Networking Skills

Fear of networking?

Does the thought of networking fill you with dread?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. 

Many of us think of networking as having to ‘work a room’ full of strangers, handing out as many business cards as we can so that later, we can ‘use’ people we don’t really know for our own benefit.

And the thought of enduring other people’s painful, insincere small talk as they aim to sell whatever they’re selling to us is equally unattractive, if not annoying and a little creepy.

The good news is these shallow interactions are not networking, they’re just short-lived self-promotion.

Networking is connecting and creating meaningful relationships.  Building one on one relationships is something that we all can do or learn to do - even if we are not naturally outgoing, even if we are contented introverts or a little shy when meeting new people.

Before we move on to some networking tips that should make this process easier, lets re-frame networking as something really positive.

Networking:  The Positives!

Having a strong internal network is a powerful career asset, connecting you to new ideas, opportunities and people within your organisation.

However, being internally focused means that you may simply miss new ideas, trends and changes in your industry, in the wider economy or even in the world that could help or hurt your organisation or your career.

Your team and your organisation can’t be successful if you are closed off to what is happening outside it.

Building collaborative relationships and sharing your ideas and experience with people outside your organisation will expose you to new and different ideas, perspectives, ways of working and opportunities. 

In building networks, difference and diversity are key to expanding our thinking and stimulating new ideas.  

Interesting research that shows how networks significantly boost creativity and innovation and have stimulated and critiqued new thinking, from the French Impressionists through to Darwin, Newton and Freud is presented in more detail in the topic: The Power Of Your Internal Network.  

No matter how much you think that you know, or how strong your expertise, there will always be something that you don’t know or that you haven’t thought of.  Think of networking as a means to continuous learning. 

Somewhere, someone has the information that you need, the solution you’re looking for or holds next step to a new opportunity.  Or knows someone who does. 

Someone has the missing piece of your puzzle, and you are holding the missing piece of someone else’s.

Our relationships provide us with access to ‘tacit information’ - knowledge that people accumulate from their experiences and relationships that they carry around in their heads.  It isn’t written down anywhere.  But it is valuable, allowing you to benefit from others’ experience, connections and knowledge of opportunities.

Networking and creating opportunities to collaborate with others outside our organisation is important.  Think of the value that you can add value to your organisation, and how you can keep it competitive and up to date by bringing in new ideas and fresh perspectives from outside.

Join and improve your networking through this great simple checklist of what you can do the next time you need to network!