In this incredibly fast-paced business and economic landscape we can no longer do it alone – realistically, we never could, we just thought we could.
Businesswoman, entrepreneur and author Janine Garner shows how to harness networking and collaboration to future-proof your success.
Building a powerful and diverse network, your own personal tribe, is a critical ‘must have’ within the new operating system of commercial collaboration. Moving from the isolated ‘Me’ space to the collaborative ‘We’ space will future proof careers, leadership and your own personal success.
A powerful and diverse network drives your success. It:
• creates new opportunity for growth
• stretches, pushes, drives and inspires you
• enables you to contribute and influence more and leverage your position further
This ‘We’ space of commercial collaboration requires courage, confidence and bravery and is one where:
• Networks of connected individuals, communities and businesses work together to drive success
• We can bring our skills, strengths and talents to the table and together amplify and share expertise to create progressive, results-oriented solutions
• Collective intelligence means we work smarter and quicker together
• Diversity and difference of opinion is actually the new competitive advantage
Networking, connecting, meeting, doing coffee, lunch dates and even speed connecting – all these terms are synonymous with meeting others to drive skill sets, contacts and ongoing business and personal growth. And however much you might want to hide under the white tablecloths of a corporate breakfast, powerful and effective networking has evolved and is now a business must for all who want to forge ahead.
It’s not simply about building up a Rolodex of business cards (or, more accurately, a smart phone full of virtual ones), a mass of LinkedIn contacts or a significant number of social media followers. It’s about a true meeting of minds and skill sets, and skillfully parlaying said meetings into long-range successful relationships.
Networking is a must-have for successful collaboration, and diversity of that network is the tipping point between average connections and those that collaborate to create magic. The cross-fertilisation of connections, skills and brainpower, and the ideas that are openly discussed and shared through network creation, in their turn create new opportunities, innovation and new solutions to existing problems. It’s a domino effect – the way your initial networks interact provides a guideline for the subsequent or flow-on networks that spring up from these collaborations. They will only benefit from your experience and way of working together.
Success through collaboration
The most innovative businesses and organisations are finding that collaboration and effective and powerful networking are giving them an edge.
So, how do you find, build and manage a diverse network? How do you gain entry to a true circle of excellence that will work with you and not against you? Because, let’s face it, there are still ladder-kickers out there.
The critical element of a powerful network that can become your lifeline, and is an absolute must-have for successful collaboration, is diversity.
Building an effective and powerful network is so much more than finding a safe like-minded tribe. It requires:
• diversity
• a width and breadth of contacts
• a willingness to embrace the opportunity that exists in differences
• an understanding that you may not always agree with or understand certain points of view, but that through the connection you build awareness and knowledge
An effective network is a diverse network that consists of people with differing levels of:
• expertise
• age
• gender
• experience
Powerful networks are those that are cross-functional and cross-industry. Think about it.
A like-minded network limits the breadth of conversation. Lawyers sit in a room with lawyers sharing their legal experience from the industry of law. CEOs play golf with CEOs, fashion industry PR experts mingle with other fashion industry PR experts. Imagine the colour of the conversation if instead you had lawyers, accountants, creatives, athletes, marketers and business owners discussing the various solutions to a problem. Imagine the different perspectives shared, the varying insights, the depth of conversation that would stretch thinking and push perspective wider.
Diverse connections:
• challenge thinking
• drive further questions
• push boundaries
• increase awareness
• open our eyes to another way
• bring to the forefront opportunities that were previously not in the direct line of vision
• present solutions that were not previously on the radar
• create innovations that were once not thought possible
Who do you need to surround yourself with to inspire you and your business to achieve more? As Jim Rohn said, ‘You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.’
A powerful network is one that consists of people who:
• have similar mindsets but diverse experience
• will stretch thinking and push boundaries
• realise the power of sharing ideas and of coming together
• value-add to each other’s businesses through the power of plural perspectives
Those who are willing to be a part of a collaborative working environment are doing so because they want to be challenged. They want the opportunity to constantly learn from others, and to share what they’ve learnt. To engage on an intellectually challenging level with like-minded thinkers. To see their own business benefit from the knowledge of specialists. To be happy knowing that they are on the edge of technological advancement, constantly pushing the ‘what if’ button — because as a team, they feel secure enough to take risks.
The concept of commercial collaboration and the move from the ‘Me’ space to the ‘We’ space and way of thinking is not something for the faint-hearted. It’s for those who can see the far-reaching benefits of what the ‘We’ space is about – and yes, it is a gradual move, which involves challenging thinking. But it is not something that one has to contemplate in solitude.
Understanding the power of your network and using its potential is intrinsic to the ‘We’ mentality. To care about the wellbeing of those who are connected to you through business similarities, or ethical focus, or a desire to advance the same cause — and expecting nothing in return – this creates a fantastic opportunity for collaborative relationships, and also for a true value exchange, where ‘what’s in it for Me’ turns into ‘what can I do for you’.
The ‘We’ space
The ‘We’ space is not a pipedream. There are businesses and leaders who are clearly succeeding by operating within this framework. It is the centre of discussion among academics, thought leaders and consulting groups. Those corporations and entrepreneurs who are using the space well, and understanding the shift in thinking, needed to get there. They are seeing procedures streamlined, the bottom line coming up, and employees more engaged and happier. Their ‘communities’ are becoming communities without the inverted commas.
It is not enough, in the words of the amazing Sheryl Sandberg, to ‘lean in’ for future-proofing our success, our businesses and our careers. As leaders who are taking teams into an uncertain future it’s now about leaning out and collaborating with others. Because to lean out means to embrace and engage on an unforeseen aggregated level – where thinking bigger than ever before will bring rewards to a collective commercial mind.
The barriers between genders, between generations, between cultures, between the inventors and the investors, between the change makers, the visionaries and those that make it happen – these all have to be broken down.
This is all part of the evolution of Me to We. This is all a part of collaborative business.
Commercial collaboration is the key to future-proofing business, leadership, careers and success.
This is not about a revolution; it’s about evolution.