Nurturing your network

In this article, we focus on the importance of nurturing your network as you go through your career and some tips on how to do it.

What does networking mean to you?

Although we are a network, we’re not big fans of traditional ‘networking’, or at least not the images it conjures up. We’ve all been to awkward events where everyone is there trying to sell their services to each other. Conversations are usually squeezed into a short space of time, and often over badly designed food and drink offerings that are not conducive to being eaten standing up, or to making conversation.

At the Nonpareil Network, we’ll never subject you to trying to explain your business in three minutes to someone who’s more focused on eating a bacon sandwich without getting brown sauce down their shirt. Nor will we expect you to simultaneously balance a plate of buffet food and a glass of wine while somebody else talks at you about theirs through a mouthful of canapes.

To us, a network is something to be built, but also to be nurtured. It’s not about the number of connections you make, but rather the depth and quality of those connections, and how they can be developed for mutual benefit. 

I’ve always taken time over the years to stay in touch with people I’ve worked with whose expertise and opinion I value, or whose company I enjoy. 

It may sound daunting to try and keep in contact with every good person you’ve met during your career, so of course you need to be selected and focus on those that you genuinely felt a connection with when you worked together.

It doesn't take much to drop someone a message on LinkedIn if you see that they’ve got a new role or they’ve posted something that interests you, to send them a quick text if you happen to be in their area to see if they want to grab a coffee or a glass of wine, or to offer a helpful response if they’re looking for support or expertise from their own network. 

Of course, many “stay in touch” exchanges are the emptiest of promises - but there are the odd few that are genuine, and these can bring about the greatest benefits. 

With people I’ve really enjoyed working with, I’ve even taken the plunge and connected with them on other social media platforms - and on occasion this has really helped to deepen a connection as I’ve discovered I have a whole lot more in common with that person than I realised when our contact was limited to work meetings. 

Here are just some of the positives I’ve enjoyed from nurturing my network and maintaining meaningful connections with people.

1. Finding a new job.
   When I was looking to relocate, but needed to find a job to enable me to do so, I reached out to a former colleague who I knew worked for an organisation that I was interested in working for. There was nothing suitable for me at the time, but 6 months later, I relocated anyway - for a job that wasn’t perfect but was okay - and met up with him for a coffee because my initial phone call to him had been left on a “we should catch up sometime anyway” note. Fast forward another 6 months and he contacted me about a role which was right up my street - and which wasn’t being advertised. I got the job!

2. Friendships
   Through connecting with someone I vaguely knew through work, I discovered we were both interested in running (a very new and challenging interest in my case!) We chatted some more and I now have a new friend and (virtual) running buddy, who I actually chat to more now than when we worked together.

3. Putting in a good word.
   Whether you’re searching for a new job or self-employed and looking for business, having a trusted connection put in a good word for you with the person or company you are targeting rarely does any harm. Getting in touch with someone you worked with five years ago and asking if they’d be willing to mention you to one of their colleagues is much more likely to be well-received if you’ve checked in occasionally during the intervening period so that you’re fresh in their mind and they’ve got some idea of what you’ve been doing in the time since you worked together.

4. Being able to help someone else out.
   At the Nonpareil Network, we value giving back. I’ve had several opportunities to do just that thanks to my network. In the comments on a post I made on LinkedIn a while ago about training, a discussion took place about one of my voluntary roles and another connection saw it and dropped me a message as she was interested in pursuing a similar voluntary opportunity. We had a great chat about it and I was able to give her what I hope was useful information and encouraged her to pursue it. Similarly, I’ve always been happy to give recommendations or be named as a reference for someone who’s looking for work, which I always find rewarding, especially when I then see the person go on to succeed.

5. Trusted service recommendations.
   Having a trusted network, and keeping up to speed with people’s areas of expertise, is a great way to get really good recommendations for services. If you know that someone in your network recently set up their own business and you’re looking to do the same, they’re likely to be a great person to ask for a recommendation for an accountant. Likewise, if you’ve got a contact who is a senior marketer, they’ll almost certainly be able to recommend a creative agency for your business rebrand. I had an absolutely cracking recommendation recently for a solicitor who gave me brilliant advice - the best part of which was that I didn’t actually need his services at that point in the project I was working on, and could do what I was looking to do myself without incurring his fees. I trusted his advice because I trusted the person who recommended him.

6. Mentoring and advice.
   Last but not least, having a well-developed network is a great starting point if you’re looking for a mentor - formal or informal - or a specific piece of career advice. Again, not everyone is going to appreciate someone getting in touch completely cold and asking for a big commitment like being a mentor, but if you’ve made the effort to stay in touch and keep your network warm, it’ll be much easier to have that conversation if you identify someone whose help you think you’d benefit from.

Some of these benefits naturally come about simply from staying in touch with people, especially if you’ve made a good impression on them in the time you worked together. But others require more proactivity. A request for help from someone you worked with ten years ago is far more likely to be well-received if you’ve shown interest in their career and life since then, told them a bit about yours, and maybe even met up for a couple of coffees, than if the last they remember of you is your leaving presentation.

It hopefully goes without saying that I’d willingly return any of the favours I’ve benefited from via people in my network - and where I can’t, I’ll always look to pay it forward by helping out someone else who needs it, in a similar way. 

There are so many benefits to maintaining and nurturing your network. Creating deep, meaningful connections that are mutually beneficial in all aspects of life.

The Nonpareil Network is an environment where relationships can be built and grown - and which opens up connections between people who may otherwise not have crossed paths. 

Sign up here to find out more. 

Written by Hannah Poulton

Co-founder of Nonpareil Network.

Hannah is a portfolio Marketing Director. She is also a Non Executive Director for the Welsh Cycling Union and a Lay Member for the British Chiropractic Council. She also volunteers as a Magistrate and is a Lay Member for NHS Blood and Transplant.