LIKE

Networking with Santa - with Lesley Robinson

by Paul Margree 

I suppose the first thing I should say about this final LIKE meet up before Christmas is that we didn’t actually network with Santa. Anyone expecting tips on how to hobnob with elves or hang out with reindeer will, unfortunately, be disappointed.

In fact, we were privileged to hear some top tips on networking from Lesley Robinson (http://lesleyrobinson.co.uk/), a consultant who has not only had some pretty amazing jobs in her career, but, crucially, gained all of these positions via recommendation. This is a pretty amazing fact and made me – and I’m sure everyone else in the room – keen to hear Lesley’s tips on successful networking.

Lesley made an important distinction early on in her talk, between networking in the online environment, via web 2.0 tools like blogs and social networking systems, and ‘real-life’ networking – meeting people you don’t really know and talking to them. It seems that librarians and information professionals are pretty good at the online bit – you only have to scan the vast amounts of blogs written by librarians to prove that – but that the real business of mixing with real people and exchanging information tends to prove somewhat problematic.

Why is this? Opinions around the room varied. Some felt that, to get any real benefit from networking you had to engage in a lot of meaningless or insincere small talk. Others (yes, me in fact) struggled with the thought of having to be relatively quiet about their job hunt with relative strangers. And some people expressed nervousness or anxiety at having to engage with a roomful of new people, the majority of whom they hadn’t met before.

Never fear. Not only did Lesley provide some absolutely rock solid advice about how to deal with these potentially difficult situations – including some great advice about positive body language, how to ‘break into’ a group of people seemingly deep in conversation, and how to avoid getting trapped in a conversation – but we were given some activities too, to put our new-found expertise in action.

I won’t go into details about these - except to say it proved remarkably difficult to find another person in the room who went to school in East Anglia and played the guitar – but they were great fun, and a superb demonstration of just how much information you can find out about people just by chatting to them.

I left the event with a much sharper idea of what networking is and how I could use it to benefit my career development. And, as Lesley pointed out, networking is not only a useful way to tap into other peoples’ networks of expertise, but also a good way for me to contribute my own knowledge or experience – it is, after all, about sharing and collaborating.

All in all, a fab evening: a stimulating speaker, yummy food and beverages, and some interesting things for me to put into action over the next few weeks.

Well done LIKE – and thanks again Lesley!