Weekly Business Insights from Top Ten Business Magazines | Week 315 | Leading & Managing Section | 1

Extractive summaries and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Since September 2017 | Week 315 | September 22-28, 2023

Reconnecting When Network Ties Go Dormant

By Emanuela Rondi et al., | MIT Sloan Managment Review | September 25, 2023

Extractive Summary of the Article | Listen

We’ve known for a while that relationships that have fallen into a state of inactivity — or become dormant ties — can be resurrected.   Such connections have the potential to be incredibly valuable: During the period of dormancy, former contacts have been learning new things and developing new networks that could yield advice, referrals, emotional support, and even tangible resources.

Some of the reconnection attempts could be suboptimal or even downright harmful.   So what makes some reconnections more successful than others? The authors investigated such questions by observing and interviewing managers to understand how to refresh a level of trust in ways that benefit both parties.

1. Remembering. Recognizing each other is critical, and a failure to do so can feel embarrassing and even insulting. Trying to reconnect with someone who does not recognize you is painful and might even make you seem less trustworthy. This often ends the relationship permanently.  Approaching someone in person at a professional event can also be tricky. Keep in mind, for instance, that everyone’s appearance changes over time, including yours, so providing clues such as a prominent name tag can help.  After recognizing each other, reminiscing over shared experiences helps to reestablish the relationship by reminding each other of what was happening when the tie was active. You want to talk about times spent together, and even shared hardships.
2. Catching up. Updating the other person on professional and even personal matters since you last saw each other brings the relationship into the present and allows you to fill in the picture of what has happened while the relationship was dormant.  Focusing on just the relevant highlights can help to strategically orient the conversation.  Including details on personal matters can make the reconnection less transactional.  

How you present yourself — your views, your recent experiences — will affect not just how the other person sees you but the relationship itself. You will likewise have the same opportunity to reassess your old contact. This stage is when both parties evaluate, often subconsciously, whether the other person represents a viable tie for the future.

3. Perceiving the tie similarly. Both sides need to be on the same page about the relationship, such as how close you two feel, whether your roles or companies are in competition, and whether you are of similar or different status. For example, it is fine to reconnect with people you used to know either really well or barely at all, as long as you treat the other person accordingly. Treating someone as a close confidant when you had a distant relationship with them (or vice versa) undermines the reconnection.  Dormant contacts who are now competitors can still reconnect successfully and sometimes even work together — such as on efforts to promote the industry — but both people need to be in sync about the nature of the relationship.

Refreshing dormant ties can be as important to enhancing your network as adding new people or strengthening existing ties. Savvy executives reconnect, but they do it thoughtfully. The payoff is that requests to collaborate or seek advice will be greeted less warily, with a willingness by the other person to go above and beyond in helping without feeling like they’re being taken advantage of.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. We’ve known for a while that relationships that have fallen into a state of inactivity — or become dormant ties — can be resurrected.   Such connections have the potential to be incredibly valuable.  During the period of dormancy, former contacts have been learning new things and developing new networks that could yield advice, referrals, emotional support, and even tangible resources.
2. So what makes some reconnections more successful than others?   Three elements consistently associated with successful reconnections: how well both parties remember each other, how they go about catching up, and whether they perceive the relationship similarly.
3. Refreshing dormant ties can be as important to enhancing your network as adding new people or strengthening existing ties. The payoff is that requests to collaborate or seek advice will be greeted less warily, with a willingness by the other person to go above and beyond in helping without feeling like they’re being taken advantage of. 

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Topics:  Networking,  Entrepreneurship, Business Development