When people think about career development, they often focus on formal training, qualifications and experience. While these are all important, one of the most valuable investments you can make in your professional growth is networking. Networking is about much more than swapping contact details or adding connections on LinkedIn. It's an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with people in your line of work, learn from those with different experiences, and expand your perspective beyond your immediate role or company. As recruiters, we've seen first-hand the impact a strong professional network can have throughout someone's career. We've also seen the opposite. Many senior professionals leave networking until far too late, particularly those who remain with the same organisation for many years. Often, it's only after a redundancy, organisational restructure or unexpected job loss that they begin building connections outside their immediate workplace. By that point, they tend to realise that meaningful networks take time to build and wish they had started much earlier.
At Quinn Allan's recent networking event for HR and Procurement professionals, leadership and communication expert Sarah Hochholzer led an engaging and interactive discussion on a topic many leaders face throughout their careers: difficult conversations. Drawing on themes from her book Brave Talk, Bold Outcomes , Sarah explored why leaders often avoid challenging discussions and the impact this can have on individuals, teams and organisations. A key focus of the session was understanding the barriers that prevent people from having these conversations in the first place. Sarah highlighted several common challenges, including fear of conflict, fear of getting it wrong, fear of damaging relationships, and simply not knowing how to begin. While avoidance can feel like the easier option, Sarah discussed the potential consequences, including impacts on trust, accountability, performance, relationships and workplace culture.
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