Mindset to Network

“Networking is not about just connecting people. It’s about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities.” — Michele Jennae, author of The Connectworker

Networking. The billion-dollar word that every executive seems to regurgitate every time when asked about how they reached success.

Everyone has their own interpretation of what networking is. Some believe networking is simply attributed to the connection count on their Linkedin profile. Others believe networking is the constant back-and-forth email chain with a company recruiter.

Amanda Augustine, career expert for Talent Inc, defines networking as a term to describe an established and maintained mutually beneficial relationship between two parties.

Most people recognize the importance of networking. In 2016, 70% of people on LinkedIn were hired at a company where they had a connection. In fact, 79% industry professionals on LinkedIn agree that networking is valuable for career progression. But why are there so many people struggling to even begin networking?

A study found that even industry professionals and MBA students struggle with networking and creating new connections. Even though they overwhelmingly stated before the event that their goal was to meet new people, they often gravitated towards conversing with people they already know rather than establishing new connections at professional networking events.

Despite having the intention to meet new people offline or online, students and professionals struggle to establish professional relationships at professional networking events.

So what is the underlying reason? What is holding back people from different levels of the professional industry? There must be another much stronger reason preventing people from establishing professional relationships at professional networking events.

According to a study by Francesca Gino, what stops people from networking is the feeling of inauthenticity and personal morality when having the intention to professionally network. Unlike personal networking where the intention is to meet people to create social ties for friendship and emotional support, professional networking is the purposeful creation of social ties for professional goals.

Additionally, the study found that networking made lower position employees feel a sense of “dirtiness” when conversing with someone of a higher position. The imbalance in position and the intention to create a relationship in pursuit of professional goals negatively impact an individual’s moral purity — a psychological state that results from viewing the self as clean from a moral standpoint — and thus make an individual feel “dirty.” This feeling of “dirtiness” often leads to employees engaging in networking less frequently and exhibit lower job performance.

“If you focus on what you can offer to the relationship, it might be an important mindset to have, and remove some of those feelings of inauthenticity” — Francesca Gino

Another study conducted by Gino showed that those with a “high-power job seemed to dissipate feelings of dirtiness.” In comparison to employees in lower positions, employees with higher positions reported “far less feelings of dirtiness associated with networking.” Gino believes the discrepancy can be attributed to powerful people “know[ing] they can contribute reciprocal value to most professional interactions.”

The mindset of being able to reciprocate help and value goes a long way in viewing professional networking. Rather than simply viewing professional networking from your perspective in hopes to land a job or internship, try to view it from other people’s perspective and see how you can help them. What qualities or skills would a company recruiter look for? What message is the speaker trying to convey? What new project is the software engineer passionate about?

Networking is not a zero-sum game. Both parties can seek to gain value through exchanging knowledge, experience, and more to further their goals. By understanding the needs of the other party, you could reflect within your existing network and suggest the best candidates for the position. Whether that person is you or a friend, the value added may be what is needed to push some dreams into the next global giant.

Reframing professional networking unlocks a new mindset. A mindset to network.