Um Hello everyone. Uh My name is Pritina Rajan. I am an entrepreneur and experienced product leader. I'm also a technical in technical program management uh in an organization called commercial Software Engineering in Microsoft. Today, I'm here to present about uh how to make your network work.

Uh When I joined Microsoft a couple of years ago, um It was a midpoint in my career and I wanted to um establish myself quickly in the organization in order to grow over the years. Uh Over the months. Actually, um I realized a lot of people reached out to me and asked, hey, you are in so many initiatives, so many work streams and a lot of people seem to know you, how did you do that? And also I've heard people reaching out to me and asking like I never thought you were just here for two years. It seems like you've been here forever. So these kind of comments made me realize that uh there are things that I did with my networking that may help um other people. So I published a linkedin article which was very well received as well. So I thought I will take a moment to share how I went about networking in a new organization. Um And hopefully some of you find that useful with that. Um I'll get started. OK. We'll go through a few steps of, um, the first step is why I wanted to network and how I made that decision. And then we'll go through the various steps I took and then we'll talk about a few post connection, uh, you know, options or paths.

Uh I took, the very first thing you wanna do is um internalize why networking is important to you as an individual in any organization. As you know, when you have people with diverse perspectives, the organization really thrives similarly, when you, as an individual surround yourself with people with diverse perspectives, I think you grow now, which aspect of yourself you want to grow in is completely up to you as an individual.

Uh For me, uh It was on the professional front, like I mentioned earlier. Um I'm gonna join Microsoft. I love the culture instantly like the organization and I know this was gonna be my long term home. So I wanted to um establish myself there quickly. So I decided to network. Uh keep in mind that sometimes goals change for me. Fortunately, in these last two years, it still remains the same. I want to grow in this organization. But for some of you, as you work, it may turn out that you feel OK, this is not the right uh place for you. And that's totally fine. That's also something that you learn in the journey of networking and it's still valuable. So the next step from this broad uh you know, vision of what you want to achieve is to actually break things down into actionable steps. So for me, like I said, I wanted to grow in the organization, but first, I wanted to understand the breadth of the organization. What are the various opportunities out there? Because if you don't know there, what is out there, how do you know whether you like it or not? So I wanted to understand the various opportunities. Um I looked at how uh we work with the customer engagements. I understood how it flows through the organization.

What are the various functions uh People from various disciplines may be on the planning side or maybe on the process side or actually on the execution side, even on the execution side, you have people with, you know, more uh focus on the tech domain or you could be aligned to an industry and so forth.

So, uh these various uh roles and responsibilities and functions within the organization, I wanted to identify a set of people that present this, this breadth of the organization to, to understand more and see how I can map my skills and interest to those areas. So I can contribute better to the organization thereby leading to my professional role. So that's what my next step is identify the breadth of the organization and set of people who fit in that. The next step after that is, you know, when you start further filtering down who you want to network is, is one important thing I learned is in networking as much as you learn, as much as you gain. It's very important to give back along the journey and contribute. There has to be a mutual benefit and there has to be a mutual um goal in the process. And that makes the networking process more effective two months into my role in Microsoft. Um I was working on a customer engagement where the customer indicated, like, oh, I work with five different work streams in your organization, but I have to talk to everyone individually. I wish there was a more of a centralized communication. So I identified uh I could empathize with the customer.

I identified the gap in the process there and I reached out to whoever was in charge of the process in my R and uh and she was super receptive uh to my suggestion and in fact, uh she wanted to learn what's on the ground and she was really excited to hear that it turns out that she was also piloting something to address the same problem.

So my contribution or ideas met and I ended up participating in that pilot initiative. So I was not only learning about a process aspect of my org but I was also contributing. So it was like a win win situation. So when you identify that common passion or goal and you learn that, that the networking process becomes even more effective. Uh Sometimes, despite areas of topics or interest, there still could be a lot of people, especially in a large organization, uh you could have several people with the same uh interest and passion. How do you further narrow down who you really want to um you know, talk to? Um And in this case, I would say be picky and I know being picky sometimes has a negative connotation, but that's, that's quite OK because uh it is in your time that you're investing. So it is important to be selective about who you want to interact with. And for me, there has to be some core values that maps with my ideologies uh like that person being open to listening and sharing um also not set in their own ways and willing to try new things. And last, but not the least I really like to network with someone who can be candid and provide uh constructive feedback to me. And that's the way I feel. Um it helps me grow. Now, some of you may say, hey, but how would I know about this before?

I have the first meeting? I, I understand it is a challenge. One of the, one of the things I do is to I observe them in a common forums and meetings, whether it's internal or external, how they are interacting with other colleagues, how we are taking questions and ideas. And that gives me an a an inkling to what they might, their, their uh you know, mindset could be with respect to being more uh receptive to ideas. So those are some of the ways that I do in kind of further narrowing down whom I want to network with. So now that you have an overarching goal, you have the next immediate um action about steps you want to take, you're also filtering based on areas of interest and also values that map to what you believe in. Finally, you have a set of people. How do you approach? And this is the actual first initiation of uh touch facing with them. One thing I would say is understand what their preferences of communication are. Uh Once I'm a very um I am instant messaging kind of person, I just tend to go there and say hi.

Uh Do you have a minute or something like that? But not everyone's like that. I was trying to think someone in a in a time zone and there was a status message on their uh chat saying that use chat only for urgent messages. Otherwise I would prefer email. So, so pay attention to uh their their preferred method of communication. It shows that you care and respect your time. Um And you can use emails just to be safe sometimes. And when you are reaching out to them, give context of why you're reaching out and also how you believe or why you believe they would be the right person to discuss that it could be because someone else referred you to them or it could be that you have seen their uh speech in a certain forum or whatever it could be.

Um And one other things, sometimes I feel a few people are put on the spot when you ask for a meeting, they actually may not have time, but they are too polite to say no. Uh One thing in networking is very important is mutual interest in a meeting is key for it to be effective. So if you are not, uh you know, if there, there's no willingness involved from both sides, it's not gonna be that constructive. So always give them an option to say no. If they are busy, I had an experience with an engineering manager in my organization. I really love his leadership style. Uh I thought I could learn a lot from him. I wanted a few mentoring sessions with him when I reached out. I also said, um I know you may be swamped. So if you have a lot going on, uh you know, we can wait for a later time or I can touch base with you ad hoc when I have a need. And that made it easy for him to say Yeah, I'm currently having a lot of things going on. Uh But I would be happy to be your sounding board when you need some guidance. Uh So that made it a little easy.

So always give that option for people to decline and then they have a lot going on. And last, but not the least is confront your fears. Um I uh once reached out to someone four levels about me in the management chain uh to bounce off uh an idea that I had and I also wanted to kind of get leadership perspective. Uh Sometimes it's really great to hear directly from the leader. The meeting went great. And uh I had very good feedback on some of my suggestions too. It's important to realize that sometimes they want to also hear from people on the ground and they want to hear firsthand. So, but I was referring to this to one of my colleagues. Uh He said, oh, I would never reach out to someone that high up in the chain. It made me realize that a lot of times these inhibitions are in our own head in our own mindset. Uh We believe uh we shouldn't, we shouldn't bother them, but they are very receptive to hearing feedback. And at max, they're going to say no, um you've got nothing to lose. And I think this is where here my entrepreneurial background has helped me. It's been OK, but no, right. Not, not to take it personally and give people the benefit of doubt. They have a lot going on. And uh you know, um and that it, it, it is in your own mind.

So, overcoming that is the key uh reach out and sometimes you make it sometimes you don't, but it's all part of the game. It's used to learning something along the journey. Um After the first connection, right, there are ways your networking can take shape. One is that uh you can have uh a lot of periodic meetings, you've connected with them right away. There's a lot of interesting discussions for you to have and then you decide, hey, I wanna, I wanna do this on a regular basis. It can evolve into that type of connection or sometimes you have a couple of sessions with them. And then you realize, I think I've learned about this uh space as much as I could or I have contributed as much as I could. And I think at this point, I don't want to go deeper in that space. Uh Then that can become a little bit more casual, but you can still add value to that uh connection and that network connection by maybe looping in someone else who may want to learn or, or providing some suggestions in ad hoc fashion. So you can keep it casual. Sometimes I feel even uh you know, staying in touch with your connections or liking their linkedin articles or posts is a way to show support. What you're doing is you are helping people connect also through the network, you have either ideas or people.

So there's always value in connections. Uh One of the things I realized that networking grows really exponentially and fairly quickly. So it's always the starting point, you start with a small circle, but then it, you know, you get referred to and, and people know people and it gets really expands quickly and that also expands your sphere of influence. Uh My initial networking um led me to identify a pattern in my or where people uh especially in, in program management, felt like, OK, we need something more of a uh you know, or wide uh PM event. We don't have that sense of community. Uh As of today, we have other larger meetings but nothing PM specific. Uh that led me to creating uh what we call as an all or wide uh program manager summit. And we bring in topics specific to this discipline and share ideas across the arc. So it was everybody under one umbrella and that really received a lot of, we received a lot of positive feedback. It also led me to joining workstreams uh for upskilling uh the PM discipline even more as technology changes constantly. And it's helping me shape the uh you know, the, the program for upskilling and the, you know, for the next up fiscal year. So what, what, what this means is as your influence grows, you also get to shape where your organization can go.

Uh So if you use it effectively, if you use this influence circle effectively, it can really accelerate growth. So uh last, but not the least, where am I um going? I think I would say I have definitely effectively uh done networking in my um organization that being said, um I can, it's, it's, it can keep on expanding, right? I still need to work a lot more on beyond my current or and also externally. And thank you for those who had reached out to me on linkedin after my post on this uh this event. Uh I, I'm really excited to connect with you, but I would also like to hear from some of you as to how you go about external connections because that is something that I'm I'm still learning and I would like to continue on that journey. So last uh I would like to end by saying this uh you know, when you are networking effectively is when you create a lot of fantastic aha moments either for you, it might be giving you clarity, but something that you are confused about or it can be an innovative idea that you create uh when you're networking and talking with someone overall, make the most out of uh every conversation and create a lot of aha moments.

Looking forward to connecting with each and every one of you. Thank you any questions? Sorry, I haven't been um, actively watching the chat but I'm happy to address any questions or anyone who wants to share your thoughts here. I don't know if people can unmute themselves and speak up or? Yeah. Uh I see a question. What are the elements of sending, uh, invitement, sending a linkedin message? Yeah, I think, um is it g uh I, I think similar to internal and uh I, I believe that when you provide context of what is that you want to talk maybe on a coffee chat, right? Why, why, what is it that you want to talk, say a particular topic that you're interested in? And why do you think you want to chat with that person either uh or also sometimes giving a glimpse of if you want to share or contribute your ideas, giving a glimpse of what is it that you wanna share might intrigue them there. It is true that sometimes so many messages out there. So I would say context of why you're reaching out to that person? And have you got to know that person? What is the exact topic that you are like to talk? Is, is it will make you stand out?

There's one more question. If you meet someone, you would like to be um be a mentor, is it a proteas or is it something that comes about naturally? Yeah. Um I think I did um ask them directly as well. Um And sometimes believe me, there's, there's a learning thing for them also in this uh mentoring, mentoring someone um is also uh a learning opportunity for someone who's mentoring. It's not just one way street. So I think people sometimes want to, if someone reached out to me for mentoring, I, I think I equally gain. So uh I think it's OK, but as always, I would say give them an option out that way. Uh They're not feeling competitive sometimes they may be put on the spot. Uh But there's no harm in directly asking them. Sometimes people like it for sure. Yeah, sure. Thank you, Gy. And uh I'm hoping I'm not missing. I feel like most of the connection requests I get are people that want to sell me something if you can show me why you want to connect without selling? Yes, that's exactly true. And I, I think that's where, at least in my case, when you give the proper context of why and how you arrived on that person and why do you think they as an individual provide value to you?

It's very important doing some background work or understanding of them, helps their la their preferred means of communication. And all of those things though will show that you care and respect their time and it will increase your odds of them reaching back to you. All right.

Um Did I miss anyone else's question? Um in personal journey of getting back to em from SSE. I'm not sure I understand the acronyms. Is it um, Rihanna? Um, maybe you can put that on Chad or I'm happy to connect with you to understand that more. OK. That's for everyone. All right. All right. I know we are at time. I, again, I know I may not have addressed everyone's questions here, but I would love to connect with you all. And, um, this is a journey that I'm continuing to expand and you all have some other tips of expanding your networks externally as well. I'm very, very happy to hear more and uh so learn from you all as well. So thank you everyone. I hope this was useful.