Power_ Why Some People Have Itand Others Don't - Jeffrey Pfeffer [49]
The people who attended the program and learned how to diagnose and use networks received 35 percent higher scores on their performance evaluations than did the control group. Program attendees had a 43 percent higher likelihood of being promoted subsequently. And people who attended this executive training experience were 42 percent less likely to leave the organization. These results and others that show favorable evaluations of the program and an enhanced ability to diagnose networks provide a demonstration that skills in building social capital can be increased.
SPEND SUFFICIENT TIME
If networking is so helpful for people’s job performance and career success, the obvious question is, why do some people devote insufficient time and attention to the activity? One answer is the effort required. Another possibility is that some people find the activity distasteful because they believe it is insincere to build relationships with people for instrumental purposes. And a third answer is that people undervalue the importance of social relationships and overvalue other aspects of job performance in thinking about what produces career success. The evidence shows that networking is important in affecting career progress, and you need to get over qualms about engaging in strategic behavior to advance your career—and that includes who you are in touch with.
Networking actually does not take that much time and effort. It mostly takes thought and planning. Keith Ferrazzi’s book title Never Eat Alone makes the point. People are going to eat and exercise anyway—why not use that time to expand your network of contacts? When Ferrazzi turned 40, he didn’t have one birthday party; he had seven, in seven different cities around the United States, hosted by seven different friends. A birthday celebration became a wonderful opportunity to renew existing social ties and build new ones. Heidi Roizen does what many people do—sends out a holiday letter with some pictures and stories about her family. The difference—she gets about 700 copies printed and mailed. When she took the original in to be reproduced and told the vendor how many she wanted, the response was, “Lady, no one has that many friends.” But Roizen recognizes that an occasional note, for instance, at the holidays, or an occasional e-mail or lunch or short phone call keeps you in front of and salient to a set of people who can be helpful to you or may call on you for help.
Ignacio, an Argentinean who graduated from a prestigious U.S. business school, did what many such graduates do—he went to work for the office of a large, high-status management consulting company back in his home country. But he did one thing that distinguished him from many of his colleagues in the firm or, for that matter, in the country: in June 2007, he set up an “MBA en USA” network and website in Argentina with the goal of increasing the number of Argentinean applicants and students in top U.S. schools—the institutions that supply guaranteed financing for those admitted to the program. In two years, he has recruited almost 400 members, with a 10-person board of directors; made presentations in three universities; and become the reference person for Argentineans pursuing U.S. business education opportunities. When he began this network, it consisted of one person, himself. Because he had neither great credentials nor high status, he involved others with high status, including those from his consulting firm and alumni of leading U.S. business schools living and working in Argentina, in his presentations and efforts. The results: Ignacio has become known in his office as a great speaker who is good at coaching others; he has substantially enhanced his visibility and built many more connections not just in Argentina but with the leading consulting