How can you make a living doing what you love, inside or outside an organisation? Savvy people often do three things to take this step. They build on their strengths, find sponsors who will pay them and help those sponsors to succeed.
There are several rules for finding sponsors. These rules apply whether you are a freelancer or seeking fresh challenges within an organisation. People often buy from those they already know in their network.
So potential ‘sellers’ are told to go out and ‘network’. Some people interpret networking as promoting themselves and handing out business cards. But they miss the point.
Real networking is about helping others to succeed.
If you help others to succeed, however, you are more likely to get hired by sponsors. Let’s explore how this works in practice.
1) You can clarify your network.
How to find work? There is both good news and bad news. The bad news is that old-style methods of job search resemble a lottery and destroy confidence.
The good news is that people buy people. Why? In an increasingly unpredictable world, leaders want to buy predictability. So they prefer to hire somebody they know who has a good track record. They can then build on the person’s strengths and find ways to compensate for their weaknesses.
“More than 90% of my work comes from my network,” said one freelancer. “The hard part is getting started. You must spend masses of time visiting people, sharing know-how and helping them to succeed."
"Providing you keep planting seeds, sooner or later somebody will say: ‘How can we take this further?’ You make clear contracts, do superb work and deliver success. Then you just keep networking.”
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do three things.
* Clarify all the people in your network.
Start by drawing a map of your network. (See illustration at the top of this article.) If you are a freelancer, write the names of every potential sponsor in every organisation. If you are an employee and want to stay in your organisation, write the names of people you know, those you admire and those with whom you can think of working.
* Clarify the challenges they face.
Looking at each person in turn, describe what you believe are the challenges they face. If the potential sponsors work in organisations, for example, they will be continually looking for ways they can improve the 3 Ps. They will want to improve their profits, product quality – including customer satisfaction – and their people.
* Clarify how you can help them to succeed.
Looking at each person in turn, describe the ways you may be able to help each of them to succeed. Try to be as specific as possible. Think of this from their point of view, rather than your own, and clarify how you can help them to reach their goals.
Try completing the following exercise.
2) You can reach out to people in your network.
How to make this happen? Some people suggest the route of cold calling or direct mail, but it is important to be a giver, rather than a taker. It is vital:
* To reach out to people in a way that fits your values-system.
* To continue to remember that real networking is about helping other people to succeed.
* To meet people face-to-face, explore the challenges they face and share knowledge that will help them to succeed.
Follow your natural way of networking. Do things that put a spring in your step. As a writer, for example, it is natural for me to send people free copies of the latest exercise, article or book.
The key is to find your way. You might want to recommend books, gift a session on a client’s ‘away day’ or connect people by putting them in touch with each other.
Do something every day to reach some people in your network. Keep planting seeds – but be patient. It may take up to a year investing time in potential sponsors before the right opportunity appears.
Remember, most people buy face-to-face. So find a way to visit them. Nowadays people are more open to 'meeting up for a coffee'. Most of your future work will come from your present customers – so increase the chances of meeting.
If you have a 2.00 pm appointment with a current customer, for example, arrive at 12.00. Sit in their Atrium or restaurant and do e-mails. You will find that individuals will pass by and say: “I was thinking about you the other day. Could you help us with…?”
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Describe the specific ways that you can reach out to people in your network. Again, this must be in a way with which you feel comfortable. Try completing the following sentence.
3) You can help people in your network to succeed.
Let’s return to the key point. Real networking is always about the other person. It is never about you. So when meeting potential sponsors you can, after a short while, find your own way of asking them:
* What are the key challenges you face?
* What are the real results you want to achieve?
* What is your picture of success?
You can then share knowledge, ideas and tools that will help them to achieve their goals. The aim is to metaphorically 'sit alongside them' and do some creative problem solving. Do this in the spirit of sharing.
This sounds paradoxical, but this generous approach often leads to work. Providing you plant enough seeds and are reasonably savvy, eventually somebody will say: “How can we take this further?” You can then move onto the next stage: making clear contracts about how you can work together.
Try completing the following exercise. Describe the specific things you can do to help the people in your network – including the potential sponsors – to succeed. Doing this will lead to you being paid for doing work you love. Try completing the following sentence.
Posted on Thursday, August 11th, 2011 at 4:50 pm in Strengths, The Strengths Blog | RSS feed
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