Chatting with HIAS about Networking

To explore examples of networking best practices, Danielle Pack, TA Advisor at IRC recently spoke with Gene Borsh, Project Director and Marina Belotserkovsky, Director of Russian Communications, at Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Gene and Marina manage Project Local Russian Émigré Organizations (LOREO), a national network that strengthens and links local Russian-speaking refugee organizations. For HIAS, networking has been essential in identifying and cultivating relationships within Russian-speaking communities.

Here’s what Gene and Marina had to say:

Initial Strategies

We began the LOREO project more than 5 years ago. At that time, there was no such thing as a congregation of Russian-speaking community organizations. Everyone was doing their own thing and there was no unity. We wanted to publicize Russian-speaking leadership efforts so that all of these small organizations could see the other efforts that were going on in their community.

To network within the Russian-speaking community, we noticed right away that phone calls were not as successful as in-person meetings. To Russian-speakers, phone calls seem too abrupt and feel a little rough — you’re not able to get close to the person you are speaking with. By the time people get comfortable, it is often time to hang up the phone. Instead, we went to each Russian-speaking organization and met with the directors face-to-face. Contacting each organization individually gave these meetings a more intimate feel. The initial meetings were really long — at least two hours each. To us, this became an indication for how much need was out there. If we had begun this networking process over the phone, we would not have had enough time to adequately assess the organization’s problems and needs. During these meetings, we built trust, which is a key ingredient when networking. Once the trust was there, these organizations felt that they could come to us.

When we spoke about creating LOREO, we stressed the fact that we needed each organization’s help — that this network was about them, not about us. It was important for us during this time to stress that the work on the project would be done TOGETHER.

Techniques to Keep the Network Going

The need to follow-up is so important when building a network, or just when networking in general. After our initial meetings with organizations, we would re-visit the same staff to address specific areas of concern. If after the initial contact, you are not doing something quick and successful with them, they will not stay with you. It’s essential when building a network that each party has their own important, specific role. This avoids arguments by keeping everyone busy. Organizations become so proud of themselves.

Currently, a combination of different networking strategies works well. That is something that we have realized — that we need to tailor the mode of communication to the particular organization. Email, phone calls and in-person meetings all have their place at certain times. To continue the spirit of networking, we train our community leaders during workshops in networking best practices. We explain how business is usually done in the United States, and practice different phone strategies that could open doors to networking opportunities. One of the things we stress is that there is no need for organizational representatives to tell their entire life story over the phone — they need to learn how to be concise and prepared in order to appear professional on the phone.

Communication and Public Relations

Once the foundation was laid for the getting these organizations to talk to one another, it became necessary to network with external sources. Currently, for the first time, we are trying to motivate the organizations to create a community calendar to help avoid overlap of events and fundraisers. Another tool for exchanging information and ideas is our current project to create a resource directory of every Russian-speaking organization in the United States. The directory would also include Russian-speaking professionals who are not necessarily social service providers.

Services around a newly recognized, time-sensitive need are often great opportunities for networking. For example, there has been a major problem in Brooklyn where elderly people have been attacked in a Russian-speaking community housing complex. In response, we formed a task force together with local, grassroots social service organizations. United around this issue, we were all able to get to know each other better. New services that we learned about became referral options for our clients — one of the most important by-products of networking. In addition, money was used to fund additional police to be there, and as a result, Russian-speaking police became more involved in the organizations we work with. Finally, the situation drew response from local politicians, which brought publicity to our program. United and working together was far better than addressing this problem as one group alone.

Making the Difference

Building relationships requires the right person with the right reputation in the community. It helps if this person is already recognizable within the community you are trying to reach. There are just some people whose personality makes them better “networkers”. When we were proposing LOREO, the organizations were already looking at us with trust because they knew Gene and his commitment to the community.

A Give-and-Take Situation

Networking is definitely a give-and-take situation. The purpose of the LOREO project was not to benefit HIAS. However, HIAS has ended up receiving recognition, interesting projects, and funding by publicizing our successes with LOREO.

Challenges

Every day we are adjusting our strategies, based on new obstacles or other factors that present themselves to project LOREO. It has been extremely important to develop quick reactions when something happens, because the entire community is involved. This has helped us to avoid long-term problems and conflicts.