How Many People Should I Have In My Professional Network?

One question tha often come up when I am discussing building and serving a professional network is: “how many people should I have in my network?”. Happily there is an answer.

In the 1990s, Professor Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist, came up with the concept of ‘Dunbar’s number’, the cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. For humans, this is roughly between 100 and 250 people. So, if a professional takes into account their immediate family, extended family and friends - which will account for some of that total number - we could be aiming for a professional network of around 150 people. That said, in my experience, this number can be efficiently expanded with the help of a good memory and system that is consistently worked at.

If we accept that having a professional network is a very necessary asset in any professional’s career tool kit, it is a great idea to have a simple system that can be used consistently without taking up too much time. Here is a suggestion for organising your list and activities:

• Have a spreadsheet with 12 columns - one for each month.
• List your current network list.
• Place each person into a month column. This will be the month that you are going to reach out to them.
• Decide how close you are to that person and therefore how many times a year you will feel comfortable reaching out, and at what frequency they will feel comfortable hearing from you.
• If you decide that you want to speak to that person 4 times a year, then put a ‘4’ next to their name and put their name in equally spaced out columns: January, April, July and October, for example.
• When you are planning the week ahead, you can look at your chart and draw up a call/email list of network contacts that you are going to reach out to.
• Asking how your contacts are getting on with sincerity and actively listening to them is powerful enough, and you may be able to find some practical ways to help them beyond that.

This way you will feel organised and ensure that everyone who you count as a network contact will hear from you at least once a year - if not more.

Done consistently, you will deepen the relationships that you have and expand your network to the limit of the manageable number, whatever that is for you.

You will build relationships that have real social capital and which may serve you at some point in the future. Of course, it is also an important opportunity to serve your network too.

Bear in mind that if someone has not heard from you for a while, they may wonder what you are after. Certainly, don’t ask for anything: just be consistent in reaching out at a frequency that seems to be ok with them.

Of course, some network contacts will be unresponsive even after a couple or three years, so you might consider gently retiring them from your call list, whilst at the same time adding new contacts who you meet along the way. Whilst this system may appear artificial and forced, it is important to remember that to be effective, your interest in your network needs to be sincere. The aim is not to ‘butter them up’ until you need them, but to genuinely serve and nurture your professional network.

If you have any questions about managing your network, please do get in touch.