@mekkaokereke Specifically, I tried to have the following question added to our internal engineer survey:
"Please list up to five people who are not in your immediate team or org who you consult with on a regular basis."
(Wording might be slightly off as this was almost 20 years ago.)
The idea was to find highly connected people who don't look they should be (position, seniority, etc.) and reward them. Also target them when we're trying to influence the company.