Hate networking? Here's why you need to get over it...

Just read an interesting article by Gabriella Griffith on the London Loves Business website:

From sweatworking to sorting out your LinkedIn page - networking is an essential element in your career progression

Peddling furiously on his exercise bike, the young man wipes his brow with his designer sweat bands. Blackberry in one hand, he turns to the girls on the bikes next to him and introduces himself, in-between emails.

The young gent is Made In Chelsea star and diamond heir Frances Boulle and he’s getting into a good session of sweat-working.

Yes that’s networking while you exercise. Despite what some may have thought it wasn’t the brainwave of the snappy-dressing wunderkind. The term was coined by the NY Times in response to a growing number of professionals making business connections and meeting with clients in the gym.

This is just one example of unique ways to network and, while it might not be your cup of tea, it shows the importance of networking in the business community and finding innovative ways to make contacts. Read more here...

Here are some of my thoughts on the subject:

Most face-to-face networking is a variation on the theme of bringing people together in the same physical space to exchange 'elevator pitches' and business cards. So you have breakfast groups (like Brad's), free coffee-time networking, lunches (often run by Chambers of Commerce), ladies-only networking, speed networking, after work 'in the pub on the way home' gatherings, etc etc...

What most in-person networking groups and participants fail to do is address and exploit what I call 'the space between meetings' (where the real networking should be happening).

If you attend meetings and just collect 'contacts' without turning them into 'connections' by following up on them, then you're just doing what I call 'sociable networking'. That's fine if your networking  strategy is just to meet new people and renew existing contacts.

It doesn't make you a bad person - just a pretty ineffectual networker. You'll probably be popular, because guess what?  Loads of other people are sociable networking too (I'd guess around 80% of them!)

Similarly, 80% of the millions who sign up to online business networking groups (like LinkedIn and the soon to disappear Ecademy) simply post their profile and never return to the site.

Online or offline, life and the daily routine of work just get in the way. Following up on contacts to build relationships gets relegated way down the ToDo list.

Business networking is still in its infancy. Human beings are natural networkers and we do it without thinking in our personal, social, family (take a bow, Facebook) and of course in our day-to-day business  lives (with colleagues, customers and suppliers).  

Somehow, most of us just haven't found compelling enough reasons that will motivate us to extend our innate network-building skills into the 'business networking' arena to integrate new random contacts into our networks. That's why networking has to evolve - and I think one route is along the lines of MyTeam Network - but then I would say that, wouldn't I? :0)