National Networking Week - Tips for networking

The first week of August is National Networking Week, organised by the Australian Institute of Management. Their website  has plenty of resources, articles and tips to help you be a professional networker.

Here are five ideas for your networking.

1. You never know who you might helpful to know in the future so help new employees when they enter your organisation. Be the person who takes them aside to explain how the organisation really works.
2. An astute manager maintains a large number of diverse contacts throughout the organisation all on friendly terms. Knowing others throughout the organisation can be invaluable for clarifying rumours, obtaining information and indirectly feeding information back.
3. Enlarge your network by walking around. Those managers who walks the floor tend to be better known than those managers who don’t.
4. Return telephone and e-mail messages in person. This gives you the opportunity for one-on-one communication plus you can stop by to see everyone else you know a long way.
5. Meet superiors and colleagues from a wide range of areas across your organisation and take every opportunity that presents itself to do so. This includes attending meetings, discussion groups, professional gatherings and social events as well as joining committees.

You can also listen to interviews about networking. You’ll find them at Talking Tips numbers 15 and 26.