Networking the West with Liz Ryan

Summer Networking Boost

By Liz Ryan, 6-03-06

There is no question that summer is the best time of year to network, whatever your industry or work situation. Here in the Rockies we have no excuse to stay office-bound when the summer weather is so glorious. If you have face-to-face networking dates pigeonholed in your mind as an indulgence or an expensive use of time, you're missing a great source of fresh ideas, moral support and intelligence-gathering.

This week, tomorrow, grab your Rolodex or your Palm Pilot or scour your Outlook Address book, and identify a half-dozen people you haven't seen in a calendar quarter or more. Then pick up the blinkin' phone, and make a lunch or coffee date with each of them. If you're not a big one-on-one networker, this start-of-summer networking binge may feel like a scandalous waste of time. Wrong! You'll be amazed. If you don't come back from each of these lunches or coffees thinking "Man, I'm glad I caught up with him (her)" I'll buy you a grande latte. Here are just five of the hit-you-over-the-head benefits that come from checking in with your local brain trust:

1) You get new perspective and fresh answers to problems you've been struggling with
2) You get suggestions of other people you should meet and collaborate with
3) You get moral support for the tough issues you're facing
4) You get to help your friend with matters that he or she is dealing with, and
5) You get out of your oh-my-god-my-list-is-so-long daily office grind.

Space in your head is a precious commodity. Meeting up with a friend whose day to day experience is different from your own is a terrific way to create some mental breathing room. I implore you to do it. Go overboard. Set up ten networking dates to take place between now and July 4th. No big thing - that's only two point five dates per week. Better yet, invite your friends for three-way networking dates - everybody (except you, the connector) will meet someone new. Summer is the excuse. Jump on it.

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