Yesterday, I had the pleasure of participating in a lecture and workshop led by Grzegorz Turniak, the legend of networking in Poland, at Kozminski University. His 18 years of experience and over 2,000 workshops were evident throughout the entire event, and his deep insights gave me some high-quality food for thought.
He reminds me of transformational leaders, such as Noah Idechong from Palau, who once said - "Other people offer solutions, while I offer dialogues" (Zolli & Healy, 2012).
You may be surprised how important maintaining a healthy social network is for the resilience of both individuals and entire communities. It is therefore a good idea to engage in networking activities and learn techniques to feel comfortable and be effective in this area.
Below I share my key takeaways from the meeting with Grzegorz.
Networking is a Competence That Can Be Learned
Both extraverts and introverts can make great networkers. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you choose the right approach for yourself.
Givers Gain
This motto from Grzegorz's presentation encourages you to be proactive and share with your community. He mentioned that for every ten acts of giving, you might receive two in return. It is not necessarily balanced, but still worth the effort, and being a giver in society is a source of great satisfaction.
Checklist
Grzegorz is my soulmate in this regard; he uses checklists and is a warm supporter of The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right. I cannot stress enough how important a set of standards is to personal and organizational ability to improvise. It is very encouraging for me to see the best experts in the country using checklists in work that is very creative in nature.
Be curious
A recipe for being an interesting person is to be curious about others. Very simple, yet too often we think about making ourselves interesting by talking. I wrote about over-talking recently in "Let's Have Some Resilient Fun: When Technically Correct Isn't Useful.", and I am very happy to see another benefit of being a good listener. Another aspect of curiosity is tacit knowledge, which is often restricted in official channels. This knowledge is more accessible to those who ask questions, interact, and are open to other perspectives.
Social Networks at the Core of Community Resilience
According to Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy in Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back, the capacity of a community to bounce back cannot be imposed from above; it must be nurtured within the social structures and relationships that govern people's everyday lives.
It is emphasising the role of networking in creation of resilient communities. Networking helps to build social capital, diversity and interconnections, which are all critical for the collective resilience.
A social network is also considered an important tool for personal resilience, therefore networking strengthens both you and your social group. Networkers improve resilience across dimensions; one can argue that it has a powerful social benefit in addition to improving our chances of finding a job, soul mate, or whatever else we are seeking.
Thank you for an inspirational evening! I will certainly try to become a better networker!
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