Networking for Women Rainmakers Part 1, Create a Peer Group
This article is by Mimi Spangler, a partner at Harding & Company. Some of the material in this posting appears in the second edition of Ford Harding’s book, Rain Making, which will be published in February and contains about 40 percent new content.
This is the first in a series of eight blog posts on networking for women. These entries originally appeared as an article in Management Consulting News.
Becoming a rainmaker gives a consultant three coveted advantages: respect from one’s peers, high earnings, and job control. To find out how women rainmakers optimize networking to support their business development endeavors, we interviewed women who have risen to the executive management ranks in leading consulting firms such as Deloitte Consulting, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Oliver Wyman, Navigant Consulting, RHR International, and others.
Our findings are summarized in this series of blog posts with the top eight ways women rainmakers network.
1. Create a Peer Group
Most women rainmakers reported that they don’t target women who have connections. Their closest and strongest networks include friendships built on a common framework, which often started from personal rather than business interests.
Jocelyn Cunningham, Securities Leader for Deloitte Consulting, said that one of her closest networks is an intimate group of senior-level women focused on Wall Street. She said, “I initially was intimidated to network with men. I didn’t want to golf and I found myself waiting for the invite to events versus inviting myself. I was comfortable with this group of women. We had things in common like work/life balance, childcare, and glass ceiling issues. Our group has formed strong personal and business relationships which have grown by sharing common challenges and professional interests.”
Christina Williams was Managing Director for an international human resource consulting firm and now has her own firm, Atiara Group. She explained that her primary network of contacts evolved from her feeling isolated as a woman and working mom in a male-dominated leadership group.
Williams started her network with one outside consultant who shared similar life and professional issues. They invited other colleagues to join their informal breakfast meetings. The group initially met four times per year. Now it has over 150 consultants and clients and meets every six weeks. About 30 people show up for the two-hour meetings.
While being senior management women forged their initial bond, the result of their network has been peer camaraderie, referrals, and work for their firms. The women in this and similar groups all share a common goal to help and support each other.
Surprisingly though, a significant number of the women interviewed said that they don’t use their closest networks for direct business development. The value of those networks is primarily peer friendships, with work referrals ranking significantly behind that.
Many of the large consulting firms have recognized this need for women’s peer support, and are giving more attention to establishing internal women’s networking groups that foster relationships built on common interests and challenges.
Mimi Spangler is a partner at Harding & Company, which helps professionals learn to develop business. She has worked with consultants at many firms, both large and small. For more information, visit the company’s web site at http://www.hardingco.com/ and blog at www.hardingco.com/blog. Spangler can be reached at mspangler@hardingco.com.
