Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Social Capital and Networks

I always thought of Social Capital as the goodwill I built-up in people for doing favors for or, spending time with them. I always felt that I was more successful at it than others because mine seemed to come from a more genuine place...

or maybe I was just more convincing :P

In any case, I found the Rob Cross interview very enlightening. Cross' perspective on social networks seems to effectively categorize my own situation: one who is struggling to balance work and quality of life issues, and is beginning to become a poor performer due to it. I feel that I am on the way out, as Cross warns, and need to not be thrown "back into the fray" or they will lose me permanently. A lot of this can be attributed to poor staffing, as my department is one of the smallest in IT, but has an inordinate amount of work and responsibility.

2 comments:

dug can read said...

Thanks Homey. Nice to hear where you believe you are within the office network. I am not sure you needed Rob Cross's article to enlighten you on your work-life balance situation. Of course your work performance is suffering - you are in grad school!

Rob said...

I agree with your Social Capital comment- i.e. certain individuals will always extend more help and coaching than others to employees who have questions. I think it's a personality trait- the wherewithal to help.

I empathize with "balancing work and quality of life" comment- I think a good manager needs to recognize when to reduce the load on a valuable employee so they don't burn out. Burning out an employee is a big loss of Social Capital the organization has invested in that employee.