Networking

I’ve been hearing about networking for years, but nobody has been able to tell me what it is in a way that I can understand.  I’ve finally figured it out.  Networking is nothing more than making friends among people who share your vocationally related interests.  That seems like it should be an easy thing to do; something that comes naturally and without effort.  It is, but it’s also a rare occurrence for most of us, and one that seems to happen either naturally or not at all.

When I was heavy into skydiving, I did a great job of networking, although I didn’t know it at the time.  I could call just about anyone – the president of a parachute company, an FAA official, a world champion skydiver – and almost every case we had some knowledge of each other.  Maybe they had read a magazine article I had written, or I had seen a tech report they had been involved in, or we both knew a third party.  In any case whenever I called someone I was confidant that we had something in common that would “break the ice” – a shortcut to familiarity and predictability.

Networking occurs not because we will it, but because the things we are passionate about naturally create relationships with others who are also passionate about the same things we are.  The problem is that networking will occur only to the extent that we are passionate about our work.  Those people who come home and refuse to think or talk about their work will never be able to successfully network with others in their field because they have nothing to talk about.  There is no basis for a social interaction.

Effective networking grows out of sincere interest.  For example, I met a statistician at the Oregon Employment Division  when I was researching employment trends there.  We had several telephone conversations and met in person as well.  We talked about standard deviations and correlations and quartiles so easily that we were frequently surprised that time passed as quickly as it did.  She even suggested that I apply for a job as a statistician with the Employment Division.

Those people who are so enthralled with their work that they not only subscribe to technical or trade journals, but also write articles for them, possess the level of passion needed to effectively network.  That is not to suggest that writing magazine articles is a litmus test for the ability to network, but it gives you an idea of what I am getting at.  Simply going to work every day is insufficient to create the wealth of insight and information needed to share an interest with others passionate about a vocational field.

Effective networking requires frequent and ongoing social contact with others in our vocational field.  Only a sincere passion about vocational issues can be the basis for effective networking.  That relationship is the same as any other human relationship and is subject to the same rules and conditions.

So how do you network?  You don’t.  It just happens naturally.  If you aren’t networking you might be able to develop the interests and activities needed to make it happen, but unless those activities are driven by a sincere interest they will not last, because will they not of the depth and quality needed to connect with others.