Let me share with you some of my thoughts on what puts ‘work’ in networking. Networking is a form of marketing, and any form of marketing is most effective when you don’t come straight out and say “buy this!” The best marketing techniques work on building relationships – courting trust, showing your intentions to be honourable in what you are offering. And there are certain market characteristics too:

People buy people. People work with (and refer) people they like. People don’t like being sold to.

That’s why best networkers aren’t great sales gurus, they’re archetypal ‘people person’. They are interested in other people and what they do. They want to help as well as be helped, not just because it will see them get business in future, but because they like helping others. And most importantly, they don’t talk – they listen.

Many networking events involve a ‘round robin’ of everyone there, which certainly has its uses – you get to tell everyone who you are and what you do, and if there is someone there who is looking for service you provide, they will very likely come up to you for a chat. But that’s not networking, that’s hit and miss, and it’s very important to understand difference.

Within large companies, people are promoted to management positions to reward them for performance as individual contributors. After all, compensation system limits reward options, so why not just promote them?

In small businesses, owner is getting overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. They think that hiring a manager is solution to give them a little more balance. The hunt begins!

Unless you get RIGHT person for position, both cases have potential for disastrous results!

You can save yourself and others a great deal of stress and angst if you take time to be mindful enough to make an intentional decision.

Here are 10 questions to consider BEFORE you select your new manager.