The Three Networks You Need as A Strategic Leader

We all know how important networks are in all aspects of our lives: from medical and health, financial and legal, and especially in work and career. But what many don’t know is that to be a successful leader, you need not one but three networks, according to Linda A. Hill and Kent Lineback on HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically, you need these three networks: operational, developmental, and strategic.

Operational network

This is the network of those you and your team need to do your day-to-day work. These are people in other units of your team, and outside, on whom and on whose work you rely on do your work. It also includes those who rely on you and your team to do their work.

Developmental network

Your developmental network is those individuals whom you trust and to whom you can turn for a sympathetic ear, advice (depending on their experience), and a place to discuss and explore professional options. One way or another, these are people who help you grow as a leader.

You create both operational and developmental networks naturally. The people in your operational network are those you must work with every day. And most of us naturally turn to knowledgeable friends and acquaintances for personal help with professional dilemmas. You may not have thought about these two groups as networks, but they are.

Strategic network

Strategic network is the one many managers don’t create at all because it doesn’t naturally evolve in the everyday course of work and life. A strategic network is about tomorrow. It comprises those who can help you do two critical tasks: first, define what the future will bring, and second, prepare for and succeed in that future.

Nobody can predict the future, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to worry about it. Even if you can’t know what’s coming, you still need to identify what might happen — the most probable futures that lie ahead — and think about how you might prepare for them. You need a strategic network because the forces that drive change in your field will probably come from outside your current world. That means you need some way to discern those forces when they first appear on or over the horizon, not when they arrive at your door. That’s the purpose of this network.

Leadership and management are largely based on the future, on a sense of where you and your team are trying to go, the future you want to create. To define, move toward, and succeed in that future, you need to proactively build a far-flung network of people who live and work at the edge of your current world.

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