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Build a Spider Web

Evaluate Your Working Relationships

WORK IS BASICALLY A SERIES of relationships. Everyone you work with represents a distinct connection, and collectively your connections represent your working network. Because networks are fluid, every time you interact with someone you have a chance to build a stronger relationship, and when you meet someone new, you have the opportunity to add to your network. A strong network can help advance your career. So are you doing everything you can to build your network? What’s that? You’re too busy to work on your professional network? I used to say that too. I was focused on getting work done, not meeting or reconnecting with colleagues and peers. I didn’t have time for people that weren’t in my immediate line of sight. But that’s a mistake that can have major consequences. We all need to pay attention to our networks, because we never know when we’re going to need them.

Every day you have dozens of chances to turn acquaintances into colleagues, colleagues into friends, and friends into true business partners that will help you succeed. There’s no question about it—relationships matter, especially for leaders who have to get things done. The more high-quality relationships you have, the more effective you’ll be as a leader. You need these people to be successful, because you can’t wave a magic wand and invent an entirely new network (unless of course you leave your job and start fresh elsewhere—but that’s a subject for a future chapter).

Assess the Quality of Your Relationships

Here’s a simple exercise to assess the quality of your relationships, and in turn, determine where you have work to do to further your development as a leader. Draw the following web diagram on a large sheet of paper: Write your name in the middle of a rectangle and draw five increasingly larger rings around it on the page. Label the outermost ring “Excellent” and the corresponding rings (moving toward the center of the page) as follows: “Very Good,” “Good,” “OK,” and “Poor.” Now, consider the people you know and place them somewhere on the diagram. Go deep into your network when doing this exercise; list everyone you can think of. The typical leader might have up to forty or fifty names on the diagram. Your best friend with whom you eat lunch every day goes on the “Excellent” ring. You seem to have clicked with that new colleague—put her on the “Good” ring for now. The manager in your department that you always seem to be competing with—be honest, you probably could improve that relationship; better put him in the “Poor” category. That vendor that has helped build your internal reputation goes in the “Very Good” ring. The key to this exercise is to be brutally honest with yourself; don’t overinflate your ratings.

As you add names to the web, do so in three different colors. Use one color for operational relationships, to indicate those colleagues you work with on a regular basis. These would include people on your own teams, within your department, and so on. Use another color to indicate strategic relationships—people within the organization that you interact with to get things done (those in Purchasing, Finance, HR, Business Development, etc.). Finally, use a third color for external business relationships (partners, vendors, customers, clients, etc.). After you’ve added all of your existing relationships, list the people in the company that you should know but don’t. Maybe you have a casual “hi in the hallways” relationship or know who they are but just haven’t met them yet. Write their names in the far corners of the page, without plotting them on the web (after all, you don’t have a relationship with them yet).

What Is the Web Diagram Telling You?

Once finished, step back and analyze the diagram for trends and patterns. Where do you have the strongest relationships? If it’s in the operational area, you may be overly comfortable within your own functional area and may not be stretching your network across the organization. If it’s in the strategic area, you’re influencing well throughout the company, but you may struggle a bit over direction, philosophy, and so forth within your own group. If it’s in the external business area, then you’re clearly focused outside the enterprise, which may mean you’re more comfortable establishing relationships at a distance or have strong relationships from previous roles. Note the number of relationships that are just “OK” or “Poor.” What can you do to improve these relationships? Make a specific action plan for each relationship, with a goal of moving each one at least one ring farther out in the next thirty days. Where do you want to establish relationships that don’t exist today? Make a specific plan to meet those people or work with them on a project, for example. For both action plans, indicate how adding or improving these relationships will make you a better leader.

If you’re not looking at your work relationships as a resource, you should be. Relationships need to be nurtured and developed, like any other skill or asset. This is not something you’re going to learn in a class or read in a book, and the organization isn’t going to do it for you. Establishing and nurturing relationships is something you have to do. As you think about developing yourself as a leader, you’re going to lean on these people for help and feedback. Look at the web as a metaphor for the strength of your leadership brand—the stronger your relationships, the stronger your reputation as a leader is likely to be across the organization.

Assess the quality of your relationships and make a concerted effort to improve the most critical ones lower on the scale. This simple process might be the most important self-evaluation exercise you do all year. Because while you’re busy pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, it doesn’t hurt to have a strong network of colleagues pulling with you!

Bootstrap Takeaways

Evaluate Your Working Relationships

1. Plot the quality of your relationships. Be honest—place people where they really belong on the diagram.

2. YOU are responsible for investing in and managing your relationships. Strive to move the lowest rated relationships out one ring in the next thirty days.

3. Do this exercise once a year, and set goals for adding new names to the diagram.