How to Improve Your MOR Score: A 90-Day Plan for Each Sub-Score
Direct answer: The fastest way to raise your MOR Score is to identify your single lowest sub-score on the results page and run a focused 90-day plan against just that one dimension, rather than trying to improve all five categories at once.
If your weak-tie ratio is low
Granovetter's original weak-tie research found that acquaintances, not close friends, deliver most job leads and novel information, because close friends tend to already know what you know. A 90-day plan here means scheduling one 20-minute virtual coffee chat every two weeks with someone you know only casually — a former colleague, a conference contact, a second-degree LinkedIn connection — with no immediate ask.
If your bridging sub-score is low
A low bridging score means most of your contacts already know each other. Deliberately joining one community outside your current industry — a local business group, an alumni chapter in a different field, a cross-functional working group at your company — for 90 days is the most direct way to create a structural bridge Burt's research associates with faster access to new information.
If your maintenance sub-score is low
This sub-score reflects how often you reconnect with dormant contacts. A simple 90-day maintenance plan: block 15 minutes weekly to message two contacts you haven't spoken with in over a year, referencing something specific from your last conversation. HBR's dormant-ties research found these low-effort reconnections frequently outperform networking with active contacts precisely because dormant ties have accumulated new, non-redundant information in the meantime.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I retake the MOR Score?
Every 90 days is a reasonable cadence — long enough for deliberate actions to show up in your sub-scores, short enough to catch drift before a dormant network becomes a stalled one.
Do I need to fix all five sub-scores?
No. Most people get more return from raising their single lowest sub-score than from spreading effort evenly across all five.
Does a bigger network always mean a better score?
No — size is only one of five equally weighted sub-scores, and beyond a certain point additional contacts with no diversity or maintenance behind them barely move the composite MOR Score.