‘Networking like a pro’ requires strategy, knowing your relationship building style
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Key takeaways:
- Career mobility requires the connection, support and coalition of others.
- Embrace career pivots and know yourself well enough to recognize when you are climbing the wrong “ladder.”
CHICAGO — To network like a pro, assess your natural relationship building style, create a professional networking strategy, and then apply the behaviors that amplify your authority and advance your personal and professional brand.
Laurie K. Baedke, MHA, FACHE, FACMPE, director of health care leadership programs at Creighton University, said it is important to forge relationships in order to have career mobility and for doors to open for you.
Source: Jennifer R. Southall
“So many of the things that we need to do to be successful in our careers we cannot do for ourselves,” Baedke said during a session at the Women in Medicine Summit. “We need the connection, support and coalition of others, which requires that we do an activity that many of us want to run the opposite direction from — network.”
Baedke emphasized the importance of curating your circle, referencing speaker and writer Jim Rohn, known as “the granddaddy of networking,” who says there’s a rule of five and that your well-being in almost every habit category — physical, financial, mental and spiritual — will be shaped by the five people you keep the closest company with.
“We espouse the habits of those that we hang out with the most,” she said. “It is incredibly important that we intentionally select and curate those people whose presence we put ourselves in the company of because we will become like them. If you want to be extraordinary, identify who the extraordinary individuals are that you want to be like.”
Know yourself
Baedke said it is also important to know yourself, find your own lane and niche, and know your brand and what you stand for.
“There are so many ways to lead in medicine and in health care — so many niches and facets of opportunities,” she said. “Think about what the opportunities will look like 5 or 15 years from now and know yourself well enough to know what your lane or niche is. Hone that clarity and then get in conversation, company and community with people who know your strength, power and capacity so that they can activate it for you when the time comes.”
Baedke emphasized the importance of not playing on someone else’s field and to “tilt the table to your advantage.”
“If you’re an extrovert, know what that looks like for you and figure out how to harness it and release it. Or if you’re more of an introvert and want more one on one and approachable conversations, then tilt that playing table to your advantage,” she said. “Make sure that you are a part of events, like the Women in Medicine Summit, where you can find your community and connections — where you can gain access to individuals who can pour into you, mentor you, counsel you and encourage you. Individuals who will help affirm your brand of leadership, even if it doesn’t look like others in formal leadership roles in your institution. It’s still OK that you bring that to the table, because the worst thing that any of us can do is try to conform or live someone else’s journey.”
Baedke recommended four networking power practices to use today:
- Plan ahead: When attending an event or conference, put a reminder on your calendar 90 or 60 days out to examine the faculty, think about who is coming, and reach out proactively and ask them, “Are you engaged for dinner on Thursday evening or Friday evening? Can we connect? I’d love to get more familiar with your clinical or scholarly research activity. I admire your career trajectory and I’d love to have a role just like you have in your institution. Can you tell me about your journey?”;
- Quality over quantity: Think intentionally about how you are collecting relationships;
- Follow-up: Be that thoughtful person who follows up meaningfully with a heartfelt text message or handwritten note because they keep you connected meaningfully with others; and
- Branch out: Ask your connections for one or two other people in their network who they think you may benefit from having a conversation with.
“It can be incredibly intimidating as you are getting your ‘sea legs’ and taking ‘baby steps’ in networking to consider how to keep propagating it,” Baedke said. “The great thing about other successful leaders is they are usually really well connected with others. A great script or question that you might ask at the end of a conversation with them is, ‘Thank you so much for your time, it was really delightful to get to know more about your journey. It’s been informative to me now that you know a little bit about my interests and aspirations. Who are one or two other people in your network that you think I might benefit from having a conversation with?’ Take every opportunity and then divide it and let it propagate into your own advanced network.”
Your ladder
In closing, Baedke said “to embrace career pivots and recognize when you are climbing the wrong ladder.
“A Stephen Covey quote that I include in many of my talks is, ‘If your ladder is leaning against the wrong wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong destination faster,’” Baedke said. “Think about how hard it is, how much effort you put into climbing every ladder rung, and if we are trying to follow someone else’s well-intended journey, every amount of energy that we expend into that will only get us closer to the wrong destination.
“Take it from me, someone who started climbing the ladder, looked around and realized I was leaning against the wrong wall, got down, picked it up, moved it over and found a different spot on the wall and then started over again,” she added. “Embrace those pivots and get to know yourself.”
For more information:
Laurie K. Baedke, MHA, FACHE, FACMPE, can be reached on X (Twitter) @LaurieBaedke.
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