As a manager, you will work through others to perform diverse tasks and must hold

these individuals accountable while maintaining positive affiliations.

Networking is one of the most obvious and sometimes dreaded challenges aspiring
managers face. Networking means creating a fabric of personal contacts that will
provide support, feedback, insight, resources and information. New managers may
be reluctant to move away from the technical prowess that got them to understand
that building a network is not a distraction but a key part of the job.
Manager need a high level of social capital. Education, prior work history, technical
and task-related knowledge, skills, and abilities are examples of the human capital
that make each of us of value in the workplace. Building human capital is the
investment we make in ourselves to make us marketable. However, to succeed as a
manager, we have to develop social capital which includes the resources available
to an individual as a consequence of his or her personal relationships. Human
capital is about the task. Social capital is about the relationships, it is essential to
the effectiveness and success of a manager. Networking is the primary skill used to
increase an individuals social capital.
1/ Networking is defined as proactive attempts by individuals to develop and
maintain personal and professional relationships with others for the purpose of
mutual benefit in their work or career. Networking is important because
relationships with others are the source of new ideas, job opportunities, business
leads, influence, and social support. Networking relationships are built on trust,
cooperation, collaboration and the willingness to give and receive help.
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Types of personal network:

A professional network is the set of relationships critical to ones ability to get
things done, get ahead and develop personally and professionally.
Work network: is made up of people who are beneficial in making a
managers job more effective and efficient. The size can be small or
large, depending on the manager, the nature of the organization and
the tasks required by the position. Many of the people in this network
are not personally chosen by a manager but end up in the network by
default because they play a role in completing the work for which the
manager is responsible. The people include: internal employees such
as supervisors, direct reports, peers, and people from other
departments. Some outsiders such as vendors, customers, board
members. Regulators and distributors. The level of rapport and trust
you develop with these people gives the work network its power.
Social network: it is through gatherings, interest groups, and events
outside of everyday work that managers can get new perspectives on
their careers and establish a wide variety of contacts, mentors and
coaches. The potential referral you will receive may help you do your
job, advance your career or give you information of value. This diverse
set of contacts can offer ideas, suppliers, customers and suggestions
on how to solve problems.

Career network: one thing that differentiate highly successful

managers from less successful ones is the ability to figure out how to
enlist the help of people and groups to get where they want to go in
their careers. Being able to line up allies and sympathizers, find a
senior person to be a mentor, understand the political landscape and
coordinate efforts with unconnected parties is how the most effective
managers get things done and advance their careers. Successful
networkers use their convincing, negotiating, and motivating skills to
positively influence people in their network to act in a way that
ultimately benefits the careers, business goals and social aspirations of
both parties.

2/ Roles in a network: