Networking is highly lauded as the number one workplace survival strategy for dynamic environments. Career consultants caution that career management cannot experience "lift off" without it. Everyone talks about it! It is a pervasive, ubiquitous term inside corporations as well as outside corporations. However, not everyone who uses the term really understands the process and the subtle nuances of doing it well (savvy). Here are some tips on how to develop networking skills.

Begin by formulating a strategy. S.W.O.T yourself. Perform a self-assessment where you identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Clearly visualize your career goals and objectives, and remember to take a dose of "reality check" before you begin this process. Your career goals and objectives will point you toward people you admire or wish to emulate. Find opportunities to seek advice and feedback from these individuals. Compile a list or business card file of people who responded willingly and enthusiastically to your inquiries. This is the beginning of your strategy to develop a network of people you can count on, and who in turn can count on you.

Professional acquaintances are a great beginning, but do not limit your networking efforts to people in your profession. Balance, balance, balance and balance some more! Accomplish this by joining at least one professional, one recreational and one social organization. Establish yourself as a loyal, dependable member of the organization. Acknowledge and respect the rituals inherent in each group. Concentrate on quality not quantity because relationship building requires time, effort and energy. Become as visible as possible within each organization without appearing overzealous. Now, you can expand your networking file by adding the names of individuals within these organizations.

Polish your file by adding relevant information about contacts to the back of their business cards, or make annotations on your list. This serves as a memory jogger when you initiate contact or when someone contacts you. Also, remember that timing is critical to making contacts. Exercise courtesy and consideration when making contacts, and always express appreciation for a contact's time or advice. Nurture your network by calling occasionally just to "keep in touch", but not to the point of being perceived as pushy or pesky. Keep your promises, and mentor someone yourself, and your network will have a strong, relationship-based foundation.

According to Harvey Mackay, author of Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty , "R.I.S.K." it. "Networking relationships involve:

• Reciprocity
• Interdependency
• Sharing
• Keeping at it

Mackay believes that our lives change in two ways : "through the books we read and the people we meet ", as reported by Hal Lancaster of The Wall Street Journal . View each person you meet as a potential change-maestro in you network. After all, networking is a tool, and tools are made to be used.