Strategic Connections: The New Face of Networking in a Collaborative World

by Anne Baber, Lynne Waymon, Andre Alphonso, Jim Wylde Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

Overview

Today's organizations are collaborative. With old command-and-control methods replaced by openness and transparency, networking has become an essential professional skill-expected of everyone, at every level.

Unveiling eight indispensable competencies for the new Network-Oriented Workforce, Strategic Connections provides practical advice for building better, more productive business relationships. Readers will discover how to:

Commit to a positive, proactive networking mindset ¿ Align networking activities with individual and organizational objectives ¿ Leverage their contacts by organizing them into strategic groups ¿ Earn trust-a prerequisite for collaboration ¿ Boost their social acumen and increase their likeability ¿ Master conversational skills and deepen interactions ¿ Employ storytelling to make communications memorable ¿ Use networking to deliver value to the company

Thanks to technology, new contacts are only a click away. But the level of connection and collaboration required for real success demands advanced face-to-face relationship-building skills. This book gives you the tools you need to meet goals, execute strategies, foster innovation, and make yourself invaluable to your organization.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

For virtually all professionals, networking is fast becoming a fundamental competency. This is an exceptionally useful and practical guide based on research and experience.” —Joyce Lain Kennedy, syndicated columnist

“We found the idea that you can have not just one, but four networks…to be a fascinating and useful refinement of the whole concept.” —Accounting Today

“…gives you the tools you need to meet goals, execute strategies, foster innovation, and make yourself invaluable to your company…strongly recommended.” —The Midwest Book Review

“…provides practical advice for building better, more productive business relationships.” —New Equipment Digest

“..highly recommend it to all those who aspire to achieve their professional goals and who want to support the mission of their organizations.” —Strategic Finance

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171445423
Publisher:	Ascent Audio
Publication date:	02/01/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

PREFACE

The Overwhelming Case for Face to Face

Here's the challenge: Network with a new purpose, collaborate in ways you never have before, and impact your organization. A new paradigm is emerging, a paradigm we call the Network-Oriented Workplace.

In the new workplace, whether you're a CEO or an employee, you have a new role to play—and new opportunities for contributing to your organization's success. Strategic Connections shows you how to commit to this new networker identity.

But, to become a player in the new environment, you'll need more than the mindset. You'll need to master advanced face-to-face skills. What's the value of face to face? Trust. Without trust, the collaboration needed to excel in today's environment is very unlikely.

We know something about this topic. Since 1990, we've been talking about, thinking about, and training people in face-to-face networking. A wide variety of corporate, academic, and government organizations have been not only our clients, but also our proving ground for the state-of-the-art tools and techniques presented in this, our eighth, book.

The Way to Collaboration

Figure P—1, The Big Picture, depicts the only route to collaboration. There are no shortcuts. Start reading at the bottom and work your way up. Equipped with The 8 Competencies for the Network-Oriented Workplace (see Figure P—2), you can move along to teach your contacts, both inside and outside the organization, to trust you. With trust, you can advance to relationships that are more productive and useful. As these relationships progress, your networks are energized. With your networking contacts, you connect, converse, and ultimately collaborate. (Many leaders assume—and it's a huge misconception—that most people instinctively know how to take these steps and that there are no skills that can speed you onward. Those assumptions simply are not true.)

Chapters 1 through 8 are devoted to helping you acquire each of these competencies, and each chapter is filled with examples, tips, tools, strategies, and stories to help you learn. Mastering these skills will assure that you're able to use networking to make the strategic connections you need to achieve your goals at work, in your career, and for the wider organization.

Make an Impact

In the new Network-Oriented Workplace, you direct your networking efforts to impact the big organizational issues.

• Your collaboration impacts strategy execution, speeding responsiveness and improving productivity.

• Your collaboration impacts innovation, prompting more risk taking, thinking outside the box, and experimenting.

• Your collaboration impacts engagement, raising satisfaction and eliciting your best.

• Your collaboration impacts competitiveness, streamlining processes, bringing in the business, and keeping and expanding the current client base.

This book is your guide for creating your success, as well as contributing to the success of your organization, by developing the networking skills that drive 21st-century collaborative workplaces.

—Anne Baber, Lynne Waymon,

André Alphonso, and Jim Wylde

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