s purpose. Remember the saying, ‘what goes around comes around?’ Building mutually beneficial relationships can have a positive impact on individual career satisfaction and on the future of the organization.
EVOLVING WORKPLACE TRENDS
Change is an inevitable part of life and business. What mattered and was in vogue some years or even days ago have received deeper insight and perspectives on how it can be done better. As such, evolution within the corporate space is equally expected and not a new phenomenon. Harvard Business reveals that matrixed and flat reporting structures have replaced traditional top-down leadership structures in many organizations. Cross-functional, flexible teams often work on short- term projects, and then disperse to other assignments. Diverse networks of high-quality relationships in today’s age provide consistent webs of support for day-to-day work, while offering new perspectives that spur innovation and support individual growth. Networks that include valuable external contacts also help us understand where we and our organization fit strategically in the wider business environment.
Moreover, new digital platforms, corporate team collaboration sites, and social media networks have made it easier than ever to connect with farflung, global colleagues. Whether through digital or face-to-face communication, making new connections and sustaining existing ones, is at the heart of leveraging your networks.
COALESCING DISPERSED EMPLOYEES INTO UNIFIED FRONT
Bonding over a cup of coffee, conversation of interest, exchanging ideas on how to better grow a department within an organization and by members who form the crux of the business can be trivialized since at the end of the day, the true decision makers are always at the top in their swivel chairs. Nonetheless, the executors of these decisions must necessarily work seamlessly to achieve the common interest of the company. Another common goal of reorganizations in terms of networking is bringing together employees who perform related tasks but are dispersed in different regions or businesses. When support functions such as accounting, finance, human resources, IT, or purchasing are largely duplicated across geographies, McKinsey believes that consolidation enables corporations to achieve economies of scale while sharing best practices and expertise globally. Network analysis can make global functional networks more transparent, thereby revealing opportunities for integration and highlighting well-functioning relationships that a company should avoid disrupting.
“The world’s largest engineering consultancy, with roughly $1 billion in sales and more than 5,000 specialists in 36 countries, undertook such an effort in 2003. Having grown through numerous mergers, the firm lacked consistent global processes and allowed business units and regions to operate autonomously. As a step toward better integration, it decided to consolidate its IT function—previously divided among six autonomous regional operations in Asia, Europe, and the United States—into a global department that would provide better service at a lower overall price.”
The key to the success of this new department, comprising 185 people in 27 offices and 11 countries, would be collaboration, which previously had been sorely lacking, so that internal customers paid different prices, got software and hardware with different kinds of functionality, and received different levels of service.
INVESTING IN A COMPANY’S ERGs
Interestingly, employee networks also known as employee resource groups (ERGs), business resource groups, or staff communities are becoming increasingly important in today’s workplace and potentially can bring a wealth of benefits to organizations. Reason is that employee resource groups are a critical part of any firm’s Inclusion and Diversity strategy. More importantly, they are a huge asset, helping drive an inclusive culture, build- ing awareness and friendship, and developing the diversity of perspective that enables our businesses to thrive in a rapidly changing environment.
Insurance Business reveals that one of the key benefits is that they provide a sense of community and belonging for employees. This is particularly important for individuals who may feel isolated or marginalized in the workplace. ERGs and networks can help to foster a sense of connection and sup- port, which can lead to increased job satisfaction and employee retention.
They can also act in a valuable advisory capacity with a business on issues relating to their specific focus, giving businesses a better insight into the different communities within their organization, how business decisions and activities may impact different communities, and what issues are important to different communities.
Additionally, ERGs can also provide some much-needed diversity of thought to help businesses make better decisions and develop a company culture that creates motivated, engaged employees. ERGs often pro- vide access to training, mentoring, and networking opportunities that may not be available elsewhere in the organization. Therefore, by participating in ERGs and networks, employees can gain valuable skills and experiences that can help advance their careers.
The need for networking among employees within an organization cannot be overemphasized. When employers are looking hard at networks before gravitating towards major change programs, companies can learn more than just who the brokers are in their organizations. When the company, in an instance reviewed who was and was not collaborating, it quickly realizes that the walls between workstations are too high and physical barriers among groups too common. The benefits of correcting these physical features and moving the right people into the new, improved working environment, can bolster a company to the next level.