‘I work in an office, I don’t need to network’ ‘I’m only an internal person,I don’t need to network’ ‘I work on reception,I don’t network.’
The truth is we have all been networking since we started talking. It’s simply building new or building on exisiting relationships.
Using the three sentences above when people in different departments start to get to know and like each other, trust eventually is formed.They start to share ideas, information and speak candidly to each other.Their quality of work processes improve, they create more opportunties for the company where they work.
People live in silos because they are comfortable resulting in so much wasted knowledge. when you network internally your visibility raises and in the longer run you become more successful..
In a bigger organisation it is rarely about marketing and selling…other than of yourself of course
Hi Will,
you are right about the silos and the “I don’t need a network” attitude.
What I see way too often is people trying to build a network when it is too late: when they need a customer, a new job or information from another department or company.
Networking is about sharing information and connecting people. Everybody can do that. And by doing so they become more visible.
As a consequence they become the people who get more referrals when they are in sales or less likely to lose their job when there is a “downsize”.
Have a great networking day !
Jan
Jan Vermeiren, Founder of Networking Coach