Page 133 - Free Yourself From

116 It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor

• Is it diverse by age, gender, nationality, race, industry,
geography, etc.?

• Does it include long-term, short-term, and new
relationships?

• How have most of these relationships developed?

• Is there a circle that should be bigger? Why is it
underdeveloped?

Striking the Right Balance

Let’s focus on one of the above questions for a moment. Specifically,
how many of your relationships are within your company versus
beyond it? Research shows that successful women split their time
evenly between cultivating relationships inside and outside of their
organization. How close do you come to this ideal, and on which
side do you need to invest more time?
There may be times when you need more internal verses exter-
nal relationships. This can depend on several areas; what your goals
are, what you have coming up that you may need help on, current
and future needs regarding knowledge and experience, etc. When
considering the right balance consider the following questions.
Based on what you are focusing on in your job and in terms of
your career development, what are some ways you can expand the
part of your network that is smaller and correct that imbalance?
Who are two or three people you might have seen from a distance or
met in passing but have not taken the opportunity to talk with in a
meaningful way? Perhaps in the next week you’ll make a point of
reaching out to one of those people and schedule a meeting.