Networking to Grow Your Career Inside Your Organization
Jeff Perry
I help experienced engineers intentionally upgrade their careers and find increased income, alignment, and fulfillment - guaranteed | ?? Author | ?? Speaker/Trainer | ?? Light Bringer | ?? Family Man | DM to Learn More
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others." ~African Proverb
Do you even think about networking in your current organization?
Over the last few months, I've been holding a number of research conversations to learn more about the goals, desires, and needs of ambitious engineers. (BTW - If you'd like to share your thoughts, send me a note - I'd love to chat!)
One of the most common themes that has come up is many people recognizing that they need to learn to network more effectively inside their organizations. Whether they are seeking to learn new skills, get a promotion or a team transfer, or experience mentorship, networking is the key to unlocking this.
Why We Network
Networking is an opportunity accelerant. The people in our lives that we are connected to and have relationships with can have huge impacts on our success and growth.
Here are just a few ways that networking with others in your organization can have an impact:
The list above is in no way all encompassing or exhaustive, but you can see just how life-changing this can be when you do this well!
Using Your Existing Network
"Networking is more about farming than it is about hunting." ~Ivan Misner
So where do you start?
With the people you already know. Leaders, peers, coworkers, and others you have met - start by cultivating and deepening relationships you already have!
Consider - who do you know already that can give you insights, advice, or is just someone you would like to connect with more? This is a great place to start! You don't have to strike up a relationships out of nowhere, but can deepen one that already exists.
Yet even this is sometimes scary to people. I was working with a female client a while back and she was telling me about a female engineering leader she respected that she had met at a corporate event. They really hit it off, and this leader told my client to reach out and connect again! But for months, my client didn't reach out, even though she wanted to. She felt she didn't know what to say to take the relationships further.
As we talked together, I helped her see that this leader already wanted to connect deeper. She had expressed that. And while there is no perfect way to go about reaching out, we worked together to craft an approach to help her feel confident in reaching out and rekindling the relationship. In the end, they were able to reconnect, and this leader became a fabulous internal mentor for my client.
So start with who you already know, and maybe just want to go deeper with.
Connecting with New People
"Networking is not collecting contacts. Networking is planting relations." ~Anonymous
Of course, there is plenty of reason to expand your network with new people you can learn from as well.
So ask yourself the question - Who do I want to know?
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You can think of people in a few different categories:
These new interactions and relationships can start in a number of ways. They can begin intentionally or by chance. If you identify someone you want to get to know, you can reach out to them via email, internal chat, or make a point to introduce yourself at some sort of group event.
Yet sometimes we are introduced to people by others, or just happened to be placed in opportunities where we meet new people that we are excited to get to know further. Make the most of these opportunities as well.
No matter where the relationship or connection starts, find some way to continue it beyond the first interaction. Ask what might be possible to go further - meeting up for lunch, a virtual chat, or permission to ask for ad hoc meetings when needed.
Reach out, but continue to cultivate.
Networking Is About Relationships
All too often we overcomplicate networking. It's not about how many business cards we give out, or how many people we are connected to on LinkedIn.
Networking is simply about the extent and quality of our relationships. Do you have people you? feel like you can call on? Who would you ask questions of if you were in a bind?
So remember - to build meaningful relationships, we need to be givers, not just takers. Consider how you can add to each relationship, help these people in their moment of need, or at least validate that the time they are spending with you is being put to good use. No one wants to feel used - so don't use people, connect with them.
Take Ambitious Action
You're an ambitious engineer, right? Yes you are!
So be ambitious and seek for one person you have previously either been hesitant to deepen a relationship with or begin a professional relationship with, and reach out.
Make it simple - ask for 20-30 minutes over a drink, or on a video/phone call - whatever the circumstance is. Just signal you want to connect.
And see what happens. They might not have time. In some cases they may never reply.
If that happens, try again.
But take action, and build your network!
Accelerate Your Career
For those wanting to grow their career internally at their companies, I'm putting together a small group of ambitious engineers to work on this together. We'll go over critical skills and tools to use, including networking, leadership, productivity, and more to reach ambitious goals.
If you want to accelerate your growth process, you can fill out this simple form to apply and let me know about your interest in the program!