New Middle Leaders: Whatever The Question, Networking Is Probably The Answer
By Jonny Kay
Effective networking will support you in your role and enable you to get the best from yourself and your team.
And, so, it’s finally here: your first middle leadership position. With celebrations, handover of previous responsibilities and induction now long since finished, it’s time to settle into your new role.
This is often when the stark realisation hits: this is the first time that you’ve ever actually done this job and the ‘to do’ list reads like a buffet menu written in a language you don’t speak.
This feeling creeps deceptively up on new leaders. One day, you’ll feel confident and entirely prepared, and then you finish the latest episode of a Netflix Scandi-crime drama and suddenly think, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing! Argh!’
Initially, you think about speaking to your new manager about this. You know this is a good course of action, but imposter syndrome often takes over – you become concerned that sharing your worries may mean you’re perceived as unprepared (or even incompetent).
So, what now?
Firstly, know that it’s okay. Everyone feels this, at various stages of a career, from teacher to senior leadership. It’s normal, and it’s important to remember that the job is a marathon, made up of tiny stretches, not one sprint. It’s also important to remember you will make mistakes, and that’s fine.
The next, absolutely key, step in becoming an effective middle leader is networking.
Now, you may roll your eyes at this, envisaging hungry careerists looking to ‘climb the ladder’, but networking is so, so much more than this.
Why network?
With a never ending stream of inbox requests, knocks at the door and meetings, you may initially ignore networking as too much work in an already packed schedule. Do this at your peril.
Networking will enable you to seek advice and guidance on every element of your job and have a constant open door to free, personalised, contextually relevant CPD. CPD does not need to provide letters after a name or have a specific duration: I learned more from a chat over a coffee with an experienced peer than my PGCE and 2x NPQs combined.
Not just this, it allows a space to safeguard our mental health and wellbeing, as well as the immense benefit you gain from supporting others.
In short, it will keep you going and help you to thrive.
So, let’s get to the meat of it: what does effective networking look like? Well, let’s get to it.
Pick a platform
One of the first steps in networking is identifying the platform in which you’ll be most comfortable (and therefore thrive). This may be a platform which allows you to network from afar (such as LinkedIn or Twitter) or one which facilitates close-quarters networking (such as professional networking events, in-person CPD etc.). It’s important to remember here that internal networking is just as useful, and important, as external networking: remember to develop both. It’s also important to remember that you can blend both approaches. It’s important to keep options open whilst also focusing on two key questions: who are the people who can help you? Who can YOU help? Which leads us on to our next point…
Give at least as much as you get
Developing relationships with peers who can support, guide, coach and mentor is one of the most rewarding elements of leadership, but we shouldn’t always be ‘on the take’. Networking is as much about giving as it is gaining. Networking is very much not about keeping score and it’s always important to keep a focus on nurturing relationships. Part of this, is checking in on the people in your network – don’t make every interaction about the help/ support you need. What support might those in your network need? How are they doing? If you’ve developed a great strategy or initiative, don’t wait until you next cross paths, send the email, text or social media message and volunteer to share. This will help build much stronger relationships and networks, and mean that the effort will be reciprocated. ‘Checking in’ with your network doesn’t always have to be work focused, either. A text before the exam series; a ‘how did you find that exam?’; a ‘are you going to this event?’ message etc. Be generous with time and resource and, remember, don’t keep score.
Reach out and be flexible
I was told recently that I had a really good network. As part of this, I was asked how I had developed this. Really, really simple – I moved from an interim leadership role in Secondary to a permanent leadership role in Further Education (FE) and there was so much about FE that I didn’t know, I knew there was work to do to hit the ground running. So, on my first day in the new role, I literally messaged peers in similar roles asking to meet and chat about the challenges they were facing and how they were solving them. I emailed, sent LinkedIn messages, asked colleagues in my new college to put me in touch and generally irritated people (a reputation which has, unfortunately, stuck!) until I was in touch with the right people.
A big part of this, was also focusing on the challenges that we had and not focusing only specific sectors. I spoke to peers in Secondary, in Primary, in Sixth Forms and in Higher Education. If we had challenges with attendance, I spoke to people across sectors who had solved this challenge, adapted their methods for our setting and saw results. Nearly always, if I was respectful, polite and let people know why I was reaching out, they were open to helping. It’s that simple – be authentic, be open, reach out and communicate and you’ll find support, everywhere.
Create your own opportunities
Of course, there is another way: if you find that you are not always developing the network you’d like, why not create your own opportunities? Creating a local, regional or even national discussion group takes less work than you’d think. A social media post, or approaching people you’d like to be part of a network, and getting people in the same (usually, online) space can be very simple to do. A great framework for these discussions can be applied through professional discussion groups (or action learning sets as they’re also known).
In groups of 3 or 4, one person presents a challenge they are having. The other members of the group then question the initial member, to gain a better understanding of the challenge. Having established all elements of the challenge, the other members of the group then suggest a solution. The first member selects one of these solutions and will trial this in the time between this and the next meeting (feeding back at the next meeting). Following this, a second member of the group presents their challenge, and the cycle is repeated until every member of the group has 2-3 potential solutions to their challenge.
Keep focus
This can be difficult – it’s very, very tempting to turn discussions and networking into a moan-fest. Remember to keep focus throughout and remain positive – you do not want to be remembered as ‘the one who moans’. I have found, and continue to find, this very difficult – your network are often facing the same challenges and having a good moan can sometimes be just what you want. However, you’ll often feel deflated following the situation and torture yourself with thoughts of ‘did I just moan at them for 25 minutes?’ Try and use your network as a sounding board – come armed with potential solutions and if you haven’t (yet) got any, be prepared to question and, most importantly, listen. Again, it’s important here to remember to give as well as gain!
Be authentic and know your people
Always, always, always remember to be yourself. If you’re pretending to be someone else, you’ll struggle to develop good relationships and find little use in the discussions that are had. It’s equally as important to know your people – what challenges are those in your network having? What are their backgrounds (how long in-post? What are their specialisms)? This way you can best support and be supported. If you know your network, you’ll know who best to contact if you’ve an operational challenge, who best to contact if you’ve a strategic challenge, who best to contact if you need supporting with managing or leading etc. It’s also important to remember Dunbar’s rule: the notion that there exists a cognitive limit on human groups of about 150 individuals. You can’t keep a network of 1000 people, so don’t try to! Anyone can be in your network, but don’t overstretch.
Whatever approach you take to networking, it’s important to remember the point made at the beginning of this piece: you will make mistakes, and that’s absolutely fine. Keep focusing on the mini-steps that make up your marathon, and you’ll smash it.
