Hendrik Deckers' Weblog (English)

Leveraging on-line and off-line networking

Here're the slides I used for my presentation of 02/03/2006 for the American Chamber of Commerce in Strasbourg on the topic of leveraging on-line and off-line networking.

   

Take a LinkedIn Holiday Break

Online Networking during the holiday season ?

Some people say NO. From emails here:

This Holiday Season - Work for Your Family NOT for LinkedIn

Why feel guilty when it's a family holiday and a slump time for business anyway:
* No one should have to take holiday time away from their families to process LinkedIn Requests and
* No one should be greeted first thing Monday morning with backed-up LinkedIn Requests and "friendly" LinkedIn Request Reminders on January 2.

Therefore, "The Pariahs of LinkedIn" have elected to support a "Guilt Free Holiday" by stopping all LinkedIn Request processing from December 24, 2005 to January 2, 2006.

So important requests should be sent either before or after the holidays, NOT DURING.  All requests sent during the holidays will be ignored, not just delayed. We recommend you alert your first degree connections about this Holiday Blackout Period by forwarding this email using either:
* Arnnei Speiser's LinkedIn Contacts Management Tool which has an easy way to send individual emails to your contacts (available here at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LICM/ ), or
* your email client's "mail merge" feature, or
* the LinkedIn Profile Update Feature

DO NOT just cut and paste all of your LinkedIn contacts into a single forwarded version of this email.  It is NOT the intent of the Pariahs to inadvertently expose LinkedIn Membership email addresses.  "The Pariahs of LinkedIn" just want LinkedIn members to have a great holiday.

                                -- Happy Holidays from "The LinkedIn Pariahs"

and here:

To my LinkedIn friends and connections...

First, I want to wish you all a happy holiday season and all the best for a peaceful, healthy and prosperous New Year!

I have been blessed with the chance to get to know so many of you this year and deeply appreciate the friendship and support that so many have given to me. I look forward to our continued relationship and to getting to know more of you better in 2006.

Secondly, I am going to take a hiatus from LinkedIn to spend time with my family on vacation this season. As I process almost 50 requests per day, I do not want to return to the pressures of a backlog of hundreds of requests to review, evaluate and forward at the start of the New Year.

Therefore, I am asking that no requests be sent through me between December 23 and January 3rd. I will not be able to process them even upon my return. Please feel free to get them all in now!

:-)

All the best, XXX

Enjoy your holidays!

Cheers, Hendrik.

Launching CIOnet.com

CIOnet.com is the first independent online business network for CIO's & ICT-managers.

Our current Knowledge Economy is transforming rapidly into a Networking Economy, where 'who you know' is at least as important as 'what you know'. Online business networks are a fast growing, new way for business people to develop and manage their network. Open online business networks such as LinkedIn, OpenBC and Ecademy are very successfull in facilitating entrepreneurs and middle managers in their networking needs, but they don't cater for the CIO's and ICT managers of large and mid-size companies that have a need to connect with their peers.

CIOnet (www.cionet.com) is the first independent, private and invitation-only online business network that empowers CIO’s & ICT Managers to network more efficiently and effectively for business. CIOnet is all about Building Relationships, Sharing Knowledge & Growing a Peer Network in the CIO community.

CIOnet.com is an initiative of Close Partners and is supported by the CIOnet Belgium Advisory Board that includes the following members: Carl Tilkin Franssens, CIO KBC; Edwin D'Hondt, CIO Umicore & Chairman CIO Forum; Luc Verhelst, Chairman MIT-club; Giovanni Palmieri, CIO NMBS; Michel S’Jongers, CIO Carrefour; Miel Schamp, CIO Barco; Prof. Carlos De Backer, Antwerp University; Prof. Jacques Tiberghien, ULB and Peter Hinssen, Trend watcher.

"Networking is a fundamental part of every CIO and ICT-manager's job" says Carl Tilkin-Franssens, CIO of KBC and president of the advisory board of CIOnet in Belgium. "Today, innovation and growth are no longer possible without knowledge sharing and cooperation between different companies."

"Online networking completely changes the way business people connect with each other to exchange information and experiences", adds Hendrik Deckers, founder of CIOnet.com. "I believe that the impact that online business networks are having on networking can be compared to the way e-mail has revolutionised professional and personal communication."

CIOnet is a 'network of networks' platform that welcomes all existing and new CIO & ICT-management clubs, initiatives, organisations and networks to use CIOnet.com as their open or private online business network. Today CIO Forum and ID-bates start using CIOnet.com. CIOnet is an independent network where 95% of the members are CIO's, ICT-managers, academici and industry experts. CIOnet is supported by business partners such as Mercury en Netapp.

In addition to the online network platform, where members can quickly and with a low threshold contact each other to exchange knowledge and experiences and discuss CIO & ICT- management topics, CIOnet will also organise in 2006 a series of specific events where CIOnet members can meet in person to start building strong relationships and exchange ideas.

2006 is the first (net)workyear for CIOnet. The network will first be launched in Belgium, where we estimate that around 500 people are part of the target community. For 2007 an international roll-out is planned.

About Close Partners

Close Partners (www.closepartners.com) is a European netwerk of business development specialists, active in sales and marketing projects for the ICT world. In 2004 Close Partners launched the Ecademy Benelux Trusted Network (http://benelux.ecademy.com), the popular online business network for entrepreneurs, that has seen a growth in 18 months from 150 to more then 2000 members.

for more information please contact:
Hendrik Deckers, Manager CIOnet.com
T: +32 15 26 16 00
 

Beyond Blogs and Social Networks

Check this out:

Jersey City - 1 & 2 Decmber 2005.

The Five networking types, what you are and what you can do about it.

Bjørn Guldager of ProMinds wrote an excellent article about "The Five networking types, what you are and what you can do about it!".

 

Here's the full text:

My work and research on networking has led me to divide "the world" into five networking types. I'd like to list them here, along with some of the (many) points that can be made around them. Hope you'll chip in with your views and I'll add some more comments later today. That OK?

The negative type really does not want to network at all. He/she (I'll just use "he" from now on, but implying "both genders"...) may have a feeling that he is missing out by not networking, but really, his "world of one" is quite big enough for him.

The conservative type will network, but only with people where he has a long "common story" (e.g. members of the same club) or when sufficient trust has been built up over a long period of time. You can not easily reach this person and "the rule of 36" definitely is good to keep in mind here.

The reactive type will be open to new proposals and indeed networking relationships, but will be selective and thus keep control over his network - and he doesn't expand it much on his own account.

The proactive type actually "crosses the comfort zone border" and goes out to develop the network in the way he wants, but is selective about the project he dives into and the people he approaches. Focus is on quality or priority and he takes responsibility for making it happen.

The hyperactive type networks with anyone over anything and believes strongly in quantity and possibly even "random connections" as they may lead to something at some point. Quantity and energy are two characteristics but less focus on priority.

OK, that was a brief introduction - when I do speeches on networking I go on to explain how each of these types behaves in a dancing school at the last dance of the season - a very vivid illustration of the types can be made in that way *SS*

Now, some points:
* No type is "better" than the others - they are just different
* Once you've identified your main type (and often you'll be between two of them), what you can do is to try being "the next type in the sequence". A conservative networker will not be happy suddenly acting in a hyperactive way but may experiment with (reactively) accepting a few networking proposals - "giving it a chance". And the reactive networker may benefit from trying a few proactive stints out there.

What do you think - did one (or two) of the types describe you? Does it make sense to only move one "type step" at a time? What other points can you think of? Let me know, please...

Best regards,
Bjørn Guldager

This was my reactions to his thinking:

Hi Bjorn,

I can fully relate to your 5 networking types and think they make a lot of sense.

I made the (big) step from being a reactive networker to becoming a proactive networker in march 2004. This was triggered when I realised that 90% of my business comes from my network (even as a reactive networker). It immediately and dramatically increased my awareness of the power of networking.

I now teach people (in a 2 day course) how to become a Proactive Networker, and use the Proactive Networking Process for that.

This Proactive Networking Process talks about:

A. Networking Awareness: Realise the power of networking
B. Networking Attitude: How to develop an abundance mentality
1. Your Networking Profile: How to build and develop it
2. Your Networking Skills: What human skills do you need to network
3. Your Networking Toolbox: What on & offline tools do you need
4. Your Networking Objectives: Set your goals when you start networking
5. Manage You Network: Know your network and keep it up to date
6. Grow Your Network: How to expand your network in function of your goals
7. Tap into Your Network: How to ask the right networking questions

I define Proactive Networking as "the systematic, planned and prepared process of managing your existing connections and establishing relationships with new people so that all parties can tap into their network to reach personal and professional objectives."

You say that "No type is "better" than the others - they are just different", and I think that that is correct. On the other hand reserach shows that "building rich social capital produces higher pay, faster promotions, better jobs, breakthrough ideas, new business opportunities, and profitable companies." So being a proactive networker (with a higher social and relationship capital) doesn't make you better, but can surely make you more succesfull.

About the hyperactive type networker .. I see a danger here... I have witnessed on several occasions that people can get so caught up in 'networking' that they forget to 'work' and mistake networking with working. Networking without a focus and just for the sake of networking can consume all your available time and make you very poor. Online networking can be very addicting for people that by nature are the hyperactive type. I believe in random connections and serendipity, but only in the right doses.

The correlation between Networking Activity, Networking Succes and the 5 Networking Types.
I tried to visualise my view on these 3 elements in the following graphic:

Interested to see how you relate to this.

About the rule of 36 - fully agree again here; my complete professional and personal life can be described in blocks of 3 years. I'll tell you more about that when we meet again face to face. (looking forward to that)

Thanks again for your great article!

Cheers, Hendrik.

PS: maybe 'the Passive Type' is a better to way to describe what you mean with 'the Negative Type'.

Hendrik Deckers - Blog
Ecademy Belgium
Close Partners

P2P social networking and the Integral Operatng System

2 very interesting articles caught my attention tonight:

Skype 1.4 Release: Steps to Social Networking? by Ton Zijlstra

Ton talks about the need for a P2P distributed social network that could be based on Skype. This idea has been creeping in my mind for many months now, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the first real signs of that.

Why to invest our time and attention in an Integral Operating System by George Por

George talks about and comments on the upcoming book of Ken Wilber The Integral Operating System (IOS) and has a nice discussion going on in the comments.

So I ask myself: could a Skype based P2P social network be an essential part of this IOS?

 

Make Sales using online business networking

Amanda Vlahakis from Truly Ace wrote an interesting ebook about making sales using online networks.

She talks about "How Do I Network Effectively?", "Where Should I Network?", "Ecademy Networking Tips" & "Turning Visitors Into Customers" and defines networking as follows:

"Networking is a well established practice that started at beginning of man's first communications with one another; networking is all about forging relationships with other people for mutual benefit, and is an essential skill for any business person to develop.

People buy people, and as such sales are often the result of the relationships you develop with other businesses, networking is the activity whereby we seek to gain new contacts and continue to build and develop the relationships already started."

Go here to request the ebook.

The rise of the Networking Economy on BBC Radio 4

Listen to Penny Power, Glenn Watkins,  Heather-Jane Sears, Simon Warman Freed, Leon Benjamin from Ecademy and other networkers on BBC Radio 4 here:

     

Very interesting show on the rise of the Networking Economy, featuring Ecademy, LinkedIn & FirstTuesday

Where is online networking in it's Hype Cycle?

Guy Kirkwood started an interesting discussing with the question: Is online networking dying?
and did some interesting research:

My question is: Where is online networking in it's Hype Cycle?

here is an example:

More on the Hype Cycles here.

Have we just past the "Peak of Inflated Expectations" and are we now going into the "Trough of Disillusionment" ?

What do you think?

Cheers, Hendrik.

Listen to Read Hoffman talk about Business Networking

Reid Hoffman, CEO and cofounder of LinkedIn, talks about the future of Web 2.0 and business networking as the basis for the new internet.

"The strong networks are pouring a platform on which a number of interesting applications can be built, and I think that's what Web 3.0 and 4.0 are."

Listen to the podcast interview by John Furrier here.