How to build an effective network

London Alumni Coordinator Jatinder Singh (Industrial Economics 2000) is an experienced mentor and coach with Lighthouse International Group. Here he shares his tips on building effective business networks and describes a novel initiative that harnesses sport to help build business contacts while making a difference to society.

Most people will know how fundamentally important it is to make sure they have the right network around them to become successful. You may have heard expressions like, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” or indeed the Jim Rohn quote, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

However building a trusted network rather than a big contact list on your phone is a lot easier said than done though, right? When so many of us are busy moving from one thing to the next, how can we actually go about building, growing and maintaining a really strong, powerful, lively network of people to help us achieve what we want in life, business, or in our careers?

Networks are critical to the success of anyone that has achieved anything meaningful, yet if you don’t already know the right people it can seem like a struggle to build the relationships needed to get that dream job, raise that funding for a business or indeed knowing you have people around to help you in times of adversity.

In my experience there are three principles or fundamentals that need to be followed in order to build such a network.

Finding people with the right attitude and character

Don’t be exposed to people who are negative and have the potential to bring you down emotionally, regardless of how their positions and skills can help you. It’s important that we invest time deliberately thinking about the types of people we want to spend time with and also those we don't want to. In this way, we can build a network by design and not by default. This can be an area we can easily compromise on! When you bring together good people, this will create an exponentially positive experience for everyone.

Adding value to your connections

Give before you receive. If you give before you take and help those in your network, then you build trust-filled quality relationships. You’ll find those relationships will give back to you many times over, like any investment. 

Developing emotional intelligence

Actively look to build a diverse network and include people with different, professions, skills, interests and behaviours. The more we understand people (including ourselves!) through developing our emotional intelligence, the more we are able to make everyone in our company feel comfortable and at ease.

I am currently involved in a really fantastic initiative called Sports 4 Water which is a monthly 5 a-side Football and Dodgeball tournament where people can meet and build their networks with other Nottingham alumni and business contacts while getting some exercise, having fun and making a difference. The idea is to bring people together to create new contacts and opportunities but all the profits go towards helping kids around the world get access to clean water as part of the Clean Water Campaign.

Around 150 people took part in the event held in February. Participant and Nottingham alumnus Ben Lewell (Computer Science and Management 2012) said: "Awesome evening. A great way to have a run around and then have a few drinks with some really positive people that I definitely wouldn't meet normally."

Click here to see a video of the last event

More information about the next Sports 4 Water Networking Event 21st April, London