The Parking lot

Networking might be the worst aspect of the corporate world. Especially when you have to attend networking events, which are just a bunch of suits pushed into a stuffy room. All of the fake smiles, bland business cards, sweaty palms. But luckily, we don’t have to subject ourselves to this torment. In the corporate world today, there is a better way to network that you don’t have to completely sell your soul to do.

Why Do You Need Networking?

Job scopes have expanded. We are seeing companies that are flatter in their structure, which causes for jobs to have a wider scope of responsibilities and you are asked for increased productivity. This means that jobs are more complex and demanding than they have been before, thus pushing for you to need more information and support from a variety of colleagues both inside and outside of your organization.

The division previously seen within companies is slowly being torn down and replaced with matrix management, where employees report to multiple managers. This forces you to reach out to individuals and groups to do you job effectively, even more than previously seen.

As previously stated, more information is required to do your job than ever before due to the higher demands being asked. And while you may have access to more information that someone in your role from five to ten years ago, not only do you have a smaller portion of the exact information you need to do your job, the information is spread across multiple resources. With information no longer in one place, your hand is forced into creating a network of people and places to stay on top of what you need.

Not only is more knowledge needed for jobs today, but as you grow in your role or try to move up in the corporate totem pole, those promotions will come with an even wider scope of responsibilities. And the higher you move up, the greater that knowledge gap will become. Which is why it is absolutely imperative to start networking as early as you can within your career.

Types of Networks

There are two main types of networks: Immediate and Extended.

Immediate networks are exactly what they sound like. They are made up of your immediate contacts. These are going to be your teammates and direct managers. I also consider close friends and family in this group as well, but we are mainly looking at a vocational scope, which family and friends might not fit in.

Extended networks are still considered to be within your organization or company, but includes people who are outside of your immediate team. Individuals who are outside of your organization can also be included within this group, but they would only be considered part of this network if they have an ongoing impact on your success and can help provide information and support. People within your extended network can have a greater impact on your success as you move up within your company.

Who should you reach out to in order to add to your network? How should you build a network if you don’t have any? Let’s explore those topics next.

Tips for Identifying Contacts to Add to Your Network

First off, we have to understand what information and expertise we need. Now this might not always be apparent, and will change as you progress in your life and career, but you can start asking yourself the below questions to get an idea for what information you currently need and how you can start building your network.

• What are my development needs? Think about what your development needs are. You can discuss these with your manager as well to see how they can assist with these as well.
• Do I have any short term goals? What about any long term goals? Make a list of your goals that can be advanced through networking.
• How can I broaden my perspective? Deep dive into your company’s functions, cultures, values and processes. The more you can understand the unwritten dos and don’ts, the easier it will be to navigate.
• What knowledge gaps do I have? Think about what tasks and activities that are difficult to complete due to not having the needed information. Discuss with your manager and coworkers about getting this information through new and existing contacts.
• Do I need to be mentored or coached? It isn’t weak to ask for coaching or approach being mentored. Coaching can be great for learning how to handle problems or capitalize on opportunities and make the most of them. Mentorship can can help in getting performance feedback or guiding you on career growth and development opportunities.

We do not want to add every single coworker we have to our network. Sure, there will be a lot of colleagues that can provide us with information and assist us with our workloads. But in order for a network to be beneficial, we need to make sure our network size is manageable. Not only will it make it easier to know who can assist us with what, but it will make sure that we can successfully maintain all of the network relationships we build. So what criteria should be considered when looking for network contacts?

• Have specific goals in mind. With specific goals in mind, it will help you build a purposeful network with individuals who will be able to help with those goals. This will allow your to have a strong list of people who can assist with your job and not a long list of contacts who provide no value.
• Build relationships that assist your goals. Work with your manager to see if there are any relationships you can create in order to help achieve your goals.
• Identify the competent and social. The competent are colleagues who are top performers and highly skilled in the tasks and responsibilities you want to develop. They most likely got to their knowledge level through assistance from others, so they should be readily willing to help you rise to their level. The social are people who know a lot of other people, where these colleagues can be fantastic to bridge new connections and relationships with others outside your organization to help you build a strong network.
• Find feedback sources. Feedback sources are coworkers and managers who can give you candid feedback on your performance, and the best way to build these is to provide candid feedback to them as well, as long as they are open to it as well.
• Join a trade or professional organization. This can also be a club, online community, anywhere that you can find will assist with your growth.
• Continuously expand your network. As you continue to grow within your role, or are promoted to higher positions, look to bring in new, high value contacts into your network who can assist with the new responsibilities that you incur.

Tips for Reaching Out and Establishing a Network Contact

It is absolutely terrifying reaching out to someone who you are not as familiar with. The fear of judgement and the second guessing yourself that you will say something wrong will fill your head and anger the butterflies in your stomach. Luckily, everyone feels this. And with following the 3 P’s, whoever you are reaching out to will most likely want to build a relationship with you as well.

• Positive impression
• Personal connection
• Purposeful case.

When making a positive impression, you will want to have a plan. Think of an answer to the following questions: What am I going to talk about? How can I engage this person? What interests them/What is happening within or outside the company that would interest them? Who do we know in common? With these in mind, you will be able to guide the conversation. Begin with a positive comment about the person by acknowledging the person’s expertise, and make sure to show enthusiasm when they are speaking. Give them your full focus.

In order to make a personal connection, you can refer to a mutual acquaintance or interest that you have with the contact. Having a business-related mutual will allow for the strongest connection, but if there is not one you can find, then you can always branch out. This can also assist with the person remembering your name, which you can tie to an interest, another known member of the organization, place, or celebrity. You can always ask the person to recommend other people who can assist with your task, which allows for the contact to say they can directly help with your assignment. But make sure to make a personal connection before asking for help, which can come days or weeks after establishing the relationship with the person. And when speaking with the contact, maintain eye contact, listen with intent and ask open ended questions.

Once you connect with someone, you need to follow up. The best way to do this is to follow up within twenty four hours of meeting this person. You can share an anecdote about the event you met them at, thank them for talking with you, and even highlight the importance and benefits of having you as a contact. A good way to show that you are interested in building a relationship with them is to offer help before asking them for anything. This can provide an immediate benefit to the contact and help convince them that you are someone to keep in their network. If all else fails, you can always share with them what you do or what you are working on (if that was not previously discussed), especially if what you are working on is a project they are familiar with.

In the day of technology, don’t be afraid of connecting with people online, whether it be over video calls, emails, or direct messaging. We are connected to each other more than we ever have been in history, and this should be leveraged to its maximum. While in person meetings might be the best way to make a connection and build a relationship, an email or direct message can do just as well when you are unable to be physically in the same room.

Keys for Effective Networking

Now that you know how to effectively establish connections to build a network, let’s touch on a few topics that will help strengthen these bonds and maintain the connections.

• Preserve or amplify self-esteem through acknowledging the person’s expertise and providing sincere, specific compliments.
• Listen and respond with empathy by replying to facts and feelings and empathize with all feelings, positive or negative.
• Ask for help and encourage involvement by staring with the end in mind, and making involvement your first choice.
• Share thoughts, feelings and rationale and build trust through starting small and disclosing this information when appropriate.
• Provide support without removing responsibility to build ownership, which is done when someone is seeking your help or support with something.

By leveraging these key principles, you will be able to build lasting relationships and forge strong networks that will be able to assist you with you career goals and aspirations.

Tips on Asking Your Network for Help

Asking for help is incredible difficult. People are worried about being looked down upon or seen as an idiot if they have to get help. The thing is, asking for help is one of the best things you can do. No one can know everything, that is just impossible. By asking for help, we show humility , but we can grow and reinforce our relationships.

• Leverage the key principles mentioned in the previous section. You do not need to use all of them when you ask for help, but to employ specific ones that best fit the situation.
• Explain the importance clearly and concisely by thinking through the purpose of your request, how you have considered the request and why you are worth their time and effort to assist.
• Compliments can be used when making a new contact or reaching out for help. Make sure to provide a specific, sincere acknowledgement of the contact’s reputation, esteem or previous help in order to help build their commitment to assist with the help you need.

When asking for help, you can use the three P’s as well, since you still want to make a positive impression, personal connection and purposeful case for what you need aid with. This can also help frame how you approach your contact when you do ask for help.

Tips on Maintaining Relationships within Your Network

Once you have created bonds with your network, you will need to keep up with those connections in order to get the most out of your network. Fortunately, with the amount of technology we have access too, this is not as daunting as it sounds, even with larger networks.

• Keep in touch with everyone in your network through regularly calls, messages, visiting in person, depending on what your relationship is with them.
• Be proactive and reciprocate help when you can. This can be through forwarding articles of interest, connecting them with a new contact, inviting them to events, and making good on your promises.
• Develop and promote yourself as a source of information by becoming an “information hub” through continuous learning. You can also brand yourself in this way to build a reputation of being a knowledgeable and competent person.
• Provide moral support and meet your contact’s personal needs by providing an ear to listen to them and their problems, and responding with empathy.
• Be approachable so that others feel confident when coming to you with their own questions, which can strengthen your existing connections and even build new ones.
• Maintain your network systematically by evaluating your network periodically and shifting its scope to fulfill your current business needs as well as keeping an eye on future career aspirations.

With all of these tools under your belt, you will be able to effectively create a network that will project your career and future self to new heights. Am I missing any vital points or do you have any charming anecdotes? Let me know in the comments below!