Networking 101 - Don’t Manipulate

Networking 101 - Don’t Manipulate

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd

Dr. Renate Volpe, in her nugget cards entitled “Networking Tips” says:

“Don’t subtly manipulate relationships with exclusionary tactics.  This does you no favours in the long term.”

Wow!  Renate certainly doesn’t pull the punches, does she?  Quite frankly she shouldn’t.  As far as I am concerned manipulation of any sort, for any reason at any time, is not a good thing!

Come on folks, let’s be honest about this – we don’t like to be manipulated, well I certainly don’t, so why on earth would anyone else like to be manipulated?  Stands to reason, doesn’t it?

The other thing of course is that manipulation, like dishonestly always comes back to you and generally bites you on the rear end.  It destroys friendships and carefully built up relationships in a matter of moments.  It is a destructive force and in my opinion should be avoided at all costs.

It is far better to lay all of your cards on the table, be transparent and have no hidden agenda’s.  Let’s face it, we all have a ‘what’s in it for me’ aspect to what we do and why we do it, let’s just be honest about it and move forward from there.  That way, when the chips are down we all know where we stand.

So for my part avoid manipulation of any kind.

For more information on Renate, please visit her website at http://www.drrenatevolpe.co.za

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za