Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Overlooked Secret of Networking Success

By Kevin Eikenberry

When the word networking is mentioned, most people I know think about salespeople or business owners exchanging business cards any chance they can.

Of course networking can be the card exchange. It`s also "doing lunch" and attending events and many other equally valid and important things, but even so, most of what is written and thought about networking focuses on external networking.

External networking is important. And, for a leader in a company of any size, I would suggest that the most important networking opportunity you have is the one all around you - networking with those within the company; networking internally.

Since this type of networking isn`t talked or written about much; it is rarely thought about.

And yet, for all of the relationships, learning and opportunities external networking can bring, the same can be true when you focus on building your network inside your company as well.

Here are eight ways you can creatively and effectively network within the boundaries of your own organization.

Invest one lunch a week. One great way to build relationships is over food. And since everyone has to eat, you can likely get on people`s calendars relatively easily. Why not invite someone from another department or someone you don`t know well to lunch? Make the lunch about getting to know them, which means you want to do less talking and more listening.

Seek out internal mentors for yourself and your team. If you are in a relatively large organization, there are probably people that you have heard of or have watched from a distance in admiration. Why not approach them to be a mentor to you and/or members of your team?

Be a silo buster. If your organization operates in a fragmented, highly departmentalized, siloed way, decide to be the silo buster. All these ideas can help you do this, but the point here is to make a conscious decision to network with the purpose of building relationships that will begin to break down these barriers.

Create "lunch and learns". Invite people from other departments with expertise your team or department doesn`t have to come and share that information over lunch. This creates new learning opportunities for both sides and gives people a chance to get to know new people at the same time.

Establish more cross functional brainstorming. Have a big problem or challenge? Starting a new project? Looking for new business opportunities or product ideas? Bring together a cross functional, eclectic group of people from around the company to share their ideas and perspectives in identifying ideas. When you do this you will get more (and likely better) ideas; you will build new relationships (especially if you design the session knowing that`s one of your goals); and - perhaps most importantly - you will create greater commitment across the organization for the ideas you do implement because more people were involved in the process.

Start a league. It could be bridge, basketball, golf, croquet or any of a hundred other things. Find something of common interest to a broad number of people and get them playing after work or at lunch. When you`re playing you are getting to know people for more than just their position or knowledge, you are really "getting to know" them. This one may take more time to form and maintain, but the networking value is tremendous.

Share the love. Don`t just focus on building `your` network; make sure to connect others. As you get to know more people in deeper ways, you will find out their needs and goals. With those valuable insights, you can connect them to others inside the company who share similar interests and can help them achieve their goals. When you become the connector, you become more valued and valuable.

Create internal networking events. The Chamber of Commerce and other organizations everywhere have been doing this for years. Why can`t you create an internal event with the specific goal of getting people to know each other better? Many of the other ideas on this list may be the platform or the "excuse" for such an event - but you can come up with many more that will work within your organization now that you are thinking about it!

All of these ideas may not apply to your situation, but some of them will. For every idea I`ve shared I would guess you can think of five more. In the end, the most important key to internal networking is to just start doing it!

As you build your internal network you will create benefits and opportunities for you, those you`re networking with, and for your team and colleagues. When you look at it this way you hopefully realize what a valuable investment time spent on building a larger and broader set of relationships inside of your company can be.

Potential Pointer: The most overlooked opportunity to network is not out in the world, but right inside your organization. As a leader, or aspiring leader, when you mine the network and relationships within your company you help both yourself and your team create greater success!

About The Author

Improving your skills is important for you individually and as a leader. One way to keep learning as a leader is to get engaged in an ongoing learning process that changes your perspective, allows you to teach what you are learning and helps you become more conscious. Launch your leadership successes and become the leader you were born to be with a free 2-month trial Silver Membership in Kevin Eikenberry’s Remarkable Leadership Learning System at http://www.remarkable-leadership.com/campaigns/silver-member-special-offer.asp. Kevin is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://www.KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps organizations, teams and individuals unleash their leadership potential.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Are You Networking Too Much and Getting Too Little?

Several months ago I had someone I had introduced to my local Chamber of Commerce call and ask if I would meet him to discuss networking. It seems that he could not understand why he was getting so little for his efforts. I am always happy to help someone and agreed to meet with him.

When we got together he shared that he was really discouraged with networking. He said that although he belonged to 6 Chambers of Commerce, attended about 8 networking groups and gave referrals that he never seemed to get any referrals in return. He felt that he was getting way too little for his efforts.

While he was making an attempt, he really missed the point. He was attempting to network way too much. All that he was accomplishing was attending events but was not building any relationships.

The key to networking is in the relationship building. All he was doing was spending a lot of time attending functions and collecting business cards. I explained to him that he needed to belong to only one or two Chambers and get involved in them in some way. Instead of just attending all the networking groups, he needed to become an active member of one or two of those as well. Perhaps one Chamber group and one non-Chamber group.

Not only was he not building any solid relationships but even though he worked to give referrals, everyone in the various groups knew that he was attending all these other functions so they also saw him as a taker and not a giver. The members of the various groups figured that they would only get a very occasional referral as he didn't have enough to go around or that he was giving the same lead to several in the same business category.

Is this happening to you? Hopefully not but if you are going to more than a couple of various groups a week you may be suffering from the same problem. Just cut back, get involved and build those relationships.

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Copyright © 2009, Bill Hurlbut

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Friday, August 14, 2009

Quantity or Quality

A few months ago I was introduced to Twitter. I find it very intriguing and am convinced if used to build relationships, it can be a great business building tool. I got pretty "gung ho" about it and decided to grow my follower list as quickly as possible. In the process I also felt obligated to follow everyone and ended up auto-following so that I could keep up. While my number of followers was small compared to many, I was none the less proud of my accomplishment.

All of that changed this week when I read about Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) un-following 106,000 Twitter followers. When I went back and looked at my follower list, I was appalled at what I found. Through the auto-following, I was following many that I would never have followed if I had taken some time in checking out profiles, profile pictures and the content of what they were tweeting. More importantly, I realized that I had violated my own belief that the key to networking is building strong relationships not just being out there passing out business cards to everyone. Or, in this case just following everyone

I have begun my own purge of followers. How far I will go, I am not sure. I think the numbers really need to be based on what is right for you. However, this week instead of following 100's I have only followed a couple. I am trying to be more thoughtful in my process by being sure to send a personal note of welcome as well as trying to engage the individual. I am back to working on building a relationship in which I can bring value to the other person, remembering that it is about them and not me.

Thanks Robert for your bold move and for helping me to remember that it is all about quality and not quantity.

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Copyright © 2009, Bill Hurlbut

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Saturday, July 25, 2009

Ladies, We Need Your Help

While I am addressing this post to all you ladies, it can equally apply to men.

Ladies, I want you to know that most the guys you meet at a networking event are not "dirty old men". We are not staring at you but trying to read that small print used on your name tag. So I would offer a few suggestions that I have picked up over the years regarding using name tags.

  • Use large print. Make it easy for everyone to read.
  • Use a good clear font with easy to read colors.
  • Consider using your first name only. This allows plenty of room for large print.
  • Wear on the ride side so it is easy to see when shaking hands.
A couple of other tips you may want to consider which will make it easy for someone you meet to ask you what you do are to leave off your company name and your occupation. I have found that doing this is a great way to really get a conversation started especially on a good note. If you use your occupation and/or company and they have had a bad experience in that area you will either get an earful or they will not talk to you at all.

So make it easy for people to just know you name and for them to ask you the question that you want them to ask, "What do you do"?

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Copyright © 2009, Bill Hurlbut

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