Grow Your Professional Network in the New Year

CareerGoal-SettingNetworking

Jan 2, 2024

Written By Emilie Aries

Episode 435 | Author: Emilie Aries

Build new connections like a boss.

Three steps to becoming a top-notch networker.

Now’s the time to build your professional network

If your life is anything like mine—constant work issues requiring attention, family plans filling the schedule, downtime hard-won and much-needed—then you won’t be surprised to learn it took me quite a few years to achieve the goal I started formulating way back in 2017: to develop my professional network in my own city.

I finally took real, concerted action on this goal in 2023, and I’m so happy to report that it went even better than I could have imagined. Making networking a priority this past year and building genuine connections with local changemakers has made a huge difference for me, professionally and personally.

I have three practical, actionable takeaways to share, to inspire you to make 2024 the year you boost your professional network with a renewed passion!

#1: Go to where your people are

It can feel like a lot of work to take on a project like this, so make it a little bit easier on yourself by narrowing your focus to places where “your people” are likely to be. That might be geographic- or industry-specific (or both), but finding pre-existing communities to join is a great place to start.

Virtual opportunities to build your broader professional community are plentiful as well. You can even check out my Level Up Leadership Accelerator—not to toot my own horn, but it’s a great way to connect with fellow women leaders on the rise.

Just vaguely perusing potential communities isn’t enough, though. To make this step stick, you need to be intentional about it. That means setting regular calendar reminders that prompt you to look at what events are happening in the coming month, every month. Shoot for one event every 30 days, and I guarantee you’ll start hearing about more gatherings than one person could ever attend!

#2: Build relationships one by one

Meeting interesting people out at events isn’t enough when your goal is to build a genuine professional network. Those connections only come from spending time with people one-on-one.

The trick that has worked wonders for me is making the process seamless. I created a custom Calendly link that offers time slots specifically for connecting with folks I want to know better. They see the times I’ll be in the area, and they can book whenever works for them. I even include a sneaky little question about their favorite daytime beverage so I can offer to grab it for them when I’m on my way.

Going into these one-on-ones without any specific agenda gives the two of you a chance to communicate authentically, discover your shared interests, and spark connections that could lead to something more. Sure, not every meeting will bear fruit, but making the effort of putting yourself out there is the only way to find out.

#3: Absolutely, positively follow up

The follow-through is genuinely 90% of the game, here. We’re busy women, and it can be hard enough to keep your brain focused on the person when you’re sitting across from them at your one-on-one—and then you have to follow up with them! You’ll want to set another reminder 😉.

Whether it’s a simple thank you for connecting, a link to the article or book you mentioned during your chat, or to suggest a collaboration, get in touch within 24 hours of your meeting. When you remember to follow up—and mention a topic you discussed—you’re showing that you were actively listening and that you’re dedicated to building this relationship.

With every new connection you develop in your Year of Growing Your Professional Network, you will reap so many rewards. You get to meet someone interesting, you get to have an authentic conversation and have another changemaker in your orbit, and you get to build your reputation as a power broker of people and resources. Let me tell you: the return on this investment is priceless.

Speaking of creating connections, let’s use the Bossed Up Courage Community on Facebook or our group on LinkedIn to do just that! I encourage you to pop in and share the city or state you live in and what kinds of people you’re interested in connecting with in the New Year!

LEVEL UP YOUR NETWORK:

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EMILIE: Hey, and welcome to the Bossed Up podcast, episode 435. I'm your host, Emilie Aries, the founder and CEO of Bossed Up.
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And today we are kicking off a brand new year with a podcast episode that should be short and sweet, all about how to make this year the year you grow your professional network and really build authentic connections that will serve you and your growth personally and professionally. Last year, it was my mission to really reach out to the broader Denver community since I moved to Denver, Colorado, way back in 2017, but since I'd been on a plane traveling the country and speaking and working and hosting workshops and training programs all over the place, pretty much everywhere but Colorado until 2020, and then had a pregnancy and a pandemic, and am now the mom of a little toddler. I had not had the chance to really build a professional community in Colorado, and last year, I made it my mission to do so. And I'm so happy to report it has made a massive difference, not only in my professional life, but in the feeling of meaningful connection. My ability to have an impact, my ability to feel connected to my community and the change makers around me geographically was more important to me than I realized, especially as a parent who's now navigating making Colorado a great place and making Denver a great place to not only run my business, but raise my family. And so here are the three big takeaways that helped me grow a professional network locally that I'm so proud and thrilled to now have.
The first step is to go to where your people are. This can take a little digging and a little experimentation, but it is worth looking into where there are pre-existing communities of change makers or leaders or advocates who care about the same stuff you do. This might be industry specific, this might be geographically specific, but take the time to look into those existing communities and do so with an open mind. You know, I've benefited personally by joining formal leadership programs. I've talked a little bit about them here, but I should give them a proper shout out. Uh, one is called Leadership Denver. It's a really competitive, application required leadership program run by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Leadership Foundation. And, you know, at first, I did not think I would belong or feel very like, a lot of belonging among the chamber of commerce crowd. But I've been keeping an open mind. And even though my politics differ from how the chamber tends to lobby, their leadership foundation is filled with people who really share my values. And even political diversity is good for us, right? Like, not necessarily surrounding yourself in an echo chamber is good for us. It's certainly been good for me in expanding my horizons and not to forget that diversity, equity, and inclusion applies to political diversity as well. So I've had a really profound experience in that program and can't recommend it enough. I've also been a part of The CiviCo, which is a Colorado based nonprofit governor's fellowship program, which is smaller in scale. There's about half as many fellows in that program as leaders in leadership Denver, but it's similar in how it's structured. It's a year long program that meets once a month for a day long event or learning opportunity. And it's really the kind of program that is filled with leaders who I admire, who are change makers, who are advocates, who are policy wonks, and who are people who really want to be involved in making Colorado the best state it can be. So look into programs that are focused on your city or state. They're out there and ask around, because word of mouth is how I found out about all of these programs.
Now, if you feel like the geographic connection isn't the thing that's going to light you up, look into virtual learning programs that are right for you. They might be more industry specific. I got my SPHR certification by HR Certification Institute, which is a wonderful organization alongside SHERM that does very similar things, quite frankly, filled with people who work in leadership development, diversity, equity, and inclusion. And, frankly, people, people, you know the kind of people like who I work with through Bossed Up, who are my clients at Bossed Up. Now, I might not have gained an in person community from that work, but having a broader virtual professional community, aligned with my professional interests, has been huge. And as a shameless plug, our Level Up leadership accelerator, which launches at the end of this month, is a wonderful virtual learning environment for leaders on the rise, particularly who are women in very male dominated industries. So, we always have a really diverse cohort across sectors, across industries, across geographies, but they have so much in common in being first time managers or relatively early career managers who want to become the best people managers and strategic leaders that they can be. And so over the course of six months, that becomes a real bonding opportunity where you can build out your network and do so intentionally.
And finally, I'd also add local community events to your list. So this is less commitment than, like, a whole leadership program. But find yourself those events calendars. And if you're like me and you want to kind of set up some systems that'll help you set up for success this year, set a recurring reminder, either on your calendar for the first of every month. Or like me, I have it in my Asana. It's a repeating task that pops up on the first of each month that says, Emilie, go look for meaningful networking events. And in my little task, or if you were to do this in your calendar, in that calendar bucket or bubble, you would link to all the great community events calendars so you don't have to re-scour the internet for them. And make it easy, make it a goal to attend at least one community event a month. And there's sort of a snowball effect you'll see that one builds on the next and builds on the next. Now to be clear, not every event or program you join is going to be a home run on the first swing. So, give it some time embrace the awkward, there is an element of resocializing ourselves post pandemic that we're all still doing together. It can be weird, it can be awkward, but showing up truly is like 80% of how we do this. So show up for yourself and for the friendships and the professional relationships that you will forge if you keep doing this and are consistent, just like any other habit that builds over time.
Now, speaking of building over time, my second key takeaway here is you want to build relationships one at a time. I know that sounds time consuming and I wish I had better news, but it is. As a grassroots organizer, I learned early on that you can have a great event, you can have a rally, you know, you can have a phone bank. But if you want to really build an organization of grassroots army of volunteer infrastructure, you want to build capacity for your movement, for your career, for your network, for your organization. That happens one on one. And that's just as true in like, large enterprise organizations as well. If you are trying to grow your influence, let's say cross functionally, the way you do that is not just by convening dinners or bringing people together over ERG events. This is done one conversation, one on one meetings, one on one coffees, one on one lunches at a time. So, when I'm tracking my metrics for success, when it comes to how you're growing your professional network, the first metric is, did I go to at least one new event or join one program this month? And once that metric is hit, the next conversion that I'm looking for is, how many people did I walk away from that event with a plan to follow up on and then turn that event into a one on one meeting?
If you're sort of data minded like I am, and you're thinking about conversion rates. You want to make this conversion as frictionless as possible, make it easy to add to cart with one click, essentially. So here's what that looks like in practical terms for me. Let's say we meet out at a happy hour. I think you're really interesting. I'm intrigued to learn more about your organization or about your career, about your interests or about some identity commonalities that we have. So you're a small business owner with a two year old too? We should grab coffee and share strategies for how we're surviving in this, right? And from there, I might in that moment, shoot that person a text message or email. I love me some email over text all day, but, you know, I've come to embrace text for the instantaneous, uh, feedback loop that it can be for so many people. But I send them a Calendly link. There are lots of free scheduling tools out there. I pay a pretty penny for Calendly because my entire business runs on it. But I send a link that's specifically set up so that I have specific days of the week when I know I'll be working downtown where the location is the same. It's a food hall that I love in Denver.
There's like seven different places. You can get a coffee or you can get a lunch, and it limits how many of those meetings it'll ever book per week. So I'm not completely overrun with lunch meetings in any given week. But it makes it so easy for someone to find whatever availability works for them, as it aligns with what availability I have, they hop onto my calendar, they answer a few quick questions, including, what's your favorite daytime beverage? The calendly setup creates the Google calendar invite for both of us, sends it their way, automatically sends them reminders via text message, via email in the days and week leading up to the event. And then I can easily peek at that calendar event that's been created on my Google calendar and see, oh, this person's a tea drinker. I'm going to grab a late and I'll text them because their cell phone numbers now in my Google calendar event and I'll say, hey, can I get you a green tea? I'm grabbing a latte. So if I arrive 5-10 minutes early, by the time they get there, if I've done my job right, they have been reminded it has been easy for them to know where and when we're meeting and when they come and sit down at a table to chat with me. I have a steaming hot beverage of their own preference that they've signed up to get. Not knowing necessarily that I'm going to get it for them. But it's a little gesture. And as long as you're not breaking any campaign finance or non-profit or government sector gift rules on that, which you do need to be mindful of in the government sector, like, that's a very kind baseline to build a relationship upon.
I have this blog post and video from a million years ago. It's like, kind of embarrassing to watch my YouTube video on this from 2016. But you know what? Ain't no shame in the startup game. You should go check out a fiercely platinum blonde, pixie version of myself giving, a YouTube video tutorial on How to Have Powerful and Effective Networking Meetings That Don't Waste Each Other's Time. Because I could talk for an entire Boss Tip on this. But essentially what you're trying to do in that conversation, it's not just about the seamless, frictionless planning for the event. It's being focused on that person when you're there. It's about being genuinely curious about this person's background, their motivations, their values, their hopes, their aspirations. That's what guides my questioning when I'm sitting down with people for the first time. I'm looking for common values and different experiences that we can uncover about one another. And obviously, this is not an interview. I'm not like grilling them. I want it to be somewhat reciprocal. But to guide a one on one conversation, genuine curiosity goes a long way. There does not need to be a specific outcome that you're angling for, to justify building relationships. In fact, I think it's better when there isn't a specific angle, you know, you can make the angle, leaving that meeting feeling like you've genuinely been heard and been seen for who you are, and you've gotten a little deeper on understanding who that person genuinely is.
It's so funny because as I'm recording this, I literally just came from a meeting just like this. It was set up just as I described. It's actually with a friend of mine who is in the Leadership Denver program with me, along with like 60 other people. So even though we've sat through multiple days of programming together and seen each other quite a bit in the last four or five months, there is something wildly different that you walk away from a one on one conversation knowing about people. And so it's just so funny because actually getting to know this person's background, their expertise, drummed up some ideas, some connections were kind of firing in my brain, synapses were going off saying, oh, I need to connect you with my friend over here. And, oh, I saw this opportunity over here you might be interested in. And that brings me to my final point.
Follow up is 90% of the game, and I know it's hard to be perfect on this. I'm not perfect about this. There's this woman, Jen, who's an amazing leader locally, and we keep running into each other at events, and I'd never followed up with her after a one on one, which is kind of uncharacteristic of me. It was a particularly hectic time, uh, in my life, and I said to her, I'm sorry, Jen, I don't think it's happening. If it hasn't happened yet, it's not happening. And she's like, you know what? We will just keep meeting at events, and we will keep seeing each other, and we will follow up when the time feels right. So, nobody's perfect about this. However, if you unearth something during that one on one meeting that warrants prompt follow up, it might be an ask. Like, hey, I'm making a transition. Would you be willing to give me some feedback on my resume? That's a great ask. It's such a concise, clear ask, for someone who would be willing and able to give you some additional time if they have it in their bandwidth.
Or better yet, an offer. Wow. I heard you were talking about youth mental health, and I just heard this incredible podcast. I think you'd really appreciate the stories that are shared in that. Or here's my friend who has a consulting practice that focuses on that explicitly. I'll send you an email afterwards so I can connect you. I mean, for me to do that successfully, that has to happen within 24 hours after said meeting. Maybe a Monday follow up email on a Friday lunch makes sense, but like, my brain is not going to hold on to that information for very long. So if I can be speedy and expedient in my follow up, not only does it give a good impression to that other person, but it just like, takes that hanging feeling that's like looming over your head that you have to send that follow up. It takes it out of the equation. So, be concise about it, make it quick and dirty if need be, but like, following up meaningfully by sharing resources or even just weeks later saying, hey, Anna, this made me think of our conversation from a few weeks ago. Have you seen, like, those texts work too? It doesn't have to be so formally attached to the post meeting follow up. But, that follow up shows that you are actively listening. That's sort of the bedrock upon which you are building an ongoing relationship and establishing a channel, whether it be email or LinkedIn or text, through which you will continue to build that relationship.
So, wow, this was not as brief as I thought it was going to be, but I hope that the details here are worth the listen because I thought I was good at this, like ten years ago. But I have taken my professional network building to new heights in this past year, and I'm so proud of the network I have to point to now. It took me one whole year, so have some patience with this. I've been absolutely everywhere in Colorado and in Denver this past year. So give yourself some patience it's just like hitting the gym. It's just like putting yourself on a new budget. Like, this stuff takes time to accrue interest. But let me tell you, the ROI of making this your year, where you're going to grow a professional network, is so profound. Not only because you now know incredible change makers who you truly have built authentic connections with who you might even admire right in your own backyard. That's how proud I am of the community, the business community, and the leadership community here in Denver. But you have also now built your own reputation along the way. You've built influence. You've grown your power by being seen as a stakeholder, by being seen as someone who can bring diverse coalitions of people together, by being seen as a power broker of people and resources, and that has a priceless return on that investment.
So happy networking, friends. I know the term networking is so icky. It's so ick inducing for so many people. I really genuinely think about it as just making friends and like, feeling people out. And truly, not everyone is going to be a friend. You're going to be putting it out there. You're going to be doing the work of putting yourself out there. And some people are just going to be like wet blankets on your fire. It is not going to be a match. That's okay. Keep going. Listen to your gut. Don't maintain one sided relationships. But it doesn't hurt to try. It doesn't hurt to establish more relationships and give people the opportunity to connect meaningfully with you.
I hope we can all commit to doing that for one another. In fact, let's get started together. Let's kick off the new year right in the Bossed Up Courage Community on Facebook. Or if LinkedIn is your preference, we have a great Bossed Up LinkedIn group. Tell me where you're at, give us a post there, tell us where you're based, and maybe we can forge some connections, create some Bossed Up meetups in your neck of the woods, and really start to build out a meaningful, either virtual or in person community. And maybe we can revive our community focus a little bit this year, because truly, since the pandemic, so much community building has fallen by the wayside. And so this is the time to bring it back. This is the time to bring it back in our world here at Bossed Up. This is the time to bring it back in your world, in your life, in your career. So let's do our part and share where it is that we're tuning from and who it is that we're looking to connect with. And let's see how I can help facilitate those connections from Bossed Up HQ. As always, thank you for listening, for sharing. If you found this Bossed Up podcast helpful, you can find the corresponding fully written out blog post at bossedup.org/episode435 that's bossedup.org/episode435.
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And until next time, let's keep bossin’ in pursuit of our purpose. And together let's lift as we climb.
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