Career Stories & Articles
Book Review
Networking Smart
By Wayne Baker
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It’s
not what you know; it’s who you know.
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Those
who build strong internal relationships tend to gain greater recognition.
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Knowing
your job is not enough, it is important to know how your work impacts
others at NASA
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Where
technical knowledge can become obsolete, organizational knowledge will
always be important
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The
ability to read and understand trends helps build job security.
Cliques? Not according to Dr. Wayne Baker in Networking Smart, a timely book which both argues the need for strong internal contact relationships and provides an easy to follow format for building a network.
Baker, a professor of business policy and sociology
at the University of Chicago, is a firm believer that those who become
successful at work do so by honing the art of developing, maintaining and
using people networks. The
advice provided is especially important for the technical community at
NASA. “In the beginning of
a career, technical skills are enough and success is based on individual
achievement,” Baker writes. “But,
as we move on in our careers, technical skills just aren’t enough.
Success depends more and more on relationship skills.”
Although much of this book is written from the perspective of
managers building networks, it is an important primer for those looking
longer term at manager or senior individual contributor positions.
The book is split into three parts.
In Part One, Baker provides a brief history of how the view of
internal networking is changing from the mentality of “winning the
deal” to building relationships for the longer term.
He also explains Five Networking Principles, useful information for
anyone not sure they are “outgoing” enough to build strong networks.
He then provides an overview of different places for one to
network, both internal and external to the organization.
Most readers will find the book’s second section on
managing internal relationships the most useful in this book.
Chapter 4, “Managing Up, Down and Sideways,” and Chapter 5,
“Bottlenecks and Bridges” are filled with important tips for NASA
staff. Baker cites a
“secret formula” which works with all levels of an organization,
building a mutual understanding, understanding the mutual benefit of the
relationship and building an informal relationship contract.
For example, with managing sideways, one of the three
relationships covered in the chapter, Baker argues that lateral
relationships are more important than ever.
Despite natural barriers of departments and technical knowledge,
peers must cooperate to achieve results. He recommends tracing your
workflow to identify key peers and resources to understand the
interdependence people have. Who
are your internal suppliers? What resources do you get from them? What do
you need from each other? This
understanding will help one trace work beyond the individual silo.
Chapter Five’s “Bottlenecks and Bridges” provides a roadmap
for improving information flow and building interdependent relationships.
The book’s third section encourages the reader to
reach outside the organization to gather information about customers,
clients and suppliers as a way of integrating new information and ideas
and techniques into one’s daily tasks.
Networking
Smart
provides important tools, suggestions and case studies to help individuals
build strong contact networks.
