Networking
Establishing, sustaining, and fostering professional contacts to build, enhance, and connect networks for work purposes.
Level 1 Establishes contacts
BEHAVIORS
- Identifies current or past contacts who can provide work-related information or assistance.
- Shares contact names and basic contextual information with contacts (e.g., organization, role, priorities).
- Fosters two-way trust in dealing with contacts (e.g., maintains confidentiality regarding sensitive information).
QUESTIONS
- Sometimes the fact that we know other people can help us perform our jobs even better. Tell us about a time when the contacts that you have made with people outside your immediate work unit helped you to do an even better job.
Probing Questions
* What were you working on?
* What contacts did you have that proved to be useful?
* How did the contacts prove to be useful?
- Tell us about a time when you provided someone else with useful information on contacts that you have, for example, information on your contacts' organizations, roles, phone numbers, etc.
Probing Questions
* With whom did you share this information?
* Why did you share this information?
* In what way was the information helpful to the other person?
* Did sharing the information prove to be useful to you?
Level 2 Nurtures contacts
BEHAVIORS
- Nurtures existing contacts by pro-actively sharing information, best practices, and respective interests and areas of expertise.
- Builds rapport with contacts by identifying and drawing inferences from shared interests.
- Suggests possible collaborative efforts with contacts.
- Seeks to identify shared interests with contacts.
QUESTIONS
- Maintaining contact with others outside your own work unit can pay off later, benefiting both your work and theirs. Tell us about a time when you made a point of staying in touch with a contact outside your work unit and it proved to be beneficial to your work and to theirs.
Probing Questions
* What were you working on?
* What did you do to maintain contact?
* In what way(s) did maintaining contact prove to be beneficial to your work/to theirs?
- Describe how, in the past, you have maintained your current network of contacts and how this benefited your work or theirs. Please give specific examples.
Probing Questions
* How have you developed this network of contacts?
* How have you maintained contacts?
* How have these people helped you in your work?
* How have you helped them in their work?
Level 3 Builds a planned network
BEHAVIORS
- Scans the environment to identify new contacts who may be of potential use in the near future.
- Identifies opportunities to develop new contacts.
- Builds a planned network of contacts to address a specific need.
QUESTIONS
- Describe an example of a time when you sought to establish a relationship with a person, group or organization that would be mutually beneficial.
Probing Questions
* With whom did you seek a relationship?
* How did you approach them?
* How did things turn out?
- Describe a time when you developed a network of contacts in order to address a specific need.
Probing Questions
* Why did you need to build this network?
* How did you build this network of contacts?
* What was the result of your efforts?
- Give us an example of a planned network of contacts that you personally developed and used to help you better accomplish your area's objectives.
Probing Questions
* What were you working on?
* How did you identify these contacts and build your network?
* In what way(s) did you think these contacts would be beneficial?
* Did the network prove to be beneficial? In what way(s)?
Level 4 Strategically expands networks
BEHAVIORS
- Expands its own network to meet strategic goals.
- Creates opportunities to initiate new connections (including partnerships) that will facilitate the achievement of strategic goals.
- Evaluates the current network for effectiveness, sufficiency/inclusivity and relevance to achieving the organization’s strategic objectives.
- Leverages contacts to expand each other’s networks
QUESTIONS
- Describe an example of a time when you sought to continuously expand your network of contacts in order to meet one or more strategic goals.
Probing Questions
* Describe the situation, including the strategic goals involved, and your role in meeting them.
* What did you do to expand your network of contacts?
* How successful were you in identifying and building relationships with the new contacts?
* How did this expanded network contribute to meeting your organization’s strategic goals?
* How do you know?
- Provide an example of a time when you cultivated a new relationship you thought would be particularly beneficial to achieving your organization's strategic goals.
Probing Questions
* How did you think the relationship would help the organization?
* What did you do to develop that relationship?
* In what way has this relationship been beneficial to the organization?
Level 5 Creates networking opportunities
BEHAVIORS
- Fosters connections to develop and enhance partnerships, alliances and networks that advance shared interests (e.g., multi-organizational research and/or program initiatives to address common societal issues).
- Engages senior personnel to promote potential areas of mutual, long-term interest.
- Brokers transparent relationships between organizations and societal sectors that further the achievement of business goals.
- Leads the planning and organizing of networking events.
QUESTIONS
- Describe a time when you brokered a relationship between organizations to help achieve a broad objective.
Probing Questions
* What broad objective was involved?
* What organizations were you dealing with?
* How did you go about brokering the relationship?
* How successful were your brokering efforts?
* What was the outcome in terms of the brokered relationship? In terms of advancing the objective?
- Could you tell us about a time you led the planning and organizing of a networking event?
Probing Questions
* What was the event for?
* What was your role?
* What did you do?
* What was the impact of the event?