Build Your Relationships Before You Need to Activate Your Network

This week I've been asked to speak to law students about networking & it's got me thinking about what I would say. When we say "network" I think it tends to make most people, especially students, uneasy. How do you network? When should you do it? Many questions come to mind.

I tend to look at networking as relationship building long before I need help from my network.

Let's say you are looking for your next career opportunity, it could be a lengthier search if you look to develop your web of contacts when you are no longer employed. Most folks will see the requested connection as nothing more than you needing something for nothing. Most people are happy to help, if they can, but it's going to be tough for them to be a strong advocate on your behalf if they've just met you. It's also probably not going to be at the top of their list to help a "stranger" land that next opportunity.

You should be connecting with others long before you ever need to seek their help. Build those relationships now & it will be much more powerful in the future.  How can you meet new people?  Considering connecting with others through Twitter or LinkedIn, attend happy hours with groups, be active in community groups, volunteer, join leadership groups, offer to serve on committees or boards...ultimately look to be active in whatever community you'd like to be connected to whether it's social media groups, nonprofit groups, higher education groups, marketing groups & so on.  It is important to connect with those who share similar interests but don't neglect connecting with folks in areas outside your immediate interests. Everyone knows someone. 

Two ways to build your relationships: be active in looking for opportunities to help & share what you're up to, where you'd like to be in your career & what you know.

When you're looking for opportunities to help, you may be surprised how many people will take you up on that offer.  Recently, I emailed our staff social media collaborative listserv asking for help creating guidelines for a social media project I was tasked with. Turns out others were looking for the same resource.  From this I was appointed to an ad-hoc committee responsible for creating social media guidelines for the University & last week we released the first social media guidelines for the University.

Building those relationships should also include sharing what you do. In my case, that's recruiting for the law school. A recent example. My brother & I live nearby a restaurant & stop in occassionally.  We've come to know one of the employees.  Last week she shared a story with us about how she found herself in some legal troubles & remembered that I worked at the law school. She was calling on someone (me in this case) from her network for help. I was happy to offer her a few attorney recommendations.

In these two basic examples, I've been able to build relationships with like-minded higher education & social media professionals as well as help an acquaintance connect with someone in my network.

Build your relationships now. Look to meet & get to know as many people as you can. You'll have a lot of fun learning from others & getting to know a variety of professionals.  Don't forget to add value to your connections & relationships.  Be there to help & they'll be there when you need it next.

How do you like meeting other people? What are the best ways to connect with others? How do you add value to your network?


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Updated at 8:20 p.m.

My good friend, Amy Strecker, suggested I share this story.

Just before the beginning of my senior year at The University of Texas at Austin I knew I wanted to be more involved in the academic life of the University so I sought out ways to do that.  The first thing I found was to apply to be an at-large member (the first year Senate did this) of the Senate of College Councils - the student academic advocates. After my interview, I was selected as one of the at-large members. During that year, each member was appointed to a sub-committee.  I was selected for the core curriculum sub-committee.

The Commission of 125 had just released its report to the President. One of the recommendations was to improve undergraduate education. Because I was on the sub-committee looking at core curriculum I was very familiar with discussions that were taking place at the University. Soon thereafter, then-President Larry Faulkner hosted a reception for the Senate of College Councils. I had the privilege of discussing a number of issues that night with Faulkner & we soon turned to undergraduate education.  I asked Faulkner what he planned to do. His response was to form a task force to review the recommendations & make recommendations as well. I blurted out that I wanted to sit on this committee.

A few weeks later I received a call from the President's office asking if I would be one of two students to sit on the 20-member Task Force on Curriculum Reform. The task force was chaired by then-School of Law dean & now President Bill Powers.  After about a year we published our report & later the significant changes were made to undergraduate education at the University, including the creation of the School of Undergraduate Studies, changes to undergraduate advising, signature courses, strands & more.

It was a wonderful experience that lead to many great, new relationships with mentors & other role models that I still stay in touch with today.  Always look for ways to be involved & give back ... and, eventually, good things will come your way.