Treat your network like a garden: tend to it with love and time.

I had a choir conductor who once said to me “I never get tired conducting choirs. It’s like there’s an exchange of energy. They share their energy with me, and I give it back to them. We refuel each other.”

Your professional network is like that too. You don’t want to be the person who only takes. You don’t want to be the person who thinks of others as an afterthought. Networks are about giving and receiving.

A network is a living breathing organism that needs tending. How do you tend to your relationships?

There are so many different ways to do it. The return on investment for your professional brand, and your organization’s brand is massive.

Here are some ideas for helping breathe some new life into your network:

• Spend some time on LinkedIn commenting on colleagues and friend’s posts. Share some love and thoughtful comments. Raise the bar: do better than a “like” and instead actually leave a comment with something specific that you mention.
• Keep some notecards handy at your desk. When you see an announcement about a colleague or friend, send them a little card with a congratulations. I had a mentor who told me once her whole career was built on these simple postcards she had made for her organization. When someone in her world did something incredible, she would promptly mail out a congratulations card. Never underestimate the power of a handwritten card. And the impact is even more powerful in our digital age. Snail mail is a novelty! Sign up for electronic newsletters for a few of your favourite relationships in your network. That way you can keep track of what their company or charity is doing. You’ll be first to know when there is an announcement.
• Select a few events every year that you will attend. They might be charity events or corporate conferences. Pick events that you will enjoy going to that align with your values, but also select events where you will see people that are in your networks. Once you decide which events, give up the FOMO (fear of missing out) that you may feel. You can’t be everywhere.
• Volunteer. I have made some incredible personal relationships sitting on boards of directors of various organizations. For me, volunteering aligns with my values, and the people you meet – in general – are kind, caring, and are looking for small ways to make the world a better place. And if you’re shy, being on a board gives you a role to play, which can take away some of the anxiety.

Network to connect rather than network to get. It’s so much more enjoyable, and you meet the most amazing people along the way.