Guest Post by Intern Alex Christensen

In my last Intern Insight blog entry, I concluded that relationship management should be taught in schools, at the University level. I think I’ve changed my mind, at least somewhat. There are pros and cons to teaching relationship management in school. On the plus side, students would be exposed to the idea of creating a “you-centric” network instead of making their personal networks “all about me.” They would learn the importance of networking and relationship management. But would they really know how to do it?

You can teach students how to “break the ice” with memorable introductions and elevator pitches. You can even provide outlines for scheduled follow-up, but until they get their "feet wet" in the networking pool, students can’t do much with their newfound knowledge. You can’t just teach relationship management and networking:  Managing your relationships is a skill developed by practice, a lot of practice.

I've learned this first-hand. As part of the American Marketing Association at the University of North Texas, I went to my first “Meet & Greet” event with the Dallas/Fort Worth AMA last Spring. I would consider myself an extrovert and feel pretty comfortable meeting new people, but when I arrived at the “Meet & Greet,” I became incredibly nervous. I froze. Fortunately, some of my fellow UNT AMA members stepped in, and I was able to join their conversations and make some new connections. I exchanged business cards and followed-up with people via LinkedIn, but I did nothing more. I’m still connected to these people on LinkedIn, but that's it. I did nothing to further any of those professional relationships, so now those connections are of little consequence. I could have done better; I know that now. But the experience taught me more than I ever learned from any presentation on the importance of networking and relationship management.

I would still like to see relationship management offered to college students, but I know students need more than a course to succeed. Theory is helpful, but I believe practice is essential. To fellow students, or even young professionals, I say, “Practice, practice, practice!” Sign up for networking events, stir up as many quality conversations as you can with others, and fail until you get it right. Failing is the quickest and most memorable way to learn how to do something, and there’s no shame in failure if you learn from it.