Strategic Networking

Course details

Networking is becoming an essential skill for career, business development and seeking opportunities, with success often depending as much on our relationships with others, as on ourselves. Having a strategic approach to your networking goals ensures that your networking activity is in line with your own career or business goals. Networking can help raise your social capital – which is the set of resources, knowledge information and contacts available to you via your network. Women in business are often perceived to have lower social capital so it is therefore important to understand how some simple changes can help with this.

In this workshop we will cover how to analytically assess your current network, how to assess bias and over-dependencies and then how to strategically set your networking goals in line with your career, organisational or new opportunity goals. This will include an interactive section on assessing your own personal social network so you can leave the session with increased self-awareness of your current network and clear goals to aid you developing your network in line with your career goals.

We will also provide some tips on the psychology of networking and ideas to improve your confidence and networking skills

Areas to be covered

• Workplace trends – what are the workplace trends that have led to networking now being a critical skill for professional development
• Explanation of what ‘Social Capital’ is and how developing networking skills can enhance your social capital (Understanding the role of Social Capital, Human Capital and Psychological Capital in career and leadership development)
• What is strategic networking and why it is important for effective networking
• How to assess your own network and develop strategic goals for its development
• Psychology of Networking – tips and ideas on understanding and improving networking behaviour