How healthy is my network? A quick guide to assessing the capacity of your network to produce results

A criticism often levelled at poor HR practice is that practitioners "don’t know the business" or are "isolated in their ivory towers". However the diverse nature of the roles played by HR practitioners naturally leads to the development of networks not only within the organisation, but outside its boundaries as well. Unfortunately the skill of networking and coalition building doesn’t come naturally to many people, and as such many do not utilise their networks as well as they possibly could. Two decades of research suggest that networks exhibit a number of structural properties, having both antecedents and consequences. Using this we can identify a number of aspects to consider and an number of strategies you can employ to maximise the power of your networks. This brief paper outlines seven of the most important network characteristics that can be used as metrics to evaluate the health and potential capacity of your network. Examining each of these will allow you to take stock and ask yourself "how healthy is my network?"