Professional Relationships Drive Career Growth

Are you a university student worried about securing a job after graduation? Or are you a leader finding it difficult to receive adequate support from other teams or departments? You may also be searching for something to help you stand out for your next career growth opportunity.

Many people misunderstand the value of having and building professional relationships. Building relationships can improve your career in many situations. However, you must start now! Professional relationships work best when you have them before you need them. Nobody likes hearing from you only when you need something. Think about that friend who only calls when they are moving 😊.

You're being held back because you haven’t yet invested enough in professional relationships!

Value of Professional Relationships

Over years of supporting people’s careers, I have observed that people on upward trajectories have something that sets them apart. In school, being smart or working hard will often set you apart. At some point, it takes both; you’ll need to be smart and hard-working to stand out. By the time you get neck deep into your career, everyone around you will likely be smart and hardworking, so what is next?

Professional relationships will help set you apart from the other hardworking, smart people around you. Ultimately, your ability to learn from and work within these relationships will increase your value to the business.

A Word About Teams

This is probably a good place to explain my perspective on teams.  Your team is anyone you must work with to get your project from start to finish.  This means people who may report directly to you, your peers (the people who report to the same manager as you), and people who may not be in your reporting chain but are part of getting the project out the door.

It takes many people to complete a project, and they are all on your team. Especially in technology projects, it is less and less likely that any one person will do an entire project on their own every year.

From your Current Seat

Let’s explore how professional relationships can help you in your current position. Career opportunities can be thought of as a combination of skills and luck. Many say luck is mostly about being in the right place and at the right time. I think it is more about being on someone's mind when an opportunity comes up. Building professional relationships before you need them can significantly increase your chances of being the first name on the list for new opportunities. These relationships can also help add value to your current team and projects.

Value to Your Team & Projects

Whether you are a leader or not, building solid relationships both inside and outside your current team often has an outsized effect on making things go smoothly and reducing frustration.

First, making negative assumptions about others' intent is natural and common when we don’t know them. Strong relationships with people who are part of or related to your team and project will help you understand what drives their decision-making. This will allow you to have open conversations about what will make the best course correction or compromise in each situation.

Next, with knowledge of other people's or teams’ processes and priorities, you can adjust your work, priorities, and expectations to make things move smoothly from one step to the next. More importantly, you can help those around you make the same choices because you can bring information they may not be aware of.  The more you know about what people expect from you and your team, the easier it is for you to deliver things to them or work with them when exceptions need to be made. Especially when that other person might be in a place of authority over you 😉.

Skill Building & Feedback

There are many discussions out there about being a T-shaped or V-shaped employee and how that adds value. Realistically, you become T-shaped or V-shaped by building relationships with people who work outside of your current skill set. Building a set of broadening knowledge by learning from others is a great way to increase your chances of being the right person for that next project or opportunity.  It also means you can better represent different viewpoints and explain why they are important when working through your projects.

When you consider other people's interests, expectations, priorities, and backgrounds, you can provide more effective feedback. This feedback can help validate a decision or direction and suggest ways to adjust work habits to better align with others.

Promotions or Internal Transfers

Many internal promotions and transfers are decided based on existing connections and relationships. Learning about other groups and how they work can significantly help if you want to move to another team or into leadership. With connections across your organization, you will have more opportunities to share your interests and career goals. When a high-profile project or new position becomes available, you are more likely to be the person they are considering. This is how you create lucky career opportunities.

When it is Time to Change Seats

When the time comes that you are ready for a career or company change, your relationships provide a valuable service. They help you get your foot in the door.  Why not ask someone you know about how the career or company works?  Learn the pros and cons before getting fully committed. When you decide to apply for that next role, your connections can help you get to the front of the interview line. Or they can help you create contacts and opportunities as you grow your new business.

A Moment Before We Take Action

Consider this quote from a post by Rodolfo Anes Silveira, PhD.

“Being helpful and paying it forward can make an impact and open doors you never imagined.” - It’snot about Collecting Business Cards or Adding Contacts on LinkedIn

Don’t make the mistake of allowing professional relationships to be only about you. If you expect someone to help you, it helps immensely when you offer your knowledge and skills to them. This means that you need to do the work to open doors and make yourself useful to them in some way.

What you offer doesn’t necessarily need to be tangible or direct. Maybe they need information about how your team makes decisions or someone outside their org tree to chat with. Personally, I always get joy from helping people improve their careers. If someone reaches out to me genuinely wanting to learn, you are increasing my happiness, and that is often enough for me to help you the first time.

Be thoughtful about where you limit what is offered to others. Sometimes, what is needed isn’t part of your job description or the official process. Look for an opportunity to learn something or grow your skills while fostering a great relationship.

Avoid, “That is not my job!”

Where do You Start?

By this point, I hope you are sold on the need to build professional relationships. However, you might have some questions and limiting thoughts.

              What will I talk about? 

              I don’t want to bother them.

              What if they are busy?

              I don’t want to waste their time.

Here is a guide for getting started building relationships across your organization. Start with a plan, schedule some time, and go meet with them!

Plan A Little, but not Enough!

As with all things, start by making a plan. But don’t wait until the plan is complete or you are ready. Relationships take time to build and sooner is better than later. The old saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

Building relationships is a skill that will compound over time. I encourage you to start small and with curiosity. Start with a couple of people who are close to your position and work your way out.

Make time to think about what you would like to learn and who can best help you understand that topic. Do your best to approach all these conversations from a perspective of learning what they do and why it is important from their perspective. It is easy to get distracted by your assumptions about their job, making it challenging to truly learn about the business.

Here are some idea starters:

• Who is responsible for input to your team? These people can help you learn how they create what you depend on. Understanding how they work can help you and your team work with them better. Consider what you can off them. Do they do something you never use? Can you offer a more straightforward solution to what they do?
  
  
• Who receives the product your team produces? These people can best be considered your customers, even if they are not the final customer of the product.  Learn how these teams process or use what you make. Understanding how they work can help you and your team optimize what you do to help them. Consider what you can offer them.  Knowledge about how your work is produced. A way to work differently to make their job easier?
  
  
• Who is in a role you are interested in? These people can help you understand the ins and outs of places you want to grow. Look for areas to focus on to improve your skills and create opportunities to take on new projects. Also, look for things you don’t like and should change directions about. Consider what you can offer them.  Is there work you can do for them? Can you make their job easier?

As you grow these relationships expand beyond them to the next layer of the business and beyond.

Nothing Left but To Do It!

This is probably the most challenging part. It's time actually to talk to some people.

When I first realized the importance of reaching out and talking to more people, I procrastinated. I overcame my block by scheduling time on my calendar that said, “Stand up and go talk to John!”.  When these times came up, I would swing by their desk and ask if they had time to answer some questions.  Over time, it became easier to chat with people, and I stopped needing the calendar reminders. My curiosity was enough to get me moving.

Here is my advice: "Cold call” them. You would be surprised at how willing people are to talk to you, especially when you ask about them and their work. People like to talk about what they do. If you take the first step and show up with a curious attitude, you will make progress.

Schedule a specific time to reach out. Walk to their desk, schedule a meeting, email them, or send a direct message. If you do not have their contact information, connect with them on a social network or ask another connection to introduce you. Offer to treat them to coffee, lunch, or drinks. You may find getting people to open up away from their desks is easier.

Here is where your planning comes in. When you reach out, share with them what you would like to learn and how you think they can help.

Wrapping it Up

Professional relationships can accelerate your career. Knowing more about the people and teams around work will improve your ability to collaborate and make decisions that support everyone’s goals. Knowing more about how the business runs will help put you in the right places at the right times to get you high-visibility projects and move you to the front of the line for promotions and career opportunities.

Get started by applying your curiosity to learn about the teams that support you and those you support. Start by specifically scheduling some time and cold-calling the people you can learn from. You will be surprised how many would happily share what they do with you.

Remember, build relationships before you need them. Then, when you need support, they will be more willing to help.

For some additional insight consider checking out this post for more ideas: One-on-ones with My Manager are Kind of Terrible

Also check out: Stop Managing Up and Start Showing Your Work

If you are looking for more help in improving your professional relationships, consider reaching out to me.