Are You Networking to Broaden — or to Deepen?

"I need to network!" I hear this all the time. 

It's the advice everyone gives, so we nod along and add it to the to-do list and Google for “networking events.” We go, collect business cards, and then never hear from those people again. 

We are not actually getting what we need when we network. Why? 

Possibly, we’re doing the wrong kind of networking. 

“Networking” can pull two different jobs here:

Broadening — building connections in places you don't have any yet. You're moving into a new industry. A new city. Trying to build relationships with leaders a level or two above you. This is about reach — meeting people who aren't currently in your world. 

Deepening — strengthening relationships you already have. Reconnecting with people who've fallen off your radar. Turning a name in your contacts into an actual relationship. This is about trust — and in my experience, it's the one people skip, even though it's usually the one they need most.

Most of us default to "broaden" because it's what we're told networking looks like - more people, more coffee chats, more LinkedIn connections. But truthfully, most of us don’t need more contacts. We need more depth in the contacts and relationships we already have.

We often overlook these existing relationships when we’re in networking mode. It can feel awkward reconnecting with a previous colleague. There can be guilt about taking up too much of someone’s time. We get stuck in our heads about what it might mean to be reaching out out of the blue. We think too much!

There's research that backs this up. A 2011 study out of Rutgers and Northwestern (Levin, Walter & Murnighan, published in Organization Science) found that reconnecting with a "dormant" tie — someone you used to know well but lost touch with — produced more useful knowledge than going back to a current, active contact. Reconnected relationships brought the novelty of a new connection and the trust of an old one. Interestingly, the researchers also found that people felt real hesitation about reaching back out, worried it would look self-interested — even though almost everyone who did it walked away glad they had.

Before your next networking push, ask yourself: do I actually need new people, or do I need to go deeper with the people I already know?

The answer changes where you spend your time — and whether the effort actually pays off.

Which one do you need more right now?