The Power Of Networking Now

The nature of networking is changing. The cultural shift from competition to collaboration and the ubiquity of social media are shaking things up – Abigail McDougall tells you how to adapt to networking 2.0

- Abigail McDougall

There are two types of people: those who’ve hidden in the bathroom at a conference, paralysed with fear, and those who haven’t and wouldn’t understand why anyone would do that. As a reluctant networker, I’ve always found the activity uncomfortably competitive. A packed room becomes a race to meet the most people and ‘connect’ with the most valuable influencers in the space; it’s you against everyone else who wants to talk to the guest speaker. We’re taught that networking requires confidence and assertiveness (and, if need be, you should fake it ’till you make it), but the way we network is becoming less and less individualistic.

IT’S NOT A COMPETITION ANY MORE

Writing for Forbes, entrepreneur and innovation advisor Greg Satell explains, ‘Today, competitive advantage is driven not by the resources you control, but by those you can access. Increasingly, rather than owning resources and capabilities outright, we use platforms to access ecosystems of technology, talent and information. The path to success no longer lies in clawing your way to the top of the heap, but in nudging your way to the centre of the network.’

Tania Habimana, entrepreneur and co-founder of business accelerator Nonzero, agrees that collaboration is the way forward. ‘The meaning of Nonzero is win-win collaboration. It’s taken from game theory: zero-sum = somebody wins, somebody loses. Nonzero-sum = everybody wins, or everybody loses.’ The new networking replaces competing for resources with the ‘everybody wins’ approach of sharing them. ‘We are able to reach more people, tap into more expertise and make more noise about our activities, which in turn allows us to drive more impact,’ she says.

BE A COLLABORATOR FIRST, A NETWORKER SECOND