Without a Network, You Will Fail (Secrets of the Career Game #3)

This one stings—but it’s the truth.

Without a network, you will fail.
You can be a high performer, great at your job, and still get passed over—because no one outside your manager even knows who you are. That’s the career cliff Kendall tackles in Secret #3 of Secrets of the Career Game.

In this episode, Kendall shares the harsh realities of performance reviews, cross-calibrations, and how internal “heat maps” determine who gets promoted—and who doesn’t. You’ll also learn how to build meaningful relationships even if you work remotely, are introverted, or hate small talk.

🎧 Stream this third secret from the 6-part mini-series leading up to the launch of Secrets of the Career Game—out May 13.

📘 Pre-order now and email your receipt to [e-mail] to unlock a private Slack group, bonus tools, and live Q&As with Kendall.

⭐️Get our FREE Accomplishments Tracker: https://fabulous-butterfly-83716.myflodesk.com/n8yzvrtw9v 

That Career Coach

Want to know more about Kendal Berg, that career coach?

Follow her on Instagram: @thatcareercoach_

Check out her courses on the website: https://thatcareercoach.net/

Build out the tools you need to navigate the corporate game: — Self Driven Mastermind

 

Episode Transcript

Kendall Berg (00:00):
This week we are sharing the third out of six secrets of the Career Game from my upcoming book. This secret is one that I have talked about with so many clients. It is usually one of the first things I talk about, no matter the seniority of the person that I'm working with. So I'm excited about it today. This secret is, without a network, you will fail. It is simple. It is straight to the point. And honestly, it might be the most true of the entire book. Okay. People are under the mistaken impression that as long as they have a good relationship with their direct supervisor, they will have a successful career. This is not accurate. All right? You have to have a network of people who are supporting you. There's a personal side of this.

(00:42):
You need to have family members, friends you can talk to, therapists potentially. But when we look at work specifically for you to get promoted, for you to get that job you want, for you to be recruited in a reorganization, you have to have people in your corner who want you to be successful. And that requires a network. When I go into performance reviews and cross calibrations at the end of every year, there's always somebody on my team who I'm rooting for. I want them to get a little bit higher rating, or I want them to get a promotion, or I want to pay them an extra bonus because they've done such exceptional work. And my job as their boss is to advocate for them. And we will have an argument later over why not all bosses advocate for their people. That's a separate issue.

(01:19):
But for me, it's very important. And every time I walk into those cross calibrations and I have those conversations, I say, hey, this person on my team is great. Somebody argues, Maybe it's not about the person on my team. Maybe it's about a person on Steve's team. Maybe it's about a person on Stacy's team. But inevitably, there will be people who come in that their boss thinks they're great and the group brings them down. It also works the opposite, where a boss might think you're right in the middle, but the group thinks you're exceptional, and you get bumped up. It happens both ways. But the only way that happens is if you have a network. If you have people in that room who think you're great, if you have people who are willing to advocate for you.

(01:55):
If, if you have intentionally invested your time with building relationships with influencers and important individuals across your company, full stop, without a network, you will fail. At some point, you will stop getting promoted. You Will stop getting internal opportunities. You'll have a hard time getting external opportunities because your network has gotten cold. You have to have that network, all right? And I've worked for companies that even do a heat map. So think red, amber, green, red, yellow, green. And they're looking at a list of names, and they're like, how well do you know this person? If you know them really well, make them green. If you know them, okay, make them yellow. If you don't know them at all, put them right. Companies will do this. And your goal as the employee is to have as many greens as possible.

(02:35):
Where they say, like, yes, I know this person and I like this person. You have to establish that network. If you are remote, this can be extra challenging. Add a little bit of spice, little extra difficult because it requires intentionality. When you are in an office, there is a more natural way to network. Now, for those of you in office who are introverted, who are looking at me like, I have three heads, and you're like, no, it's not. Networking still sucks in the office. There's some nuance, but for the most part, somebody can stop by your desk and strike up a conversation. You can go to the coffee room and run into Stacy from accounting and end up having a chat. You can ask your boss to grab lunch with you one day. There's a more natural ecosystem for networking in person.

(03:13):
This is not a pitch for return to the office, just saying, okay, but when you work remote, you have to schedule time, which can feel really scary, especially when most likely the leaders around you are very busy and have very busy calendars. You have to schedule time. You have to be intentional. You have to have an agenda. You have to come prepared with things to talk about, and that can be really overwhelming. But if you do not do that, you will ultimately stop progressing in your career. This is where I see high performers get stuck. Remote is because they're great high performers. They're doing all the things, but they don't establish a network. They don't communicate with people intentionally and effectively and consistently, and they end up getting forgotten. Right? You have to build a network. Without a network, you will fail.

(03:51):
And then when you go to look for external opportunities, you want to keep in touch with that great boss you had four years ago. You want to keep in touch with that executive who you thought really highly of, because eventually you're going to need a job. And it's great to be able to lean on those people or to have those people proactively reaching out to you. I have an employee who worked for me. It's been like five years now. Five years since he worked for me. He still will call me once a quarter to twice a year. Hey, just want to check in. How are things? Love your advice. Here's how my work situation is going. What would you recommend? All this jazz and he is awesome. If he called me tomorrow and was like, hey, do you have a job?

(04:24):
Would I find one for him? Heck, yeah. I'd reach out to everybody in my network and have a position lined up for him to go for. Okay. It is important to nurture those relationships for your short term goals internally, but also your long term goals externally. All right?