Day 9 – 30 Days of Networking: How to Choose Your Networking Tribes

Welcome to Day 9 of 30 Days of Networking: How to Choose Your Networking Tribes.

Tribes are a lot like networks.  They are groups of people with similar interests, a shared passion for a cause, event, body of work.

When it comes to business networking it’s important to choose your Tribes consciously, taking into account your interests, goals and availability.

You probably belong to a number of tribes, and like, me, have a different role in each tribe.

For example:

• Within the Australian Businesswomen’s Network I play the role of leader.
• In the Crossfit Community (Crossfit is a strength and conditioning fitness methodology) I am, very much, a follower.
• As an advocate for businesswomen I play both leader (through our herVoice advocacy initiative) and follower – by taking part in national discussions on how legislation impacts small business e.g. at the recent Small Business Summit in Melbourne)

Obviously I am part of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and recommend that you also participate if you’re a business women who wants to increase your reach, learn new skills and connect with like-minded women.

I recently joined two Facebook groups to extend my network.

The first is Twitter Power for Business (a group formed by Twitter Power author @joelcomm) and Women 2.0 (for women who are working in social media). I’m new to both groups and not yet an active player (more a voyeur).

My goals for joining:

- to extend my network in two areas that I’m passionate about

- to stay abreast of conversations in these areas of interest

- to meet others who are part of these tribes

Like many, I don’t have a lot of time to attend lunches, breakfasts etc, so I make a point of being very selective about where I network. I do a lot of it online, and you can too through Twitter (and this 30 Day event), Facebook and LinkedIn and of course through attending webinars. The key is to find the tribes that you want to be a part of. (Oh, if you haven’t yet joined the ABN’s Facebook page and hooked up with other women in business, here’s a link to it here.)

TODAY’S TASK

- Choose a tribe to join (check both Facebook and LinkedIn Groups for tribes relevant to your goals)

- Start a tribe (Ok… that’ s not fair. I know that’s a big task to ask you to take on… so below is a tip)

- Tell us your new tribe and why you joined them (either here on this post or on Twitter)

- Tweet something

Have fun.

Suzi

** I’m very passionate about leadership and both excited and daunted each time I step up to take on my leadership roles more fully. If you haven’t yet seen Seth Godin’s presentation at the TED conference, here’s a link to it.  I’ve watched it many times and still feel excited at the challenge he presents.

This month at the ABN our focus is on leadership. Our newsletter will feature lots of tips and strategies (so subscribe if you’re not yet a subscriber) and our webinars are both for those new to leadership and those who are stepping-up their leadership. I hope you’ll take part in these initiatives.