Networking: A Multi-Faceted Super Tool, IF You Know How to Use it

Do you know about the power of networking? It truly is a multi-faceted super tool. But most don’t even come close to maximizing its potential. They limit their use of it to one function, often an uncomfortable meet and greet style interaction for a specific purpose. In this regard, networking is comparable to a Swiss Army knife.?

The Swiss Army knife was originally created for Swiss soldiers in the late 1800s as a multitool that could open a can of food as easily as it could perform maintenance on the Swiss service rifle. Today, the typical pocket-sized Swiss Army knife contains 12 tools including two knife blades, a can opener, bottle opener, scissors, saw, awl, corkscrew, tweezers, toothpick, key ring, and screwdriver. Newer models can add even more tools from a USB stick to a magnifying glass or altimeter, to name a few.

Imagine having such a multi-faceted tool in your pocket at any moment. The possibilities would be endless!

I have a couple of Swiss Army knives, but instead of my pocket or purse, they live in the back of a junk drawer in my kitchen. This drawer where I tend to put things I don't know where else to store but know I might need someday. It’s a nice, hidden place where things that I own are easily forgotten. When the drawer is shut, its contents are covered in a nice cloak of darkness, and each of them quickly fades away from my memory. That is, until the day when I find myself desperately searching for that one thing that I "thought I had," digging through the randomness that is the junk drawer, hoping my fuzzy memories will become clear.

The usefulness of my Swiss Army knife will never be realized from the back of my junk drawer. Just like the usefulness of networking will never be realized when we put it on a shelf to wait for the moment when we become desperate enough to dig it out and put it to use.

The Networking Super Tool Defined

It’s key here to point out the definition of networking as, “A supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest .” We find the myriad of uses for our networking multitool within this "system of sharing."

USE #1: Problem Solving with Colleagues

The belief that you are the first one to struggle through your current L&D challenge is a lie. It is almost certain that others have faced something similar, struggled through it, and learned something along the way. So, why do we act like we need to travel this road alone? Networking can provide ideas and answers from others who have been there, done that.

In the past few years, I’ve talked to more L&D professionals than I can count about their challenges and successes. Most of them haven’t reached out to converse with colleagues outside their own organizations to learn. I am absolutely convinced that if we talked to each other more often, we would be much further ahead. We would work smarter and increase our effectiveness and impact simply from problem solving together.

USE #2: Professional Development

As an L&D professional, you probably already know the value of learning with and from others. It’s the 20 of the famous 70:20:10 model. But unfortunately, too many of us don’t follow our own advice. Or at least, we don’t do so with others outside our company through networking. Professional development is how we stay relevant, cutting edge, and moving forward. We can’t expect others to do things we don’t (or won’t) do ourselves.

I found networking particularly valuable for professional development in my role as VP of Learning. When you serve as a learning leader in a company, your mentors in L&D generally don’t exist within that company. But through networking I found a full community of other leaders who were willing to share their knowledge, ask great questions, and unpack new ideas side by side with me. I grew tremendously in that role, in large part due to the community of peer mentors I built through networking. You can do the same, whether you sit in a formal leadership role or otherwise. Find those with your common interest and learn from and with them side by side.

USE #3: Equal Exchange

If networking is truly to be maximized as a wonder tool, the true magic lies here, in an equal exchange of challenges, successes, information, and resources. This can look different depending on who you are talking with and the needs you both have at the time. But eventually, the purpose of networking is for sharing to go in both directions. Yes, it is great to get ideas (or job leads) from others, but networking is just as much about what you give as what you get.

Sharing your own experiences, both good and bad, helping others brainstorm, recommending resources, or another form of professional give and take is key to making full use of the networking tool. No one wants to feel like they were taken advantage of, sold to, or used in an interaction. Those are all one-way streets. In effective networking, there are no one-way streets. How can you help or share information with this other person as much as you are asking them to help or share information with you? ?

USE #4: Career Transitions

I intentionally left this for last because it is potentially the most common use of networking. But it’s also the one that tends to find people digging through their junk drawer in desperation. This is a mistake. When it’s time for a career transition, whether by your own choice or otherwise, a strong network can be incredibly helpful in getting you to your next landing spot. But that means you need to have a strong network in place first.

I see and meet many people trying to quickly build a network AFTER they need it. Strong networks aren’t uncovered overnight. They are built over time. For most people experiencing a career transition, time is of the essence. If you wait until a career transition to begin networking, not only will you miss out on all the other uses of this tool as detailed above, but you will start out behind. Now you need to build a network and immediately begin asking others to help, without providing equal exchange. You are at the mercy of those who don’t know you instead of participating in a strong system of sharing information and resources where you build relationships along the way.

The moral of the story? Don’t put networking in the junk drawer only to search for it desperately at your moment of need. A multi-faceted tool is maximized through all its many uses, over time. Start using your networking wonder tool today!

Not sure where to start with networking? Subscribe and stay tuned! In the next newsletter, I’ll cover keys to successful networking for L&D professionals including where to find your network, how to maximize equal exchange, questions to ask so you don’t feel like you have nothing to say, and techniques to stay in touch with a wide network.

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Learning Business Advisor Consulting (Jess Almlie) is dedicated to helping L&D leaders stop working as order takers and start working more strategically, intentionally, and with measurable impact. Jess can work with you to determine the best strategy for a single program or project, lead your L&D team through strategic planning, provide individual L&D leader/team coachsulting (a combo coaching, mentoring, and consulting approach to professional development), and/or guide you and your L&D team through a series of workshops to learn and implement needed skills. If this sounds like something you need, message Jess to set up a time to chat.