Chaos can strike organizations in different ways. Perhaps a merger creates management changes and job losses. Or industry change — like adapting to new technologies — causes job insecurity among data analysts or creative teams. Companies that pivot to a new product (think Allbirds swapping shoes for AI) could create internal upheaval.

Whatever the cause of turmoil, Tiziana Casciaro says there’s one thing that will help employees weather the storm: having strong interpersonal networks.

Casciaro, a professor of organizational behaviour at the Rotman School of Management, has long studied how people network and connect. She has found that while people might find networking distasteful and difficult, strong networks can help in times of trouble or change.

Whether you’re a junior employee in their first job or a well-established CEO, the best connections are a blend of close colleagues who are a source of social support, and co-workers within other parts of the organization that you normally wouldn’t interact with — but who might offer new ideas and opportunities in times of crisis.

“We need this yin-yang of a network that is cozy and gives a lot of stability, and at the same time, we also need novelty because [in chaotic times], our normal territory and anchors of life are disrupted,” says Casciaro. “If we stay within our little map of the world in a time of chaos, we’re going to receive a lot of emotional support, but not necessarily novel ideas for how to navigate a change of reality that we get from connecting elsewhere.”

Difficult times are unique, she says, because reliable parties, structures and governing mechanisms become lost. Take an acquisition: whereas a senior manager previously held strong decision-making authority, new internal structures could dilute that authority. For employees who previously reported to this manager, that might result in a lack of clear direction on projects. Mergers can result in duplicate positions (say, two VPs of product), creating opaque processes. Without these pillars, people naturally rely on their social supports for insights into what could be happening within the organization.

“People respond to information in a crisis from those they trust — people close to them,” Casciaro says. “In organizations, during disruptions like mergers and restructuring, individuals naturally rely on trusted contacts for information. But those contacts may not have the information needed to navigate and adapt to the new situation.”

That’s why it’s important for people to expand their networks to those who wouldn’t necessarily be in their inner circle.

“As everything shifts, you have to come up with new ways of organizing — new ways of performing your job — that reflect this instability. Often, those insights are not necessarily in your existing trusted relationship. They are elsewhere,” she says.

It can be difficult for people to move outside their comfort zones, form these connections and overcome their aversion to networking. But for organizations, it’s worthwhile to facilitate the connections. Research shows that well-networked employees tend to learn more, sell more and gain skills faster, Casciaro.      
                  
To help create these opportunities, organizations need to show employees their interdependence with one another, and how their contributions matter to one another’s work.

Nobody works in isolation, Casciaro says, and everybody contributes different pieces of a larger puzzle. This doesn’t need to be complicated; organizations can create opportunities — such as presentations and all-hands meetings — for employees to share their projects, challenges and concerns with people outside of their immediate teams, with the goal of showing employees how their work impacts others’ in the company.

“Ideally, you want to have these pure understanding moments that are scheduled in an organization on a regular basis,” Casciaro says. “Doing something like this creates bridges and connections to different parts of the organizational world. Purely understanding how the pieces come together allows people to bond much more, because then we realize that we depend on each other.”

Organizations can also host structured opportunities, such as offsite or social events, where people can get to know each other on a more personal level.

She cautions against hosting open-ended networking events, because people naturally congregate among others they already know. Instead, the organization can host events with specific activities, such as icebreakers, that pair people and ask them to find something improbable that they have in common.

“They have to dig. Maybe they find out they both have a grandmother who comes from a particular region of Italy — things that make them realize that, despite the fact that they live in different parts of the organization, industry or profession, they in fact have more reasons to be close than what meets the eye,” Casciaro says.

She adds that these close connections can still be built in a virtual environment. While virtual workers might lose the serendipity of bumping into people in the hallway and unplanned encounters, it is still possible to build networks with others within the organization, through activities such as virtual gatherings with structured icebreaker activities.

Whether trust is built in person or virtually with new networks, the ultimate goal remains the same: keep the social connections that provide emotional support, but also branch out to new networks that offer new insights to help survive difficult times, Casciaro says. “[In times of crisis], what you really need is novelty. It leads you to a new approach, and sometimes, it’s what a crisis requires.”