Show me your social calendar, and I will tell you how successful you’ll be.
BOLD statement, but that’s the gist of what “measured by the six people closest to you” tries to accomplish. It’s a concept derived from six degrees of separation, and highlights how we are most influenced by those around us. Our engagement with them determines what we do, where we go, or our capability. It’s your social and professional bubble.
Not everyone has the same social level – depending on where you grew up, how engaged your family was, or what your family (generational wealth) did with their time can all impact the level of access you grew up with. BUT…
Professional association is a level maker, and it give us access to mentors, idols, leaders, and peers which opens doors to opportunities. Yet, outside of high school or maybe college, most professionals actively engage within their professional association outside of maybe a conference here and there.
Here’s why you need to change that…
What is a Professional Association?
A professional association is a group of individuals who share a common profession or field of study. These organizations are designed to support, connect, and promote their members with various resources, events, and opportunities.
Think of a professional association as a think-tank, and their job is to get the best people engaging in conversation, exchanging knowledge, and advocating to advance the industry. Your job/role in the association is to share your insights, ask questions, and participate to enrich the experience for everyone involved. That’s all!
Now, yes – there will be people seeking self-advancement and that is part of the game. But, if you start engaging early in your professional organization, when you’re ready for self-advancement – it’ll feel natural because you’re just talking with friends. But, if you’re only engaged in the association during self-advancement period, you’ll be seen as a one of those people.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, and focus on how to actually and meaningfully engage with your professional association:
1) Learning and Development
2) Engagement and Networking
3) Networking and Leadership
4) Leadership and Mentoring
5) Mentoring and Advocacy
Let’s break these down further…
Learning and Development
Being a lifelong learner is a sought-after characteristics for all employers. Companies want to hire people who are at the forefront of their industry and actively engages in learning opportunity to make more innovation, process and project improvement, teaching their colleagues, etc.
And one of the easiest resource for your continued learning and development are Professional associations. Often they’ll provide workshops, seminars, and courses tailored to enhance your skills and knowledge. These resources are invaluable for staying current in your field and gaining a competitive edge. Wouldn’t it be great to bring fresh ideas back to your workplace?
You could become the expert in your team, department, or the organization. Making yourself invaluable and helping you stay agile during economic uncertainty. Here’s how to maximize your learning:
- Set Goals: Having SMART (LINK) goals will help you and your manager/team learn what’s important, the progress you’ve made in elevating your knowledge and skills. Particularly important when it comes for promotion or leading a project. Identify specific skills or knowledge you want to develop, register for those programs and ask your lead if the company can pay for your professional development.
- Be Proactive: During the busy work schedule and projects, we push the external activities to the last minute, but being proactive will help you prioritize your development over work. This is what people in leadership always do – prioritize their development so they’re ahead of the curve. Set google alerts, or subscribe to newsletter from your professional association so you’re always aware and don’t lose out on opportunities to learn.
- Share Your Learning: Most important part for learning and development – sharing it with your team. If you learn in a vacuum No ONE will know what you’ve learned and how it’ll translate into team, department, and organizational success. Discuss what you’ve learned with colleagues and your network to reinforce your understanding and gain new perspectives.
Engagement and Networking
I wanted to speak about this first, but networking can be intimidating and it can feel overwhelming for many of us, myself included. But, going into a professional association with a mindset of “I’m here to learn” can minimize the fatigue to engage and have immediate results as you learn about a topic of interest.
As you’re learning, try to be an active learner – ask questions, share your perspective, listen to your peers, and start conversations to deepen your learning. The primary goal is to engage with your peers and start engagement, because once you start this process networking will come without active effort. During these conversations, people will exchange contact information, join each other’s LinkedIn, schedule coffee chats, etc. because you are both on the same level – growing in your profession.
Networking is not just about exchanging business cards; it’s about building meaningful relationships. These connections can lead to collaborations, mentorship, and even job opportunities. When you’re going beyond engaging in a structured environment to networking, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Be Genuine: Approach networking with authenticity. People appreciate sincerity and are more likely to remember genuine interactions. Remember, you’re there to learn and engage and when building your network find opportunities to share your professional challenges and ask how they might resolve the challenge – or share your success in how you’re applying the knowledge learned.
- Follow Up: This is where most of us fall short – we don’t follow up. We’ve connected, but then what? Should you or they follow up? What is the process? There isn’t a process, it’s not like dating – just send a follow up communication addressing where you’ve met, what you discussed, and ask for a 1:1 chat (coffee, lunch, etc.). Keeping these connections means investing yourself in your newest relationship.
- Offer Help: Networking is a two-way street – don’t just ask for help offer it more than you ask. Your insights are valuable, your perspectives can add to the conversation and create a rich engagement. Offer your expertise or assistance to others, and you’ll find that support often comes back around.
Learn more about professional networking (LINK)
Networking and Leadership
As you continue your engagement with your chosen professional association, you’ll become a part of the community, people will be seeking your presence and you’ll be the magnet that attracts people. Networking becomes easier (almost second nature) and you’ll be see as more of an expert. This can take anywhere between 3 months to 10 years, all depends on your engagement level in the previous stages.
As you become popular in your professional association, you’ll be given opportunities to engage in leading learning and development workshops/events, leading in seminars, guest speaker, etc.
Say “YES!” when you’re given an opportunity because people see the value you’ve added to the association and it’s members. As you build up your credibility through engagement and building your name in the association, you’ll be asked for more engagement.
When possible jump into those roles, because it’ll develop additional leadership qualities, plus you’ll be surrounded by supportive community of professionals that want to see you succeed in your organization and within the professional association.
Additionally, professional associations often offer leadership training and roles within the organization. Taking on a leadership position, such as a committee chair or board member, can provide hands-on experience in guiding teams and projects. Here are a few ways to make a strong impression:
- Volunteer for Roles and Activities: Say “Yes” – don’t hesitate to step up and volunteer. It’s a safe space to learn, meet people, grow your leadership skills, and much more. The impression you make here isn’t tied to your promotions or organizational development – you can learn to make mistakes and have teachable moments as you are supported by your professional community.
- Seek Feedback: Once you start volunteering, you’ll be exposed to connections outside of your employer, and you can leverage your new relationships to ask for constructive feedback. They’ll be open to share feedback without expectations and you can return the favor for a full 360° feedback loop. This is how you level up, and level up quickly – but don’t be over eager to get these feedback – you have to put in more than you get out.
- Mentor Others: As you become a regular and senior in your professional association, take time to mentor others – sharing your experiences and knowledge with others can reinforce your leadership abilities and inspire those you mentor. You’ll pave the way for the next generation of leaders within your profession.
Leadership and Mentoring
You’re a natural leader, and as you’ve built out your professional network and started saying “yes’ to opportunities you’ll be seen as someone to know and someone to follow. The early opportunities to saying YES will lead you to learn and take supportive and strategic steps towards building your credibility, become a sought-out contact for younger professionals.
Building your leadership skills is just like building any skill – focus on the knowledge gap, participate in learning opportunities, and then apply your skills in a safe environment. This is when you start separating yourself from others in your peer group – the way you create a safe environment will make you a leader, with or without the position title. When people look up to you, you’ll have their buy-in and encouragement to lead them.
Those people under your leadership can become your mentees who are eager to learn, make an impact and seek your guidance for how to navigate their career and engagement in the professional world. Support them – and help them recognize the power of professional community. Here are a few ways to ensure powerful mentorship experience:
- Select your mentees: One of the biggest advantage you have is to select who you want to mentor. You can support a large group through seminars and 1:1 chats, but a mentor-mentee relationship is constant engagement, not one off conversations. Selecting your mentee will help you stay accountable and have them be accountable in owning what they want to get out of the relationship.
- Provide challenges: Be the guide you needed when you were at their stage – not the process – because they change – but the mental and emotional support you needed. Provide healthy challenges that help them build their mental and emotional agility so they can learn to address their personal gaps while being there to support, ask and answer questions, so they feel psychologically safe and supported.
- Be involved: Too many mentor-mentee relationships end because involvement dissolves. This is natural but if there is something you believe in talk about how there will be seasons in the mentor-mentee relationship and the importance of starting involved, even if it’s a “happy birthday” message.
Mentoring and Advocacy
A good mentor will always seek to make the path easier for their mentee. But, it’s not an one-sided road of support. It professional association, there are many that will want your engagement, and to support everyone means to support no one. Selecting your mentor is important – but ensure it aligns with your priorities.
This is where things get more interesting. How do you impact those beyond your professional association? The community at large? The state? The laws and policy?
This is the last level of professional association of engagement. How do you make the world a better place?
You advocate for the gaps that are harming the industry and people, and engage in conversations to minimize the gap so the next generation of leaders will have an easier time building up their career success. Joining the collective voice of the industry means engagement in a national and even international platform to advocate for the members and influence policy.
Thankfully, you’ve done this already. You started your professional association journey by Learning and Development and climbed through the different staged – Advocacy is only at a different platform. Follow the process outlined above and start learning, engaging, networking, leading, and advocating. Here’s a few distinctions:
- Stay Informed: Understand the key issues affecting your industry and how your association is addressing them. You’ve done this already – understand your gaps and start learning about how to so you can continue contributing to the discussion and support your community.
- Join Committees: Participate in committees focused on advocacy to contribute your ideas and expertise. Finding your niche will be important – don’t try to change everything, but specialize on 1-2 key issues and become the expert in solving those challenges.
- Engage with Policymakers: Take part in meetings or events with policymakers to voice your opinions and experiences. You have influence – use it to support your profession and lead towards policy change.
Seeking support
Professional Associations are a powerful engine that’ll propel your career beyond, but very few people actively engage in this world – this levels the playing ground for so many that come with lower-resourced background. This is a platform that can help anyone who authentically engages in their professional development.
It’ll help you build skills and knowledge, offer a community for engagement and collaboration, help you develop your leadership skills, and so much more. Mostly we think about these organizations during high school or college, and we spend more of our early and mid-career forgetting about this crucial resource when it comes towards career development. I know, because I was there.
As soon as I resumed working with my professional associations, my career and credibility skyrocketed.
Let’s talk about how you can make the most out of your professional organization and get to the next stage/s of your career. Schedule a consultation to discuss your career potential.
