Build Relationships Across Your Company to Move Up Faster

A title tells you where someone sits on an organization chart. It does not always tell you whose judgment colleagues trust, who can get a project moving, or who will speak up for you when a position opens. In this recording I described an idea I learned from Ronald Burt, whose class I took in Chicago, and how I have thought about applying it.

Burt is a sociologist whose research examines social networks and organizations. The Chicago Booth faculty profile confirms that work. In the video I recount stories about the way he studied companies. Those are my recollections, not independent findings about any particular company or a promise that his method will produce a promotion.

Brokerage: work beyond your usual group

The first idea is brokerage. Rather than meeting only the people in your immediate team, take a useful role on projects that put you in contact with other groups. You get to know what those colleagues do, what problems they are solving, and who they rely on. They also get to see your work rather than simply hearing your title.

I described a person taking an assignment outside the usual silo for a few months, doing the work well, then moving to another group. The point is not to collect names. It is to contribute and build real working relationships. I mentioned getting to know a group’s leader and the person who might step in if that leader moved on. Both may matter later, but the relationship begins with being useful now.

That distinction matters. If you enter every team with a script for what it can do for your career, people can feel it. I make a related point in my answer about contributing value to a network: help with what is actually needed before expecting a return.

Closure: bring those relationships to a real project

The second idea I took from Burt is closure. When a project requires people from several groups to work together, relationships built through earlier projects can help you coordinate them. You understand their roles, and they have reasons to trust you. In the recording I described a special project for which the person who had moved across groups might be a natural leader.

That does not happen because everyone owes that person a favor. They have seen the person contribute, follow through, and understand the work. The research distinction between brokerage and closure is also described by Chicago Booth’s review of Burt’s network research. My practical lesson from it was to build relationships across a company and then use those relationships to get something worthwhile done.

In the video I say that people may move between these phases more than once. I also speculate that doing so can lead to senior roles. That is my interpretation of the opportunity, not a timetable or a guarantee.

Be someone an insider can recommend

My short version was: You need an insider to vouch for you. A recommendation is more meaningful when the person giving it has worked with you and can speak to what you can do. You also need enough knowledge of the group’s work to contribute once you get the opportunity. An introduction alone will not carry the project.

I gave an example from a conversation about plumbing. The other person knew more than I did, but I could discuss the work in detail because I had spent time learning it. That kind of familiarity makes an exchange with a specialist useful. The same principle applies inside a company: learn the work, help with it, and let people see how you operate.

Relationships across departments help someone know you. Day-to-day choices help them decide whether to recommend you. In my answer about showing leadership before a promotion, I explain the questions I would ask a manager to find work that matters this week.