Articles
Published December 1999
Networking is the Future!
Times have changed. It's not what you know, but who you know that is important. We have to become more aware of the role of networking in the future. An article in The New York Times describes a new breed of executive, so new they've invented a name for them, the CLO, or Corporate Learning Officer. Their job? Encouraging employees to share knowledge, networking! The growth of information and the often huge size of companies make the task difficult, and because the stakes are high, a growing number of corporations including Coca- Cola, Cigna, Hewlett-Packard, and Monsanto are hiring CLO's and paying them salaries between $300,000 and $700,000. If networking is the way of the future, you have to become plugged in and keep the wires humming!
Networking is the future, and your future will only be guaranteed if you learn to network. The following Ten Points are the way of the future:
- NETWORKING WILL BECOME A HIRING POINT - Employers may ask prospective employees to take exams about networking, or demonstrate through role playing their ability to network.
- NETWORKING AS A SKILL - Many large organizations today are impersonal. It is easy to get lost in the crowd. If you know how to network, soon everyone knows you. You become a linchpin for the company. In order to gain the most from your job opportunities, good networking skills will be required.
- NETWORKING WILL BE TAUGHT IN TRAINING PROGRAMS - Large and small firms will include courses and seminars in networking in their training programs. Networking will be recognized as an important business skill. Some firms already have role playing activities in which the trainee is asked: "What would you do if....?? Networking programs will be similar." "Where would you go to get the following information....??"
- NETWORKING WILL BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS - Not long ago business schools stressed statistics, finance and economics. Now more soft course are being introduced, among them are Stress Management, Organizational Behaviour, and Relationship Building. Networking (another name for relationship building) will become an important part of most school curriculum and will be an entire course by itself.
- NETWORKING WILL BECOME MORE FORMALIZED - You may not realize how many networks, both formal and informal that you are part of. As networking becomes a more recognized and appreciated skill, your personal network (church, school, hobby) will become more valuable.
- NETWORKING WILL BECOME MORE SPECIALIZED - Long ago we saw "unclassified ads" soliciting everything from pets to people. Today we see "classified ads" channeling our needs into recognizable sectors. Networking will become more discriminatory and specialized, classifying leads by category. Your networks will become valuable assets and should be listed on your resume.
- PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING ORGANIZATIONS WILL ABOUND - Networking organizations could be the next set of "yellow pages". By joining specific associations you could have access to a wide variety of information and an invaluable list of personal contacts. Fee for use may apply and " a return on investment", should be done before joining.
- NETWORKING WILL KEEP COMPETITIVE BUSINESSES IN BUSINESS - Getting together to get ahead will be a highly valued skill for any business. Strategic Alliances and joint ventures will be the networking wave of the future. Isolationism and refusal to network will drive some business and industry down.
- NETWORKING RELATIONSHIPS WILL DETERMINE PROFITABILITY - It pays to cooperate, remember Macy's and Gimbal's broke tradition in Miracle on 34th Street, by co-operating rather than competing, and both ended up with the greatest Christmas profits ever!.
- NETWORKING WILL CREATE BALANCE - Professionally and personally our networks will become intertwined. Good networking skills will create a balance between the warm personal contacts and the impersonal aspects of a business connection. Networking will provide a strong bridge that will link effectively the personal and professional networks we will need to survive in the next millennium.
