ABC: Always Be Connecting

“What are info chats and how do you do that? LOL.”

I woke to this text message from a friend of mine who was laid off from his job and is seeking his next adventure. I responded with a flurry of texts, and then gave up and used the voice message feature because I could talk faster than I could text.

Me "Info chats are conversations with people; such as a "get to know" or simply to further explore your field. You should go through your LinkedIn connections and pick out some people you'd like to catch up with and send them a message. Or reach out to people that have the jobs that you want in several years so you can learn more about how they got to where they are today".

Friend: "I need to figure out how to do that. I just use LinkedIn to search for new jobs. I didn't realize that I could use it to network".

And he's not alone in this thinking. Networking isn’t just about connecting people, it’s about connecting people with people, people with ideas and people with opportunities. While it’s easy to see the value of networking when you’re on a job search, it’s important to make connecting with others a regular part of your life and own development.

It’s a lesson I wished I learned earlier in my career: the importance of investing time on a continual basis getting to know and conversing with people outside of my company. Instead, I threw myself 100% into my role and organization. I drank the proverbial Kool-aide and aligned to how the organization thought about my field. I didn’t connect with people from the outside, so I missed out on my own learning and development opportunities. I didn’t have the connections for benchmarking industry practices, and most importantly, I wasn’t staying abreast of trends and research.

Fast forward to today: I connect on a weekly basis in an industry group (the Talent Development Think Tank). I say yes to info chats that I receive via LinkedIn. I reach out to former colleagues, and my fellow USF alumni to stay in touch and share knowledge. I strive to have at least one conversation a week with someone outside my immediate company. It's a practice that I continue to work at in order to maintain connections, and perspective on my field.

Megan’s tips for staying connected:

1. Schedule it: block time on your calendar on a weekly/bi weekly/monthly basis to set up virtual coffee chats. I like to reserve Friday's as my "social" day and set up coffee chats, lunches and happy hours with people. I schedule time on a monthly basis to go through my LinkedIn connections and message people that I haven’t spoken to in a while.
2. Make it fun: one of my dear friends and I have monthly "wine & whiteboarding" meetups to ideate and brainstorm while maintaining the social connection. Perhaps you have a group of people that are your “go to” contacts at other organizations that you can bring together in a regular cadence. You could make it into a monthly or bi monthly meetup, and give your group a name to make it fun.  While we're all embracing the zoom life today, perhaps when we're able to meet in person you could turn your group into a dinner meetup, or other type of in person event.
3. Ask for introductions: Whenever someone asks you how they can help you, ask “can you make an introduction to someone in your network that you think it’d be great for me to get to know". It's one of the easiest ways to make new connections! Sometimes I'll look at my network's connections and make a specific intro request, but other times I leave it up to the person to decide whom they'd like to introduce me to.
4. Engage on LinkedIn posts: if you see an article or post in your newsfeed that resonates with you, take 60 seconds and respond! Read through the comments, and engage in the discussion. It’s a great way to meet new people too. You could easily send someone a note on LinkedIn and reference their comment on the post, and ask to connect (and set up an info chat!)
5. Diversity matters: look at the people that you’re always reaching out to: are they all in the same role? Same industry? Same company size?  Same geographical part of the country? If the answer is yes, then spend some time to strategically reach out to those that have different roles, seniority levels, backgrounds, and industries in order to expand your knowledge and perspective. In a recent think tank meetup, we were discussing ways that we could stay connected (using Slack vs ClubHouse vs LinkedIn groups) and someone who works in a regulated industry brought up that their work policies prohibit them from accessing tools such as Slack. Without the diversity of the group, we may have made a decision about how we maintain connection that could have excluded people (or forced them to have to connect on personal devices).

How do you stay connected in your field? Share your tips below!

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I'm an avid runner, and organization development aficionado. I'm passionate about shaping an organization’s culture through talent and organizational development initiatives. Connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/meganbickle/