August Network – July 23, 2018 – on Stay Connected
Maintaining healthy relationships everywhere gets you far in every aspect of life, and so does establishing work relations! It is very important to network with people not only for the sake of getting better opportunities when such arises but also for gathering valuable information. Networking at early stages of educational period bears fruits later on in your life and you should seriously consider starting to network immediately if you haven’t yet.
And if you haven’t, here’s how you do it:
Start small, start relevant
Every wall starts with one brick! In the beginning, it is recommendable to keep your networking small and relevant, somewhere between 12 to 18 people maybe. Be sure that those people are relevant to your work field. Also, a thing to remember here is that every business is dependent on other businesses as well, so be clever as to which field of people, other than the one you’re in will come handy to you in later times.
Evaluate
After carefully selecting your list of network, it comes to the point of evaluating them. How their geographical places affect your needs, how their help can help you in improving yourself should be the primary basis of evaluation. Every person is different and they bring a different flavor to the dish. Know what is that they are good at and how well you can take their help for your good.
Trial and Error
After this, comes the hard step of deciding which connections to keep and which to let go. Everyone makes mistakes, and so will you, nothing you can do about it, its natural. What you can do, however, is to know which connections will help and which won’t. Be gentle in pulling away from your networks though, start by slowly avoiding them, giving less time to their cause, etc, but nothing too quickly.
Diversify
Now that you’ve space for new people, learn from your mistakes and look out for appropriate people to fill the space. While filling in the gaps, you should consider the same things mentioned above, like are they relevant, how they can help you in your long-term interest and how you can help them in their long-term interest, it’s a two-way street, remember that! Also, see that the new people you choose to network with, don’t disrupt the existing group’s mojo.
Effective Use
Once you have established some connections it is vital that you don’t lose touch and be in constant connection. Help them whenever you can, as this makes for a better relationship. Also, ask for help only when required, this helps keep the balance right by not pestering the guy on the other side every time!
These are the initial steps you need to know about, in general, about networking. Hope it was informative enough to start your first move!
Source: https://hbr.org/2011/07/managing-yourself-a-smarter-way-to-network