NETWORKING for women is not easy as it is for men. And often, groups meant to help women to succeed through building a solid community of women to help lift each other up usually fails at this responsibility.
The major challenge these groups face is that focus is usually on numbers; it is believed that the more the members, the healthier the group is. So they end up putting in more members that are deadweight rather than consider the ability of members to help each other, which is supposed to be basic.
The basis of a network group that will succeed is seen in how professional and helpful members are; who are the people in the group and what they can do for others. A network that will survive must have a collection of people with different strengths and must include professionals that have the advantage of long years of service and good connections that can help others.
Also, such professionals must have the ability to put things and people together and must have passion to help. The fact is that any network group that doesn’t have a professional that can create ideas, members that have connections and are willing to use them, members with long years of service with managerial and secretarial experience and the Good Samaritan is doomed to fail.
Another factor that works against network groups is communication gap; many network groups only meet on fixed days and keep quiet until the next meeting, such groups more often than not do not survive because there is a likelihood of it turning into a mere social group with members looking for help outside. There is a distance between members that make it difficult for them to connect and work together on projects; when you do not have a relationship and cannot tap into the knowledge of group members, the group has failed.
Any network group that will survive must not be limited in interaction to meeting days; members must be friends and must work together and relate well outside meetings; they must collaborate on projects and ensure that all members benefit professionally.
There must be mentorship of younger members and personal growth of every group member is a must. The core of the group should be support-oriented and members must have the assurance that once they table their matter, a solution will be jointly proffered in terms of moral and emotional support, provision of professional advice and connections, funding where available and lightening all forms of emotional frustrations.
Any network group in which members are afraid of talking about their fears, frustrations and failures or even share the experience of the day with fellow members physically or on phone to clear the mind and get encouraged is a dead beat.
Stop looking for heavy numbers for your groups; networking is not about numbers but about weight and pedigree of people involved. The number of stragglers in a group must not supersede the number of people that can render help. Members that are well-connected should be a must for groups to succeed.
and then