Lesson Overview

Different Applications of NetWeaving

When NetWeaving began, most of the applicability was thought to be in conjunction with sales and marketing – a tool to create better relationships with existing customers and clients, as well as a way develop new business by building meaningful relationships through helping others as a connector OF others, as well as a no-strings-attached, resource provider FOR others. 

 Also, by constantly being on the lookout for persons in every field and profession who are exceptional at what they do, and then finding a way to help them and recruit them to become part of your Trusted Resource Network, you develop the reputation as the ‘go-to’ person, due in large part to the quality and depth and breadth of your network.

Human Resource Professionals: But then, Human Resource professionals began recognizing an application for NetWeaving as way to tear down or at least reduce some of the walls and silo’s that exist inside most companies that thwart cooperation and collaboration. 

By developing an internal culture of NetWeaving where people just get to know each other as human beings, and by creating a NetWeaving Enrichment Council made up of high energy people who become ambassadors of and cheerleaders for the concept, along with a few highly respected SME’s (subject matter experts), an entirely new atmosphere, which promotes collaboration and cooperation can be fostered.

 Non-Profits Organization:  Non-Profits organizations have discovered that NetWeaving could help by getting their Board Members and key volunteers, to get to know each other at a much deeper level.  Also, by showing high-powered Board Members how to host meetings in NetWeaving fashion, just to introduce two of their good and powerful friends to each other, they could almost guarantee that at the end of the meeting, one of both of their friends would ask their host how they could help him or her.  

That led to a natural segue to talk about the cause about which they are so passionate, and to ask for help – whether that meant the other person’s time, their money, or just an awareness of this cause as a passion of theirs.

Job Seeker: And next, people already in, or anticipating being in, a job-search mode, were shown how spending some part of their time ‘hosting’ meetings in-person as well as virtual, could often lead to an introduction to someone willing to help, or in some cases directly to a job offer.

Students: Then it was discovered that NetWeaving could be applied at every level of education: 

• Elementary School Students: in the early elementary school grades as a way for children to learn how to introduce themselves, and their friends, to other children whom they didn’t even know, thus reducing or eliminating some of the cliquishness which tends to develop in the later grades.
• High Schools Students: As a lifelong skill set for those willing at this stage to look to their future and recognize that their success will largely be determined by how well they are able to create and sustain relationships with others.
• Colleges Student: As a way to super-charge the launch of a career by teaching them how to host in-person meetings with persons 20, 30 or more years above their own age – using their age to their advantage – almost eliminating the chance of rejection and often recruiting mentors while they’re at it.  They will have created a Trusted Resource Network within a few years that would be the envy of someone twice their age.  In fact, college students are advised that this point forward, regardless of the field they choose, they are in the executive search industry. They need to constantly be on the lookout for persons who are exceptional at what they do – regardless of his or her field.  And when they find one of these individuals (e.g. read an article by or about the person; hear a speech, are introduced by someone who know them, etc.), it’s their job to find a way to help them and then stay in touch.  That’s another way to build their Trusted Resource Network.

Business and Service: Businesses services’ clubs found that NetWeaving could deepen relationships within the entire organization and in some cases transform a fairly stodgy and closed business or club environment into one with an open and friendly atmosphere. And the hosting meeting that were perpetuated often meant bringing in non-club members as the third person in a hosting meeting, which translated into new members sensing the energy in the club, stimulated by NetWeaving activities.

Cities & Municipalities: Entire cities and or regions recognized how the concept could be used as a theme to help unlock hidden and ‘undiscovered, or under-utilized, assets within the community by creating a more collaborative environment in which disparate parties – business, government, education, and non-profits – all look for ways to put aside their own agendas to work toward common goals.

And no doubt, as time goes on, new applications for NetWeaving will be discovered and more connections will be made, and more resources will be provided.  Someday it’s conceivable that in line with the schoolteacher’s challenge in the book and movie, “Pay It Forward” – to “Create something that can change the world”. . .and then “Put it into action” – NetWeaving  –  the ‘business’ version of Pay It Forward, may just help make that someday become a reality.