What role does networking play in acquiring management and leadership skills?

It is essential that there are effective leadership and management skills for an organization to achieve its objectives. However, leaders and managers have various styles in achieving organizational goals, and one’s technique might not be aligned with that of others. For this regards, situational factors an effective leader adopts to handle a rising opportunity will be more or less different from other leaders.

In spite of, there are development techniques for them to acquire and improve their personal skills to be able to align objectives, values, and culture of the organization.

On-the-job mentoring and coaching. These are conversations between an employee and a senior colleague to improve personal skills and performance. Mentoring is a day-to-day responsibility of the manager or mentors towards an employee to impart skills, work performance, and knowledge, to discuss progress and to provide general direction and support.  At the workplace, mentoring is referred to as a relationship where a more knowledgeable employee uses his greater understanding and knowledge of the job to support the development of an inexperienced employee. Coaching, on the other hand, focuses on how to help people improve in their specific skills, abilities and work goals. Coaching typically lasts for a short period on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Networking is also a way of developing personal leadership and management skills. It is a two-way street relationship; this means that when you converse to someone, you must discuss topics that are beneficial and of same interest of that person. Sharing and learning new ideas and experiences to social networks will help in improving this skill.