Our world today is connected through networks. Here’s what you need to be a top "networker" in your own. In an age where so many opportunities can be found from taking advantage of the network you operate from within (or hope to grow), working to actively grow and (strategically) influence your own network should become a top-priority.
You won’t need to be at every cocktail hour or even show up at every single event in town. In fact, some of the best ways to grow your network is when you’re actually having a little fun!
1. Live your own life.
When you do the things you love to do, you’ll increase your chances of running into cool people. On the bus. At the bookstore. While waiting in line at the coffeeshop. Professionals are people, too. They need to get to the city. They read. Who do you know who doesn’t need caffeine? You never know who you could bump into who might help advance your own career.
2. Stay digital.
While you could have a life-inspired and professionally-adept and advancing conversation with that CEO who just happens to be taking the elevator with you to the 9th floor, too, employees today are choosing to work in unconventional ways. This means they’re not in the office. They’re not interacting with a building-full of people.
Remote access to shared files on Google Drive, collaboratively being productive with co-workers through apps like Slack, and small-business owners who take care of business without an “office” or “home base,” may be missing out on the face-to-face connections that could make a difference in their work life.
Curating a professional profile on LinkedIn and using the platform to actively network can hook you up to a realm of possibilities you might not have considered before.
Join the groups and forums the influencers of your industry create. Email has also become the great equalizer these days. Chances are the emails of your industry’s influencers are right out in the open. Drop them a note. Send them a greeting. Expect the unexpected. Sometimes the influencers may just write you back. Even better, they may be looking for someone just like you.
3. Don’t dread the cocktail hour / Know Thyself.
There is a key to networking success that most people don’t talk about. To be the best networker you can be, you need to know how to conduct yourself in different situations.
Sounds too easy, right?
Think back to a networking event when you were looped into someone’s particularly one-sided and droning conversation. As you eyed the room and secretly pleaded for someone to rescue you, weren’t you wondering to yourself: What’s wrong with this person?
After the many cues you gave this individual that you were completely feigning interest, they still didn’t get the hint.
This individual has not only lost a chance to network appropriately with you, he has no idea how to conduct himself in a situation like this.
Adjust your behavior (and keep tabs on yourself) at cocktail hours, work functions, and professional parties. Be yourself, but also respond to the social cues other people are giving you.
4. Attend the conferences.
Conferences can be a wonderful opportunity to expand your network. A little trip out of town can feel like an adventure, and when you’re reminded about how much you love your job and the opportunities it allows in your life, you’ll be more likely to connect back to who you are.
Once you feel connected to your most authentic sense of self, networking can come quite easily. Conferences are a time for you to connect to other professionals within your industry. Listen to the speakers, take the classes, and meet those people who you think are the most interesting. Follow up after a lecture. Invite your classmates to lunch. Connections at conferences can become lasting friendships, generally because these guys get just as excited about the same things as you do.
5. Don’t network 24/7.
Sometimes, you’ve got to just live a little. When you’re ready to go out with your family for pizza on Friday night, you don’t need to wow the server, wow the pizza baker, and wow the table next to you about your latest business idea. Turn your networking off and enjoy time eating the crust your toddler leaves behind. Work supports your life. Work doesn’t have to become your life.
Curate your own wisdom of when to network and when not to network.
If you’re at the grocery store and you see a power player who you have been meaning to speak to for a while now, don’t beat yourself up if you let them go down the baking aisle while you head off towards beans.
6. Be prepared. Be prepared. Be prepared.
Be prepared, and yes, it’s worth saying this three times. You never know who you’ll run into. And if you’re meeting your professional hero and you don’t have a business card, or they don’t have a business card for you…
An awkward situation would include you fumbling for a pen and writing your professional hero’s email address on your forearm.
Carry your business cards and any other materials you need to introduce yourself with you at all times. Never leave home without them!