How to Build Your Internal Network on Purpose
Build a working internal network on purpose rather than by chance. Reach for this across your first two months, as you meet the people your work depends on.
Developing
Start here. Build the foundation.- 1
In your first two weeks, list the people whose work feeds yours or depends on it, across teams and not just your own, and order the list by who you will need soonest. A list ordered by title instead of by your actual work sends you to the wrong people first.
- 2
Send each person a short message and set up a 20-minute introduction before you need anything from them. Keep the first meeting about their work, not yours: what they own, what they are working toward, and where your work touches theirs.
Proficient
Build consistency and rhythm.- 3
After each meeting, note what the person owns and follow up within a week on one concrete thing. A relationship you make no second contact with is an introduction, not a connection.
- 4
When you can be useful to someone you have met, offer it without being asked: an answer, a document, an introduction. A network you only draw from stops giving, and the people who help you most are the ones you have helped.
Mastered
Operate at the highest level.- 5
When you notice two colleagues whose work should connect but who have not met, introduce them and say why they should talk. You stop being only a newcomer at the point you become the link other people get value from.
Common Pitfalls
Avoid the common failure modes.- You only know your own team because your list stopped at your reporting line. Add the people upstream and downstream of your work and meet them.
- You met everyone once and no one since. Note what each person owns and re-contact on something concrete.
- You only reach out when you need something. Offer help first, at least as often as you ask for it.