Professional Networking and Collaboration

This post was originally written on 20 March 2018.

More and more in recent years, people are moving away from traditional methods of networking towards a more collaborative approach. The days of meeting people in a bar or social setting and exchanging business cards are on the way out — mostly because people tend to forget who they’ve spoken to within a few minutes of each encounter.

Is it really possible to interest people in what you do in such a short space of time? Or convince them as to how your products or services could meet their needs? And is there even the potential for making logical business conclusions in just 10 minutes?

Let’s look at the stats on professional networking:

The numbers alone are staggering, not to mention the waste of business cards. Are large networking events even effective anymore? Let’s look at the stats a little more closely. Firstly, 28% of professionals “have found or been referred to a new role through a network connection”. While the number may seem encouraging, it doesn’t mean that the 28% have necessarily been successful in being offered these new roles, nor does it distinguish between entry level, junior and senior level positions. Lastly, “a network connection” is vague — is it a professional connection, or the entirety of a person’s network, including work, family, and friends too?

With this in mind, it seems clear that traditional forms of networking are on the way out, and collaborative networking is on the way in — collaborations on anything from professional projects to hobbies to simple seminar activities.

In this way, collaboration is able to bring out ideas not usually found in traditional networking settings. Individuals become more familiar with those in their team, and form bonds of connection and trust. Rather than business cards being exchanged, telephone numbers and LinkedIn profiles are shared, leading to more substantial and definitive business partnerships between companies and departments.

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