Читать книгу Business Networking Simplified - Les Garnas - Страница 22

You’re a thinker and a planner, by nature. You tend to analyze situations, consider risks and rewards, and anticipate probable outcomes. You’re thoughtful and logical and good at orchestrating situations to bring about the results you want. Strategic networkers know exactly what they want and, with focused energy and absolute determination, they seek to make it happen. Strategic networkers are results-oriented and usually make good use of their own time and that of others. This is a specific strength that strategic networkers can use to their advantage as they are able to use their planning skills to help others—which makes them especially valuable to their networking partners.

Consider this strength applied: Your networking partner is a capable, knowledgeable and motivated attorney, who is having trouble reaching the decision maker in a company for which he would like to perform work as outside legal counsel. He has tried a number of times to set up an appointment with the very busy decision-maker, but to-date has been unsuccessful. Over lunch with you, he relates his frustration. Being strategic, you decide to reach out to him and share a strategy that might help him get the appointment he desires.

After discussing with him his efforts so far, you share with him a strategy of engaging the decision maker’s administrative assistant to help with the process. Engage the admin by explaining the importance of a meeting. Perhaps you have heard that the decision-maker is struggling with an ongoing legal problem that his legal staff has been unable to resolve, and you have figured out an approach that he should be interested in hearing about. The need for an intervention should be explained in enough detail for the admin to see the importance of setting up a meeting with the decision-maker.

In this instance you are “networking” to help your friend with his agenda. This is just as powerful an assist as simply networking together for access to contacts. If I were to guess the number of strategic networkers in any population versus all the other styles of networking energy, my guess would be that only 10 to 15% of networkers are truly strategic. The point is, being strategic is an uncommon gift: use it effectively to help yourself—and others.

Sharing in this way will most certainly pay big dividends for those who take the time. Another thought: don’t be too married to your carefully worked out strategies. Be willing to loosen up a bit and make room for a little serendipity. As a strategic networker, it’s very easy to become so sure of a particular strategy that you’re not open to chance networking events and encounters that could yield benefits now and in the future.