What are the habits of networking masters?
Robyn Henderson has spent ten years talking and writing about networking. Her fifth book, Masters of Networking ($27.50), sheds light on the styles of highly successful networkers.
Robyn”s passion for telling people about networking first led her to a full-time career as a public speaker after 13 years in hospitality and nine years in sales and telemarketing management.
“Ten years ago I heard Lisa McGuiness-Smith talk about walking your talk,” says Robyn. “At the time I was a sales manager four days a week and a speaker one day a week. But what I realised was that I really wasn”t walking my talk. I was encouraging people to goal-set and believe their dreams but I wasn”t letting go of my own sources of security.”
The decision to leave her job and start public speaking full-time was a leap of faith. Robyn found her niche through the suggestion of an associate at the East-Coast Business Women”s Network, which she ran at the time.
“A mentor suggested I write a book to differentiate myself from other speakers – to write it on something I was passionate about,” Robyn explains. “I saw a lot of people attending the network who were just wasting their time and not making the most of the opportunity. So in 1992 I wrote my first networking book, which led to another four books.”
Are some people natural networkers?
“Networking is a learned skill – you watch and copy others,” says Robyn, who has had to develop her own skills like anyone else. “My mother was a very good networker and she was a very good role model for me. She was very good at keeping in touch with people, sending thank you cards and being considerate.”
So Robyn took that basic foundation with her into the business world. As she worked for bosses who were good networkers – or not – she saw what happens when you form friendships with people rather than making business the focus.
The perception that networking begins and ends with business is one of the biggest obstacles to people using their networking skills effectively. “There”s a lot less negativity now than when I started in 1992 – people didn”t want to know about networking at all then,” says Robyn.
Networking is less of a dirty word these days, but some people are still wary. “There”s still confusion – a lot of people think it”s something they do rather than something they live. Networking is a way of thinking,” says Robyn. “It”s not about what”s in it for me; it”s recognising that someone they meet needs to connect with so and so, or read that book, or do that course.”
Piecing it together
Robyn considers the best networkers to be people who are genuinely interested in other people. “Networking is like a jigsaw puzzle: when a good networker meets someone, they think: what does that person need? Do I have something I can help that person with? They realise that no-one is ever a waste of time.”
The best networkers are people who:
- Genuinely like people
- Are good listeners
- Are lateral thinkers who recognise people”s potential
- Realise that everyone has something to offer
- Value their own worth
She says shyness is not the biggest barrier to becoming a great networker – the biggest barrier is not valuing your own worth. “The challenge for younger people who are networking with people ten or 20 years older than them is not to let their youth make them feel inferior. They think, ”They won”t want to waste their time with me”,” says Robyn.
“When you value your own worth it doesn”t matter if you”re 20 or 50, you value your own experiences. You might have something to offer that”s totally unrelated to work. Confidence comes from feeling your own self-worth.”
The hardest people to teach networking skills to, according to Robyn, are people who have closed minds. “People who go to any event with an open mind can learn to be better networkers.”
What are Robyn”s top networking tips?
- Have a business card that reflects what you do
- Think of your card as a name card and be prepared to hand it out
- Talk to people you don”t know to practice conversational skills
Robyn keeps herself motivated by looking for the positive even in the most negative situations, and believing everything happens for a reason. She suggests anyone can stay motivated and focused by setting clear goals and setting out each day with those higher goals in mind
She is working on a new book, The Self-Love Diet for Women, and has set herself the goal of completing it this year.
