SIX BENEFITS OF HAVING A STRONG PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY

Photo Credit: Pixabay

When I started working, by natural selection, I didn’t have a clique, I sure had colleagues that we started together but Lagos with it’s peculiarity made sure we couldn’t see beyond work and that worked for me.

I have spent years not having a major community and I paid for it dearly.

Let’s face it, being young and starting out in a career can be draining, mind-boggling and unsettling. For a lot of young people, there are so many things they are juggling at the same time, figuring out how to manage money, boyfriends and commitment, figuring out your path in the career you have chosen, getting an apartment and so many other things. To have to go through that alone can be depressing and mess with your mental health.

Having a couple of friends with whom you share experiences and you can share the burden with can be a life saver when you need it the most.

Jonathan Long says opening yourself up to new ideas and contacts is rarely a bad decision

Here are a few of the benefits to having a professional community

1. Emotional Support: When you are going through it with a bad boss or the distance of your commute to and from work is stressing you out or you hit a road block with a project you are working on, having a professional community where you can vent about your experiences can be relieving. Apart from the fact that you get free therapy from these people, you can get solutions to your problems.
2. Professional Support: These people can put you on to projects, work and experiences that will be beneficial to your career. They know what you are capable of doing professionally, they know your strengths and weaknesses so when they have something they think you might be able to handle, you are their natural option. Matt Willens of Willens Law Offices says, “so many valuable resources can be untapped through community networking, from vendor introductions to funding and capital access.”
3. You Achieve Success Faster: Because you have the same kind of struggles and possibly interests, it is easier to start projects that might be daunting for just one person. You all have access to different resources that you can pool together to make the project a success. When you have a couple of people you trust and can work with, you tend to achieve your goals faster and easier because you can all leverage on your strengths to achieve success.
4. Networking: Your network is larger by extension. Your community members know other people that you don’t know and you are more likely going to have access to all those people they know. Suffice to say you all might have grown up in different communities, attended different schools, be part of different organisations and social groups, by having a community, you can leverage on their own networks when you need to get things done.
5. Peer Mentorship: You have friends who have strengths that you don’t and vice-versa. They have the time and energy that a higher-up the ladder mentor doesn’t have and because you normally hang out in the same places, you have more access to them. I have a friend who has great eye for details and I have learned that from her and I on the other hand understands that you shouldn’t wait for everything to be perfect before you make moves and she has learned that from me.
6. Self-fulfillment: Having a community gives you the opportunity to offer your skills, services and support to people who might need it. And because you share similar experiences and are at almost the same stage in life and career, you know what to do to help them when they need it. From taking them out for drinks when they are going through a break-up to sending them a link to an opportunity you believe they can benefit from, you feel happy when they need help and you are able to come through for them.