Recently the collaborative side of networking was highlighted by a special event that I helped put on. As a Wellington Regional Director Consultant for BNI I helped organise what turned out to be a highly successful networking evening for BNI and Venus members. Venus Network is an organisation that focuses on connecting women in business throughout New Zealand.
I felt the chapters I was overseeing could do with more women members and reached out to someone in the Venus network to see if we could collaborate on a shared event. Knowing that we had a lot of trades represented in the four chapters I oversee, I thought Venus could be open to networking with businesses that don’t necessarily exist in their organisation. Turns out that they were very receptive to the idea and we decided to not only share an event, but also have two speakers (one from each networking organisation) collaborate on a presentation.
About 50 people, a 50 50 split of Venus members and members from the 4 chapters I look after, attended the evening event. We had around 45 minutes of open networking in a relaxed café environment with drinks and nibbles before the two speakers gave their presentation. It was on the theme of scarcity vs abundance with the idea being that businesses need to take the abundance approach and see collaboration as something that benefits all those that participate in it.
It’s an important idea because as other networking groups come into the marketplace it’s valuable for us at BNI to see them as collaborators rather than rivals. Another group will have its own niche and there is space for all sorts of groups in the community. In the case of BNI and Venus this event led to an expanding of networks and new referrals. Who knows, some of the Venus members may come to our meetings as visitors or even as substitute speakers.
I encourage other chapters to reach a hand out to other organisations that may be operating in your community. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce or another group would be open to collaborating with your chapter (or group of chapters) to put on an event. Be proactive, by positively working together we can all share in the growth and abundance that businesses can generate.
I firmly believe that by working together our organisation becomes stronger. That means not just collaborating with other groups, but also with other chapters. Events build belief. They present opportunities to connect with other businesspeople in an environment that is quite different to the usual weekly meetings.
Meeting at night in a café, for example, immediately puts people in a different (more relaxed) frame of mind. This can lead to different sorts of connections being created. Look for opportunities to connect with other chapters and build larger, stronger networks. Make sure that you reach out to different demographics too. If you are lacking female members or younger businesspeople, try to find out what those people are looking for and offer this. Diversity is power; you never know what sorts of synergies you have with different groups until you take the initiative and reach out to them.
Benn Milne, Wellington Regional Director Consultant for BNI
