What are the best ways to help your team members develop their networking and relationship-building skills?

1 Set clear goals and expectations

Before you encourage your team members to network and build relationships, make sure they understand why it is important and what you expect from them. Explain how networking and relationship-building can help them achieve their personal and professional goals, such as learning new skills, finding mentors, accessing resources, or advancing their careers. Also, define the scope and frequency of their networking activities, such as how many contacts they should make, how often they should follow up, and what platforms they should use.

3 Create opportunities and incentives

One of the best ways to help your team members develop their networking and relationship-building skills is to create opportunities and incentives for them to apply them. For example, you can organize or attend events, workshops, webinars, or conferences where your team members can meet and interact with relevant people in your industry, field, or organization. You can also encourage or reward your team members for initiating or participating in projects, collaborations, or communities that involve networking and relationship-building.

4 Monitor and support their progress

As your team members engage in networking and relationship-building activities, you should monitor and support their progress. You can check in with them regularly to see how they are doing, what challenges they are facing, and what results they are achieving. You can also provide them with constructive feedback, recognition, and encouragement to help them improve their skills and confidence. Additionally, you can help them overcome any barriers or difficulties, such as time constraints, communication issues, or personal preferences.

5 Model and reinforce positive behaviors

Finally, you can help your team members develop their networking and relationship-building skills by modeling and reinforcing positive behaviors. You can demonstrate how you network and build relationships with your own contacts, peers, managers, or stakeholders. You can also acknowledge and celebrate the successes and achievements of your team members who network and build relationships effectively. By doing so, you can inspire and motivate your team members to follow your example and adopt a networking and relationship-building mindset.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?