How effective is your network? While attending networking events and growing your network is essential to gain access to different individuals and skill sets it's important to know how to grow your network effectively.
Before you can add to your existing network of clients, colleagues, and potential leads you need to take a step back an examine your network. That's where evaluating your network comes in to play. In a previous post we mentioned evaluating your network as one of the rules of networking, in fact it's one of the most important and often times overlooked aspects of making connections.
Evaluating your network is a relatively easy task that will help you determine where you network may be lacking some contacts or how your network can be streamlined.
To evaluate your network you will need to create a four column table similar to the one below:
In the contact column list the names of your top 10-15 contacts, and in the subsequent columns follow suit beginning with what sector or company they work in and so forth. This will allow you to determine how you met your contacts and what fields you're connected with. If you find that you have introduced yourself to the bulk of your contacts your network may be inbred as a result of your introducing yourself to people you personally are drawn to. On the other hand if you find you've got a network where all your key contacts are from differing sectors your network may be too diversified and diluted. You should aim to have about 2 contacts in each of your varying sectors.
Evaluating your network also helps in identifying super-connectors. These are individuals who connect differing or contrasting groups of people and are willing to share their diverse contacts with others. It's important to be able to differentiate between information brokers and super-connectors. Information brokers will have access to various pieces of information as they are individuals that connect different groups of people. For example an information broker may know someone in the banking sector and someone in the healthcare sector, thus giving him/her access to private information from both sectors. A super-connector is such an individual who is willing to share this information with others and introduce his/her contacts to others as well.
If you find that you've got someone who's introduced you to 2 or more of your top 10 contacts then they're most likely your super-connector. It's important to know who your super-connectors are and show your appreciation for them. This can be achieved through introducing them to one of your other key contacts that they may benefit from knowing.
Once you've evaluated your network you will be able to determine whether it's inbred or too diluted or even just fine the way it is. If you've got an inbred network you need to engage in networking more actively and seek out contacts in sectors differing from just your own and those that interest you. Attending local networking events and seeking out contacts from a sector completely different from your own is a great way to start. If your network is too diluted you need to determine how you want your network to be structured, perhaps bring the focus of your networking back to seeking out contacts in your own sector or field of work. This does not mean you need to drop existing contacts it simply means you need to focus on one particular sector of importance in order to bring some structure back in to your overly diversified network.
With networking it is easy to get carried away so it's recommended that you conduct network evaluations on a bi-monthly or quarterly basis in order to provide yourself with some insight into your own networking habits and allow for a more effective networking experience.
Copyright © 2012 by Professional Edge Consulting
Copyright © 2012 by Professional Edge Consulting
