Calling All Managers: Tips For Building Your Network

The job of a manager can be daunting – all eyes look to you when the project when benchmarks aren’t met, and staffing and resource shortages can be hard to reconcile.

The good news is that you’re not alone. Social media provides more productivity-driven platforms than ever before, allowing like-minded, occupationally-similar individuals to exchange best practices, share war stories and discuss the ever-changing responsibilities so commonly associated with management.

If you’re not on LinkedIn already, take a few minutes and sign up. The opportunities to network, learn from and generate discussions and industry conversations are as endless as the increasing number of registered users. In fact, as of mid-October, the social networking Web site reached 50 million professionals worldwide.

Still not convinced? LinkedIn has dozens of groups tailored at any given industry. In our case, check out the Project Manager Networking Group, the largest group for project managers, consisting of more than 76,500 people. The group encourages members to connect with alumni, friends and colleagues to discuss PM methodology and provides information about certifications, classes, training and even PM jobs.

The Project Manager Alliance group consists of more than 8,000 people, but still focuses on addressing priority issues with a strong community of project management professionals, business stakeholders and advocates of the project management profession. Smaller groups, such as the Project Management Institute, provide focused and valuable insight for PMs to expand their network and share ideas and best practices.

Groups such as these are valuable, and better yet, free. As a member, you can have a daily digest of the group’s discussions sent to your email. You can also submit discussions, propose questions to the entire group or even post a survey to acquire group feedback.

The LinkedIn blog even offers advice on best practices, including tips ranging from effective personal branding to utilizing LinkedIn from your smartphone. Feel free to do a quick internet search, and you’ll find tips about how not to use the site as well, such as Mediabistro.com’s “Rock Your LinkedIn (And What Not To Do).”

So get involved! We’d love to hear what experience you’ve had with LinkedIn or any other professional networking tool. What groups do you belong to and what tools have you found to be most productive? Let us know in the comments.

Photo Credit: LinkedIn