Making Connections - The Art of Networking

Networking! – What do we really mean? It’s a term used regularly in a professional context as part of business development activities. It’s regarded as a necessity in order to win work, attract new clients, retain existing ones, grow your business and generally be successful, so what is Networking?

Networking is essentially about making connections with people, and as a result building relationships. Networking is such a valuable lifelong skill to have in that it can positively impact all areas of your life; it can be of huge value to your career, in your current job role and of course for your personal growth.

When you meet someone for coffee or lunch every now and again to stay in touch you are networking. When you recommend someone for a job you are networking. When you recommend someone you know who has a particular area of expertise to a contact who could benefit from that expert knowledge and skill, you are networking. People often don’t realise that you network every day, possibly without knowing you are doing it! We are often asked during our Networking skills workshops if networking isn’t really just about a sales pitch. Our answer is a resounding NO!

Put quite simply effective networking is about:

• Asking questions and listening to the responses
• Finding the common ground
• Allowing the conversation to flow in the direction common points of interest

Often people who are shy believe they will never be good at networking and that only very confident and gregarious people excel in this area. On the whole this is not the case. Would you enjoy chatting to someone who’s really loud and talks non stop about themselves?! Most people wouldn’t; they’d much rather chat to someone who is sincerely interested in them.

We accept that networking is not always easy and doesn’t come naturally to everyone but at Rock the Boat we firmly believe that with a little effort and some practice you can become a very effective networker. We also understand that meeting and communicating with people we don’t know can cause anxieties for many different reasons. Some of these concerns can be around remembering names of people you’ve just met, walking up and joining a group of people you don’t know, or responding to that 64 million dollar question “What do you do?”

Everyone can be an effective networker and during our Making Connections – The Art of Networking sessions we share stories, practical tips and techniques to alleviate these concerns. For example we share tips on how to develop your personal story to help you confidently talk to new contacts about who you are, what you do and why you do it. More importantly, you get the opportunity to practice these tips during our workshops.

One of the most important tips for Networking is to approach it with the attitude of Give, Give, Give. If your first thoughts with a new contact are about how you can support them and what you can give to them then you are on the road to being a great networker.

Whether you want to be better at networking for your personal growth or you are part of an organisation that requires your people to network more effectively with colleagues and/or customers across the business, contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss how we can help improve your networking capability.

Listen to some feedback from our recent Making Connections - The Art of Networking skills events:

Vivienne Mackay Read Vivienne’s profile>>
Rock the Boat Consulting
Client Relationship Manager