Current Networks

Unfortunately I missed the campus session because I am in Kuala Lumpur and so I have found it quite difficult to move on to the networked professional section of the module. After reading the instructions for the first task I realised that my awareness of my own networking was very poor. I wasn't even sure exactly what was meant by a professional network so I really didn't know where to begin. I then considered what I discovered about the way I learn in the last part of the module. It has become clear to me that I begin to learn best when I am able to view someone else doing it first and then have chance to reflect and think about what they have said. This self awareness at least gave me a starting point. I needed to read the blogs of people who had attended the campus session. They also needed to be people who I knew to be reliable and conscientious in their work. The first person that sprung to mind was Natalie, and I was right to think of her because she has written a really clear account of what happened at the campus session in her blog entitled 'The Networked Professional-campus session 10/11/10'. I also read Joanna's blog entitled 'The Networked Professional' which proved to be equally useful.

At the beginning of their blogs Natalie and Joanna mention that at the campus session Alan asked everyone to draw a 'mind map' of their current professional networks. I thought that this sounded like a good way to discover my current understanding of  how I interact professionally. This is the first thing I drew (I don't have a scanner out here so it's just a photograph).

The first thing I thought about was the different ways I network. There seems to me to be two distinct types of networking that I engage in.

The first is face to face networking. This could be meeting with friends and colleagues either for coffee, at parties, or various shows etc. (I believe it can be very helpful in musical theatre to be seen at certain events. It reminds people who you are and that you are still involved in the business). It might be auditioning for directors and casting directors.  Working in the industry is also a way I network face to face. So much of my new work comes as a result of working with people in the past. Also attending singing, acting and dance classes connects me with peers and more experienced professionals who may be in a position to help me.

The second is networking using different technologies. We have all talked a lot about web 2.0 on this course and how much we are starting to use it professionally. Our blogs are a great example of this. They are how we all keep in contact with each other on this course. I am in Malaysia but I am able to be involved in this learning network because of technology. Another example of this is Facebook. I am friends with so many people who I have previously worked with on Facebook. I would probably have lost contact with some of these people by now if this technology wasn't available. It is a tool that enables me to maintain a connection with people even if they are not at the forefront of my current work. Email is another example of a technology I use regularly for professional networking. I use it to keep open the lines of communication with my agent. I have emailed casting directors directly just to remind them of me, thank them for an audition, or ask them to see me for something. I have also emailed directors and choreographers I have worked with to congratulate them if I have seen other bodies of work they have created (I think this is a very good way of gently reminding someone who you are and it doesn't hurt that you are massaging their ego slightly at the same time). I also wrote down the Equity and Spotlight websites. These are both technologies that allow me to be connected to a wider group of theatre professionals, people that I might not know directly but who share common professional interests with me. Reflecting on my last sentence I believe technology is so important when it comes to professional networking because it connects us to a much wider group of people who we would not otherwise have the chance of contact with. It broadens our outlook and links us into communities of people with common interests.

The next thing I wrote on my 'mind map' was inspired by Joanna's blog. She writes, "The concept revolves around the idea that there are people who you receive from (mentor types), those you give to and those you equally give to and receive from (close friends who you can encourage)" (Adeyinka, 2010). I found this idea really interesting and so put my current networks into theses categories. At the moment it seems to me that the smallest group is those that I solely give to. I don't think this implies that I am an ungiving or selfish person, I think it is more about the stage you are at in your career. As you become older and more experienced you find you have more to give to people and I imagine you also find that people are more interested in receiving from you.

I decided to draw another mind map trying to show the connections between myself and different areas of my professional network. I also tried to show how these various areas are in turn connected with each other. The arrows show the way in which the information/knowledge/advice flows. For example the arrow goes from myself to the people I teach because I currently give my knowledge to them, whereas the arrow comes from Spotlight/Equity because those sights supply me with information. In some places the arrows point in both directions (for example between myself and my colleagues) because we mutually give and take.

Something that both Natalie and Joanna talked about which this map doesn't take into account is the varying importance of these different networks. I thought about drawing it again with the more important networks closer to me in the centre and the less important ones further away, however the map became rather complicated. 

It is interesting considering which of my networks are the most beneficial. Initially I would have imagined that my most important and beneficial relationships were with my agent and various casting directors because this is where the majority of my work comes from. However, through reading people's blogs and by starting the course reader on the networked professional I have started to understand the importance of my relationships with my peers. Relationships that involve mutual favours and cooperation, or 'tit for tat' as Robert Axlerod calls it (Axelrod, 1984). 

I have seen the fruits of these kinds of relationships in the past. I once did a recording session for a friend of mine who had written a new musical and needed someone who could sound young. Thinking about this critically I had several reasons for helping. Firstly they were a friend and they asked me and I like doing things for friends. Secondly I relished the chance at recording something in a studio because I thought it would be a really good experience. Thirdly (and I feel slightly ashamed to admit this) I thought that perhaps in the future when I needed a favour they would owe me one. As it happens six months after I recorded for him an audition came up where I wasn't able to make my recall, luckily my friend was the MD and I got the job anyway. I'm not saying that I got the job just because I did some recording for him (I think it's more complicated than that) but I do think that by doing the recording I somehow solidified our relationship with each other.

Another interesting thing about the example I just used is that before we were friends we were colleagues, and more than that he was the MD on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang my first big show. In other words he was in a position of power over me. However through cultivating our personal relationship as previously described I would now consider our relationship to be much more equal. I think this demonstrates that networks are transitional or 'seasonal' as Alan describes it. It is possible to shape your relationship with someone so that they don't always remain in the same group.

I think this idea of 'seasonal' networks is crucial because it highlights the importance of maintaining relationships with people. Someone you've met, worked with, or even taught may not currently be of crucial importance to your professional advancement but that's not to say that they won't be in six months or a year, or even five years. There are now so many tools (like Facebook as I have previously mentioned) that allow us to maintain relationships with large numbers of people for a time when they may become of more importance to us.

I have a friend who is a director and she writes down in a book the name of every single person in the industry that she meets. She makes notes on who they are, what they have done, where/when/why she met them and even what they talked about so that if ever the time arises when she meets them again she can immediately reestablish the connection. I think is a really commendable practice and I would love to do something similar but have always found that I don't have the discipline. Perhaps I will try it again.

These are obviously only my initial thoughts about professional networks and I will blog more as I continue to think about it. There is one more thing that I want to say however. I personally find it very difficult to network because I don't like being seen as pushy and I don't like to think that people would think I was taking advantage of them. I also don't like to recommend myself to people because if I do and then they don't think I am any good it is embarrassing. I know this is down to low self confidence but it is difficult to know what to do about it. I have seen people in this industry who can talk to anyone and as a result have found themselves in the most wonderful jobs. I don't know whether this is an ability you just have or whether it is something you learn, or whether it is perhaps something you just have to force yourself to do but I would be interested to find out. It is perhaps also interesting to note that when it comes to teaching I am much more able to recommend myself than when it comes to performing. I don't know why this is. Perhaps it is because teaching is not as personal as performing. When you recommend yourself as a performer you are judged on everything about yourself from your hair colour to the sound of your voice and it therefore so much harder when you are rejected.