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I ENJOY PLAYING GOLF with friends and colleagues, but my game never seems to improve. Like many, I’m busy with my career and other activities, so I don’t make it a point to practice and, when I do, it’s rarely with an instructor.
Instead, when I head to the driving range to hit balls, it’s without a clear notion of what aspect of my game I’m going to concentrate on. It’s a trial-and-error process that’s modestly helpful at best.
If you’re attempting to master any skill—sports, music, investing or your career—the key to improvement is deliberate practice. The concepts behind deliberate practice have been around for a long time, but the term itself was coined by psychologist Anders Ericsson and his coauthors for a 1993 paper that examined how people become experts.
Their idea: If you want to improve at something, you should break it down into smaller components and then focus on tangible goals within those components, with an eye to improving your overall ability over time. That’s deliberate practice.
This is different from the “10,000 hours of practice” made popular by author Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. It’s about how you practice, according to Ericsson and like-minded thinkers such as James Clear, author of the bestseller Atomic Habits.
One area where I’ve employed deliberate practice: networking. Deliberate practice ensures my networking isn’t haphazard. As I’ve written before, it’s not what you know or who you know. Rather, it’s who knows you. These folks are the advocates who will reach out to you with opportunities.
Such opportunities, whether they relate to work, hobbies, volunteering or retirement, can provide us with income, challenges, social engagement and our identity. These opportunities most often come from our network and our level of engagement with others.
I don’t consider myself an expert in networking. But I wanted to improve my chances of meeting people who might hold the key to interesting opportunities. That’s true now in my career, but I also wanted to be ready for later, when I decide to ramp down work and restructure my time. At that juncture, I’ll want to be considered for consulting and other assignments in both the corporate and philanthropic worlds.
Networking’s first lesson is that relationships aren’t about quantity. I don’t need 3,000 random LinkedIn connections. Might they help me someday? Perhaps, just as random trips to the driving range might bring about an incremental improvement in my golf game. Still, I’d be better served by having a smaller, focused group of active contacts.
Fo example, as an IT executive, I know several cybersecurity professionals I can ask for specific advice. If I have an active group of colleagues who are diverse in their roles, industries and job levels, I’ll always have someone to contact as that “first call for help” when I need advice or perspective. That’s a potential gold mine—people who are willing and able to help me achieve my goals.
One of the best ways to employ deliberate practice in creating a more effective network is to use a “relationship action plan.” The concept was introduced by Keith Ferrazzi in his excellent book Never Eat Alone. You list your goals in a column on the left and then break them down into the steps necessary to accomplish each goal.
For each step, note who could help you with the insights, perspective or advice needed to complete the task. Some people will be current contacts. Others will be people we don’t yet know—Ferrazzi calls them “aspirationals.” In some instances, we may not even have a name, simply a title like “digital marketing expert.” Your relationship action plan can help you clarify your goals, the steps you need to take to achieve each goal, and who can help you accomplish them.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading to the golf course to meet with my instructor. We’re going to focus on chipping around the green. He’s one of the best coaches for that component of the game. I found him through my network.
Dan McDermott is an information technology executive in Minneapolis. He and his wife Sarah split their time between Minnesota and Arizona. They have two grown children. Dan works hard to learn about cryptocurrency from his son and Instagram from his daughter. Going for a long, leisurely run is his precious thinking time. Check out Dan’s blog, as well as his earlier articles for HumbleDollar.
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Great post about networking. I too was a long term IT exec. I agree that a few well chosen colleagues are much better. I found that when people knew me, they would give me candid info about products, companies and so forth. The quality of information was far superior than a casual LinkedIn contact.
One golf tip. Spend more time chipping and putting than on your full swing. You will be amazed at the difference in your score.
Both are great observations – thanks Jerry!