Networking at the senior executive level is a lot about building the connections with the right people, at the right time, for the right reason. Whether you are a senior executive in transition or considering a new opportunity, a professional happily employed or consulting and looking for new partnerships and clients, or a recently re-employed businessperson after a challenging job search, it is increasingly more important for senior executives to build and nurture senior-level connections when considering your long-term career objectives and financial goals.
The thoughts and advice below were offered at the September 28 ExecuNet Silicon Valley meeting facilitated by FountainBlue CEO Linda Holroyd, with comments by Al Hulvey from Greetings Manager and the event participants.
Working Definition: Networking is: An Active process of building and managing productive relationships with all of your contacts (Professor Wayne E. Baker from his Networking Smart Book)
Networking during transitions leads to:
Paid better, promoted faster, new jobs quicker (Networking Smart, How to Build Relationships for Personal and Organizational Success, Wayne E. Baker) ,
64% of jobs found by networking (Drake, Beam and Morin, )
68% startup money found by networking (same as above)
How is Networking Different for Executives?
There are fewer events for executives only
Successful executives have built a network for a lifetime; this could work for you, when someone favors you because of a relationship, or against you if someone else who may be less qualified gets chosen for a position because of a relationship
More sense of reciprocity for executives
Senior executives sometimes find it awkward to network with less junior people
There are fewer executives in general.
The executives are really busy and time is more valuable for them
Why is Networking for Executives More Important Now?
The world is a more complex place. Having a extensive network helps busy executives better understand the trends and keep up with the times.
The tenure for jobs is now 3.8 years, less for senior executives. This means that as many as 15% to 20% of qualified executives sit on the sidelines
The Art of Networking
Everyone has his own style
Reasons for a successful connection vary depending on who you’re working with
Random chance is a factor
Sometimes you find your connections in the strangest places!
The Science of Networking
Understanding your objectives and developing a plan will increase your probability of success
The more you build your network, the more likely your network will continue to grow. The larger your network, the more likely you can leverage it to serve your needs, and that of others in your network
The better you plan and prepare, the more likely you are to succeed
Five Keys to Executive Networking
Your Reputation Matters - Be professional, Be courteous and gracious, Be thankful, Be helpful
Know Your Objectives and Make a Plan to Achieve Them
Follow Through
Build on Successes. Networking is for life, not just for the objective you set for today
It’s Not All About You - Just as important as what’s in it for you is what’s in it for the other party
Managing Organizational Change for Today’s Leaders
Notes for FountainBlue Presentation 8/24/06
by Pat Obuchowski
How can we, as change leaders, manage change and what skills do we need to make the change smooth (as much as is possible)?
According to William Bridges, author of Managing Transitions, when management introduces change, it needs to provide employees with the four P’s: the Purpose (the reason behind the change), the Picture (what will the expected outcome look like?), the Plan (how will we get from here to there), and the Part (what part will the employees play?).
Involve everyone…especially yourself. Jump in….you must be involved.
Clear sense of purpose and mission. The simpler the better.
Be Committed as the leader
Be the watchdog and fire up people for support
Find Allies and Build ‘Change Champions’ and "Paradigm shifters" in your top managers and others. Do not leave it up to HR to manage this change
Maintain a flat organization team structure. Rely on minimal and informal reporting requirements
Make plans, but hold your plans loosely. Know they may need to change
Build a cross-functional team to monitor the change and to see where the problems are. Ask for volunteers. You’ll be surprised at who will show up. This team is a great place to put the ‘nay-sayers’ of the change.
Remember resistance is a natural part of change. People fear uncertainty. The questions always arise: Why do we have to change if the old way is working? What will happen to me after the change? What if I don’t fit into the new way? What if I become obsolete?
Deal with questions honestly and if you don’t know…say so.
Acknowledge people’s fears. Let them get used to the new situation and encourage and reinforce them for their efforts. Don’t force acceptance.
Realize there’s a tension between getting ready for the change and implementing quickly. Don’t stretch out the ‘getting ready’ phase.
Win Employee’s support Provide considerable amounts of training and staff development for those involved. These activities can include everything from skills training to ‘on-the-move’ coaching.
Be flexible and toss out the rule book. You must have the ability to drop what you’re doing and move to something more critical. Treat everything as a temporary measure. During this time, it is.
Find a common language.
Reward ‘problem finding’. (Fred Nikols, Change Management 101) A situation requiring action but in which the required action is not known. (Problem vs. opportunity) Identify and settle on a course of action.
Concentrate dispersed knowledge. Start and maintain an ‘issues’ log. Let anyone go anywhere and talk about anything. Keep communications barriers low and information flowing fast.
Treat everything as temporary. Don’t ‘finalize’ until the last minute and then insist on your right to change your mind.
Be prepared for implementation dip. Know things often get worse temporarily before improvement begins to appear.
Assess. Assess. Assess. Keep assessing the situation. Keep assessing what’s being said and what’s not being said. Keep assessing your effectiveness as a change leader.
Acknowledge the mess. Remember, managing change is about bringing order to a messy situation. It is not a time to pretend that it is already organized and disciplined.
If things look chaotic, relax! Trust they are.
Reinforce the change. Some people may relax back into old ways. Keep the pressure up until you are sure the new habits are well-established.
CONCLUSION: How do you Manage Change? The same way you’d manage anything else of a turbulent, messy, chaotic nature. You don’t really manage it, you grapple with it. It’s more a matter of leadership ability than management skill.
QUOTE by Robert C. Gallagher: "Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine."
QUOTE by Andre Gide "One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
Other Words of Advice on Managing Change, Volunteered by the Executives in Attendance
Create Trust and Credibility with Frequent and Honest Communications (needs to happen first)
Look to the leader to drive change
Leaders Articulate the Vision
Vision comes from the top, tactics from the bottom
Leaders Change course as necessary
Leaders Plan and prepare but are flexible
Walk the talk
Get Buy-In
Explain why change needs to happen
Consider 'WIIFM', the 'What's In It for Me' Syndrome
Roles and Responsibilities
Road Map
Mutual Benefits
Leaders consider multiple factors when managing change
Consider the size and state of the organization when managing/planning/executing changeThere's a difference between collaborative and unilateral change
Notes from July 27, 2006 Meeting:
Strategic Execution for Today's Executives
Comments by Dave Mathisen, Virnoche-Frigon Group
Strategic Vision an over-used term, but it means "seeing" the real situation, or having Situational Awareness: a true picture of the terrain, enemy, and friendly conditions. Most applicable when you must make decisions under conditions of uncertainty in which failure carries significant cost.
Develop vision by
Deciding what are the important metrics of your particular business that may change (for example, "cost versus quality" or "timeliness versus completeness" or "volume versus cost").
Based on your analysis, envision the most likely scenarios (more than one) that could arise based on the terrain (the different possible business or economic conditions) and the enemy (your competition) and then create specific courses of action for your organization.
Based on your analysis, decide what specific information you will need in order to decide which conditions are actually developing when you begin to execute. Identify that information and assign someone specific responsibility for watching for that particular information.
Clearly communicate the vision ('I know' perspective) Situational Understanding
Align team to it ('I care')
Provide resources to team ('I can') - Have tools, resources and information to best assess the current conditions
Situational Dominance: The ability to quickly move the entire organization to the best course of action for the real conditions.
Be able to quickly communicate to the team whenever someone discovers the critical information you were watching for to confirm a course of action.
Have a system for rapidly communicating to everyone that you are switching to a different course of action. Ideally, they already know what that course of action is because your organization identified it as a possibility in advance (Situational Awareness) and put out some details about it (ensured prior Situational Understanding).
Be process-driven, but event controlled
Notes from June 22, 2006 Meeting:
Salary Negotiation Strategies for Executives
Comments by Jay Michlin
General Rules of Negotiating
Do your homework
Do your homework (yes, this is duplicated)
Think through a BATNA – Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement
Winning is about getting what you want. It is not about somehow "beating" the other person.
Win-Win if possible; otherwise the other fellow must lose
You are negotiating an exchange of value. Price is only one component, and maybe the least important. Do not be confused.
Repeat after me: "It’s just business." Do not get emotional (except as a gambit)
Some Gambits – Yours and theirs
Appeal to a higher power (Legal, Policy, Insurance, HR, "My Wife"…)
Appeal to fairness (They will seek equity compared to your colleagues)
The Vise -- "You'll have to do better than that." Don’t forget to smile!
The flinch – directed emotion
The silent close
Components of a Compensation Package
1. Base salary
Don’t overemphasize
Freely and assertively discuss ranges
Ideally make it the last part of the discussion
2. Incentive ("bonus") and terms for payment
Room for lots of discussion
Emphasizes your confidence in your own performance
3. Stock options and vesting provisions
Requires Board approval
Becoming controversial and politicized
4. Stock grants and vesting provisions
Requires Board approval
The May 25, 2006 session of ExecuNet Silicon Valley was on Leveraging Social Networks in an Executive Job Search. See http://www.fountainblue.biz/images/Social_Networking.ppt for the PowerPoint presentation for the event. Below are notes from this ExecuNet sessions.
LinkedIn and other tools are great, but there's no substitute for face-to-face networking
It's important to network with people from different roles within an organization and from different types of organizations
Seek endorsements for your past work
Connect directly people who are currently two degrees away from you (connections of the people currently in your network)
It might be worthwhile to connect with people who have more than 500 people in their networks
Err on the side of caution regarding your policy for making connections
There are static and dynamic ways to use LinkedIn
Use LinkedIn for titles and contacts only, not necessary for 'referrals'
It's interesting to see how these tools will evolve over the next three years
Consider the overall strategy you'd like to adopt, and in that context, see how the tools fit into those strategies
Use LinkedIn as a channel in a job search or sales campaign
Consider the ethical implications of social networking tools before using them enthusiastically. Do they compromise privacy? Are they permission-based?
Questions for the table topic discussions are listed below.
How have you used social networking tools, and how will you change the way you’re using them?
What are your thoughts on LinkedIn Etiquette?
What is your plan, if any, for growing your LinkedIn database?
What if the tables were turned and YOU were the person approached by someone in transition. How will you handle it? What’s in it for you to help?
Given that this may not be your last job search, how will you proactively manage your relationships going forward?
Have you ever successfully found a job as a result of a consulting contract? Is there an opportunity for you to do that this time and if so, describe how to make it happen.
Contract out to companies with similar skills requirement but not the headcount. Company must fit your requirements/culture
Can also consult back to your company if you were laid off