Networking – By Gus Prestera, Ph.D., MBA
Making connections can put you in the room where it happens
A former colleague once shared this: “I feel stuck, and I don’t see anyway to change that.”
Her sentiment is not unusual. As organizations have gotten flatter and leaner, middle managers can find it increasingly difficult to advance into senior management. And often, those advancement opportunities are not posted; or if they are, they are posted only as a formality.
Finding Your Key
What’s the key to unlocking those opportunities?
Since you are not likely to be in the room where it happens, you will need your reputation and your promoters to speak for you behind closed doors, where opportunities are being discussed and names are being considered. For this reason, cultivating relationships needs to be a high priority in your career development strategy.
The key tools in your career development toolbox are the results you accomplish through your work performance, what you can do — your current and potential capabilities — and your network of professional relationships — who you know and how they know you. The right combination of these ingredients yields a game-changing reputation that unlocks doors for you.
Here are some tangible things you can begin doing to grow and nurture your professional network:
Attend Company Events
Many prefer to skip the optional company BBQs, because they have personal plans or, if they’re like me, because they don’t enjoy small talk. But informal events are great places to strike up casual conversations with more senior leaders from across the organization. Make it a point to talk with at least three at each event.
Tip: Have a few go-to questions ready for those conversations. A good place to start is to ask about new or interesting projects that they’re working on, so you get them talking. That might lead to asking them about their career journey. And that naturally would lead to asking to grab coffee sometime to chat about your career and seek out their advice.
Grab a Coffee
You will be surprised at how willing senior leaders are to grab coffee with a more junior person to share their knowledge and advice, but you need to be brave enough to take the first step. If you ask them politely and with humility, most will be happy to meet with you in person or virtually.
Tip: When you meet, have your resumé handy, your elevator speech rehearsed and some questions to ask them. Listen to their advice carefully, take notes and send them a thank-you note afterward, summarizing one to three takeaways.
Get Introductions From Your Manager and Others
It’s understandable to be nervous about approaching senior leaders in your organization, but if you want to join their club, you need to act as if you belong among them. Even so, it helps to get introduced by your manager, mentor or another colleague who has a relationship with that senior leader.
Tip: When you grab coffee with a leader, be sure to ask them who they think you should meet with next and see if maybe they will make the introduction.
Take On a Cross-Functional Assignment
Special projects can give you exposure to other parts of the organization, broader business issues and colleagues who you would normally not work with day-to-day. Look for opportunities to break out of your silo and work cross-functionally, then use those opportunities to widen your network and expand your reputation beyond your team.
Get a Networking Buddy
If you are somewhat introverted like me, you should have no trouble finding colleagues who feel the same way about networking, so make a pact with a buddy who will go to events with you and help you make connections. I’ve benefited from this at conferences, because we nudge each other to get out of our comfort zones and meet new people.
Volunteer
Don’t just be a member of LTEN or other trade organizations. Volunteer to help organize events and programs. This will give you opportunities to network with professionals within the group as well as outside of the group. Look for volunteer opportunities at work as well. It’s a great way to interact with people from different parts of the organization.
Join or Form a Mentoring Circle
It only takes a few of you to start an informal book club, special interest group or other types of mentoring circle. You can explore new topics, learn from each other, share contacts, invite guest speakers and expand membership to those who share your interest.
Train or Mentor Others
You’re probably an expert in something already, so why not share that expertise with others? You could facilitate a lunch & learn for the organization or a workshop for your team. You could publish short articles in your company newsletter.
Growing your reputation as a thought leader on something important to the organization will naturally lead to people seeking you out to get your help or advice.
Contact the Author
When you read an interesting article or book that resonates with you — or even something from the company newsletter — send a note to the author. They love to hear from their audience.
After telling them what you enjoyed about their work, pose a follow-up question or two and see where the conversation leads.
Let Your Curiosity Wander
I recently became interested in ChatGPT, so in addition to consuming articles, videos and books, I’ve been connecting with researchers and practitioners who are actively working to apply this new technology in order to “geek out” with them, and in turn they may introduce me to others who share our interest. I’ve seen this phenomenon happen internally within an organization. Get curious about a professional topic, find your tribe, and get your geek on.
Conclusion
Driving results through your performance and growing your capabilities are, of course, critical to your success, but nurturing your professional network is equally important to your career development. Whatever superpowers you possess and whatever achievements you’ve accomplished, your network has the power to amplify them and project your reputation into those conversations that happen behind closed doors, in the room where it happens.
Gus Prestera, Ph.D., MBA, is president of Prestera FX. Email him at gus@presterafx.com.
