Be worth knowing and connections come easy
Scott Davies, Chief Executive, ITM, shares his expert advice on the importance of establishing and nurturing a professional network
The longer I’ve worked, the more I’m aware that our personal networks are our single most valuable assets. Establishing and nurturing a large, varied contact group is the main advice I give to young people.
But you’re also going to want to be someone who others value. If your relationships are one-way streets, they are eventually going to be dead ends. And so, you’re going to need two things.
Firstly, you will need to build a strong personal brand. This means behaving and interacting in a way that is beyond your employer’s brand or your job title. Values such as trust, kindness, flexibility, reliability and commitment are good ones to demonstrate.
Secondly, you want to aim to be someone who is entertaining, stimulating or educational to be around. We will always spend time with people who make life more interesting and fun.
“Always invest time, energy and kindness in your network”
Of course, you’re going to have various kinds of networks and relationships. There is a clear difference between someone you once had a meeting with and someone who will go into bat for you. Newsflash: LinkedIn contacts are not your true network.
If you’re lucky, you will reach a point where you’re not nurturing a network at all. You’re simply choosing to spend time with people who you feel good around. When the lines between colleagues and friends are blurred, work isn’t really work anymore anyway.
So always invest time, energy and kindness in your network. Deploy it responsibly and thoughtfully. Give more than you get. And when someone in your primary network needs you, or you haven’t heard from them from a while, check in. That’s the time to show your worth!
