My career coach recently told me, “Networking is just building community.” The idea of “Networking”: my introvert self standing in a room, drink in my hand (often ice water!), mingling and talking to strangers for hours is exhausting.
But the idea of building a community? That I can do.
Her statement got me thinking about community this month, which is a critical piece of succeeding as a solopreneur and working in an office by myself, and is really a critical piece of any career.
I thought about NAWBO, where I find community with other women business owners in all different industries and all different career stages.
I thought about going on hikes with the Wander Women, a group local to Des Moines who reminds me to get outside (and to occasionally “touch grass” in all meanings of that phrase!).
I even thought about attending a concert this month for Reverend Doctor in my hometown. They are someone I went to school with, try to support any way I can, and are definitely part of my community.
And of course, I picked my daughter up from Clearwater Camp, one of my oldest and most closely held communities that I now share with her. Sometimes we pass on our communities to our children as part of starting them well in life.
I used to think I was bad at networking. Bad at building community. Now I think I’m pretty good at it. Far from perfect, but I definitely have people I can lean on for advice, for introductions, for referrals, and simply to talk to.
That’s really what community is: People. Simple and beautiful. Human.
As I think about the communities I’ve joined, built, or orbited, I think about how they’ve shaped me. Each of my clients is a community. The e-auction and procurement teams I’ve coached are communities. All of those amazing people are part of my network.
Now that I am staring at the back end of summer, I’m getting reflective on the communities I’m part of and how I can serve each of them. Can I help them build their strategic sourcing programs? Be a listening ear? Offer wisdom and prevent some of my same mistakes? Improve processes, documentation, and organization? (Because I can’t help it, I do that constantly in every part of my life. Ask my kids.)
When I can serve those in my network, they ultimately serve me. But serving me is never the goal.
The goal is community.
I will continue to build my community and I’m grateful you’re part of it.
-Janice
This is a monthly series on a more personal note. If you’re more interested in the denser, supply chain articles, here’s a few from this last month:
Don’t Waste the Procurement Summer Slowdown
-Thoughts on how to use the quieter summer time to catapult you into a less frantic fall
The Art of Finding Great Suppliers
-Getting started on supplier qualification, especially if you’ve been tasked with re-sourcing from certain parts of the world
Skip the RFX? Sometimes You Should
-Crash course on straight-to-auction, including super clear guidelines on when to do it
If you’d like to talk about your team, procurement, e-auctions, or anything else, let’s chat. If you’d like to get these articles weekly straight to your inbox and never miss one, sign up for my newsletter.
My book, Transform Procurement: The Value of E-auctions is available in ebook, paperback and even hardcover format: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F79T6F25
My chapter in the powerful anthology Femme Led: Hard-Learned Lessons from Women in Leadership is now available in ebook and paperback format: https://a.co/d/0bOzma8F
