Networking and/or Building Alliances

I recently attended the monthly SDForum Engineering Leadership SIG meeting which included a panel presentation discussing career management. One topic mentioned was that people should not only "network" when they are "in-between" jobs but on an ongoing basis. (Those of who who consult for a living already understand this concept!)

One of MY takeaways from this discussion was a phrase used by Gretchen Sand, one of the panelists. (Full disclosure makes me mention that she's also a friend of mine.) Rather than using the term "networking" Gretchen suggested that people should build alliances, both within the companies where they work and across the industry in general. I much prefer the image connoted by "building alliances" than "networking."

To me an alliance implies more of an ongoing relationship where you've invested effort into understanding the perspective of the other party, whether it be a person, functional organization or a company. Looking at some dictionary entries of the two terms (and picking and choosing, of course, between the multiple offerings for each) I see that network can be defined as " to cultivate people who can be helpful to one professionally." One description of an alliance is "a merging of efforts or interests."

Obviously which term one uses doesn't flavor the actions or results; I share the above only as food for thought because I have a slight preference for the idea of building alliances rather than networking.

Actions DO speak louder than words; the bottom line is that people should make time to proactively interact with others in a way that's mutually beneficial (and ideally, enjoyable. )