Not everyone finds networking easy, but it is a vital pillar to building a career. It supports leadership development and career progression, yet too often women bury themselves in their work and forget to look up and check-in on their network. Contacts can quickly dry up or stop being current, making it difficult to approach people when you most need them. Regularly pinging a hello or gabbing a coffee ensures women can naturally and easily tap into new opportunities.
Rather than view networking as daunting, women would benefit from viewing it as a series of curious conversations. It’s an opportunity to meet people and let them talk about themselves, leaving a positive impression of themselves as a good listener. Networking helps women find mentors and sponsors whom they wish to talk about them in rooms that they are not in. It is also a chance to meet people that do what they do in other organisations.
The opportunity to glean Madeline McQueen’s inspiring and step-by-step approach to networking as well as network with some 150 women in leadership roles are just some of the many benefits of attending this June’s Brilliance Summit.
The one-day event aims to help women elevate their career and unlock their growth and potential in a unique space characterised by sisterhood rather than race, culture or identity. “Women are often pitched against each other, but at the Brilliance Summit we learn and develop, grow and connect and gain actionable insights,” she says.
From a how-to guide to networking to batting away imposter syndrome or key steps to career progression, the idea that attendees leave with new tools they can put to work straight away is central to the Summit.
In its second year, McQueen expects to attract attendance from Heads of-, C-Suite and Director level as well as emerging Leaders and Team Leaders, describing every session as overflowing with good energy and fun. “It is done our way – it is not stuffy,” she says. “So many of us are sitting on brilliance but we can’t see our own shine. We want women to see and feel that brilliance that is already within them.”
Other Brilliance Summit themes will include emphasising the importance of strategic thinking. “Strategic thinking allows us to really process what needs to be done and how to do it,” she says. As for actionable insights, she counsels on the importance of delegation to free up the time required to think strategically. That involves resources and skills and making sure that the right people are sitting in the right places to lend support. “Ask yourself if this is the best team to get you where you need to be,” she advises. “Get the right people to support you. You need people.”
She also links the ability to think strategically to the importance of women concentrating on their own jobs to truly elevate their careers. “Many women have a tendency to do other people’s roles as well as their own with no additional pay or recognition” she says.
Panel sessions will also hone-in on the most important things every woman in leadership should know, as well as strategies to help women embrace their power and possibilities. For example, McQueen believes that for women in leadership roles, understanding the business at large is a game-changer to career elevation.
Clear communication is another must-have, she concludes. “It’s about clearly asking for what we want and not waiting to be offered it. We need to be clear about our career direction and vocal about our impact. We don’t want to boast, but just thinking ‘if I work hard, they will acknowledge me’, doesn’t really work.”
For more information and to register see https://thebrilliancesummit.com
