The first step toward becoming a strategic networker is committing to a new networker identity.

Unfortunately, many people feel that their jobs or their personalities make networking either unnecessary or impossible. “I’m a doctor,” they say, “I don’t need to network!” Or, “I’m an introvert. Networking just isn’t part of my skill set.”

This kind of passive thinking is seriously outdated. The concept of networking has gradually shifted over the years within our changing environment.

Today’s workplace is becoming increasingly collaborative. Business today is much less about protecting your ideas or preserving your hard-earned position within the company hierarchy, and much more about spreading novel strategies and working with your colleagues, no matter how far up the totem pole they might be.

In this kind of collaborative environment, networking, the process of creating relationships that are beneficial for individual or organizational success, is vital.

Today, we have access to people all across the globe whose skills and knowledge complement our own. Whatever you do for work, there is a fair chance that there’s someone out there whose skills would be of great benefit to you. So if you are a doctor, for example, you could look for someone with experience in growing a business, and could help you expand your practice.

In this network-oriented world, everyone has a role to play; anyone can develop a networker identity, enabling himself to reap the multiple benefits of an interconnected world.

Introverts, for example, might feel that their personalities limit their abilities to network. However, they might also be adept planners and listeners – two qualities that are crucial for networking.

Clearly, networking has significant benefits in the modern workplace. The following blinks will show you how to develop the skills that will make you a strategic networker.