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Three easy steps to building an effective network

Humans thrive when connected.


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Cassandra (Leong) Lister

2 years ago | 1 min read

Photo credit: Fabian Pflug

If I had a dollar every time I heard someone say “Networking. I dislike it. But I know I should do it.”…I’d be rich (well, not really but you know what I mean).

Going to, say, an industry conference, collecting hundreds of business cards
and then doing NOTHING with them, is not networking.

Building an effective/valuable network requires effort AND commitment. It’s
like building a relationship with someone new. Do you remember romantic
dating? Similar. In between dates, if you don’t put in the effort,
you’re hardly going to make an impact, are you?

This topic came up in discussion with my daughter, who recently started her
freshman year in a new city, new country, far from home. In the first week, she was missing home and her friends. She considers herself an introvert. Whether you are introvert, extrovert or somewhere in between, here are three easy tips:

  1. Offer to help: Be it a work project, volunteer work or industry association committee. Nothing builds rapport faster than finding common ground and interests. Whenever I start a new role with a new company, I join one of the many committees such as Diversity & Inclusion, Community Service Reach, Networking Group, Social Club, etc.
  2. Join a sports team: Regular training sessions gives you an opportunity to meet up with your team members. And competition days provide a common goal. The profile photo is of my dragonboat paddling team. We train weekly (sometimes twice) on the water and once on land (with bootcamp).
  3. Bring a friend: My daughter made one new friend in her first week. I suggested that the next time, she and her new friend both invite one other person to build
    on the group. And so on….5 weeks into semester 1 and my daughter has
    multiple friend groups. It works!

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Cassandra (Leong) Lister

Mother of twins. Commonwealth citizen. Former Global Banker. Aspiring book author. All stories and opinions published are my own.


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