Networking - Giving before you Receive
As we’ve already suggested in a previous blog, your networking may be the only pension you have. In an age where life expectancy is increasing and investments are making small returns, maybe the UK Pensions Commissioner Adair Turner is right. It will not be the Government’s responsibility nor that of corporations and firms (for those of us who still work for one) to ensure that you can live in retirement. The only person who has any motivation to ensure that you have enough to live on is you.
Through a combination of ageism and de-manning, more people in their forties and fifties (and beyond) are finding themselves out of work. Recruitment consultants and HR departments seem reluctant to interview older workers. Yet, somehow you have to make enough to live on. Maybe you have assets – maybe you don’t. The numbers of self-employed-by-default are growing and include many younger people, too. Amongst them are entrepreneurs who will seize the moment to do what they’ve always dreamed of. Others will be transfixed by the problems of getting themselves heard in an increasingly noisy space. Some will swell the ranks of the self-unemployed. Surviving alone is tough, maybe impossible. You need friends out there who will support you, recommend you, and develop ideas with you. You need a network.
Is your network that pile of business cards you’ve acquired over your years in various jobs? No, not really. There may be the nucleus of a network there. Start by talking to your best contacts – the ones you made a human connection with and work through to the “moved on – no forwarding address” contacts and you’ll discover that, however many business cards you had, you need more real contacts. You need to network.
If you are currently employed, does that remove the need to network? It will probably be true that you have a network that helps you to do your current job. Will they be there for you if, and probably when, you find yourself going it alone? Sadly, experience suggests that most won’t be. In order to plan your future beyond your current role — and even as insurance — you will also need to network.
Is networking about telling people what you do and trusting to luck that someone you meet will employ you or buy from you? As ‘laurarich’ puts it in response to David Teten and Scott Allen’s Fast Company Article , “Why do some people hesitate to embrace networking? How did it earn its seedy reputation? And on the flip side, if you’re an active networker who doesn’t appreciate the stereotype of sweaty palms and business cards, how do you avoid making such an impression?”
Networking is about showing interest – genuine interest – in the person you are meeting. Who are they? What do they do? What do they need? Who do they need to meet and connect with? Can you help to connect them with people who can help them on their journey? Ask for nothing – just give. If you don’t help others, why should anyone help you?
If you are asking, “What’s in it for me?”, you need to be patient. Start by giving and, in time, others will begin to give to you. You will find yourself in conversation with people who ask you those questions and they will, if they can, begin to connect you with people who can help you on your journey. Kim Sharman of networking group NRG Networks talks about building advocates rather than trying to sell to networking contacts.
As weI’ve already discussed in a previous blog, the chances are that the contacts you need are not the people you are talking to directly, but people in their network or their network’s network. To be seen as someone who is prepared to help and who has a generosity about the way they approach their networking, will make you more attractive and more memorable when your connections are thinking about someone for a role that you can play.
You can network in many ways. A recent survey by Spitfire Communications suggests that only 6% of their respondents would trust, and buy from, or hire someone who approached them via an online network. 26% of respondents said they would wait for a phone contact before beginning to trust them, while 40% would wait for a face-to-face meeting. A full 46% said they would wait to hear from someone they know personally before they considered a person trustworthy. They conclude that it seems that online networking isn’t enough on its own. At Ecademy, we have been holding face-to-face events since we began in 1998. We see face-to-face events as the secret of successful networking and of our own referral only growth.
Face-to-face networking comes from many sources and in many guises. Some events offer you the chance to meet the same group of people on a regular basis to develop a deep relationship whilst others offer the opportunity to develop many “weak ties” (as described in by Mark Granovetter in his 1973 PhD paper) which can be developed further to grow your network in new directions.
Most Chamber of Commerce chapters now hold networking events as do many professional organisations. You can network over breakfast with groups like BNI and BRE , over lunch with NRG and in the evening (sometimes over dinner) with Ecademy . The groups mentioned in that sentence, all use Ecademy as their chosen way of connecting with their members in between meetings and also of connecting different geographical groups together as a community.
Wherever you are in your career, it is never too late to do more networking. Just bear in mind that real networking is not just a dictionary synonym for selling, it is an art in its own right. So whatever you do, avoid becoming “the stereotype of sweaty palms and business cards” and networking will become a positive part of your marketing strategy.
Posted by Thomas Power.
Useful Reference Sources:
www.fastcompany.com/resources/networking/teten-allen/010305.html
www.nrg-networks.com/
www.spitfirevision.com/survey.html
In Out and Beyond
www.bni.com/
www.brenet.co.uk/index.htm
Technorati - ecademy - blackstar - marketstar
Through a combination of ageism and de-manning, more people in their forties and fifties (and beyond) are finding themselves out of work. Recruitment consultants and HR departments seem reluctant to interview older workers. Yet, somehow you have to make enough to live on. Maybe you have assets – maybe you don’t. The numbers of self-employed-by-default are growing and include many younger people, too. Amongst them are entrepreneurs who will seize the moment to do what they’ve always dreamed of. Others will be transfixed by the problems of getting themselves heard in an increasingly noisy space. Some will swell the ranks of the self-unemployed. Surviving alone is tough, maybe impossible. You need friends out there who will support you, recommend you, and develop ideas with you. You need a network.
Is your network that pile of business cards you’ve acquired over your years in various jobs? No, not really. There may be the nucleus of a network there. Start by talking to your best contacts – the ones you made a human connection with and work through to the “moved on – no forwarding address” contacts and you’ll discover that, however many business cards you had, you need more real contacts. You need to network.
If you are currently employed, does that remove the need to network? It will probably be true that you have a network that helps you to do your current job. Will they be there for you if, and probably when, you find yourself going it alone? Sadly, experience suggests that most won’t be. In order to plan your future beyond your current role — and even as insurance — you will also need to network.
Is networking about telling people what you do and trusting to luck that someone you meet will employ you or buy from you? As ‘laurarich’ puts it in response to David Teten and Scott Allen’s Fast Company Article , “Why do some people hesitate to embrace networking? How did it earn its seedy reputation? And on the flip side, if you’re an active networker who doesn’t appreciate the stereotype of sweaty palms and business cards, how do you avoid making such an impression?”
Networking is about showing interest – genuine interest – in the person you are meeting. Who are they? What do they do? What do they need? Who do they need to meet and connect with? Can you help to connect them with people who can help them on their journey? Ask for nothing – just give. If you don’t help others, why should anyone help you?
If you are asking, “What’s in it for me?”, you need to be patient. Start by giving and, in time, others will begin to give to you. You will find yourself in conversation with people who ask you those questions and they will, if they can, begin to connect you with people who can help you on your journey. Kim Sharman of networking group NRG Networks talks about building advocates rather than trying to sell to networking contacts.
As weI’ve already discussed in a previous blog, the chances are that the contacts you need are not the people you are talking to directly, but people in their network or their network’s network. To be seen as someone who is prepared to help and who has a generosity about the way they approach their networking, will make you more attractive and more memorable when your connections are thinking about someone for a role that you can play.
You can network in many ways. A recent survey by Spitfire Communications suggests that only 6% of their respondents would trust, and buy from, or hire someone who approached them via an online network. 26% of respondents said they would wait for a phone contact before beginning to trust them, while 40% would wait for a face-to-face meeting. A full 46% said they would wait to hear from someone they know personally before they considered a person trustworthy. They conclude that it seems that online networking isn’t enough on its own. At Ecademy, we have been holding face-to-face events since we began in 1998. We see face-to-face events as the secret of successful networking and of our own referral only growth.
Face-to-face networking comes from many sources and in many guises. Some events offer you the chance to meet the same group of people on a regular basis to develop a deep relationship whilst others offer the opportunity to develop many “weak ties” (as described in by Mark Granovetter in his 1973 PhD paper) which can be developed further to grow your network in new directions.
Most Chamber of Commerce chapters now hold networking events as do many professional organisations. You can network over breakfast with groups like BNI and BRE , over lunch with NRG and in the evening (sometimes over dinner) with Ecademy . The groups mentioned in that sentence, all use Ecademy as their chosen way of connecting with their members in between meetings and also of connecting different geographical groups together as a community.
Wherever you are in your career, it is never too late to do more networking. Just bear in mind that real networking is not just a dictionary synonym for selling, it is an art in its own right. So whatever you do, avoid becoming “the stereotype of sweaty palms and business cards” and networking will become a positive part of your marketing strategy.
Posted by Thomas Power.
Useful Reference Sources:
www.fastcompany.com/resources/networking/teten-allen/010305.html
www.nrg-networks.com/
www.spitfirevision.com/survey.html
In Out and Beyond
www.bni.com/
www.brenet.co.uk/index.htm
Technorati - ecademy - blackstar - marketstar
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