Networking - a little maintenance every day

There's a woman on LinkedIn who has over 1000 contacts. There are many more who have between 3 - 50. Neither size of network is more success than the other. There is no 'winning' the network pool. It all depends on how you maintain the network, not how you add to it.

A well-maintained network is ready to help with a crisis - yours or someone in your circles. It has relationships that go beyond a filed business card.

Maintaining a network can be done - like gardening - in big chunks or a little effort every day.

Feeding suggestions

• Send out interesting articles targeted to folks who might actually want to read them, one small group a day/week/month.
• Remember the anniversaries and celebrations of those in your inner circles and participate where appropriate.
• Take folks out for tea once in a while. Or meet for a drink. A walk. A phone call.
• Make sure your contact information stays up-to-date or latest news gets broadcast.
• Say "thanks!" when someone helps you out.
• Solicit ideas from your network - even on small things - just to open a conversation.

Weeding suggestions

• Don't feel you have to respond to every call for help if you a) don't really know the person or b) have no advice/lead/contact to offer. Networking is not dependent on how much you put in but the quality of what you put in.
• Spend more time on those on your inner circle than outer. Cherish those who might cherish you back over expanding the frontiers of your network. (unless, of course, you have time for both)

Planting suggestions

• Follow up with new(er) contacts soon after you meet them so both of you can remember the context that prompted the connection.
• Make a coffee or drink into a threesome or fourseome!- you don't have to do everything one/one and sometimes it's fun to introduce new or interconnected folks.
• Solicit ideas from your network - even on small things - just to open a conversation.

There are tons of little things you can do every day without every attending a single networking event. Every meeting, phone call or email is an interaction that can build your network with sincerity and appreciation.

Role Models at the YWCA

Last week, I attended the YWCA's Women of Distinction Toronto awards. Talk about marvelous horn tooting!  Yes, the chicken was rubber but the company was spectacular.

We heard:

* Be brave for yourself

* Judge less. Understand more.

* And to tell success stories because "images of success shape aspirations - we need to see them to know how to dream them"

The winners thanked their children, their mentors and their communities. Plus the dessert was chocolate.

There is so much work yet to do - not just to correct imbalances and old thinking - but to inspire other women of all ages to run further and dream even bigger on any front!

Don't do work that doesn't fuel your passion; there are not enough hours/years that we can lose any on things that don't matter to us!

Speed Mentoring

By definition, there's no such thing, given that mentoring is a relationship meant to examine long-term goals. Speed mentoring events are really networking opportunities in a style often compared to speed dating. It's a way to meet a bunch of potential mentors very quickly.

I find it funny that, yet again, we're disguising "networking" as the more palatable "mentoring". (cheese sauce on the brussel sprouts!) They are two sides of the same coin. We need to build a community that contains (or leads us to) potential mentors. Networking is how we build community; we network every day.

The "speed" events can help you network quickly with lots of folks since research says it takes about 3 seconds to establish if there's a "connection"... (really? hmmmm...)  Networking events are a great tool to use but, like speed dating events, you only get to pick from what turns up. Building a community, finding a mentoring, all takes time.