Don't Isolate Yourself, Nurture Your Network!

Vinca Minor ground cover in my yard

I had the good fortune to participate in a Zoom meeting hosted by the Central VA Chapter of CSI on Thursday evening that was focused towards young professionals. I am not a young professional but I'm one of the presenters for the May meeting and Thursday was the first of the series, so I wanted to see how it goes. It was an amazing experience with over 30 participants from across Central VA, NYC, Chicago and other areas of the country. 

One thing that came up several times was trying to connect about job opportunities. One participant was interested in moving away from his current permit expediting business and get back into the design professions. One was a student about to graduate and was looking for work in a development and design-build company. Another was doing contract design work and looking for more opportunities. This left me thinking of my own network and its strength in the time of isolation. 

Then, on Friday, I had two separate colleagues call me. One was interested in discussing a business opportunity and the other just wanted to check in and bounce some thoughts from his business off of me. It was great to catch up with both and in addition to the original point of the call, we also discussed our health, coping mechanisms and how the AEC community and economy is doing in our areas. Chatting with those two friends has caused me to realize that I need to catch up with more friends and colleagues to make sure I maintain and even strengthen my personal network. 

Since Thursday night, two of the folks on that Zoom have reached out to me, not directly looking for work, but to learn more about me and our firm and gain some insights on how to pursue their career goals. One of those, the student interested in development and design-build, I referred to a former colleague who now works for an architecture firm that is also doing some development work. It was nice to receive an email from the former colleague after the referral. He thanked me and then was just checking in on me and my family. 

Business is primarily about relationships, especially in the design professions. We sell our expertise and our time but our design and construction phases are highly collaborative and we work very closely with our clients, consultants and building partners. I can tell you from experience that when a team doesn't gel or when one or more players are not collaborative or are not trustworthy, design and construction can be a painful experience. I don't go to work each day for that level of pain. I want to work with clients, consultants and building partners that work collaboratively as I do, protecting each other, sharing the risks and sharing the rewards. 

Pink Dogwood in my neighborhood

Starting tomorrow, I intend to reach out to one person in my network each day. Someone that I haven't spoken with in a while. I plan to just say hello, hope you are well and that I'm missing our interactions. It might lead to something, it might lead to nothing more than a simple exchange that reminds us we are all in this together, feeling the same things, sharing the same troubles and working to come out stronger on the other side.