Preparing to network
As with any other communication skill, strategic networking
tends to work better when we are well prepared. Effective
networkers know why they are at a networking event. They know
what they want to achieve. Networking can be exhausting, so
having a plan will help you evaluate your success and decide
when you can take a rest.
Preparing yourself
Networking puts us on the spot. However politely we skirt
around the subject, the first thing we want to know about
someone is who they are: not just a name, but an identity. We are
looking for something we can relate to, something we can
recognise and feel comfortable with. Whether we are the first to
offer the information, or the first to enquire, it helps if we have a
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171 Networking: The New Conversation
clear ‘script’ that we can draw on to present ourselves clearly and
easily to others.
Build your brand
Our brand is what others know us to be. It is not our personality,
or our mission in life. It’s closer to reputation, but more
immediate. Our brand is the message we want to give others
about ourselves.
Think of your brand as sitting ‘on the surface’. Other qualities
sit below the surface: your beliefs, values, attitudes. You don’t
need to display them, you may not want to display them, and it
may be inappropriate to display them. But your brand suggests
them.
Our values find expression in our accomplishments.
Accomplishments are simple talking points, opening up new
possibilities for conversation; they are evidence of experience
Finding your core values
1. What matters to you?
2. If you didn’t have to work, what would you do?
3. What puts you ‘in the zone’?
4. What big problems would you like to do something
about?
5. What do you admire in others?
6. What would you like people to say about you at your
75th birthday party?
7. Who are your heroes?
8. What’s the one thing about yourself you would most
like to change?
9. What makes you proud about yourself?
10. What makes you different to everybody else?
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.
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