Nurturing your network can be similar to tending your garden. In a garden different trees, plants and shrubs require differing amounts of attention to enable them to grow and thrive. It's the same with your network. Some relationships need very little maintenance, some require much more at the start and others need constant attention.
Many people, though, think of networking as being all about connecting with as many people as possible. This approach leaves you very little time to build the right relationships. Your garden would soon be over-run with weeds if you neglected that personal care and attention. At this time of year some extra attention is required to ensure the health of your garden for the Winter and in preparation for Spring. In his column in the Financial Times on Saturday Mike Southon offered some advice on networking including some "radical pruning of the people in our on-line networks".
The article is worth a read and as Mike wrote, "Any network is all about quality rather than quantity, the depth rather than the breadth of your connections."
Good Networking!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Do you nurture your network like a good garden?
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5 comments:
Yep! It's not like we're trying to think of those little things as less. It's just that those that really need tending to or those that need proper attention should be given ample time. I'm not really into gardening, my mother is. But upon reading this, I kind of remembered her and how she tended to her garden.
LoanBlog
Dave,
Your analogy of a network to a garden is a very powerful one. In my forthcoming book 'The Financial Times Guide To Business Networking' - I use a very similar analogy. I compare your network to a fruit tree. I.e. you need to tend and care for your network for a few years before it will really bear fruit. In this time it is important, similar to weeding in a garden, to prune out the weak and damaged branches.
Thanks Heather
It was whilst I was picking the fruit and grapes from our trees and vines that got me thinking about the lessons we can learn for building and maintaining our business networks. We had a good crop this year as a result of the mix of sunshine and rain during the English Summer! We also helped this along by some extra care and attention during the year and some judicious pruning last year.
All the best with the book.
Good stuff. I think this is always something to think about particularly for those with growing networks. Sometimes bigger is not better. The challenge for me is that I am amazed by where value comes from in my network and as my network grows I don't what to seem arrogant to those who try to reach me. My blog is www.networkingnote.com .
If you are someone who bounces around and talks to everyone and you do not connect on a personal level then you may as well take a seat and learn how to open up to people. A Good Book to begin is "How To Start A Conversation and Make Friends" by Don Gabor.
Lawrence Bergfeld
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