Baking new contacts – The art of food networking

Posted by Anne Hamill

Have you noticed the trend in people (particularly men) using baking as a way of networking? It’s a particularly effective way of increasing team morale or expanding your network, and it’s something I wanted to share with you.

Here are a few examples of the idea in action –

1. A call centre manager baking a cake for a team who are facing a particularly tough day
2. Senior managers making waffles for their department as a bonding and feedback session
3. A manager who inherited an espresso machine, and built a network by offering coffee to everyone who came to his desk to see him

As you can see, all of them are relatively simple to do but can have a big impact on the people you involve. However, a word of warning. The important thing is to show you’ve invested time in what you’re doing – simply buying a cake only says “I earn enough to buy this for you” and won’t have the same impact. People want to feel like you’ve gone the extra mile for them.

Food networking doesn’t just have to be managerial, as a recent IT graduate showed.  Building on a quick conversation with a senior manager that showed they wanted more cross-team interaction and to build a ‘whole department’ ethos, he brought in compost, plant pots and seeds and started a competition to see who could grow the best chilli pepper in the office. It wasn’t long before a friendly competitive spirit took over – suddenly everyone had something in common, and more and more people responded to the invitation to get in on the action.  How did I hear this?  From the senior manager, who cited it as a great example of networking initiative.

Clearly a success for the department – and also for the graduate!

One thing I’ve been wondering is whether food networking is especially useful for men because it not only shows care and attention, but also shows that they are prepared to break the mould and stand out, by doing this in a way that is not a traditional male preserve?  If women use baking as a way of networking, however, does it have the same mould-breaking impact? Or does it reinforce the caring = mothering stereotype? If so – I’ve been wondering what women do to network that breaks the mould in the same way. Any ideas?

Finally –  if you do decide to “bake” some new connections, drop us a photo of your creation!