How Managing Healthy Networks Drives Success: A Balancing Act

While gender diversity is a proven winning strategy in all types of organizations, gender diversity is still lacking in many organizational settings. To better understand this contradiction, Inga Carboni, Rob Cross, Aaron Page, and Andrew Parker analyzed 15 years of research on the organizational networks of more than 30 organizations and 16,500 people. In “Invisible Network Drivers of Women’s Success” they explored this research specifically in terms of which network drivers enabled some women to be more successful (regardless of whether or not they were in the majority) than others.

What struck me immediately about this article was that it was not titled “How Successful Business People Manage Their Networks”, but instead “How Women Manage Their Networks Differently”. To me, the distinction is paramount.

Imagine a Venn diagram, where one circle represents Best Practices and the other represents Traits of Successful Business Women. The space in the middle where those two contexts overlap is where I imagine these Network Drivers to exist. 

In other words, there’s a sweet spot, an important balance to strike between what is simply the best way of doing something, completely free of gender identification, and what has to work specifically for you since you are a woman in the workplace. I think it’s really easy for us to fall heavily into one camp or another, and I think we do ourselves (and the organization) a disservice by doing so, because both are of equal importance and can be simultaneously true.

The Carboni et al research found four key networking drivers—“sweet spots”—that successful women manage differently than their less successful counterparts:

• Boundary-spanning
• Efficiency
• Stickiness
• Trust (and energy building)

Boundary-Spanning
When building and nurturing your network, be aware of the importance that it is boundary-spanning. The research shows that women foster tight-knit networks, which doesn’t necessarily lend itself to increased exposure and/or effectiveness. There is no need to abandon your tight-knit network, and in fact the sweet spot requires that you maintain it! But it also requires that you also put focus and energy on boundary-spanning relationships. Boundary-spanning includes relationships that cross functionalities, cross geography within the same/similar function(s), informal mentor/mentee relationships, and relationships with sponsors. If you consider your network today, is it more heavily weighted by strong, tight-knit connections? If so, it may be time to consider expanding!

Efficiency
This came as no surprise to me, but women are more likely to be sought by their coworkers for information and advice but less likely to seek it out on their own. What I heard when I read that was; as women, we are the problem-solvers. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll spend the time to find it. While resourceful, that doesn’t lend itself to being efficient. And while we’re busy finding the answer, our male counterparts are busy getting more accomplished. An organization needs both to survive; it requires those people who will dig deep, unearth the answers, and relay them to their team. And it also requires others to keep the ship rowing forward. I think the sweet spot falls in our internal ability to recognize the tipping point – when have we spent time past the point of return searching for the answer? When is it time to engage other resources and/or members of our team? Protect your time and your ability to be efficient as much as you protect your ability to find the answer/bring resolution. It’s a constant balancing act between your effectiveness and your ability to be efficient.

Stickiness
In a nutshell, the research shows that women’s relationships are more likely to maintain and grow stronger over-time in comparison to their male colleagues. As human beings, connectedness is important to us, and if you’re using the research you could argue it’s especially important to women. As professionals, these deeper connections can also present as sticking points. The sweet spot: keep it fresh and make it purposeful. There’s no need to abandon your existing network, but ensure it is evolving with the context and pace of your life, career, and goals.

Trust (and Energy-Building)
According to this research, the most predictive quality of a high performer is one’s ability to energize those around you. And the most supreme thing you can do to energize is build trust. Those two traits are indicative of high-performers no matter your gender, but how you accomplish them is where the sweet-spot is nestled. Part of that sweet-spot is made up of what the article refers to as competence-based trust. In other words, prove to others they can trust you as a colleague to do your job well, be a woman of your word, and act as a team-player. Also included in the sweet-spot is your ability to create energy in any given moment. This, like all sweet-spot characteristics, should be authentic to who you are while operating in ways that are proven to be effective. Humor, for example, is a suggested way of driving energy. But if your sense of humor doesn’t translate, or you’re uncomfortable using humor in the given context, then find other ways of energizing those around you that is authentic to who you are.

I strongly encourage you to read the Carboni et al article in full. It offers valuable research, insights, and tips into both best practices overall, as well as what women can/should do specifically to enhance their abilities to be impactful, successful and fulfilled. But just like any offered advice, take the time to reflect on how you could make it best work for you. Perhaps you can start by noticing how much and in what ways you are already practice each of the four key networking drivers in a typical workday, and how you can best weave in other drivers that you feel could be beneficial

Information contained in the newsletter may appear externally on the Web.  If you have concerns, please contact Caroline Weilert.