Successful people do not achieve their success on their own; instead, they surround themselves with a well-developed, sophisticated support network.
In a world that grows more complex and more competitive every day, networking is necessary not only for survival but also for high achievement.
Successful networking is dependent on your personality, social skills, motives, position and the degree of reciprocity.
Networking is based on so-called referrals: people talking about you, referring you to others they know might be able to help you.
Networking can help you to:
- create word-of-mouth advertising (either for products, services or yourself).
- stay informed of the latest developments in your field.
- gain access to resources that you might otherwise not have. If you can extend favours or bring benefits to others, they may well be willing to offer their resources to you.
- gives you a competitive edge as you will be able to act sooner than others. It also allows you to learn about new job opportunities for yourself.
Those who have the ability to network are generally more successful in achieving their goals or their company’s objectives.
First impressions count, networkers are very sensitive to the image you present of yourself. You will present yourself partly through non-verbal communication (movement, bearing, posture), so it is good to be aware of the subtle signals you send.
There are a number of skills you need to possess or acquire to be a good networker. If you are natural, you probably already possess many of these characteristics.
Integrity
You need to make sure that other people trust you enough to do business with you. If you come across as (indeed, if you are) insincere in your intentions, people will simply know and try to get away from you rather than help you. People need to be able to trust you as they entrust you with sensitive information that may influence the success of their organisation.
Salesmanship
At the end of the day, whatever sector of society you work in, you wish to achieve success and you wish to “sell” your clients something, be it a product or a service. Networkers need to be able to sell themselves and their ideas (and often, also, their own business of course).
Diplomacy
You will often need to be very cautious when you network. Indeed, you want people to do something for you – to avoid your networking partners from accusing you of simply pursuing your self-interest, you will need to be very diplomatic.
Communication and problem-solving skills
It will be obvious that you need to be able to:
- Listen.
- Present your business.
- Negotiate.
- Avoid conflicts and
- Instil trust in people.
Flexibility
As a networker, you are depending on people who have their own agendas and motives for networking. So, you will have to be patient if people do not move as fast as you wish; you will also have to be able to immediately take a lead if one of your partners gives it to you even if, at that time, your own planning does not seem to allow for it. You will also have to be able to adapt to working with people from other company or country cultures.
Resourcefulness
Your network partners, in their turn, will ask you to do things for them. You will need to be able to find answers to their questions, as they do to yours.
As to what is not to be done in professional networking, here is a shortlist.
- Do not tire people out with detail. There is a limit to how well-informed your network partners or colleagues wish to be. Limit yourself to what is important and relevant, unless you are asked to go into detail.
- Do not ask questions all the time. You are not an interrogator. There will be time and opportunity enough for the nitty-gritty of any problem your partner wants to have solved at a later stage.
- Do not try to be constantly better than the others: one-upmanship is bad form.
- Do not try to get free advice. If a network partner helps you, then he or she may expect something in return for this. Be there for them.
- Do not close your mind off to other people’s ideas. If you have already made your mind up on how to solve a problem, then why bother networking?
- Do not be a bigot: discriminatory jokes or remarks (whether they are aimed at gender, country of origin, age, ability or whatever) are out of place anywhere. You do not have to be politically correct all the time (indeed, that often takes the edge out of anything, and it depends very much on the people you are with) but you will be generally respected for asserting your disapproval of such attitudes.
In networking, you have to listen very carefully to what the other party says. In fact, you should sometimes sit back and momentarily forget about your own interests.
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