Among the most effective skills I have
developed across the decades of my career is the ability to network well. To
understand who people are, why they are important, how to connect with them,
and the value of consistently communicating with them is vital to effective
networking.
I’d like to have you consider this skill in
terms of methods and values.
Methods – The
methods for effective networking are faster, more responsive, and less costly
than ever. When I began to understand it in the 1980s, we networked with land
line telephones, fax machines, post cards, letters, and face to face meetings.
Over thirty years later, we network through mobile phones (calls and SMS
messages), email, social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and probably
others…), Skype video calls, and occasionally even meeting face to face. One
has to find the methods that best fits his or her communication style, time
commitments, and technological abilities to choose well.
Values –
Knowing one’s purposes for networking and the intended results for it will
shape most of his or her values in networking. My phone, and probably your
phone, is full of names, email addresses, mobile and office phone numbers.
Those of us with smart phones have more computing power in our hands than there
was on the first moon landing craft in the 1960s. We can use that computing
power wisely or foolishly, our values for networking will make the difference.
Stated below are some simple values for networking effectively:
·
Communicate
frequently. It has been important to me to send a
devotional thought to friends and colleagues every Monday morning for well over
ten years. The list of people to whom I send these notes is nearly 900 all
around the world. One weekly email helps me stay connected with a very wide
network. I also aim to send emails to this separate list of sports chaplaincy
colleagues every Friday. This list contains several hundred people from six
continents as well. This frequency seems to work to do what I hope to
accomplish with emailed devotions and notes for sports chaplains, character
coaches, and sports mentors.
·
Communicate
briefly. The attention span of consumers of electronic
material seems to be shortening all the time. To keep one’s correspondence to
around 250-300 words gives your message a chance to be consumed completely. If
it’s too long, most will check out just part of the way through your thoughts.
The confines of Twitter’s 140 character format have actually helped me find
ways to communicate very succinctly.
·
Communicate
freely. Don’t expect a prompt reply from all those
with whom you communicate. My experience is that very few will reply at all. Even
if your note really resonates with a person’s heart and produces great fruit,
the impacted person is not likely to write you back. If you can’t handle that
lack of response, don’t set yourself up for disappointment by sharing your
thoughts in this manner. Think of it like radio or broadcast television. You
cast your communication into the air and hope it has the intended effect, but
you seldom know if it’s connecting until much later.
·
Communicate
directly. In networking, regardless of the media, it is
wise to be direct and to come straight to the point. A handshake, the
repetition of the person’s name, a connection with his or her company, and the
exchange of business cards has been the stock in trade of those who network
well for decades. This same sort of direct communication is most effective in
building one’s network through electronic and social media. Get to the point,
quickly.
No matter the chosen media or method, we can be
effective networkers as we shape the process by wise application of values for
the process. “Please give me your contact information and I’ll be sure to be in
touch.” It’s about that simple. Build your network and broaden your influence.
It’s worth the time and effort. I promise.
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