Building Professional Relationships: The Key to a Successful MBA Journey
The art of building meaningful professional relationships is not just a mundane checklist item on your MBA journey; it's an invaluable skill set that can offer a significant return on investment. The ability to create, maintain and nurture relationships with diverse professional contacts starts from shared experiences and common interests. Networking events, collaborative projects, seminars, or even casual coffee chats can all facilitate these interactions.
Building Professional Relationships
Laying the foundation for these relationships can often start with a simple handshake at a networking event, or a thoughtful comment during a group discussion. Remember, first impressions count. Be memorable, charismatic, and genuine. Check out 10 questions to ask when networking
Also, it's important to remember that these connections are a two-way street. As much as you're looking to derive value from these relationships, you should also seek opportunities to provide value. Be proactive. Share resources, knowledge, or insights that could be beneficial.
Maintaining Professional Relationships
Maintaining professional relationships takes effort and commitment, but it pays dividends in both advancing opportunities and contributing to your overall happiness and success in life. Check out this Harvard study on relationships and happiness. If you imagine your network as a garden, it'd be filled with a variety of plants, each requiring a different level of nurturing and attention before they bear fruit.
Staying in touch is key to keeping your connections “watered”. Topics don't always have to be about work or your MBA. Connect on a personal level too. Remembering details about the people in your network goes a long way in deepening your relationship. Reached a milestone in your personal life? Share it. Aim to develop and maintain a strong bond over time. Check out the top 5 do’s and don’ts for MBA networking.
Leveraging Professional Relationships for Career Growth
These relationships are not simply for show. Once appropriately nurtured, they can be a rich source of career growth and advancement opportunities. Check out how to follow up with your professional contacts after a networking event.
Utilizing relationships for your career growth revolves around visibility and credibility. The more professionals who know about your skills, achievements, and ambitions, the greater the chance of accessing more opportunities.
Professional relationships can also serve as an influential lever for negotiating higher positions or better compensation. Your professional contacts can offer personalized recommendations, which can add immense value during job interviews or promotional assessments. (HBR: 15 Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer)
Building professional relationships is integral to the success of an MBA journey. It's a fine art that requires constant attention and nurturing but when done rightly, can result in a multitude of career opportunities and advancements.
Network with Confidence
You're now well equipped with a roadmap to build & leverage professional relationships, providing you with a powerful springboard to vault into the myriad opportunities awaiting in your MBA journey.
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⭐️ Contact management
⭐️ Digital business card
⭐️ Automated reminders
⭐️ Custom fields
⭐️ Contact groups
⭐️ Better relationships
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