What’s the shape of your network?

To answer this question, think about the people you talk with in real life. Omit your digital or virtual connections on LinkedIn and other online venues, unless you’ve also met these individuals in person.

Is your network more like a circle or a spider web? The shape affects how you approach and deal with change, based on research by Dr. Emily Falk, Associate Professor of Communication, Psychology and Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania. The shape also can influence the quality and speed of your work.

Circle Networks

As Dr. Falk explained at the 2017 NeuroLeadership Summit, her research is showing that individuals who are in a closed network where all their connections know one another — a la, a circle — are more comfortable sticking with the status quo.

Individuals in a circle network, which also can be an organizational silo, tend to share similar values, experiences and perspectives. This circle or silo can operate as an echo chamber in which people primarily hear opinions that mirror their own, which reinforces their existing beliefs.

Spider Web Networks

By contrast, individuals in a network that looks more like a spider web where many or most of their connections have no relationship with one another are more open to experimentation and change due to how they interact with one another.

According to Dr. Falk, here’s why this happens. If you’re in a spider web network, which Dr. Falk calls a “brokerage network,” you need to work harder to interact with your connections who may have very diverse backgrounds or who may be working in other areas and, therefore, have varied training and experiences.

For example, consider how individuals in different departments in the same organization have their own language, work processes and customs. Finance, IT, Legal, HR, Marketing, Operations and others all have their own vocabulary, acronyms and shorthand for talking with one another and getting work done.

When you’re conversing with someone in another profession, you’ve got to expend some effort thinking about what they know already and what new information they might need to understand what you’re talking about. To influence them, you also need to consider how they’ll react to you and your information, especially when you’re asking them to take specific actions.

Even though you’re still speaking English, you’re serving as a type of interpreter or translator. You are evaluating information and looking at it through different lenses and perspectives to make it best come to life as you inform and influence others.

These actions cause you to adjust your brain’s mentalizing system, which is the active mental state humans use to imagine how we perceive and interpret others’ behavior. The mentalizing system activates when we pay attention to those we’re with physically or talking with via phone or video.

Human connections with people who are different from you can prompt you to start thinking differently, Dr. Falk explained. You can become more open to changing how you think and act. This can be a valuable skill for adapting quickly in today’s VUCA world — that is, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

And, consider the even more practical benefit to breaking your circle and converting it to a spider web — especially if you’re new in an organization. When you know more people outside of your immediate work team, you’re able to get things done faster often with higher quality. You know the dependable, go-to people who can help you cut through red tape and deliver for you and others.

Forming A Spider Network

So, what are some easy and effective ways to form a loose spider network without becoming mired in sticky situations? Try these five actions.

1. At least once a week, go to lunch with someone outside of your work silo.

2. Volunteer for a cross-functional special work project or team that will require you to interact with new people. Just make sure the mission or goal of the project is something you’re interested in.

3.  Ask individuals you know who naturally have spider-web-style networks based on their type of work to suggest people you should meet. Natural connectors tend to be coaches, consultants, trainers and others who work for professional service firms, such as accounting, law, public relations, marketing, etc., who depend on broad networks for their work.

4.  Invite individuals you know from other functions inside and outside your organization to connect with you on LinkedIn. Review what they post and see who they connect with to broaden your points of view.

5.  Outside of work, make an effort to strike up conversations with people you see at events, the gym, the dog park and other social settings. These informal, in-person conversations can quickly activate your mentalizing system and crack open windows to introduce you to fresh perspectives and even new worlds.

As your experiment with some or all of these actions, focus on growing your network in new directions slowly and steadily. Go for quality over quantity.

You’ll be building a loose, strong network that will help you be more thoughtful, agile and adaptable in work and life.