Networking through the corporate web

I wish I had taken networking seriously when my career first began.  Networking is not just for sales people and entrepreneurs.  It is a skill that is essential for everyone to master if you want to surge ahead in the new world of work. 

The corporate ladder is becoming the corporate web.  Today, talent is replacing capital as the world’s most important economic resource.  More economic power is moving from the organisation to the individual.  In the past, your career was usually like an algrebra problem – X leads to Y which leads to Z.   Not anymore.  Power and influence lies more and more in strategic horizontal relationships than in your place in the vertical hierarchy.   Connections with colleagues, ex-colleagues, friends, family, teams, clients and customers will make you an even more marketable asset.

One of the ways to create these valuable relationships is by networking.  Read the book The Jelly Effect by Andy Bounds.  It is one of the most practical books I have read on the topic.  Also watch this video clip on YouTube.

Let me tell you about my favourite part of the book.  When you are introduced to new people, what is the first thing you say to each other?  You say ‘what do you do?’  I always answered this question by saying ‘I am an accountant.’ 

I bet you also say something like this:  I am a personal trainer.  I am a teacher.  I am a lawyer.  I am a software programmer.  I am a nurse.

According to Andy Bounds, this response is bad.  It generally doesn’t fascinate people and encourage them to find out more about you.

Instead, you should focus on what your company or clients are left with AFTER you have done your job.  What value do you add to others?  How can others benefit from a relationship with you?

Your response should include three things:

1.     I …

2.     A VERB such as help, empower, save, show … 

3.     AN AFTER.   What is the company or customer left with after you have done your job?

So instead of saying ‘I am a personal trainer’, you should say ‘I help people lose weight’.  Instead of saying, ‘I am an accountant’, you should say ‘I help people pay less tax.’

Think about what ‘afters’ you provide in your job.  Consider the type of value and significance you are adding to clients and the people with whom you work.

Remember – It’s often not what you know, it’s who you know.

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