This part of the book focuses on the internal responsibility for relationship management by starting to describe what a network organization is. The second paragraph is about mapping and managing the internal stakeholders, followed by a part about designing the structure of the responsibility for the relationship management and the formation of networking teams. The last paragraphs focus on the competencies and tasks of a networker.

This book distinguishes two different roles:

• • The Manager(s) of the Network of an organization: those responsible for the facilitation and management of the entire network of an organization as described in this book. Please note; amanager as used here is not meant to be a controller, but rather a facilitator and enabler of the networkers.

• • The networkers: those internal stakeholders building and/or maintaining a network (this is a role and can be almost every employee within an organization).

It is often said that employees are responsible for building and maintaining their own networks because relationships are mostly based upon personal likings or functionalities. That is true, however, from an organizational perspective there is also a need. Organizational networks should be sustainable and remain after the employee leaves the organization. By nature, all relationships can be seen as personal, but they are also crucial to and an inherent part of an organization.

As professionals, we are all networkers, and we all have different ways of being part of a relationship. We all have different kinds of working relations (internally and externally) and also one or more networks we participate in to a greater or lesser extent. People always know other people, in formal or informal relationships, while doing official tasks, but also during breaks or on a social occasion.

This can lead to complications; the information that is shared can come from different perspectives but also with different purposes. Roles might be unclear or overlapping, and the information that is shared might be lost because of that.

In general, we do not learn how to be in a working relationship; it is mostly trial and error. From an organization's perspective, trial and error is not an ideal situation.