Building a strong network is one of the most important things you can do to advance your career. What’s surprising is that many people have no idea how to do this effectively. Left with little information on the topic, they often waste a lot of time and energy, and fail to create the type of network that will support their ambition.
I’ve learned throughout my coaching career and as well as facilitating workshops on this topic, that many well-intentioned people don’t have a clue how to network. Assumptions that you need to collect lots of business cards from people with whom you’ll never develop relationships or that the size of your social media following indicates your ability to influence your career trajectory distract us from the purpose of networking. It’s not about quantity. It’s about quality. And a quality network doesn’t happen by chance.