Networking can often feel daunting and uncomfortable, but it doesn't have to be. Discover strategies to transform this necessary professional task into an enjoyable, less 'icky' experience. Let's redefine networking, making it less about transactions and more about genuine connections.
Shift Your Mindset
If you’re avoiding networking opportunities, you’re likely hurting your career. A simple shift in mindset could get you back in the game.
- Maryam Kouchaki found that networking makes people feel morally impure, especially workers lower on the professional food chain who see engaging in networking as selfish
- The more promotion-focused people were, the less troubled by networking they felt, and the more likely they were to actually do it
- A change in attitude could be the ticket to a bigger network and more productive career
Putting Research Into Practice
Researchers looked at how inducing a promotion- or prevention-focused mindset toward networking would influence real-world behavior
- They recruited 444 working professionals from a variety of professional-services firms in law, accounting, consulting, sales, insurance, and realty for a six-week study
- Weekly messages were sent that highlighted how networking can help people live up to their highest aspirations
- Prevention-focused message framed networking as an important professional obligation
- At the end of the six weeks, participants completed a survey
- In addition to asking how often participants had networked in the last month and how many new contacts they had made, the survey asked about participants’ emotions while engaging in networking
Washing Your Hands of Networking Discomfort
Think about networking as an opportunity rather than a burden
- The more you view networking through that promotion-focused lens, the easier it will feel, and the more likely you will be to actually do it
- It can also help to remind yourself that networking isn’t just selfish
- Remember why you’re doing it
Survey Says: A Promotion Focus Makes Networking Less Uncomfortable
Researchers used an online survey to look at how people’s innate tendency toward promotion- or prevention-focused thinking shaped their feelings about networking.
- The more promotion-focused respondents felt about networking, the less impure they felt about it; the more proactive they were, the more they experienced the “ick” factor.
A Prevention Focus Makes Networking Seem Like Dirty Work
The idea was that any feelings of impurity associated with networking might lead participants to want to cleanse themselves
- Overall, participants who approached networking with a promotion focus felt less impure than those who approached it with a prevention focus
- This effect was almost entirely driven by intentional networking
