This article mainly focuses on how leaders create and use networks in their work place for their success in discharging their duties, a skill that non leaders do not posses. This article was written by Herminia Ibara and Mark hunter.
Ibara is a professor of leadership and learning at the University of Insead, Fontainebleau, France and the director of the faculty of leadership initiative, an executive program for managers moving into broader leadership at Insead. She has also written numerous books. Hunter is an investigative journalist and a professor of communications at Insead and has written different books (Ibara and Hunter 108).
The authors while examining the networks which are the personal connections that will provide support, information and resources, found that they are the most challenging for managers who are transitioning into new leadership roles.
When managers move up the ranks, they will be addressing issues that will impact the whole organization and not only their areas of specialization, these new roles require relational tactics, which involves exchange and interaction with the current and potential stakeholders. All these contacts are particularly critical to the new roles of the leader.
The authors identified three different types of networks which are interdependent on each other. They are operational networks, personal networks and strategic networks. Personal networks will help to improve personal development of the manager.
These based on the relationships forged with the immediate superiors, juniors, the peers and outsiders like suppliers and customers who have the potential of supporting or blocking the project. Personal networks are for the purposes of coordinating and cooperation between individuals who know one another when they are accomplishing any task. This form of networking comes almost naturally to most managers (Ibara and Hunter 107).
Operational networks will assist the managers on present internal responsibilities so that they can perform their duties well. These are relationships built outside the inner circles and are established through professional associations, clubs and other interest groups that will serve to advance careers while giving new insights and perspectives. Operational networks serve as an important tool for personal development and can be a convenient point to establish the next network of relationship.
Operational networks are made of flexible connections between people who share or have something in common and are vital for referrals and getting daily tasks done. Strategic networks will help the individual in seeing the new directions of the business, and the stakeholders because this is the inflection point where the manager moves from the functional responsibilities into being a business leader. The concerns at this juncture are the broad business strategic issues.
The relationships established here will be the foundation of information that will enable the leader to achieve both personal and organizational goals. Strategic networks are the most underutilized among the three networking types, yet it is the most important for the success of a manager moving to undertake new responsibilities (Ibara and Hunter 109).
The authors have been studying networking strategies and social networks used by managers for over 20 years and their findings are, the useful and meaningful networks do not happen instantly, but needs time, and all three have to be used to ensure success and not just one or two.
They studied 30 managers for a period of two years who were transitioning into positions of leadership in the organization, and their findings were that those who employed all the three types of networking were successful while those who did not end up failing (Ibara and Hunter 106). These findings support the principles of reciprocity that are common in leadership management to influence followers of a leader.
People find they are obligated to support anybody they are closely associated or share something in common. These networks are based on interpersonal trust because when a person trust another, they are likely to offer support and, therefore, ensuring the success in the transition process. The findings also support the principle of six degrees of separation which simply says there are at least six people connections between one person and another in the world (Ibara and Hunter 108).
On the other hand, over reliance on networks could lead to other problems because not everybody is reliable to give the required and appropriate support and may give some misleading information. Besides, operational networks would address the assigned objectives and not the overall strategic objectives of the organization.
Personal networks are easy to establish and almost comes naturally, but the strategic networks are difficult to establish especially if it involves the superiors in the organization. There is no step by step formula to be followed in order to establish these networks, but they are intuitive based on general guidelines and would largely depend on individuals and situations. This means that they can be extremely hard for some individuals while it may be easy for others (Ibara and Hunter 106).
Finally, this article contains valuable information particularly to any aspiring manager who wants to climb the career ladder by leverage the concept of networks in pursuit of their careers while making solid contributions in their organization. This is because the findings were observable facts on managers working in different organizations and are supported by sound principles of management (Ibara and Hunter 112).
Works Cited
Ibara, Herminia and Hunter, Mark. How Leaders Create and Use Networks. 2007. Harvard Business Review. Web.