Why HR might refuse to network and is it important to do so within your organisation?

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Judith Germain returns today to follow up her last post to focus on one of my favourite topics, networking. Judith asks is it really important to do so? (Ed Scrivener)

Why HR might refuse to network and is it important to do so within your organisation?

To most internal HR professionals the term ‘networking’ is assumed to relate to the activity of external consultants who need to network to find work. It isn’t something that ‘internals’ think they do or indeed need to do. This is a dangerous assumption especially in a recession where ability to do your role well is an underlying expectation of competency. Internal professionals need to be far more than just competent; the ability to build and nurture relationships, have advocates, build reputation and credibility, demonstrate openness and trust and have fantastic interpersonal skills is a must.

Everything that a good professional networker takes for granted.

It’s a shame then that one of the reasons that HR is deemed as not credible is because it can fail miserably in its ability to network. Technical competency is hardly ever the issue.

Why is it then that HR is reluctant to network?

There are a myriad of reasons why there may be disinclination to network especially outside the HR department. Sometimes it may be due to stepping outside comfort zones especially in what appears to be closed environments – where it’s all about business and not about the people. When HR is deemed by managers to be all about policing, best practice, training plans and the art of saying no – it can feel safer to stay within HR rather than venture outside. If the HR professional is all about people and less about the workings of the business then they may feel that they are unable to truly converse with their senior colleagues in matters that interest them.

Professional fear may dissuade networking

Sometimes the need for HR to hold close the best interests of the company and the people can lead to a situation where it is unnecessarily aloof from the rest of the business. There may be a concern that it would be unprincipled to mix too freely outside the department – perhaps due to fear of accidentally disclosing something that they shouldn’t all becoming too close to people that you may be disciplining in the future.

Fear of seeming unprofessionally may dissuade networking

Sometimes there is so much work to do that leaving the office, just to network, can be seen as a waste of time and valuable resource. Or conversely the need to build good relationships with the management team can mean that there is little interaction with the other employees which can cause disharmony or lack of insight on how they are feeling about the company and the management team.

Lack of time can dissuade effective networking

The benefits of networking

There are a number of reasons why HR professionals should network within their organisation. These include the following:

• Increased ability to do your job well
• Ability to build reputation and credibility
• Gather advocates
• Facilitate trust

A good corporate networker can sense the ‘temperature’ of an organisation before the evidence filters through official channels. They are able to facilitate cooperation and collaboration across departments through their ability, amongst other things, to be the conduit to information and understanding of behaviour. The networker’s excellent interpersonal skills enables them to assist others meet their objectives, build a good reputation for themselves and enable the business to increase their performance.

When you network well within your organisation you have the benefit of enhancing your career. This will of course depend on your view of networking and how you network. Those that only network with those that believe will be useful may gain some short term benefits but in the long term may find themselves short of advocates. A lack of authenticity and / or integrity has a habit of becoming transparent, and is very unattractive towards most people.

Good and effective professional networkers, network to be remembered. They network to build a reputation and use it as a way of demonstrating their expertise. They network to help others and have an open and transparent nature.

These are attractive traits and a good way to drawing advocates towards you.  Advocates are individuals who are evangelical in promoting you and in the corporate world this means they are likely to be your biggest champions. This of course better enables you to facilitate change in a more conducive manner, thus ensuring that the company can meet its objectives.

Building reputation and credibility is an integral part of your corporate networking strategy. Your strategy needs to incorporate your personal brand, and how you demonstrate it. To be truly effective it is important to create a brand that is trustworthy, and consistent no matter where it is encountered. For example, this could be in your writing (eg policies or training programmes), in the training room, in meetings as well as in 121s.

The execution of your network strategy will be in line with your corporate identity and establishes you as an expert in your niche. You will not be able to hide your intentions or personality for long periods; therefore it is better to demonstrate your integrity for better results.

Networking is not a dirty word and can do wonders for your company’s performance and your career. There are many ways to network throughout your organisation, but the method that will work best is the one that is value driven, has integrity and is open and transparent. Enabling others to succeed as well as having a strong reputation and credibility will enable you to attract advocates, thus enabling you to become more effective.

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

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