Hi! I am The Purpose Doctor, and my name is Ayobami Olugbenga-Wyse. I am a purpose-driven peak performance and career clarity coach. I help people map out their career paths with ease and to help them operate in the ideal career they are best built and designed for. Thanks for subscribing to my “Wyse Career Nuggets”, it’s my way to help you create a productive and highly rewarding career.

In the last career nugget, I shared how your career success is a reflection of the quality of your network. Today, I will be showing you how to build great networks for a successful career.

I remember one of the fun things I loved to do as a child was planting. It all began from one of the various experiments given to me by my Agric teacher to plant seeds and watch them grow. I took a drive past one of the buildings we once lived in as a child, and to my amazement, one of my fun experiments as a child still stood tall, it was a mango tree that began as a fun seed, planted into the ground by a fun playing child, who was a fund of planting over 15 years ago. I couldn’t help but park my car to roll back the years. The moral of my story is to make us understand one thing, and that’s the fact that building a great network in life is like nurturing a seed till it grows into a plant or a tree.

As career professionals, building a successful career starts from building great networks. You must identify and recognize the potential seeds, the ground, and the season for planting. I shared how to evaluate your potential networks in the last nugget, which is similar to identifying the seeds. The next will be to identify the grounds or places to have these seeds nurtured and the right time or seasons to plant and nurture these networks. Who do I need to connect with, what kind of seeds are they, where can I find them, and at what seasons of my life do I need them? There are some networks needed for specific seasons, and there are some required all around.

Building a great network is just like planting a tree, it will require time, attention, energy, resources, and more. However, the beauty of it is that the time of harvest and when the tree begins to bear good fruits far outweigh the sacrifices made. Many times we only see, appreciate, and covet the harvest or the fruit-producing times of great relationships, but we never want to do the real work of proper nurturing.

As career professionals, we build relationships in for main cardinal ways for impact and success. We build upwards, downwards, and sideways. Upward nurturing will refer to how well we nurture and manage those above us. These are people we hold in high esteem and desire to model our lives and career successes after or are very influential to our career success. Like your bosses, senior staff, line manager, mentors, coaches, etc. These types challenge us to become better. If you have nobody you are looking up to or who inspires you, then you will remain where you are for a long time. You become a one-eyed king in the land of the blind. You require relationships that have the potential to pull you upwards and push you up your career ladder quicker.

On the other hand, we also need to build relationships downwards and give back. It’s possible to get carried away by our need to thrive and then neglect those we also look up to us and need our help. There is someone you are better than at every point in your life, and your greatest form of success is one that incorporates legacy building and investments in people. Success is in continuum and should never start or end with you. This kind of relationship, help us remain in tune with reality and keep us humble. They reinforce our position as great career-leading professionals. Constantly ask yourself, if you are feeding off someone, who is feeding off you?

Beyond building and nurturing relationships upwards and downwards, managing relationships sideways refers to building networks with your pairs or professionals that are at your level of influence and impact. These include possibly your colleagues, associates, partners, friends, etc. These types are the ones who carry you along. When you isolate yourself from these types, you become totally lost and spend valuable time meant for other things to catch up with things you keep missing out on. This type of relationship also creates healthy competition for growth and development. Like the saying, iron sharpens iron.

Experts agree that the most connected people are often the most successful ones. Investing in professional and personal relationships can be highly rewarding to your career. Building a great career network it will help you develop and improve your skill set, stay in tune with trends in your industry, keep a tab of the job market, meet prospective mentors, partners, and clients, and gain access to the necessary resources that will foster your career development.

Building a great career network will:

·         Give you the right attention and make you noticeable

·         Give you an avenue to explore newer opportunities

·         Keep you on your toes and improves your creative intellect

·         Serve as an extra resource library for your wealth of knowledge, growth, and development.

·         Help you gain support from high profiles individuals

·         Help you grow in self-confidence as well

One thing I must let you know my friend is that Networking isn’t cheap. If you choose not to nurture it, it will cost you more. If you choose to nurture it right, it will make you priceless and highly valuable. It’s a gradual process and it won’t happen overnight, however, the earlier you begin, the better and faster your career and net-worth can begin to grow.

Are you wondering where to start from and how if it’s still worth it? Well according to a Chinese proverb, if the best time to have planted a tree was 20yrs ago, then the next best time is now!

I hope this has been very helpful. Share this with a friend, family, or colleague who might need this, and anticipate the next nugget where I will be sharing hacks on 3 things you must have for potential employers to take you seriously. You can also book a FREE 30mins career clarity and coaching call at www.ayobamiwyse.com and feel free to follow me on my social media handles @ayobamiwyse to learn more.

Remember, all we do is win, and it always pays to be wyse.

The post NUGGET 26 – Building Great Career Networks first appeared on Ayobami Olugbenga-Wyse.