MANAGERS today juggle more responsibilities than ever and for many of them networking becomes an afterthought.

Herminia Ibarra, INSEAD Professor of Organisational Behaviour says that is a potentially fatal career mistake. "What you know is who you know," she says and warns that managers who neglect to build their networks risk failing or remaining stuck in middle management.

Ibarra insists that networking is a requirement for business leaders in today's competitive environment. "Other things being equal, what is going to give you an edge? It is the relationships that you have that allow you to augment what you know and allow you to take the 'what you know' and actually to translate it into practice, into something the organisation can use. It makes all the difference."

Three types of networks
There are three types of networks important in business: operational, personal and strategic. While a lot of managers excel at building and using their operational network, they often overlook their personal and strategic networks.

i. Operational networking involves cultivating the relationships with people you need to accomplish your job. This may mean working closely with your Human Resources manager to make sure you hire the right people or developing relationships within other departments to win support for your initiatives.

"This is the network you need to have to basically get things done. It is good relationships with the people in your critical path, your customers, your suppliers, your team members," says Ibarra.

Most people master this skill or they wouldn't be in management. But some managers don't reach out widely enough to build all the relationships they need in the longer term or they miss key changes in overall company priorities because they get bogged down in the day-to-day functions of their jobs.

Photograph: Vipurva Parikh

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e-mail: Herminia Ibarra

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