Last night, I had the pleasure of giving my “The Power of Networking” workshop to a wonderful audience at a bank. When I asked why they were networking, one gentleman said “for the long term”.
In this day and age where everything is fast, sometimes we think of networking as a tool to get something now and it’s easy to forget to foster relationships. It was a good reminder that regularity is important, showing up again and again and contributing.
There’s the famous saying that Rome wasn’t built in a day to tell ourselves that important work takes time and to be patient. Networking is important so making time for it is key.
As our life circumstances change, it’s good to look at what is relevant for us now and what sort of networking would be best.
It could be that you would like to attend a monthly networking meeting from a club or association. How about a quarterly lunch or catch up call with a friend? It can be during your workday with regular group talks with a team you work closely with.
Whatever it is, if you schedule it, it’s more likely to happen. With some of my friends, at the end of our time together, we schedule our next meeting. Otherwise before you know it, another year has passed and we wonder what happened.
Have a think about your networking choices and remember it’s for the long term.