Rawpixel Ltd/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Andrew Davidson has been in the retail industry with Home Hardware Stores Ltd. for more than 10 years in business development, operations and performance consulting, and change management. Abhimanyu Sood is a senior manager with the Commercial Advisory Group at Royal Bank of Canada. Mr. Davidson and Mr. Sood are both executive MBA students at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. This is Mr. Davidson's third blog for EMBA Diary and Mr. Sood's first contribution.
Despite its benefits, the word "networking" carries a less-than-appealing connotation for some people. Networking can be awkward and uneasy for those who are new to it or who are apprehensive about the work required to build an effective web of contacts.
But networking isn't a bad word, and the simple truth remains that it is one of the best ways to meet new people, scout new potential hires or jobs, learn about various industries, or simply to get noticed. With more job opportunities more readily available today and individuals changing roles more frequently, building a strong network is even more important now and can be developed across a multitude of platforms.
Business school is a great place to strengthen your network, and for many of us who chose to do our MBA at Rotman, we did so hoping that this would be an additional benefit from the program.
The network you gain through the school's alumni is global. Interested in the Australian market? We found more than 70 alumni there who can be accessed with a few clicks of the mouse. This ability didn't exist 15 years ago and it can create huge lead-ins to industry and markets for which you are interested. The power and scope of a network, business school or otherwise, is real and should be leveraged with good intention and sincere effort.
But this is only one branch of a network. For MBA students, another is developed inside the classroom.
Relationship building creates strong networks, and our program gave us ample opportunity to do just this. In the weeks leading up to the first module of the executive MBA program, we were invited to several networking events. The quintessential North American question for first-time business meetings was asked time and again: "What do you do?" And so we listened to nearly 70 responses and desperately attempted to remember them all.
In taking the MBA there is one critical difference in how you successfully network – time. Our cohort spent countless hours with one another over the 13-month program, and the relationships built have gone to levels deeper than many of us had originally expected.
As a class, we were about 70 individuals with a similar mindset that had committed to the program and all the pressures therein. This alone helps to forge something more than professional acquaintance. In the classroom you lean on one another at various times. It doesn't take long to see how counterparts perform under pressure or where their strengths lie. You are expected to lead, and be led by those around you.
You can appreciate that when you are going through a difficult time at work, or find yourself in an odd situation, there is likely someone in the room who has experienced something similar and will make the time to help you where they can. It becomes a master class on leadership, management, resiliency, empathy, openness and perseverance. That in itself is more valuable than the traditional method of networking.
With the intensity of the program, we took every opportunity to blow off steam and recharge the batteries with our peers. The class went to karaoke, Toronto Blue Jays games, and countless patios and dinners. In these interactions, we forged ever deeper relationships. We see the value of this network, and even now, with our final module and classes just behind us, we are finding fun ways to stay in touch.
Not even a couple of weeks out of class and we have one student organizing a book club while another explores the best way to keep communications open. Another plans regular dinners while still more set an evening a month aside for anyone to get together. To us our network looks something closer to a family. As one student put it before boarding his plane for home: "I have gained 63 cousins."
For too long, the idea of a network has been pitched about how it helps you get ahead in your career, and in fact it is useful in that regard.
For those of you considering an MBA, or any program really, who are concerned about not being able to work the room, you should recognize the power of the classroom and what you really get out of it. Sure you get dozens of new contacts and connections, but you also get new friends. After 13 months together you get way more than a regular network could deliver. You get family.