How To Get A Senior Executive You Don't Regularly Work With To Notice You

How do I approach someone in my organization that is two or three levels of seniority above me in another business unit that I'd like to approach/network with to express my interest in their area? If I have no day to day contact with that person, that is, I'm not in meetings etc. with them, it feels awkward to find a way to strike up a conversation about opportunities they may know are percolating in their line of business, for example. – Karen

When trying to develop a new professional relationship, there are three basic steps:

1. Get an introduction

2. Ask for a meeting (live or virtual)

3. Follow up

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Every professional connection develops with some variation of these steps. If it’s a business development lead, the introduction might come from your inbound marketing, the first meeting could be a consultation call and the follow-up is another call following the consult. If it’s a potential mentorship, the introduction might be a referral by a mutual contact, the first meeting could be a casual coffee to check for fit and the follow-up is an agreement to meet again one month later.

In the case of a senior colleague in a business outside your day-to-day, you have to think about how you’re going to get introduced, what your first meaningful interaction will be, and how you will follow up. There are various ways to go about each of these steps, so you want to select based on what options are available to you and what will help best support your ultimate objective.

For the introduction, you could email the person directly, stop by their office live, ask a mutual colleague for an introduction or ask your boss. In Karen’s case, she’s eying a move into this executive’s group, so unless her boss knows that and is supportive of her move, that may not be the best first step. A direct email or drop-in ensures you control the interaction, but you need to prepare your reason for the outreach – did this executive give a talk at the last all-company meeting? Was the executive’s group featured for a recent win? If you have an obvious entry point, going direct to the executive with a congratulations or follow up remark or question to the talk would be a strong opening move. However, it might also catch the person off-guard and create for an awkward first meeting unless you’re very confident you can carry on that conversation. So, the simplest route is probably a warm introduction from a fellow colleague. I am assuming you have a mutual colleague because if you don’t, that’s your first step. If you’re serious about working in this executive’s group, you should be researching this group and already talking to people familiar with this area. Your first contacts shouldn’t be the most senior people in the group.

For the first meaningful meeting, try to identify the smallest request that is still substantive. Lunch is a big request because there are limited lunch hours, and a meal is a significant time investment. Offer to come to their office when they have five to ten minutes. Offer to come in early and bring the coffee. Offer to meet after business hours if the workday is normally back-to-back meetings. Ask the colleague who makes the introduction how this person normally takes meetings. Or if you make a direct introduction, ask the executive if you can have a few minutes of their time to speak further and ask him or her specifically how, where, and when s/he would like to schedule this. Be as flexible as you can to make it as easy as possible for the executive to say Yes.

Whether or not s/he agrees to a meeting will depend on whether you convince the executive of two things: 1) that this particular executive and no one else is the person you need to meet with; and 2) that you are a person worth meeting with. This is where you have to ask yourself the tough questions. Why are you trying to meet with this person? Why not someone else in that group, or someone else in the company altogether? In Karen’s case, why is she so interested in that group and why now? Furthermore, you have to be meeting-worthy. This executive probably has a lot of requests for his or her time – business to conduct, executive colleagues to appease, direct reports to manage, aspiring proteges to mentor. Why do you deserve time on the calendar? In Karen’s case, why is she an asset to the group? Do not skip this step and assume that the executive will meet with you as a professional courtesy – even if that gets you a first meeting, it will be hard to make a strong enough impression in that meeting to build future follow-up without identifying what you can offer to this executive and the group.

Finally, you have to follow up. In Karen’s case, this means staying on top of openings in the group and asking for consideration when a potential fit arises. If the objective is more open-ended – say, you don’t necessarily want to move into that group now but you want to keep that possibility open – then stay on top of the issues this executive and that group will care about. This could be overall industry news, but more likely it’s something specific to their clients and business objectives. If you can’t think of anything, you need to do more research into that group. You also need to reclarify that you’re targeting the right executive. There needs to be a reason why you’re trying to get that executive to notice you. That reason dictates what follow-up is relevant.

I get a lot of questions about how to get a senior executive to notice you or even mentor you. Senior people are not inaccessible but you still have to do the work. Get an introduction (how will you get in front of that person?). Ask for a meeting (why that person and why you?). Follow up (on the relevant ties that bind you).