10 Things You Can Give Your Network

One of the keys to making the most of your career is to develop and grow a healthy network. But when some people hear the word "networking", they think of the old-time, sleazy definition of the word -- the "using" others in a what's-in-it-for-me fashion. That's not the sort of networking that moves your career ahead. The sort of networking that does work is one that's mutually beneficial -- where you give/help as much as you get.

So where does the process start? It begins with being a giver -- with helping out others and staying in positive contact with them. The book Rise: 3 Practical Steps for Advancing Your Career, Standing Out as a Leader, and Liking Your Life offers ideas on how to do this. It lists 10 things you can give your network as follows:

1. Hello: Just say hello or give people a quick update when something interesting happens.

2. Remember things: Listen [when they share personal stories]. Then follow up later [to ask how it all went].

3. Offer to help: Ask "What is your challenge right now? How can I help you?"

4. Positive feedback: When you [give positive feedback], it stands out, is appreciated, and is memorable.

5. Say thank you: Thank people a lot and often.

6. Follow up: When you ask someone in your network for something and she follows through, let her know what happened.

7. Make an introduction: Be astute about helpful introductions you can make.

8. A point of interest or enjoyment: If you remember what is important to people and what they like, it gives you an opportunity to point them to great stuff that you run across like articles, movies, books, music, and events.

9. Photos: Use photos of things you've seen and done, yourself, your family.

10. Video mail: It is a personal and standout way to say hello to someone.

These are great, great tips IMO. And they all seem to come back to one thing: they make you likeable and helpful. And people want to help likeable and helpful people!

I've talked about likability a lot on FMF. If you'd like to read more on it, check out Merit Alone May Not Get You that Promotion and The 11 Laws of Likability.

As for the tips above, I have some specific thoughts on some of them. I'll give these thoughts with the number that corresponds to the tip above. Here goes:

5. I know a guy who ALWAYS thanks people a lot -- for helping, for volunteering, for almost anything -- and people LOVE him. People like to be appreciated and those who show appreciation grow and develop their networks.

6. I love it when I can be helpful to someone, but in most cases I never hear anything back unless I make the effort to contact someone. If that person would instead get back to me, it would make me much more willing to help him in the future.

8. I do this quite often. For example, I have a casual acquaintance who has an interest in bed bugs (he was looking at investing in a company that killed them.) Every article I see on bed bugs (and there are many more than you'd think -- I find a new one every few months or so) I send to him -- just the link and a short note. It keeps us in touch and communicating and is fun for us both.

And while we're on the subject of networking, here are my main ways of networking with others:

• Volunteering. I serve on committees for two charitable organizations and am the president of the board for a third. I make a lot of contacts through each of them while doing work I love and helping out others. I plan to write more about my experiences volunteering in future posts.


• Lunches. Once a week I take out someone to lunch. We catch up, talk about what's going on in our lives, etc. It's a good way to connect on a deeper level.

In addition to these, my plan is to add a profile to LinkedIn this year. We'll see if I get to it or not -- it's been on my list for a while -- but I'm hopeful 2012 will be the year it happens.

How about you? What are you doing to develop and grow your network?

Comments

[SM]

If your network is on LinkedIn, a great way to give back is to recommend folks you have worked with closely or know about their work. Often, they will write a recommendation back. Having a quiver full of peer recommendations goes much further than bullet-point claims.

Of course, you need to make sure that the recommendations you give and receive are substantive (and not the generic he-is-a-great-team-player types).

[Keith]

Networking has not always been my strength. However, I think I am getting better. I have joined two career networking groups, I am going through Financial Peace University, I have a written goal of meeting two new people per week, and I try to connect to everyone possible via LinkedIn.