#570 The Four People Every Squiggly Career Network Needs

**Helen** (0:00)
Hi, I'm Helen, and you're listening to the Squiggly Careers Podcast. And this is another one of our Squiggly Career Shortcuts. Thank you for everyone that's given us feedback on these. Lots of people have said that these feel really useful. We always love your feedback. So you can just email us, Helen and Sarah at squigglycareers.com. But today in our shortcut, I wanted to talk about a topic that comes up in lots of the workshops that we run. And it's all about your career community, but investing in the most important roles that are gonna make the biggest difference to your development. And the reason this matters is I find, when we're talking to people, that lots of people don't really like the idea of networking. They worry that they have to make lots of random relationships and go to loads of events they don't want to be at. But actually the idea of the four roles that matter most, the four that make the biggest difference to your development, just feels a bit easier for people. Because we know that if we just focus on those four, then actually we don't have to worry about all those events or those other awkward conversations. So I want to tell you what the four are, what they are, why they matter, and maybe give you a few ideas to get started with building those relationships. So let's start with the first. The first is the role of a mentor. Now, most of you probably already know about mentoring. It's not new news. But what I find is what stops people getting a mentor is the idea that these mentor relationships need to last a really long time and they need to be with a really senior person. And when that is your assumption for what a good mentor is, it makes it so much harder to get started. So we are just going to put those assumptions away for a moment, and we are going to reset what having a good mentor for your Squiggly career means.
A mentor is somebody who has done what you want to do. It is that simple, everyone. They have done something you want to do and what you get from that person is advice.
And that can be one conversation. I think that is a really important point. Mentors do not have to all be these 12 month relationships where you have a 90 minute meeting every month. We don't need to do that. It could be a 30 minute conversation, because if that person has done what you want to do, and you learn from them, then you have benefited from it. And so make sure you have at least one mentor. Ideally, have several mentors, the people that have done what you want to do.
So it is an easy action to get started. You need to think, what do I want to do? And then you need to think, who do I know that's got the knowledge that I need? So ask yourself those questions, reach out, have that mentor conversation, continue if you want to, end it there if you don't, but know that that's a really, really important way that you'll learn.
Let's move on from mentors to our second role that's really important in your career network. And that is going to be the relationship you have with a peer or peers. This could be plural. But the definition we're going to use here is this is people who are going through what you are going through. So they get it, they understand it. To be honest, this is me and Sarah. Like we are, I'd say we are pretty perfect peers.
I've managed to keep her for quite a long time. But the benefit of this peer relationships, this is somebody who's going through what you're going through is they can be a really big accelerator for your career. Because it's someone that you trust, it's someone that gets your context, it's someone that's maybe doing the same thing at the same time as you, so that you can share insights with each other. They stop you feeling so alone. And what I think is really important with these peer relationships is to recognize that this person might change over time, that what you are going through right now in your career might look quite different in a few years time. And so they're quite dynamic relationships. It doesn't mean that they don't become a friend, they can still be a friend, but they might not be a career peer. That's what we're looking for here. So for this one, just think, what am I going through right now? And then who else is going through the same thing? And reach out to them, spend time with them. It's a really, really important part of your career relationship that you have the contact with someone who's going through what you're going through. So we've done mentor, we've done peer. The third one is potentially the hardest, but it is really, really helpful. That is the role of a sponsor. And if sponsoring feels quite new to you, then think about it as somebody who has got access and influence over an area you are interested in. Access and influence over an area you're interested in. It doesn't have to be someone who is more senior than you, though to be honest, it tends to be because of the access and influence. Now, what these people do for you is they advocate for you. They can open doors for your development that you might not be able to open for yourself. That is very, very helpful so that we've got more options and opportunities for our Squiggly career.