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

Strategic
Connections

The New Face of Networking
in a Collaborative World

Anne Baber, Lynne Waymon,
Andr Alphonso, and Jim Wylde

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Baber, Anne

Strategic connections : the new face of networking in a collaborative world / Anne Baber, Lynne Waymon, Andr Alphonso, and Jim Wylde.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8144-3496-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 0-8144-3496-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8144-3497-0 (ebook) 1. Business communication. 2. Interpersonal communication. 3. Business networks. I. Title.

HF5718.B333 2015
650.1'3dc23

2014026198

2015 Anne Baber, Lynne Waymon, Andr Alphonso, and Jim Wylde.
All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

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About AMA

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Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Todd, a real Renaissance man: The day you joined the company was our lucky day. Youve got it allthe creative spark, the technical smarts, and the generous heart. Our deepest thanks for your superlative support and positive touch all along the way. And for the Scrabble games in between all the work, too.

Anne and Lynne

Heres 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 youre a CEO or an employee, you have a new role to playand new opportunities for contributing to your organizations success. Strategic Connections shows you how to commit to this new networker identity.

But, to become a player in the new environment, youll need more than the mindset. Youll need to master advanced face-to-face skills. Whats the value of face to face? Trust. Without trust, the collaboration needed to excel in todays environment is very unlikely.

We know something about this topic. Since 1990, weve 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.

FIGURE P1. The Big Picture

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 youre 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.

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,
Andr Alphonso, and Jim Wylde

FIGURE P2. The 8 Competencies for the Network-Oriented Workplace

NETWORKING IS recognized as a professional competency you need no matter where you work, what your job title, or what your level. As the Network-Oriented Workplace emerges, you will be called on to use the power of your networks in a new wayto influence and impact the growth and success of your organization.

Strategic Connections helps you answer questions like, What does this mean about the way I approach my job? How does this change the way I build relationships and collaborate in the workplace? Have you heard the call for collaboration in your organization? If you havent yet, its sure to come in the not-too-distant future.