Access the essential membership for Modern Managers
Aim
This exercise demonstrates a simple technique designed to help you understand your network more precisely – and learn how to shape it more fully to advantage your career.
‘Never work uphill! Instead, work in the most promising arena.’ [1]
Managing your career successfully requires continual and widespread support from individuals representing a wide range of interests. Gaining such support from complete strangers is difficult. It is here, therefore, that formal and informal contacts come into their own, rapidly repaying the time and effort spent establishing them in the first place.
Task
Task 1: Make a list of as many of your contacts as you can in the ‘table of contacts’ at the bottom of this page. Use address books, digital databases, etc. to refresh your memory. Confine yourself to those contacts who may be useful to your career, but ensure you note down even those you are not sure about.
To help you identify potential contacts, consider:
a) sources of power (e.g. those with decision-making accountability, knowledge and contacts)
b) sources of expertise
c) potential advocates (e.g. key players that the majority hold in high regard)
Go down the list and mark the role your contacts are likely to play in your career management (for example they might be a source of information, know of job vacancies, or have numerous useful contacts). Note how close the contact is to you in the next column. 1 signifies an immediate contact, and 3 a more distant contact.
