In actuality, by forming a wide social network of colleagues and partners, you can lead a long and fulfilling career, thus allowing you to help more people’s careers in a mutually enriching relationship.

Founder and managing partner of business consultancy company Tjitra & Associates Hora Tjitra said business networking was important to stay abreast with information on the latest goings-on in business.

The business world, he said, was complex, as it broadened your horizons through the exchange of knowledge and experience with people across various fields, which could be helpful in guiding your career actions and decisions.

By leveraging your own career through business networking, will also earn the opportunity to better impact other people positively.

Rini, a 30-year-old employee at a state-owned lender, said she believed that while wanting power only for the sake of power and prestige could be negative, she could not deny that in order to be useful for other people, you needed to acquire some power.

“Some people want to get a promotion so that they can get a car or housing. That’s not the case for me. I believe that my job is important, because through the loans that my bank provides, I help my clients to pay their employees’ salaries and kick off their infrastructure projects,” she said.

In societies like Indonesia, with a strong influence of Chinese principle guanxi emphasizing loyalty and personal connections, coupled with the country being a low-trust society due to poor law enforcement and a lack of transparency, social capital often bypasses meritocracy in terms of career advancement.

“Therefore, I realized that I needed to tap into influential people in my office to get a promotion because otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to influence my companies toward more positive policies on these things,” Rini said.

Amirah Kaca, a 31-year-old director of nonprofit policy advisory group B_Trust and Golkar Party politician, said a strong social network could also help you to more effectively advocate for social issues.

To avoid being branded a social climber, Rini advised to just be kind and friendly to everybody in your office and those you meet while on assignments during your business trips, regardless of their position.

“Some people are only friendly to individuals with high-ranking positions, while ignoring those who are in lower-rung positions, in what we call kiss up, kick down behavior. To that I would say, don’t discriminate against people. You never know, maybe you’ll need that person’s help someday,” Rini said.

Also, Amirah said, it was important for you to nurture your relationship with your business network by regularly contacting them so that you do not go to them only when you need something.

“It is easy to strike conversations with them if you have curiosity and intellectual humility, driven by the conviction that everybody could always teach us something of value,” she said.

These links with people outside your immediate inner circle, which sociologist Mark S. Granovetter refers to as “weak ties”, could in fact be more effective in helping you find new work and career opportunities because of their heterogeneity, according to his paper, published in the May 1973 edition of American Journal of Sociology.

Granovetter added that you could actually spread ideas and innovations more rapidly through your weak ties, since our strong ties usually comprised a more homogenous and cohesive profile of individuals.

It is important to not only ask what value other people can give us, but to ask ourselves, do we truly have something valuable to share with other people?

“Don’t connect with others simply because you want something from them, do it because you also want to share something with them. People wouldn’t know that you have certain talents or expertise that they can benefit from unless you show up and are seen by them,” Hora advised.

By having a healthy self-confidence that you do have something valuable to offer to other people in terms of expertise or knowledge, regardless of your position, you will no longer be intimidated by people who have higher positions or more prominent names than you, according to Hora.

“Even the so-called people in high places still need other people to help them when doing certain things,” he reminded.

Also, do not forget to be polite.

“When you send a text to a contact, do not forget to introduce yourself by saying your name and mentioning the event in which you met that person. When you have stated a clear intention in contacting that person, the person usually will respond amiably,” Amirah said.

“For instance, you are a journalist and you are contacting a politician and asking to meet her because as someone who works for the media, you feel the need to have a deeper understanding on the local political constellation. The person is likely to say yes. Yet, do not take it too personally when the person can’t meet you yet due to other engagements,” she added.

Amirah said that, as a great networker, you could also benefit other people by linking and matching individuals whose connections could result in fruitful collaborations. Hopefully, this will be your professional legacy.

So, having taken these considerations in mind, what kind of new acquaintance would you like to make to develop your career in the near future?

Popular

Growth without gain: Why Indonesians don't feel the economy

US, Iran no closer to ending war as Gulf clashes flare 

Three dead after landslides strike North Sumatra highway