Who is in your personal network? Who are the best people to help you achieve your goals? How can you identify the right people for the critical roles?

Who do you want on your bus?

You are about to start a grand venture. You are in the driving seat ready to go. So, who do you want on the bus with you? Organisations expert Jim Collins poses this question in the bestselling book Good to Great.

“If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.” – Jim Collins

I love this analogy as it is a picture we can all identify with. For instance, whether we are off on a family holiday, a team excursion or an expedition, we can empathise with checking off to see that we have the right people in the vehicle.

On expeditions, I have certainly had that experience, and whether on a military operation or explorative trip, each person is selected to fulfil certain roles, based on their particular skills and characteristics.

The same goes for whatever goal we want to achieve.

How do you think strategically about your personal network?

Building a team or network is contextual and there are various approaches to doing this. I have found the idea of the Personal Boardroom, developed by Amanda Scott and Zella King, helpful when thinking about professional networks. Equally, when building high-performing teams, I have employed Meredith Belbin’s 9 Team Roles model with great success.

But when thinking about the personal network needed to achieve specific goals I have landed on a model based on my own experience. It is these roles that we will look at next.

The Right Questions Team Tool: The 10 vital roles in your personal network

When starting out on an expedition or new business venture I always have a team list. This list specifies names and key roles. So, in the Right Questions Framework, the Team Tool is a list of the ten vital roles you need in your network. The 10 key roles are:

1. Networker
2. Creative
3. Follower
4. Expert
5. Encourager
6. Challenger
7. Fixer
8. Sponsor
9. Sage
10. Guide

So those are the ten key roles. Now, let’s look at a more detailed explanation of each role and questions to help you identify the right person.

The Quest

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The Networker

A networker is someone who is a natural at building and maintaining networks of people. They have a long list of useful contacts and are good at connecting folk and helping to expand other people’s networks. They can help navigate social spheres and organisational hierarchies.

To find a networker, picture who you think of in response to these questions:

• Who can help me expand my personal network?
• Who can assist me in navigating who is who?
• Who can introduce me to the right people?

The Creative

A creative person brings inspiration. They are people who activate fresh thinking, new perspectives and the occasional crazy idea! Creatives generally work beyond the purely rational, helping to inspire lateral thought.

To find a creative, ask yourself:

• Who brings new ideas?
• Who acts as a muse or catalyst to inspire you?
• Who can bring new opportunities and ways of thinking?

The Follower

A follower is a critical team member as they help get things done. They provide support, primarily through helping productivity. They are also someone who is willing to learn and give the opportunity for you to lead, mentor and develop them. This is important as a network should always be two-way; a network is stronger if you are adding value to others as well as getting help yourself.

Remember:

“The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.” – Keith Ferrazzi

To choose the right follower ask:

• Who can follow your lead and help you?
• Who can you delegate tasks to?
• Who can you help mentor and develop?

The Expert

An expert is someone with in-depth knowledge and expertise. They are a leader in their sphere, someone others look to for ideas and solutions. They are likely to be trendsetters, thought leaders or disruptors in their sphere.

To find the right expert to help you, think of the goal you want to achieve and ask:

• Who is the subject matter expert?
• Who is a leader in your field of interest?
• Who has the best specialist knowledge to help you?

The Encourager

An encourager is a positive person who brings energy and vitality to a relationship. They cheer you on when you are doing well and help you keep your when times are tough. They tend to have an optimistic worldview and a can-do attitude.

To identify your encourager, think:

• Who can encourage you and bolster your nerves?
• Who can be your fan, cheer you on and give moral support?
• Who can help you remain idealistic, positive and optimistic?

The Challenger

A challenger holds you to account and provides feedback on your performance. They ask probing questions, critique your ideas and highlight risks. This might make them seem pessimistic, but a good challenger is a realist who helps shape ideas to make plans (and you) more robust.

• Who can challenge your ideas and bring a contrary view?
• Who can give you honest critique and feedback?
• Who is a realist (who might sometimes sound like a pessimist)?

The Fixer

A fixer is a practical problem solver. You don’t always understand (or want to know) how they get things done, but they always achieve a result! When you are facing challenges, particularly short-term and unforeseen issues, such people are invaluable.

To find a fixer, ask yourself:

• Who can you think of who is a great problem solver?
• Who can find resources and solutions when you are under pressure?
• Who can you delegate to who you trust completely to get a task done?

The Sponsor

A sponsor raises your profile and helps with resources. They can help you find key people, money or materials. They can move behind the scenes, unblocking issues and working on your behalf.

To identify a good sponsor, ask:

• Who can champion you and your cause?
• Who can support you by finding or releasing resources?
• Who can unlock doors for you that would otherwise remain shut?

The Sage

A sage is a wise person, often more mature, who has probably achieved something similar to the dream that you have in mind. Their experience makes them an ideal mentor, who can point out the potential paths and pitfalls on the route to your goal.

To find your sage, think:

• Who can bring you experience, advice and wisdom?
• Who would be your ideal role model or sensei?
• Who can act as your mentor?

The Guide

A guide is a coach who helps you to achieve your specific life goal. They help create a thinking environment, using questions to unpack your assumptions. They assist you in making plans, setting milestones, and then sticking to them.

Therefore, to find your guide answer the following:

• Who can help you keep on track?
• Who can keep you accountable?
• Who can be your coach to help you achieve your goal?

5 Steps for how to build your personal network

1. Using The Right Questions Team tool, use your imagination to think of who you would like in each role if you could pick anyone in the world (or even from the whole of history).
2. Thinking about who you chose in step 1, now think about the top two or three reasons why you specifically chose those people. Write these factors down.
3. Now think, who in your network is sitting in those places at the moment? Are they the right people for your mission or vision? Do you need to ask someone to get off the bus?
4. Next, think about who you want on your bus to achieve your primary goal. Who can you connect with from your ideal list? From your existing network (or connections of existing connections) who could fulfil the given role and tick off the same factors you identified?
5. Now make a plan for how to engage with these people. Remember, this should include not just how to make contact but how to develop and maintain that relationship.

First steps (and further thoughts) towards building your powerful personal network

Having gone through these steps you should have identified a list of potential people who can be your personal network to help you achieve your goal. As with all good plans, make sure you commit towards taking the first step. Put something in the diary to have that first call or meeting to foster the network.

And expect things to evolve. In reality, the team we end up with is rarely the team we initially think of or start out with. Some people won’t be able to help. Others will have to step away or be replaced. Equally, you are likely to come across new people who are presently not on your list.

All these roles are important, but the roles of sage (mentor) and guide (coach) deserve some extra investigation, and that is what we will do in the next section.