The word networking often conjurs up an image of those awkward social moments where people feel they must “work the room” and “say the right thing to the right people” to get noticed. In addition, the idea of raising your profile in an organisation can feel daunting – where to start and what your profile is can feel overwhelming. 

In this blog we will explore some simple yet effective strategies to consistently raise your profile and expand your connections. 

1. What do you want to be known for

If you think about you and your personality there are many aspects to it and not all of who you are is relevant to your current career conversations. The first step, therefore, is to gain clarity on your own personal brand, who you are, what you stand for eg: your values, and what you want people to know you for.

At different points in our professional lives, we might want to be known for different things, so your profile doesn’t have to be everything about you, it can be the areas you have decided you want to focus on. This also feeds into your career motivations too, for example, you don’t want to be known as the budget person if that is no longer the area of focus for you. Once you are clear on your areas of focus you can then match these with your own brand. You can break it down in to two key areas:

• The What – What professional expertise do you have that you want to be known for?
• The How – How do you operate? What are your personal attributes and strengths that you are known for? What adjectives describe you well? 

2. Your Message

Having a few ways to describe yourself is useful. This takes some careful preparation so that you are ready for any networking and career conversations. There are several ways to prepare using the following:

• Elevator statement: This is a short 30-second introduction to who you are and what you bring to the team or department. This can be written or verbal, the very act of preparing it and writing it out can then help you be fluid in conversations when you talk about yourself. 
• Linked in Profile: Considering how your brand is reflected on LinkedIn is important as it is a useful tool for networking and for people to learn more about you. By owning your profile, you can then own the message that people receive, your attributes and your experience. 
• Other social media platforms: You can choose to be visible on any number of platforms with a consistent message. This won’t be for everyone and is not a necessity, however, giving some thought to your digital footprint can be an important part of your profile. 
• Internal mechanisms: In your organisation consider what is in place already to raise your profile, from slack to other channels. 

3. Networking

I see networking as having conversations with a purpose. They start from a place of curiosity, who are you and who are they, what is the common ground, and what can we both gain from the conversation. Rather than seeing networking as this dreaded experience, it can literally be about the conversation and is two way. At its core networking is also about a genuine interest in one another. 

Networking tips

• If you are going to an event with many people, consider in advance the handful of people that you would genuinely like to meet and get to know, focus on those people when you attend, rather than the large event itself. Think of small and deep connections rather than broad and shallow.
• In advance consider what you can bring to the conversation, is there a way of mutually helping one another. 
• Your biggest asset in a networking conversation is to genuinely listen to the other person. Networking is a personal human connection with another person and being listened to is the greatest gift we can offer.
• Follow up after you have had a conversation consider how you will keep the conversation going or reach out to start to build the relationship.

4. Your Networking Contacts

Instead of viewing networking as the need to network broadly, develop a target list of people to reach out to at any given time in your career. This may be internal, external to your organisation, or both. Having a more targeted list means you can feel a sense of purpose about the reasons you are reaching out and connecting with others. 

5. Reflect and Review

You are changing all the time, so the need to reflect on your messaging, the people you are networking with, and the forums you are using all need regular review. For example, take yourself two years ago compared to now and consider all the experiences, skills and attributes that may have developed over that time. You will want to ensure you build in time to develop your strategy around you and your profile. 

In Summary

Raising our profile is a must as it helps you navigate potential new career options more easily. It provides the key decision makers with vital information about you that they may not explicitly have noticed. 

If we don’t own the message, then it is likely others will form assumptions instead. You are  making it easier for others to make decisions about you by networking proactively rather than waiting. Think about the question “what value do I bring” and “what do I have that they need” as these are often the questions in the key decision maker’s mind. If we own the messaging we are more likely to be successful in career conversations. 

As you start to reflect on your own profile and networking approach, I encourage you to consider the remainder of the year and to set some key activities and milestones to provide yourself with some focus. I’d love to hear how you get on and how you find the different approaches. If you would like support with building your profile and networking get in touch to see how 1:1 leadership coaching sessions might work for you.