Business Networking Simplified. Les Garnas

      Sharing in this way will most certainly pay big dividends for those who take the time. Another thought: don’t be too married to your carefully worked out strategies. Be willing to loosen up a bit and make room for a little serendipity. As a strategic networker, it’s very easy to become so sure of a particular strategy that you’re not open to chance networking events and encounters that could yield benefits now and in the future.

      The High-energy Networker

      As a high-energy networker you have a reputation as a strong personality. You enjoy being in the spotlight. You are noted for being a decisive, action-oriented leader. One of your greatest assets is you can galvanize a group to be excited about your ideas and proposed activities. Like the strategic networker, you are highly active and focused. Your contacts inside your company and outside are all part of a carefully thought out plan. Your networking mission would be to create a synergistic web of associations where you could cross-refer friends and acquaintances to a variety of people and organizations so that everyone gains from visibility, personal involvement, and group interaction. You might use the following types of questions to guide your actions:

       What kinds of contacts can help me broaden my awareness and insight into the activities of others’ companies?

       What contacts in industry associations and what federal, state and local issues and priorities would be helpful to my networking agenda?

       What industry movers and shakers should I align with to further my value to all whom I meet?

      The greatest risk for the high-energy networker is to over-commit. As many people are attracted to your energy, you need to pick and choose the networking opportunities you pursue. Burnout is a common hazard for you and you need to be able to politely decline taking up causes that don’t fit into your master plan.

      Because a high-energy networking plan is much more complex than others, perhaps an example of a portion of the master plan in action would be helpful to this discussion. Take Louis, a marketing manager with a drug company. His business goal is to broaden his influence in the industry, so he establishes a complementary personal goal: he chooses participation in a health-care-related community project. This gives him a chance to apply his knowledge and skills to a good cause, while simultaneously interacting with a new group of people and gaining increased visibility within the community. What the high-energy networking seeks is the opportunity for multiple synergies that will result in leveraging personal and business goals in ways that serve both business needs and personal needs for visibility, high-level awareness and collective impact on a variety of constituencies.

      Now that you have some basic models of different networking styles, you can start to fashion the one that’s right for you. Be realistic about the level of energy and commitment you’re willing and able to put into networking right now, and act accordingly. It’s easy to start out like gangbusters and run out of steam early. Pace yourself so you can have a sustainable experience. You can always adjust your plan later as your success, your interests and goals change. But no matter what, how, or how much you decide to do, start networking now!

      One characteristic that runs throughout the discussion of networking styles is that all networking energy types, in their own way, have a sense of what they want to accomplish and how. So, once you have identified with your most comfortable style, you need to develop your networking plan and approach to best utilize your time. Like the reporter writing a good feature article you have to challenge your thinking by answering the classic questions of: What? Who? When? How?

      Setting Goals

      Most successful people have gotten where they are because they have a set of specific goals to work toward. Your networking goals are not any less serious than career goals that have made you successful. So, start by defining your networking goals, both short- and long-term.

       If you are looking for a new job to expand and refine your credentials, what kind of industry, company and position do you want to work in? If you have your own business and are looking to expand it, how many and what kind of new clients do you want to bring into your customer mix? How much revenue do you want to generate from these new additions, and over what period of time?

       If you work within an organization and are thinking about your best moves for work experience and responsibility advancement, is your goal to earn a promotion, to move to a different department, to expand your opportunities by working overseas or in a sister company to the parent? Do you want to use your networking skills to build support for key concepts and plans to demonstrate your leadership skills, thereby helping company executives to see your leadership potential? Or do you want to build support for key concepts and plans to encourage group problem-solving? to foster better interdepartmental communications? to focus attention on pivotal business issues? to boost morale? to create team spirit?

       Are you looking to network outside your company to gain industry expertise? to develop personal recognition as an industry expert? to share technical or scientific information with other specialists working on similar projects?

       In your personal life, are you interested in gaining political advantage by running for office, being named to a political appointment, or influencing policy issues? Do you want to develop a power base in your community by taking a leadership role in local organizations and events? Are you interested in social standing, such as membership in the right clubs or invitations to certain high-profile events?

      Matching Goals to Actions

      This reflective thinking process will help you to identify the networking partners who are most likely to help you achieve your personal goals. Sociologists point out that each of us knows 200 or more people who pass through our lives with some frequency, so you’ve got a pretty big pool of potential networking partners to start with. And as you learned earlier, the six-degrees-of-separation nature of the internet networking source LinkedIn gives you the ability to expand your associations through introductions by people you already know and people you don’t yet know. Add to this the ability to search LinkedIn associations by looking at companies and reverse-searching for people you know who are connected with people in those companies, and you could easily expand your network by another several hundred potential networking partners.

      Once you have organized your contacts, connections and future contacts into a sort of networking genealogy you should have a road map on how to proceed with assurance that you are on the right track. Separate your networking universe into segments based on each segment’s level of importance to you now, in the near future, in the intermediate term, and in the long term.

      For your immediate use, you should consider having a small but effective networking group of twenty-five to thirty people. The people whom you select should be close by so that you can interact face-to-face, to build familiarity and interest in each other. The rationale for keeping the group close by and manageable is simply this: If psychologically you think the group you want to work with is a “can do” opportunity, you will do it. If it seems daunting, you will find ways to avoid pursuing the details that will make your networking experience successful. As you work thorough your manageable contact list, you can add a few new contacts at a time—when you see networking advantage in doing so. Thereafter, your networking partner list expands as you are ready to actively work with new participants. Another reason