Finding the time to network

 What is your strategy for finding the time to network?

Your Rant: I’ve got a to-do list a mile long. How do you find time to network when you have so much to do?

911 Repair: I was an early fan of the New York Mets, in the bad old days when they were one of the worst baseball teams of all time. I’ll never forget the time marvelous Marv Throneberry hit a home run, but was called out for failing to touch first base. When the manager started to complain, he was told that the player had also missed second base. Ouch.

Unfortunately, many of us are like that baseball player: we fail to touch base with our key contacts at work. Sure we’re all busy, but maintaining a network can save us all time over the long haul. I’ve included some tips on how to stay in touch below. For more, check out “Never Eat Alone” by Ferrazzi and Raz (Currency, 2005).

Are you willing to make the commitment to build a network? I believe that a network is an investment. In my experience, every ounce of energy I’ve put into keeping in touch with people has paid off many times over. But don’t just take my word for it; talk to the most successful people where you work and you’ll probably discover that their network is the key to their accomplishments.

Who should be in your network? Think about the most effective people, people you trust and people who’ve been there for you in the past co-workers, bosses, vendors, customers, friends, etc. Be sure that your network doesn’t look just like you, be sure to include people who aren’t the same sex, race, job function, company, etc. The more diversity, the better.

Do you stay in touch different ways? According to Ferrazzi and Raz, research shows it’s more effective when you stay in touch in different ways. E-mail, phone calls, face-to-face. Relying just on e-mail is dangerous these days, you’ve got to look for excuses to actually talk to people.

Do you find an excuse for regular contact? Almost anyone can collect business cards, the challenge is to find good excuses to stay in touch with people. My favorite strategy for staying in touch is to write down things that people are interested in on the back of their card. Then when I come across an article on innovation, fly-fishing or quality control, I can send it to them. This is a great way to stay in touch with people.

Maintaining a secondary relationship requires two or three pings a year. Each of us has a front burner, people who we talk to on a regular basis, and a back burner, people who we haven’t talked to in a while. Seek to keep the key members of your network on the front burner by contacting them at least a couple of times a year.

 911 Pulse:

How often do you make time to network?

• Always, 21 percent
• Occasionally, 39.4 percent
• Never, 39.4 percent

User Strategy

“I’ve found that the key to successful networking is to keep track of people’s interests. We always assume we’ll remember, but we’ve already got too much on our minds. So I’ve learned to use the contacts file for each person to jot down notes each time I talk to someone. You can also search the files using key words, so when you come across a bit of information but can’t remember who it applies to.”

Bob Rosner and Sherrie Campbell author the weekly internationally-syndicated workplace911 column. Bob’s a best-selling author and award-winning journalist who has personally responded to over 50,000 emails. Sherrie’s a relationship expert and award-winning comedian who has offered quick, intuitive and humorous responses to over 30,000 people. He’s been called “Dilbert, with a solution.” She’s the counselor with a kick. Watch our 911 team of consultants, authors, counselors and comedians—namely Bob & Sherrie—tackle the nastiest work wrecks in organizations and via seminars, TV, radio, newspapers, books, web sites and live on workplace911.com.