Three reasons why coaches make natural networkers, and can help their clients too

The successful coaches I meet normally fall into one of two categories: 1) they have found their clients through a network built earlier in their career, or 2) they’ve steadily created a new network through trial and error. For the latter group, this often takes real persistence and grit.

Like many of our clients, the coaches who find networking effortless are outnumbered by those for whom it can feel hard. This was clear in our latest Coaching Reading meeting, where many of our coaches shared what they find awkward or even dread about networking (walking into that busy conference hall, for one).

We discussed three important factors that mean good coaches can be natural networkers. By tapping into their coaching skills they can create new connections for their business, as well as support individual clients keen to extend their own networks.

Those three factors are:

1) Like coaching, networking is all about the questions we ask
Creating a meaningful connection with someone new can happen much faster than we think, if we share something that matters. In Supercommunicators Charles Duhigg shows us how we can shift from making small talk to a deeper conversation purely by refocusing our ice breaker questions. It’s not about gathering facts, but about finding out in more depth who it is we’re talking to. Put at its simplest, this means instead of asking someone what they do for a living, we get curious about what they might love most about their work.

2) Creating a connection also depends on the way that we listen
When we approach our networking conversations with genuine curiosity and a desire to learn more, we become better listeners. And when we listen, we also need to demonstrate this, by reflecting back what we have heard or appreciated (another core coaching skill).

3) Developing our networks is about how we respond
Once a meaningful connection is created, it becomes much easier to identify ways two people who have just met might can help each other out. As coaches, we’re naturally motivated by a desire to help people and therefore to follow-up. For my clients seriously focused on widening their networks, I often recommend Susan McPherson’s Lost Art of Connecting for some great practical advice to build on the connections they make.

I love working with people who want to develop their professional or personal networks. We stand back from their more immediate and transactional objectives to explore how these objectives relate to their deeper goals around learning and connection. I consistently find this builds the motivation and confidence they need to take that leap. It also opens their eyes to untapped connections they’ve been overlooking. And as someone who is continually learning about both the fun and the fear involved in networking, I support them in planning their next step with empathy and understanding.

We know from research that the better we are at building our networks, the more we thrive. There’s also a link between the diversity of our social connections and how happy we feel day to day.

Coaching Reading brings together a mix of people from different backgrounds who have come to coaching via many different routes. By connecting with and learning from each other, we’ve been finding we’re better placed to help our clients connect and learn too.