If you’re in business, you know that networking is one of the most valuable ways you can spend your time. Making connections within your industry and beyond, learning relevant skills and knowledge, and generating new ideas for your field are all on the table when it comes to networking.
However, it’s no secret that business and everything related to it tends to be predominantly male-led. Often, the higher up a company’s corporate ladder you climb, the fewer women you’ll see in positions of authority. That’s why so many women turn to networking with other women in order to support one another, connect on common issues, and build strong business relationships. The Valley Women’s Association is just one example of a female-focused networking community that provides countless benefits for its members and guests alike.
No matter what organization you’re looking to join, there are a few key benefits to getting involved with any women’s networking group.
What are the Benefits of Networking with Other Women?
There are countless benefits for women who choose to network with other women. These can vary widely depending on your field, experience, and personal goals for networking. Additionally, many women don’t solely work with women’s networking groups; rather, they include it in their professional circle as a complementary perspective in addition to more male-skewed groups. With that in mind, the five biggest benefits of networking with women are:
1. Sharing insight and experience without the risk of judgment
One of the most valuable benefits of women’s networking groups is that they represent a safe space for women to come together and candidly discuss their experiences. Whether it’s unique challenges they’ve faced in their professional lives, struggles to get the recognition they deserve, or simply the comfort of knowing they’re not in it alone, many women gain precious insight from these networks.
Where so many boardrooms, conferences, and even networking events tend to be skewed towards the male perspective, having a place where women direct the conversation is an outstanding way to break out of the familiar rhythms of our day-to-day professional lives. If you’ve been facing gender-related obstacles in your career, hearing similar stories from other successful women will likely give you the confidence to keep going and continue pushing boundaries to make a space for yourself.
2. Learning from experienced mentors
None of us can know everything, but the larger and more diverse our network, the more we can personally connect with certain experiences and perspectives that we otherwise wouldn’t be aware of. Mentorship is one great example of inviting these viewpoints into your life. Depending on your personal goals, the specifics of a mentor relationship can vary greatly. However, the benefits of having a great mentor tend to remain the same.
A mentor can help you to expand your knowledge thanks to their own experience, giving you knowledge that would otherwise be hard-earned through years of your own work. They can apply their own expertise to your situation, help you in identifying your goals, and work out the best ways to achieve them. In addition, mentors are often well-connected in their field, and might be able to give you an advantage in certain professional situations. A mentor-mentee relationship can also extend beyond the professional realm, with trusted mentors offering wisdom on the more personal aspects of life as a woman in the modern era.
3. Getting recognized for your skills
Although women should be recognized for breaking through boundaries, it’s important that the celebration doesn’t end there. Women’s networking groups excel at recognizing the unique skill sets of their members, and applauding their talents and knowledge independently of their gender. When amazing women are celebrated for their efforts in their careers and beyond, it can act as a catalyst for connecting and inspiring other women to do the same, lifting them up and clearly showing that there’s a place for them.
4. Learning how to balance your work with your personal life
Many women deal with challenges and responsibilities beyond their careers. Whether it’s volunteer work, ambitions around personal passions, raising a family, or any of the other countless tasks women take on, connecting with a group of successful women can be a huge asset for learning how to strike that all-important balance. Of course, this work-life harmony is not unique to women, but there tends to be less focus in the professional world on a woman’s role in this. Women’s networking groups are full of amazing role models: women who have done it all and are still some of the leaders in their fields. Seeing these success stories and learning from their firsthand experience is invaluable in striking the balance for yourself.
5. Creating strong relationships
Forming relationships lies at the heart of any networking organization. With so many amazing minds in a single room, some are bound to connect on any manner of things. Depending on the type of networking event you’re at, the focus of conversations may change a little. Some organizations maintain a laser focus on the professional and career side of things, while others will take a more holistic approach on supporting women through all aspects of their lives.
In addition, many relationships formed via networking have a longevity that a simple friendship may not have. The fact is, when you network with someone, there’s an inherent trust and stake involved. You entrust someone when you network with them, and they do the same. That trust is the reason why someone will be willing to connect a new contact with someone in their field, or why a business referral is passed to a certain person. This kind of trust is often simply not present in regular friendships, and it’s these beginnings that lead to networking relationships carrying on for years and years.
Many people who started out as mentors and mentees, or simply professional acquaintances, have carried on those relationships, supporting each other in many other ways as well. Some people have met their best friends in networking groups, or their future business partners, as well as collaborators of all kinds.
That’s the beauty of opening yourself up to learning from a network of outstanding women: you never know what you’ll find.
Connecting with women at VWA Tri-Cities
If you’re looking for a group of outstanding women from BC’s Tri-Cities who come together to support, educate, and learn from one another, look no further than the Valley Women’s Association, or VWA. Our Tri-City Chapter specializes in bringing together women from all industries and walks of life so that they can share insight and experience, learn from one another, develop new goals and inspiration, and more.
Women choose VWA because it’s a diverse and inclusive network of successful women who all have something to share, and all have something to learn. We’re non-affiliated with any particular business or viewpoint, and it’s this unbiased perspective that allows such rich conversation and collaboration to occur within our meetings. As you’ve seen, there are countless benefits of connecting with a women’s network, and it all depends on your personal goals for the process.
If you have more questions about the benefits of getting involved with the VWA Tri-City Chapter, or if you’re interested in attending a meeting as a guest to see what we’re all about firsthand, don’t hesitate to contact us today!
