2qtr2004 - Ask the Coach: Better Networking

Question: I'm really shy so networking with other people is really difficult for me. Can you offer me any suggestions?

Answer: A colleague of mine, Donna Brown, likened networking interactions to back when we were young and we go over to someone's house, ring the bell, and ask if they could come out and play. But have you ever stopped to think how important it was that some kids didn't do that? After all, someone needed to be home to answer the doorbell when it rang! So as we fast-forward back to the present day, what could networking look like if our goal was not so much to ring other people's doorbells as much as it was to encourage others to ring ours?

The first thing that comes to mind is volunteerism. When we volunteer we naturally put ourselves in positions where other people want to talk with us. (Read: they come and ring our doorbell). This volunteerism can take a variety of forms, including joining a committee of some interesting charity or civic organization, joining a project team for some project at work, offering to help at the registration desk for some industry conference, taking on a leadership role in a customer/vendor task force, etc. These types of positions allow you to stay within your Comfort Zone and at the same time give others the opportunity to meet and interact with you. And if not, that's okay, too, because you're working on something that interests you anyway.

Try that the next time you're feeling that you need to amp up your networking and before you know it - Ding! Dong! Wanna come out and play?!