From Networking to Netweaving: how Sense-Lab cultivates meaningful relationships

jordanamaciel2
May 15
3 min read

By Andreas Ufer

In an increasingly fast-paced, results-driven world, it's common that professional connections become superficial — such as relationships guided by business card exchanges, LinkedIn messages, rushed meetings —.

However, at Sense-Lab, we have learned that the most powerful connections come from another place, where we cultivate genuine relationships and weave networks (netweaving) rather than working on connections in a transactional way (networking).

More than just a play on words, netweaving represents a profound change in terms of attitude and intention in professional and institutional relationships. It is about generating connections with purpose, placing generosity and listening at the center of relationship building.

O que é Netweaving?

While traditional networking revolves around the idea of “who can help me", netweaving starts with “how can I help others connect, grow, or advance?”. It’s a win-win approach focused on listening, offering help, and making meaningful connections. All of this without expecting an immediate return. It’s about building trust through authentic, collaborative relationships, not just transactional ones. In essence:

Networking is about building a broad network of contacts that can be useful.
Netweaving is about cultivating meaningful relationships based on generosity and a willingness to help others.

Netweaving can be an effective and sustainable approach to building strong professional networks, as it generates trust, goodwill and genuine connections. At Sense-Lab, we see this approach as something more. For us, it provides a more mature and coherent way of approaching relationships within the complexity of the systems in which we operate and a more effective way of solving collective problems.

How we weave networks at Sense-Lab

Netweaving is part of our daily lives, both in the way we interact with partners and in the way we design projects and interventions in ecosystems. In practice, this involves:

active listening and presence in collective processes, rather than prescriptive consulting;
opening doors to others: we connect projects and people who can strengthen each other, even if there is no direct return for the consultancy;
building long-term alliances and partnerships, based on trust and purpose alignment.
curating intentional meetings, in which the connections between participants become as valuable as the content of the meetings themselves.

This approach allows us to act as weavers of living networks — which go beyond specific interests and become platforms for systemic innovation and real transformation —.

Networking x Netweaving

Netweaving differs in many ways from conventional networking.

Aspect	Networking	Netweaving
Guiding question	What can I achieve?	How can I help?
Intention	Self-interest	Generosity and mutual benefit
Relationship type	Broad but often superficial contacts	Authentic and lasting connections
Quick actions	Introduce yourself, exchange contacts, pitch	Listen, offer help, connect people
Results	Short-term opportunities	Trust, lasting collaborations, collective innovation
Focus	Individual	Weaving networks and ecosystems of impact

In our vision, networking and netweaving are not mutually exclusive. A complete professional performance can involve both — networking to expand reach and netweaving to deepen relationships —.

However, when the goal is to transform systems and foster collective innovation, as we seek to do at Sense-Lab, weaving networks beyond transactional relationships offers a more powerful, human and strategic path.