- Happy to be here. Got it. I'm happy to be here with highly sought after Marengo Executive Coach Kim Jones-- who I'm sure you've read her background, but top-notch executive, eventually became the chief information officer at Farmers Insurance. And given her own success in the corporate world, where she's worked and networked her way into multiple leadership roles, and even the c-suite, she has done a tremendous amount of research on networking.

And she'll leave us tonight with a deeper understanding of the pros and the cons of our own networking style, and she'll give us some actionable steps we can take to improve our own networks. So, Kim, it's so good to have you here.

- Thank you so much, Blaire and [? Lucia ?] for having me today. It's great to be here.

- OK, great. So as Lucia was saying, we like to keep the format interactive. If you'd like to keep your chat open, I'll be monitoring it. Any questions or comments that come up, feel free to share them with everyone, or send them to me privately, and I'll try to pepper them in throughout the event.

If you can, keep your cameras on, it is a lot more fun for everyone. I know we do have a champ joining us late night from Spain. You might get a pass on that. But for the rest of us, let's do our best to stay engaged. And with that, I'll hand it over to Kim.

- Great, thank you so much, Blaire. And thank you again for having me this evening. Tonight, we are going to be talking about networking and why all of you should be looking at this as something that's incredibly important to grow and enhance your careers. And more specifically, and probably even better, I'm going to talk about specific ways that you can go about intentionally growing and building and nurturing your network.

OK, so I am sharing my screen. Oh, sorry about that. I want to share my desktop. All right.

- We can see it.

- Wonderful. Yeah, let me just start here at the beginning. There we go. Sorry about that. One more time. Here we go.

All right. So I want to start with a little bit of background of the importance of networking in my career. So just to give you a little bit of context, as Blaire mentioned, I have a very extensive corporate background prior to venturing out on my own and becoming a career coach.

So if I take you back in time about six years ago, when I was Divisional CIO for Farmers Insurance Company, heading up their Personal Lines division, I was trending towards burnout. I'd been in this incredibly high-stress job for a number of years. It was 24/7. And it never really felt like the last career that I was going to have. And I was starting to think about what was next.

So one day, at the beginning of January 2017, I'm sitting in my boss's office for one of our normal one-on-one conversations, when all of a sudden he's bringing up a topic that had been one of these sticky topics that we had been discussing for some time. And in that moment, I don't know what it was, but I knew that this was the moment for me to move on.

And I found myself, a little bit to my surprise, asking at that moment if we could shift gears and talk about an exit plan, that I was ready to move on-- and I thought it was good for the company, as well, given my long tenure. And so we ended up spending the rest of our meeting negotiating an exit strategy, and I moved on six-weeks later.

And on that last day, when I was leaving my job and thinking, I have no idea what I'm going to do next. As a matter of fact, I was equally excited but extremely terrified at the same time. At that time, I wasn't sure where I was going to go.

Enter in my network. My network is really the key asset that I used and leveraged to get me from where I was to where I am. It was through the relationships that I had leaving Farmers, as well as new relationships that I formed by intentionally building my network, that I began to explore different career options, figure out what the market needed, and really start to hone my vision around what I wanted to do and what I saw demand for.

So this slide actually gives just a couple of examples of things that came my way because of the network that I had built and fostered. You'll see up here that there's a ton of career benefits that I've achieved-- some of my best jobs, including the one at Farmers-- and other places. I mentioned the bridge to my career as an executive coach. And then all kinds of things, even the speaking engagement.

So it's worth noting in the center there that my relationship with Blaire and with Marengo came as a result of a mutual contact of ours who thought we were like-minded and said we needed to meet each other. And we have had an incredibly successful partnership that I love ever since. And Blaire is responsible for most of the speaking engagements that I'm currently involved with. And then I get to do fun things like retreats and facilitating workshops. All of that comes because of the network that I've built.

So what I really want to impress upon all of you today is the transformative effect that a network can have, not just on your career but your life overall. So what we're going to talk about is how you can up your networking game, for those of you who are avoiders, to hopefully becoming evangelists, by really understanding and seeing what networking can do for you.

All right. So if you all wouldn't mind grabbing your mobile phones, we're going to do a quick poll. And what I would like for u to do is go to Slido.com. You can see here on the left-hand side, there's also a QR code that you can use to join. Enter in the code here-- 2272566. And if you could go ahead and type in the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you think about networking.

And the reason I love to do this particular poll is because it's always so interesting to see the different ways that people react to networking-- what kinds of unconscious or conscious thoughts come up when you consider this.

So hopefully, we'll start to see some of those results coming in. We've got a couple of people typing. Again, if you need help with logging in on this link, just let us know. I do not know why this is not rendering on the screen. Are you able to see some of the words that are coming up?

- No

- No.

- 11 participants, but.

- Yeah. And I'm seeing it here on my phone. Let me see. That is a different question. I just want to go back into the question.

All right, I'm going to instead read them from my phone. So here's what's come up. Cold email, champagne, opportunity, opportunities, work learning, directionless-- interesting-- anxiety, career, engage, scary, growth, and meeting new people.

- There's one in the chat that says, genuine relationships.

- Wonderful. So words that came up, everything in the gamut from genuine relationships all the way to champagne to scary to-- what were some of the other words here that are worth-- directionless, connection. So mostly positive words-- I do see an anxiety on here-- and some negative.

So I think this really brings home the point of so many people not really having maybe a universal sentiment about networking-- the importance of it. A lot of people have very positive connotations because of the benefits it can bring while others tend a little bit more on the fear, anxiety side of the continuum, because it can bring up a lot of reservations about things like, am I bothering people? Maybe I don't have something to offer in return for requesting something from someone in my network. So we're going to talk about all of that today.

But first, let's go through our agenda. The first thing that we are going to talk about are some networking fundamentals. So really taking a look at the basics of networking, so we can all level set and get on the same page about what we mean when we talk about networking.

I'm also going to be bringing in some academic information based on my work as an anthropologist, where I take a look at gender dynamics that exist in leadership in core leadership skills. So we're going to take a look at some of the differences in the ways that men and women network, that may be surprising for all of you, but also hopefully very informative in terms of how you think about building your own network.

We're then going to talk about understanding your networking style. So there are different ways that different people tend to network. There are pros and cons of different styles. Understanding this can really help you, again, be intentional about how you want to approach your network.

We're then going to go into more of a tactical approach-- more of a workshopping segment, where we're going to talk about specific ways that you can achieve your goal through leveraging your network. So here to get really practical of how you can start to think about using your network to do something that's really meaningful for you-- a career goal or a personal goal.

And then we're going to talk about how you can start to build your network intentionally over time so that it stays fresh and that you have connections to lots of different resources that can really help you with what you're specifically driving for.

All right, so a little bit about me. Blaire gave me a great introduction. I just wanted to mention here some of the things that I focus on, but almost always have a gender angle around it, as I mentioned, with networking. Some of the other areas that I cover include giving effective feedback, how to create 21st-century cultures that value the things that we're looking at, like diversity, equity, inclusion, et cetera.

All right, so let's get into the fundamentals. Let's first start with a definition, just so that we're all on the same page. For purposes of the work that we're going to be doing tonight, a network is defined as attempts to develop and maintain relationships with others who have the potential to assist you in your business and life.

Now, I'm going to be citing a lot of academic data. That comes out of the EBS School of Business in Germany, where the researchers that I'm going to be citing have done an extensive amount of work-- not just on networking, but on the differences between the ways that men and women network.

Some core concepts that are important to highlight for networking is, first and foremost, networking is based on reciprocity. There is actually a human tendency to have an orientation towards fairness. And so when you're networking, it tends to trigger this idea of fairness-- where if you're giving, it's reciprocated and vice-versa. So being in a frame of mind of reciprocating and being generous are two important concepts of networking.

It's important to note that networking requires generosity. So if you are interested in building a robust and valuable network, it will require you to give of your time, your resources, your expertise-- maybe accessing other folks in your network to those who want connections-- things like that. So that's important to keep in mind. But what you give out generally tends to come back. So this is a very worthy area to invest.

And finally, networking is easier to do when you understand how to do it-- again, why we are all here today. So let's grab our phones again and see if we can actually get a poll going that shows up on the screen this time. On a scale of 1 to 10, please indicate how confident you feel right now with your networking.

There we go. OK, some results coming in.

All right. We've got 9 folks-- 11 folks. Wonderful.

So the overwhelming-- almost half of you are below a 5. And it looks like the rest of you are trending right around the middle, ranging from 4 to 8. So it looks like, for the most part, people are skewing a little bit lower on the networking competency continuum. So let's see if we can get some of those scores up by the time we wrap up tonight.

All right. I mentioned that men and women network differently. And the alarming outcome of the differences are pretty stark. Women's networks tend to be 38% less effective than men's.

And as we have all heard and likely know, an effective network is key to advancement and to taking advantage of promotional opportunities. So the fact that women are not as effective as men is one reason of many as to why women have a steeper climb to the top.

We're going to talk about why they are less effective at networking. But a couple of things to highlight is that women are less likely to prioritize networking. They don't make it as significant of an area of focus as men tend to do. And women are less likely to know how to leverage their networks.

And a lot of this is because of the way that men and women are socialized differently. Men tend to grow up in organizations where they are naturally included in networks, because of the fact that men tend to be at the top and in leadership positions and bring up people who are like them. That's been the historical trend. But that is changing. So women just aren't as exposed to networking. And in addition to that, we're not really taught how to effectively network.

Now, again, these are general observations. This certainly does not apply to everyone. I get a comment in almost every meeting as to the fact that people feel uncomfortable with these gender differences. But I do believe it's important that we understand how women tend to approach networking and how that can hurt us in terms of our career trajectory, so that we can make strategic decisions and take action to counteract some of what appear to be our biases-- either based on individual preference or socialization.

So we mentioned that women are 38% less likely to-- they have networks that are 38% less effective than men's. So it's worth defining what we mean by an effective network. An effective network is defined as having weak social ties among diverse social groups and managerial hierarchies that can deliver career-enhancing benefits.

Some of you might have zeroed in on this term weak social ties. It sounds a little bit counterintuitive, right? A weak social tie being at the foundation of an effective network sounds a little bit like not what we would expect. However, this is absolutely the fundamental aspect of building an effective network, is how we nurture and cultivate our weak social ties.

And some of you may not even know what a weak social tie is. So let's start with some definitions. And this is based on a lot of networking studies that have been done, that talk about the number of connections that we tend to be able to maintain as human beings. It's called Dunbar's number. We have the ability to maintain connections with about 150 people. Now that's not the number of people that we know, but it is the number of people we can maintain connections with.

And within those 150, we have strong social ties, which tend to be about 10, and then weak social ties. So our strong social ties are connections we have with folks that we interact with very regularly. People in our strong social network tend to all know each other. They're sharing the same information. There's frequent interaction.

On the other hand weak network ties are ties with people that you know, but not particularly well. So these would be your work colleagues. They might be people that you interact with at the supermarket or on the soccer field. If you have kids that are in different social groups, it would be parents that you interact with on those levels. Those are examples of weak social ties.

Now what's interesting about weak social ties this is really where the opportunities to benefit from your network come from. There's a study that most job opportunities actually are realized through weak social ties not strong social ties. The reason for this is because you're not really getting any new information from your strong network ties. These, again, tend to be people that have already shared with you. There's no fresh, new information coming in. It tends to be, again, with people who all know each other. So it's sort of a little bit of an echo chamber, if you will, of information.

Whereas your weak network is bringing in lots of diverse information, fresh ideas and points of view, and access to resources information that you don't have through your strong network. So weak network ties are really the key to building effective networks. And the problem with this is that most people don't know how to nurture their weak network ties over time. So a lot of people tend to come in and out of our weak networks. We don't necessarily cultivate them in ways where we have consistency over time. And then therefore when we think we need people in our weak network, we're reluctant to ask, because it feels a little bit awkward to only be reaching out to people when you have a request or you need something. So again, nurturing this over time, to keep that stability, to keep those connections to feel more comfortable reaching out when you need something is really an important part of effective networking.

All right. So we talked about women's networks being less effective. But why is this? Well, it turns out that women have different goals and preferences when they network. First, women prefer to have stronger social ties. Meaning that, even within their weak networks, when they network with people, they tend to prefer a little bit more emotional connection. They tend to use them more for social purposes as opposed to for utilitarian or business purposes. And what this can do is it can create networks that aren't necessarily focused on opportunities that could aid in professional pursuits, or gathering new information in areas that could be really beneficial. They tend to prefer smaller, more localized and community networks. Whereas men, on the other hand, are much more comfortable as a general rule cultivating weak network ties that are based on economic or utilitarian purposes.

So in other words, men tend to be much more comfortable recognizing the professional advantages of a network and speaking in those networking groups to those areas that can potentially help them get ahead or get access to information that they need to do their jobs effectively. Their networks tend to be larger and more dispersed.

And interestingly enough, men are much more comfortable networking up the hierarchy-- meaning that they're more likely to network with people who have influence and are in positions of power that can potentially help men advance at a more rapid rate. Whereas women tend to be much more comfortable networking with people at their own social level, or that sit below them on the hierarchy. And again, all of this adds up to women having networks that don't produce the kinds of opportunities and benefits at the same rate as men's do.

And over time what this results in is that women have fewer alliances. They have less access to critical knowledge, and they have slower professional advancement. So here's an example of where we could take a page from our male counterparts and learn about some of the things that are effective in networking and start to apply them to our own approach.

So a couple of other points that tend to be obstacles to women engaging in networking at to the same degree that men do. The study that I mentioned earlier talked about structural barriers and personal hesitations as reasons why women tend not to network as effectively as men. So within each of these-- so if we look at why women tend not to network to the same degree, we have things that are in the external environment that influence those dynamics, as well as things internally that we have been conditioned to believe or to think that hold us back from networking at the same level.

So let's talk about, first, the structural barriers, or the external obstacles. There are two in this category. And they are work, family conflict, and homophily. So let me explain what those are. So work family conflict is what it sounds like. These are basically obstacles to being able to network during the times that most networking takes place.

A lot of networking happens around normal business hours-- before work, during lunch, happy hour after work, golf games on the weekends. And because women tend to still shoulder the majority of the domestic responsibilities and caretaking for children and older adults, they tend to be more inhibited in being able to spend time outside of work networking.

Homophily is a term that basically describes a natural human tendency to want to associate with people who are like us. And if we think about it, it makes sense, right? If we're with people who demographically or experientially are like us, we're much more likely to establish comma ground quickly, and it's easier to move forward in a productive way when you're talking about things that have some kind of a business implication.

However, what this can mean is that because men are still predominantly in the leadership ranks of most industries, and this tendency of homophily exists, they tend to naturally gravitate towards networking with each other-- which can set women apart a little bit from their networking and require strategies so that we can either network with people who are like us-- which is good, but I actually recommend that we make conscious efforts to include people in our networks who are diverse from who we are, because that's really where you get fresh ideas, new information, and so forth.

So this simply means that we need to be intentional about being proactive in building into networks that kind of naturally form around us. Next, we'll talk about the internal barriers.

Two, again, in this category-- relational morality and gendered modesty. Relational morality is a strong sense that women have about fairness and reciprocity. So women are less likely to network with people if they don't believe they have anything of value to contribute in that relationship. And also, women tend to gravitate a little bit towards the idea that networking for utilitarian or economic reasons feels a little bit inauthentic or disingenuous.

And so this can hold some women back from networking. Women are also much more likely to think that if they keep their heads down and they work hard someone will notice and that they will advance that way. So again, all reasons why women tend to hold themselves back from networking.

The second reason gender modesty is really dynamic, that unfortunately I see too often in my coaching business-- I have experienced it, and I've seen many women grapple with this in the workplace-- is this idea that they don't have anything. They tend to devalue the value that they bring in relationships to a much larger degree than men. So they may have some expertise, knowledge, resources to contribute to a networking relationship at the same level as men, but they tend to downplay that more-- and then, again, hold themselves back because they don't think they have something of value to contribute to a networking relationship.

So I want to point these two things out, because I think it's very important to know that these mindsets are holding us back-- and that it's critical that we start to challenge our beliefs in this regard and to see ourselves more in terms of the capabilities we have to really be effective networks-- and to add value, to contribute to the professions and the lives of the people that we network with through what we have to offer.

So now we're going to switch gears and actually go into understanding your network, so that you can start to utilize it and leverage it for your future career goals. So let's start first with the benefits of networking. Many of these you likely already know. Some may be new information for you, but it's definitely worth reinforcing why this is so important in our careers and lives.

First and foremost, when we network and we build relationships with people, it builds advocates when we're not in the room. Most promotional conversations and decisions about who to assign to key projects happen when the people who are being discussed are not even in the room. If you're not known, your name isn't going to come up in those settings, and you are likely missing out on opportunities because you're not a known entity.

Now, unfortunately, we would all like it to be that our work will speak for itself. But being known is vitally important, also, because it builds know, like, and trust.

Know, like, and trust is a common way that people think about who they want to do business with. People want to do business with people that they know, that they like, and that they trust. And the only way that we build know, like, and trust is by making ourselves known, being visible, being out there and offering value and getting to know the people that have influence over your careers.

Next, networking builds innovation and new ideas. So if we ever think about the value of brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of other people and what that can do in terms of either triggering ideas and us or other people contributing to what we're doing and giving us information that we wouldn't otherwise have access to, this makes us better to be in these kinds of settings. And again, networks are great for brainstorming, for discussing options, possibilities, and generating innovation.

Networking gives us access to information. This one is vital as you move up the career ladder, is really being in the know about things that are important and effect your area of responsibility. It's really critical to be connected to sources that give you information that you can use to do your job more effectively.

We all know-- I think most of us tend to think of networking as having access to better jobs. That's how most people tend to think about. A network is important if you want to a better or a different or a new career. So this is obviously one of the most comma reasons why people network. And it's absolutely the case that most of us find our jobs through the networks that we have.

Career advice and support-- this one is probably one that I have leveraged the most over my career, was having people that I trusted in my network that sat outside of the area that I was working in, who could provide me with advice as I was encountering challenging situations-- that I could bounce things off of, to really give me that support as I was navigating my way through the normal challenges that we encounter in leadership.

Networking builds confidence. I mentioned that women tend to downplay the value that they have, oftentimes not matching that up with the reality of the benefits that they're providing. By having a strong network, you're actually able to start to see that value. To notice the contributions that you're bringing can really go a long way towards building your confidence. And as you learn more through your network, that also feeds confidence.

And last but not least, networking gives you access to experts who can fill in gaps that you have in your knowledge, so that, again, you have the information that you need to do your jobs effectively.

So now we're going to start talking about the specific aspects of your network composition. So there's a few things that are going to be critical to this conversation as we move it forward. The first is your actual style. Now did we distribute the-- OK, great.

So we sent out an assessment. If you would have taken it, you will know what your networking style is-- convener, broker, or expansionist. And if you didn't take the assessment, that's fine. We'll describe what these are, and you can self identify into one of the groups.

Network density is how many connections exist within your network. So dense networks are networks where people all tend to know each other. Those are networks where you tend to be connected across different social groups that are not connected. Those are low-density networks. Your network dynamics just indicates what kinds of relationships you develop on the continuum of weak to strong, how much you're nurturing your network, how often you're communicating with them, and how stable your network is-- people coming and going over time.

And network diversity is the number of different domains-- social, experiential, demographic-- that are represented in your connections. Obviously the more diverse your network, the more exposure to different experiences and perspectives you will have.

All right, so let's talk about the three styles. The first style are the conveners. Conveners have very dense networks. You see this very commonly in companies where people tend to interact with the same folks day in and day out. Everybody knows each other. They tend to build likability and trust and reputation. The problem with this is you're not necessarily being exposed to fresh new ideas, and it can foster groupthink.

The brokers, on the other hand, are characterized by low network density. So you can see up here in the network depiction that they tend to span different social worlds. You find in these groups that you have a number of people in this group who are what are called high self monitors. And let me back up a little bit and explain what this is.

So there's a lot of social scientists that heavily research networks. And some of the things that they've looked at is, what types of personality traits would be correlated with different networking styles? So for example, if you're an introvert, would you be more likely to be a convener versus a broker?

And the research has demonstrated that there is really no strong correlation with different personality characteristics and networking style, except for one, which is high self-monitoring. People who are high in self-monitoring tend to be kind of chameleon-like in their ability to adapt to different social groups. So they fit in just as well, let's say, on the soccer field as a soccer parent as they do in a boardroom. And they can find ways of connecting with people across very different social groups. So those folks who tend to be high in this characteristic tend to fall more into the broker style.

Brokers also tend to have unusual career paths, because they are accessing so many different sources of information. They tend to be highly innovative as a result, because they're kind of recombining and reconfiguring information in new and creative ways. And because they're exposed to different ideas, they tend to follow a career path that looks very nontraditional from what most of us do-- in terms of more of a linear path.

And then, finally, we have the extent expansionists, who have extremely low network density. They tend to know people in multiples of what the rest of the groups do. The average person knows 650 people. Now, again, we are only able to form relationships with about 150 of those. But expansionists know multiples of that number, and they tend to spend their time in one-to-many interactions.

So these are folks that you see who join associations, who like to volunteer. They tend to be public-- a lot of times public figures, from the standpoint of they're known by lots of people-- because they're either communicating in forms where they're accessing large groups of people. And this actually tends to be how a lot of us think about networking. But again, it really only represents one of three styles.

OK, so grab your phones. And I would love to see what your networking style is. Are you a convener, a broker, or an expansionist? And if you did not take the test, based on the descriptions that I just gave, you can go ahead and self-identify into a group. All right, we have a very high a propensity towards brokers in this group. Interesting. All right

- Someone brought up, the test said one thing, but I feel like I'm probably a different one. That happens sometimes, doesn't it?

- Sure, sure. And this is all based on-- I'm going to stop this poll. So again, a very high percentage. This is actually unusual. I don't usually see one type being skewed so far. So I think that might tell us a little bit something about the makeup of this particular group.

But yeah. So the way that the study measures which type you're in is they look at who you say you're connected to-- I think you put in a first name-- and then whether or not they know each other. So a lot of it is measured on the density of your network.

So if you have a high level of density, you're more likely to be called a convener. But maybe your style is a little bit more broker-- meaning that you're not connected necessarily to people who have all the same interests, even though they may know each other. So yeah, it's absolutely possible to be mis-categorized in that way. So if you're thinking your style is something other than what the test said, then I would go with what you think you are.

So different styles have different benefits. And this is important to note because I think it's worth saying that our networking style is not inevitable. This is not a personality-based thing, that you're born one way and you stay that way. A lot of how we network is based on context, and it's based on intention.

Now, we can default unintentionally into a style that feels more comfortable for us. But let's say that it benefits us to be more in a convener type of a network than a broker, and we are brokers, we can adopt the behaviors of the conveners and start to skew our network in the way that makes sense for our particular roles.

So first and foremost, the conveners. What's great about conveners, and we see this a lot in companies and in leadership-- senior-level leaders-- who want a trusted group of advisors who they work with and know them and think in ways that support their vision-- things like that.

They're great for generating buy in and information speed. So if there's an idea, it tends to spread very rapidly. There tends to be a lot of buy in for it, and things get executed very well in this model. The problem you have again with it is that it can create that groupthink. So sometimes having fresh ideas and slowing down is going to end up in a better result-- oftentimes actually does, which is why conveners, if you're in that style, it's recommended that you have some brokers in your trusted group, so that they can be bringing in information that will help you make the best decisions.

Brokers, on the other hand, they have information benefits. I mentioned the innovation potential of brokers. They tend to be connected to lots of different groups and ideas, which then they can recombine and apply in unique perspectives.

And then the expansionists are really great for those who need a platform, who have a message, who are looking to inspire, who are looking to bring together disconnected parties-- who are looking to drive out and bring in new elements and transmit a large amount of information to a large number of people.

All right. So hopefully, you now have a sense of how you prefer to network and any changes that you might want to make to have your network be even more effective for achieving your goals. And now we're going to do a little bit of workshopping.

So we have about 10 minutes left, so we're going to go pretty fast through this. But what we're going to be doing is I'm going to have each of you think about a specific goal that you have that you want to achieve through your network. And then, I'm going to talk to you about strategies for how to accomplish that.

So let's say-- we're going to just take an example here-- that your goal is to build your leadership skills to get a promotion. The first thing that you're going to want to think about, if this is your particular skill, is, who do I want to be networking with to help me build my leadership skills? So that's going to be really important in intentional networking, is figuring out who your ideal connection is.

Your ideal connection are people who have characteristics or access to information that is going to benefit you in achieving your goal. And these are going to be-- you're going to want to focus your networking efforts on this group first.

So in this case, my ideal connection are people who can give me advice on my leadership skills' development. Who are they? So now we know what we want from our connections. Who are they?

Well, they are likely to be leaders in my existing company. I may think of some external leaders that I admire-- some external thought leaders in leadership development. So consultants or think tanks would be great to think about in this space.

Next, I'm going to want to think about, where are they employed? Where are my ideal connections employed? Well, likely, they're going to be in HR, who are thinking, obviously, about these topics every day. Learning and development, same thing there. It could be with coaches. So there are executive and leadership coaches who are adept at building leadership skills. Your company leaders and external consultants would be other groups you'd want to start looking towards.

And finally, where are they actually located? Many of them might be already in your company. Some may find at leadership conferences, or by doing LinkedIn searches. By the way, LinkedIn is a fabulous tool for finding your ideal connections and making new connections to people who have characteristics that could be really beneficial. If you have any questions on how to do that, I'd be happy to chat. And then coaching organizations-- like, Marengo would be a great example of a place that you could look to that have access to leaders and experts who can help you develop your leadership skills.

All right. So now it's your turn. I'm going to take just one minute for this. So if you could think about a business goal that you would like to use your network to help you achieve. So I've written down a couple of examples of goals. We talked about one, which was to develop some specific skills to help you in leadership.

They could be things like you want to build your professional brand so that you are more visible in the company by getting speaking engagements. Some of you may be involved in rebuilding work cultures after COVID. So let's take just a minute to do that. And then if you have some ideas about who your ideal connections are, and you have time for that, go ahead and drop those down. Otherwise, you can do that after we wrap up today.

So just take another 10-to-20 seconds to wrap up your thoughts. And if you're struggling with this, again, I would be happy to chat. Or you can think about it, maybe talk to some folks in your network and come up with some ideas.

So hopefully, you all were able to come up with a goal. And now we're going to talk about how you can build and nurture your network intentionally to help you achieve that goal.

So here are some connection strategies that are really effective for building new connections and also nurturing existing connections with your weak ties. You'll note that strategies 1 and 2 are a little bit darker. These are great strategies to use to build connections to brand-new people that you don't know. All five of them are great strategies for nurturing existing connections.

The first strategy is the ask. Now, it's interesting. Because a lot of people think, if someone's in my weak network, they're not going to want to help me. That turns out not to be the case. Most people who have contacts in their weak network are more than willing to help people out. And as a matter of fact, many people love to lend their expertise, their knowledge, and to pay it forward to others who are on their way up. So definitely take advantage of the ask for building stronger connections with existing contacts or building brand-new connections.

So some examples of asks would be to ask for advice, to ask for connection to somebody that they might know. An informational interview is a great way to get to know somebody. So let's say that you really admire a leader, and you want to know what skills they find most important for developing your own skills. Having an informational interview, where you ask them questions about themselves, is a great way to gather information and to build a strong connection.

Brainstorming, giving feedback on something that you're doing-- if it's in their area of expertise, you can reach out and ask for that. And then just, again, their expertise on anything. Most people are more than happy to help in this area. So definitely feel like this is something you can use.

Next and probably my favorite is the thank-you note. The thank-you note is a great way to let someone know, that you either know or you don't know, that something that they did had an impact on you.

So let's say that you attended a conference, and there was a keynote speaker who delivered a message that impacted your life in some way. Sending that person a thank-you note, where you're not just saying, hey, thanks for the great speech, but you're also giving them examples of exactly what resonated with you and how it impacted you, is a really great way to form a connection.

Recognition-- so for those who are already in your network, when you see their names pop up on LinkedIn-- they have a birthday, they have an anniversary, they posted something interesting-- recognizing that. And not just saying, hey, congratulations. But writing a note like, hey, I knew you would accomplish this. Congratulations, so well deserved. Or commenting on an article that they wrote-- something like that is a great way to nurture a connection.

And notice that we're talking about networking here that can be one-directional. Networking doesn't have to be an interaction with someone. It could just be reaching out and letting them know that you're around and that you're supporting them and that you're thinking about them.

Next is the catch-up. So for people that maybe you had a more contextually strong relationship with-- maybe you worked together and now you don't-- and your connection has grown a bit stale, reaching out and asking for a catch-up is a great way to rekindle and kind of resurface the relationship. So you can ask them to a meal or just have a quick phone call.

And then, finally, just reaching out and letting people know that you're thinking about them. So this is a great way, again just to keep your older ties fresh. You can let them know their name came up and that you thought about them. Maybe you were reminded of them in some kind of interaction. And this is a great way to elevate the other person.

I actually recently reached out to a former boss of mine that I haven't seen in 20 years and told him that something that he taught me way back when has ended up being one of the most important skills that I've used and leveraged in my career-- just out of the blue. And he wrote back and said, that was so great to hear from you, and the note meant a lot to him. So those are ways that you can just check in with people over time and really keep the connection going

All right. So as you now have some strategies for reaching out and nurturing your network, I want you to think about making one networking outreach each day. And if you think about it, each of these should take no more than five minutes-- unless you're obviously requesting a connection with someone. But let's say, you're just sending a note. Five minutes a day-- and if you think about over time-- let's say, it's 200 outreaches a year. Think about how much your network will develop and strengthen and grow over time. And then that network is your asset that you can use to do the things that will really make a big transformational impact in your career-- similar to what I was able to do with making my way out of corporate into my own career.

This is a grid that gives some examples of how you could put together your plan. Because we're coming up on time, I'm not going to go through all of these. But what I would recommend-- and we'll give you a grid that you can use after the meeting-- is to sit down at the beginning of the week and write down who exactly you're going to connect with, how you're going to connect, what your strategy is for connecting with them-- targeting, again, who your ideal connection source is, so that you're reaching out to people who you can then leverage for the goal that you specifically have. So you can see here that there is examples for making new connections, as well as nurturing existing connections.