Networking…How Do I Begin?
Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash
When Networking Doesn’t Feel Authentic…
Mary knows it is important to network; she has heard it over and over throughout her career. However, it isn’t a natural skill for her, and she doesn’t even know how to begin. She doesn’t want it to feel forced or fake. Instead, she wants to have authentic relationships with others that naturally evolve into networking opportunities.
Networking can be natural and authentic if you do it right. And with a Career Coach from The Wilbanks Consulting Group (WCG), we can help you develop natural strategies to make your networking impactful and authentic. Many people similar to Mary have reached out to WCG to learn how to network and quickly developed the skills to provide confidence and effectiveness.
Establishing a Networking Map
Building a network map is the first step towards a purposeful networking approach. As you build your network map (and ultimately, your network), you should consider all areas of your life. Networking involves deepening relationships with personal, professional, academic, and family contacts. Since the average person knows 150-300 people, it is helpful to organize your networking efforts and strategically plan conversations. By taking the time to develop a networking strategy, you’ll discover new opportunities or ideas that weren’t initially on your radar. If you aren’t intentional with your networking strategy, you may focus only on recent professional connections in your current industry, school, or professional space, limiting your scope and networking impact.
Use a Network Map to clearly define all the interactions you have had that might be beneficial to your professional network. To start, put yourself in the middle of a sheet of paper and draw lines to different connections you have. These can be from all areas of your life:
Current Employer
Previous Employers
Friends
Family
Schools (High School & College)
Church/Civic Organizations
Hobbies
Children’s School and/or Activities
Etc.
Think through all the different aspects of your life and where you interact with people. Then, start to build your map from there. Write down influential people who are a good contact or might lead to a good contact, based on their network. Continue to add to the map, layer by layer, until you have a spider web of people’s names and possible networking connections.
Don’t worry if your map is messy. In fact, it will be very surprising if it isn’t messy! You can literally draw this on a legal pad or white board, where you can continually add to the map as your network continues to evolve. After identifying your network, you have to be intentional about deepening the relationships you have (and those you continue to make).
Turning a Network Map into a Network Strategy
The power of your social network is critical to your success. Building, developing, and sustaining relationships with others will help you continue to grow, as well as lead to potential opportunities for your personal and career growth.
Once you have mapped out and defined all the people who could be in your network, start to develop a plan to proactively interact with these individuals. Ideas of interactions include:
Schedule coffee or lunch
Email to check in and see how they are doing
Arrange a virtual check-in meeting (aka, virtual coffee)
Connect on LinkedIn or Social Media
Write a handwritten letter
Make a phone call
Attend an upcoming social event where people in your network will be in attendance
Attend professional network events
Invite people to a sporting event
After deciding how to connect with different people in your network, spend time developing how you will effectively use your time together. Here are some ideas to consider reinforcing your interaction:
Ask questions when you meet someone; learn about their life and background
Follow-up after you meet them
Stay in touch with people
Look for projects to collaborate on
Keep contacts organized (on phone or computer)
Reach out and send a note when something happens that reminds you of your contact
Share a meal or coffee
Thank people for their time
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
Using Social Media as Part of Your Networking Strategy
As you develop your networking skills (and learn how to network effectively) you can’t forget the impact of social media. Networking today continues to evolve as our ways of connecting with people evolve. It is important to maintain a professional appearance on social media, as an employer, potential employer, or professor can see anything you post. Your social media profile can enhance or detract from the way you are seen by others. A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t want your boss or mom to see it, don’t post it.
Social media can be used proactively during networking, and specifically, LinkedIn is a great social media platform for professional networking. Indeed covers 8 different considerations as you are maintaining a social media presence:
When connecting with new people on social media, write a brief personal message that will help them see you as a person, and not just a connection request. Perhaps you have a friend in common – mention that in your request to connect.
Don’t be afraid to connect with people of different working levels or ages. The more broad your network, the more opportunities you will have. And by connecting with people at your same level, you can share advice and encourage each other.
Define your interests and join groups or pages that explore these interests. This will drive your “feed” and expose you to new thoughts and ideas and help you remain current.
Use your social media connections to ask for career advice. You can reach out to arrange a coffee or meeting, and then ask for ideas on how to advance your career.
Don’t be afraid to help others. If you notice an intern has recently started a new position, reach out to see if you can help them.
Always look at your page to check who “friends of friends” are, and then connect with people you don’t know. In this case, it is good to send a personal message explaining why you should connect (as mentioned in #1). Perhaps you have a mutual friend or you both went to the same university. When you take the time to explain what you have in common, the person will be more likely to accept your connection requests. And you never know where this new connection might lead.
As you have ideas and opinions, consider writing your own content. It will help you to be seen as a thought leader, drive people to your page, and engage others.
As you grow your network, foster long term relationships. Make sure that you are developing the connections that you make for the long term.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
What’s Next?
Your network has the potential to drive your career advancement, business growth, and personal satisfaction. The more intentional and invested you are in deepening relationships and learning from others, the better the mutual satisfaction will be between you and your network. Remember that networking is not just about “what’s in it for me.” Rather, a reciprocal relationship will allow both parties to benefit, feel satisfaction, and continue to pour into the relationship.
If networking still feels forced after incorporating these tips, reach out to the experts at The Wilbanks Consulting Group. We will come alongside you and offer support and ideas as you continue to strengthen this networking skill. Contact us to set up a free 30-minute consultation today.