by Donna Fisher, CSP, and Jerry Teplitz, JD, Ph.D., CSP
Imagine if networking was as easy and natural as helping out a friend, brainstorming with a business associate, and having your favorite customer refer you to another contact? When people have difficulty networking, it’s often because they haven’t developed the degree of confidence and clarity that’s required to make networking easy and natural.
After all, it’s not enough to simply connect with people in a friendly way. The reason for networking is to open the door for new opportunities. And that requires connecting with people in a way that is meaningful.
Although networking is a natural process of meeting people and sharing information with one another, there are very specific skills and attitudes that make it easy and fruitful that most people have simply not been taught.
Networking is a blend of attitude, awareness, skills, and habits. Ineffectiveness in any of these areas leads to haphazard networking and inconsistent results. Networking involves being aware of all the people around you and being aware of the power of networking to enhance your life. Your attitude affects how you approach people, your willingness to make requests, and even how you follow up with people.
Without a productive attitude and approach to networking, people can come across as robots, simply going through the motions without making any meaningful connections. And without effective communication skills, you may mean well and yet miss out on creating opportunities that are right in front of you.
Yes, your introduction is important. And, of course, every networker knows to keep plenty of business cards handy to give out to the people they meet. And now there’s social media and the benefits of posting online on a regular basis. I could go on and on and yet all of those things are the “mechanics” of networking.
What really fuels your networking success is mental—your state of mind, your attitude about helping people, your ability to think as a resource, and your willingness to accept support. We believe that networking is a natural process as simple as friendship.
The skill side of networking is easy to teach. The mental side of networking is easy to talk about and yet, up until now, has been more difficult to influence. However, with more and more research available on how our brains influence our actions, attitudes and choices, we are now able to teach you how to reprogram your brain to create more positive outcomes. Balancing the brain is about allowing the right and left hemispheres to effectively communicate and collaborate with each other. “Switching-On” the brain is the process of removing any negative charge from an area of the brain called the amygdale, which triggers the fight or flight response. This overrides the rational part of the brain called the cerebrum, which is where you can choose how you will react and respond to something.
Any memory you have of an unpleasant networking experience can trigger your amygdale and negatively influence your networking effectiveness. However, what you can do is rewire your brain to literally remove the negative charge by using the Brain Gym® processes presented in our Switched-On Networking book.
Following the Brain Gym® instructions you “switch-off” your brain’s programmed negative response and “switch-on” your ability to choose a new, effective networking approach. This Switched-On Networking approach allows you to “switch-on” your brain so that your brain, your people skills, and your habits are all in sync.
Imagine going through life being able to naturally connect with people and creating opportunities for yourself and others—because you were able to switch off old negative “charges” associated with networking and “switch-on” your brain’s natural ability network with ease and effectiveness!
Donna Fisher, www.donnafisher.com, is author of Power Networking, People Power and Professional Networking for Dummies. Jerry Teplitz, www.Teplitz.com, is author of Switched-On Living, Brain Gym for Business, Switched-On Selling and Managing Your Stress in Difficult Times. Fisher and Teplitz co-authored the new book Switched-On Networking: Balance Your Brain for Networking Success, which reached Amazon Bestseller Status.
