Building a Strong Professional Network: Why It’s Essential and How to Get Started
By Sophie Makonnen
You’ve likely heard someone say how valuable networking is for visibility, career growth, or finding the next opportunity. And they’re right: strong professional relationships open doors, create space for collaboration, and offer insights that help you move forward.
These days, we often associate networking with social media. Platforms like LinkedIn have expanded our reach, making it easier to connect with many people at once. But while the tools have evolved, the foundation hasn’t changed. Still, networking can carry emotional weight. For many professionals, especially in systems shaped by hierarchy or constant transition, reaching out can feel awkward, performative, or exhausting. That’s why it’s worth redefining networking not as self-promotion, but as relationship-building grounded in generosity, shared purpose, and mutual respect.
At its core, networking is still about connection and trust. It’s built through shared effort over time, across projects, sometimes over coffee or a casual message. It’s about relationships that support not just your career but also your confidence and growth.
In a world that often rewards urgency and visibility, networking remains a long game. This isn’t about selling yourself. It’s about staying connected in ways that feel real, relevant, and sustainable, especially in roles where change is the norm.
Reframing Networking
Despite how essential networking is, many hesitate when they hear the word. It can bring unease, especially for those who aren’t naturally outgoing. Networking can feel transactional, performative, or like something you're supposed to “do” rather than something you can genuinely build. If that’s your reaction, you’re not alone and are not wrong to question it. But maybe the issue isn’t networking itself. Maybe it’s the version of networking you have in mind. Networking isn’t about self-promotion, constant visibility, or collecting contacts. It’s about building professional relationships, grounded in shared purpose, mutual respect, and meaningful exchange over time. It might start with a conversation after a panel or a message on LinkedIn, but what makes it work is consistency and care.
Strong and Weak Ties
Your network isn’t limited to close colleagues, friends, or family. Sociologist Mark Granovetter’s research highlights the importance of "weak ties" those lighter connections with acquaintances, former colleagues, or people you interact with less frequently. While they may not be part of your inner circle, weak ties often provide access to perspectives, information, and opportunities your closest circle doesn’t have visibility on.
But to really understand the structure of a strong professional network, it helps to think beyond a binary of “strong” or “weak.” Anthropologist Robin Dunbar’s research suggests that humans naturally maintain social relationships in layers, each with its own rhythm and level of emotional closeness. It’s not a matter of preference, it’s how our brains and bandwidth tend to work.
In a professional context, these layers might look something like this:
Core circle (5–15 people): Your closest colleagues, trusted friends, or family—the people you turn to regularly for insight, support, or clarity.
Close circle (around 50): People you’ve worked with directly or meaningfully. You know each other’s work, and there’s mutual familiarity and trust.
Extended network (up to 150+): This is where weak ties live: acquaintances, past collaborators, or contacts from shared spaces.
Image: Dunbar's Number by Tobias Klein Gunnewiek, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Each layer matters. Strong ties offer depth, trust, and support. Weak ties provide breadth, new insight, and connections that stretch beyond your immediate sphere. From personal experience, I’ve found that people tend to move between the 50 and 150 layers, depending on life and work circumstances. It’s much less common for someone to shift in or out of the 5–15—that core group usually holds steady, even if contact becomes less frequent.
Pillars of Networking
Networking isn’t about numbers. It’s not about collecting contacts or boosting visibility for its own sake. At its best, it’s about building relationships that feel mutual, grounded, and worth sustaining over time.
Here are three practices that make the difference:
Quality Over Quantity: Networking is about finding people who resonate with you, fellow travellers (colleagues, peers, allies) on a shared journey, whether personal or professional. It’s about identifying those with whom you can build something meaningful, where the relationship is mutually enriching and built on trust and respect.
Reciprocity Matters: Authentic networking involves mutual support, not just seeking favours. Look for ways to add value, sharing helpful resources, amplifying someone’s work, or lending your expertise. And remember, you bring value to the relationship, too. You have something to contribute.
Respect Boundaries: Thoughtful communication builds trust and fosters long-term relationships. That means being mindful of people’s time, capacity, and communication preferences. Not every connection needs constant engagement. Respectful pauses, clear asks, and thoughtful follow-ups help relationships stay balanced and rooted in mutual care, not pressure.
By focusing on quality, practicing reciprocity, and respecting boundaries, networking becomes more than an exchange of information; it becomes a way to cultivate a network of meaningful, lasting connections.
Networking in International and Social Impact Work
Networking in international and social impact work is shaped by a complex and constantly evolving web of relationships among governments, international organizations, civil society groups, community-based partners, donors, and technical specialists. Navigating these spaces requires not just subject-matter expertise but also the ability to build trust, adapt quickly, and communicate across lines of power, culture, and role. Professionals in this field often move between roles, institutions, and countries. Short-term contracts, rotating assignments, project-based funding, and career shifts are part of the landscape.
This movement brings both opportunity and strain. Rebuilding your network every few years can lead to “networking fatigue,” the quiet exhaustion of re-establishing trust, visibility, and relationships in each new context. But when approached with intention, these transitions can also strengthen continuity, deepen cross-sector ties, and keep you connected to emerging ideas and opportunities. For staff who remain in place, whether national staff, long-term personnel, or those embedded in local systems, the experience is different but no less demanding. They often carry the institutional memory and relational continuity of a program or organization while adapting to a revolving door of colleagues, shifting expectations, and new power dynamics. This creates a different kind of labor: the ongoing effort to sustain connection and coherence across cycles of transition.
In this kind of work, staying connected means more than networking for visibility it calls for cultural awareness, humility, and adaptability. Understanding local dynamics, communication norms, and the unspoken rules of engagement is essential, particularly in cross-cultural or multilingual environments.
While frequent moves and system shifts bring real challenges, they also offer perspective. Over time, they can help you build a resilient network that holds value across borders, roles, and phases of your career. What starts as a working connection can grow into a long-term relationship rooted in shared experience, mutual respect, and trust.
How to Build Your Network: Actionable Tips
Strengthen Your Online Presence:
Leverage social media platforms like LinkedIn to connect with peers, join interest groups, and share your work or insights. A thoughtful online presence helps you stay visible, relevant, and engaged in your field.Adapt to the Hybrid World:
Virtual networking has become essential due to its global reach and post-pandemic realities. Participate in webinars, virtual conferences, and online discussions to maintain and grow your network, regardless of location.Be Intentional About Staying in Touch:
Consistency matters. Follow up with people you meet, send notes of appreciation, share articles or resources that might interest them, or simply check in. Heidi Roizen calls this practice the "aggressive hour", setting aside one hour daily for intentional outreach. Use this time for purposeful outreach rather than responding to daily demands. Setting time aside ensures that networking becomes a proactive investment in your professional growth rather than a task you squeeze in "when you have time." It's not about volume and more about showing up regularly in small but meaningful ways.If you work in an international organization, being intentional is even more crucial due to the frequent transitions, shifting teams and relocations that come with the job.
Be Patient:
Building authentic, meaningful relationships takes time and trust. Avoid transactional interactions, focus instead on mutual understanding and shared goals. As Karen Wickre explains in her book Taking the Work Out of Networking, even 10 minutes a day spent sending casual “hellos” can make a lasting impact. Consistency and care matter more than timing. Reach out long before you need anything. A simple message following up on a presentation, an article, or a shared conversation can keep a connection alive: Building authentic, meaningful relationships takes time and trust. Avoid transactional interactions, focus instead on mutual understanding and shared goals.Engage Beyond Work
Expand your network by attending conferences, local events, or cross-sector discussions where conversations feel more relaxed. Volunteering or joining professional associations can also help you build connections organically with people who share your values and interests.
Networking isn’t about visibility for its own sake; it’s about staying in relationships. Whether online or in person, whether close or distant, the most meaningful connections are the ones you nurture with care, not urgency. Over time, those small efforts become the foundation of a network that supports not just your career but your sense of purpose and belonging within it.
Think of your network less as a contact list and more as a layered ecosystem. The strength of your network isn’t just in closeness, but in diversity and reach.
Put yourself out there. Send the email or the text message. The worst that can happen is nothing, and you can simply move on.
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