Is networking about getting benefits or helping others.
Networking is very important part of situation management. There is no limit to networking or being prepared to reach right person in shortest time.
Top B Schools are good source of networking & networking makes individual & organisations grow.
Some roles required extreme level of networking & dynamic scenario management. So, we have to decide whether to start searching right people at the time of situation or to anticipate and be ready with mechanism to reach those resources whenever required.
As a team, one of the role, we had set up timeline of reaching who’s who in just 10 mins. Entire team will keep anticipating, keep arranging, keep collecting information, data, contact details, birthdays, office & residential addresses.
And like people say, when you keep searching for something, you keep getting same, we had not only huge database & mechanism to reach -network. We also had a system to retrieve data by storing them properly, by assigning responsibilities to maintain relations.
It’s good to be systematic as it makes on-boarding new team members easy, transfers of resources can be managed as relations can be handed over properly.
Just to give examples of how detailed way the data can be stored... one of the office used to maintain not only birthday calendars properly for networking but for each such contact office location will be stored with minute detail, like 6/5/R in contact notes... means not only complex name, but the person is in building number 6, 5th floor, & when you come out of lift take “R for Right”. All these will be updated periodically, systematically.
Team develops so many friends, by helping equally to make relations mutual, CII, FICCI, Consultants, Advisors, Auditors, Industry associations, bankers, PAs, Secretaries, & of course Orkut to Facebook to LinkedIn.
Same way, the network can be used to help your vendors, customers, influencers or at least to give proper advice. Like helping a Maharashtra vendor who is facing problem in Tamil Nadu state, like your customer’s truck-consignment is stuck in North East, can you help through your friend or network. Someone important needs help in getting a difficult Visa. Small-Small things, overcoming, helping overcome language barrier, situation management for others takes relations to next level. An admission advice, an internship advice, a VIP entry or treatment in a temple, guidance on how to bid for a tender, how a department or a company operates, all ethical helps, part of networking.
So, above all, networking is all about giving first, yes, you will reap benefits later, have patience, trust & faith.
All these preparations to achieve that goal of reaching right office-right person in 10 mins.