Raise Your Visibility & Value: The Benefits of Networking

Networking is, and will continue to be, an important professional activity for business professionals. I previously stated that 60 – 70% of employed individuals located their most recent job opportunity through networking. In a poll I conducted on LinkedIn, these numbers were corroborated when 59% of 1,339 respondents chose the category “by networking with friends and colleagues” as the strategy that led them to their most recent job. Therefore, networking seems to be three times more effective than using an on-line job board and almost three times more effective than using a recruiter.

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Raise Your Visibility & Value: The Origins of Networking

There is little doubt that human beings have a need for social interaction. In his landmark paper A Theory of Human Motivation (1943), Abraham Maslow concluded that, after fulfilling our psychological and safety needs, we must fulfill our interpersonal and “belongingness” needs. To paraphrase Maslow, individuals hunger for affectionate relationships with people and they will strive with great intensity to achieve this goal.

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Raise Your Visibility & Value: Steps to Take After the Value Conversation with Your Boss

1. Send a recap of your conversation (i.e., what you heard, next steps) to your boss.
2. If appropriate, schedule a follow-up meeting to continue the conversation and to ensure that you keep making progress.
3. Focus on the next steps that move you closer to connecting your contributions with the business’s performance.

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Ed’s new book, Raise Your Visibility & Value: Uncover the Lost Art of Connecting on the Job is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Please check it out and share the word!

Raise Your Visibility & Value: Talking Points to Make During the Value Conversation with Your Boss

1. Consider saying something like the following to get the conversation going:

  • “Thank you for finding time to speak with me about the value I create for our organization.”
  • “I appreciate the information that was shared in my last performance appraisal and I am continuing to focus on the areas of opportunity that we have  identified.”
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Raise Your Visibility & Value: Steps to Take Before the Value Conversation with Your Boss

1. Identify the business performance drivers that are important to your organization. Brainstorm with a colleague, speak with a senior leader, or talk with  someone in finance, sales, business development, or operations.

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Raise Your Visibility & Value: More About Softer Language to Make Faster Progress

A month ago, I wrote a blog on how to make harder conversations easier by using softer language. The more I talk about this topic, the more interested people become. Everyone is avoiding a conversation with someone, whether it relates to a small or really big topic. Most of these folks are avoiding these conversations as they are afraid that things will go down-hill as soon as they open their mouths. And then, where do I go?

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Raise Your Visibility & Value: How Do I Start Raising My Value?

With so many options and possibilities already existing in your organization, you can start raising your value immediately. Before you jump out of your chair and begin the shift from good performer to valuable employee, however, you need to do the following two things:

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Raise Your Visibility & Value: Use Softer Language to Make Faster Progress

When you are avoiding a hard conversation with a boss, colleague, or subordinate, it is usually because you don’t know how to start the conversation. You worry that once you open your mouth, things will begin to fall apart.

Hard conversations do not have to be dealt hard. The good news is that the conversation falling apart is not likely to happen if you go in softer versus harder.
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Raise Your Visibility & Value: What You Will Experience When You Are in Job Transition

As the host of a weekly meeting of business professionals who are in transition, all of them will experience many of the same things during their time in transition. I would love to tell them the following things they are guaranteed to experience.
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