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As you progress in your career, one of the things that is important for you to be successful is to network.
You are building relationships at each job. As you move on to your next job or your colleague moves on to their next job, it is important that you maintain that relationship because at some point in the future one of you is going to need to call on the other for help. What makes this process challenging is that it takes work and, although important, it isn’t urgent so it is easy for you to let it go. You don’t maintain the relationship because it isn’t right in front of you and then when you need it, you are starting off from a less than ideal situation. Professional Relationship Lifecycle The life cycle of professional relationships is interesting. You work with someone and because you spend a huge portion of your week at work, you get to know the person pretty well. Think about the people you work closely with. There are people you talk to daily and people you talk to at least weekly. You talk regularly because your job requires it. And, although you are likely talking about work, over time you are building a relationship. You get to know the person and they get to know you. You know what they are good at, the way they communicate, whether or not you can rely on them, if they meet deadlines, etc. And then, you get a new job and move on. Suddenly, someone you were talking to every day is no longer part of your life. Someone you relied on to get your work done – to be successful in your career – is not part of your life at all anymore. It is a very interesting phenomenon. Now, you may keep in touch with some of the people who you developed a more personal relationship with. These are people who crossed over the professional relationship divide into the personal relationship category. These are not the people I’m talking about today. I’m talking about the people you had professional relationships with – strictly professional. Keeping in touch with them is important for your career. The better you are at keeping in touch, the better off you will be when you need something that they can help you with. Networking is not something you do at a weekly breakfast or cocktail hour. That type of networking, when you goal is to hand out as many business cards as possible, is really a marketing activity. What I’m talking about is a relationship activity. You need to constantly maintain your network because relationships are important to your success. Doing this isn’t hard – at all. But, it also isn’t easy for the simple reason that its not urgent, which means most of us won’t get to it. We aren’t intentional about networking because it isn’t in our face. The piles of email and stacks of status reports are in our face. The deadlines we have to meet this week are in our face. Reaching out to Dan, who we worked with 2 jobs ago is not in our face because we don’t need anything from Dan right this minute. Become Intentional About Maintaining Your Network What I’m encouraging you to do is to be intentional about maintaining your network. Here are a few things you can do to make this process a more active part of your professional life:
For example, recommend a book or app or tell people about a tip they can use such as how to better organize their email or how time blocking can make you more productive. The idea with this third activity is that you are posting something general out to your network that will both remind them of you but also be seen as something of value that will create a memory in their mind that you are someone who is always adding value. The Difference Between Networking and Thought Leadership I want to talk a little more about why this post should not be specific to your company or industry. What I’m talking about in this post is the importance of building and maintaining your network. I am not talking about the importance of building your reputation as an expert in your particular industry. I’m also not talking about the importance of marketing your company. Both of those things are also important, but just not for this episode. So, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do those things. But, I am saying that you need to separate the activity of maintaining your network from these other 2 things. My network has people in a lot of different roles. I am connected to sales people and accountants, writers and educators, marketers and developers. If you are in accounting and the only thing you ever post is related to accounting, you are not being relevant to a good portion of your network. By posting something that is more general, that can be useful to people in a lot of different roles, you are making connections with them. Don’t stop posting about topics important to accounting, just remember to also post about time management or goal setting or communication as well. By doing these 3 things monthly, you’ll see a lot more traction from your network and find that when you are in need of something from your network, you’ll find them more responsive. Being intentional about your networking will pay dividends the next time you need something! Learn More Check out my full book list Improve your productivity with my Productivity Journal In this episode, you’ll learn:
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It's Career Day! In these episodes, I’ll be interviewing someone about their job with the goal of helping you learn:
Even if it isn’t a career you aren’t interested in for yourself, it is always helpful to have a better understanding of the roles that people around you may fill. Today’s career is Accounting and I’m interviewing Kyle Hillman, who is an experienced accountant, having worked in several different areas of accounting. Kyle brings a prospective that will help you understand what makes a successful accountant, and helps give an understanding of what a potential career path may look like.
This week is a replay of Episode 11: System vs Process011.html
If you are struggling to improve one of your processes, this episode will help you learn how to look at the bigger system and identify a wider range of possible solutions. In this episode you’ll learn:
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When you think about the next 30 days:
Some of those answers may have to come to you quickly, and others may have taken some time. Were there any that surprised you because you hadn’t thought about them at all? Plan for Your Goals Achieving goals in a way that makes you feel productive takes planning. And, the first step in planning is having a goal to work toward. If you don’t know what your goal is, you don’t work toward it – you end up just meandering based on whatever is happening in front of you at the moment. Constant Reminders You need to constantly remind yourself about what your priorities are in order to stay on track. I’m not talking about once a week. I’m talking multiple times per day. As you think about how you will spend the next 60 minutes, do you know what your priorities are and are you confident you are spending the time on the right things? We all have a lot of things going on in our life. It isn’t healthy to focus on 1 thing to the exclusion of all others. Finding a way to balance your priorities is hard work. It takes planning, dedication, and probably most important of all: intention. And the starting place for it all is being clear about what it is you are trying to accomplish. I’m not talking about a to-do list. Those are the tasks of the whirlwind of your life. I mean the big picture – what will make you happy – goals. It needs to be a manageable list. And, it needs to be wholistic – meaning you need to cover all aspects of your life. If you can focus in on the one thing that is important to you in the next 30 days at work, for your family, for yourself, for your finances, and for your mental health, then you have a manageable list to go through each day, multiple times per day to keep you on track for being productive. Make it a Habit with a Daily Reminder I’m going to ask you to put a daily task on your calendar that pops up at whatever time works best for you. The calendar reminder subject is “Remember Your Priorities” and in the body of the task is the answer to the 5 questions. Learn More: Episode 69: A Deep Dive into Your North Star List In this episode, you’ll learn:
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PMO COachI teach people how to thrive at work. Let's connect on LinkedIn 
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