By Rebecca Fraser-Thill
Are you planting your carrot seeds early enough?
When it comes to professional relationships, are you like Curious George planting carrots?
My son was recently watching "The Perfect Carrot" episode of Curious George, in which George puts carrot seeds in the ground, goes to bed, and excitedly wakes up the next day to find his perfect carrots. There's nothing there, of course, but tilled earth. George is highly disappointed. The Man in the Yellow Hat shows him the instructions on the seed packet, which say it will take 66 days of tending to get the carrots to grow. 66 days?!
Many people who reach out to me for coaching begin like Curious George. They want to change jobs or careers, and soon. They know - or believe me when I say - that networking is the most effective way to get to a high-quality, excellent-fit role. So they send out a bunch of emails, hold a few informational interviews…and then act like I lied. Nothing is happening. Where are the carrots?!
“Effective” and “fast” are two different things.
Networking should be about building relationships.
Networking should be about building relationships. Not one-off interactions, but genuine, lasting, professional relationships. We seem to accept that, like gardening, friendships take time and energy to grow. But somehow we think that professional relationships will yield an instant return. Why is that? No wonder networking can feel "slimy" and transactional - or worse!
Instead we can seize on the lesson from Curious George. We can put the carrot seeds in the ground LONG before we're planning to use them in a salad. When we're perfectly content at work is the *exact* time to be building and deepening professional relationships. Once those relationships are an urgent need - because you can't stand your job, get laid off, or suddenly acquire a toxic boss - it's way (way) too late.
Carrot seeds take time to grow, Curious George. Plant 'em early.