About this gathering

This month’s focus is Networking Within.

How do we build relationships within our organization?

Many quiet leaders feel unseen—not just by senior leaders, but across the organization.

We may be doing meaningful work, yet others don’t always fully understand what we do, how we think, or the impact we bring.It can sometimes feel like we’re working in parallel, rather than in connection.

When we hear the word networking, we often think about going to events and meeting new people.For many quiet leaders, that can take a lot of energy—and may not feel natural or sustainable.Sometimes, it’s also unclear how those efforts truly support our work or growth.

What often gets overlooked is this:building relationships within our own organization is equally—if not more—important.

At the same time, when others across the organization understand and trust our work, it can open the door to smoother collaboration, stronger support, and new opportunities.

Together, we’ll gently explore questions such as:

• How can we build relationships within our organization in ways that feel natural and authentic?
• How do we help others understand our work, values, and perspective?
• What might be getting in the way of building these connections?
• How can we collaborate and connect in ways that feel sustainable—not forced or performative?

Rather than trying to “network” in a traditional sense, we’ll slow down and notice what’s actually happening—and what kind of relationships feel most aligned and supportive for us.

​We’ll spend time:

• ​Checking in
• ​Exploring the question through gentle, facilitated quiet reflection
• ​Identifying a small, personal experiment to carry into the coming month

​This is not a workshop or training. There’s no fixing, no pressure to speak, and no expectation to arrive with answers.

​It’s a shared space to notice, reflect, and experiment gently — alongside other quiet leaders.

Event Recap

The May 2026 Quiet Leaders Lab focused on Networking Within—something many quiet leaders struggle with more than we often realize.

When we hear the word “networking,” many of us immediately think about large events, constant socializing, or needing to perform in extroverted ways that feel draining or unsustainable.

But networking within our own organization can matter just as much—if not more.

Many quiet leaders feel unseen not only by senior leaders, but across the organization. We may be doing meaningful work, yet others do not always fully understand what we do, how we think, or the impact we bring. Sometimes it can feel like we are working in parallel rather than in true connection.

In this session, we slowed down together to explore how we can build relationships within our organization in ways that feel more natural, sustainable, and aligned with who we are.

We began our session with a grounding exercise to help us arrive more fully into the space.

As a Certified Trauma-Informed Coach, grounding continues to be one of the practices I value most in helping quiet leaders slow down, reconnect with themselves, and settle some of the stress and heaviness we may carry from work and life.

We checked in on last month’s experiment to reflect on how we were navigating managing up in our day-to-day work and relationships.

Participants shared how the previous gathering helped them become more aware of how they were showing up while managing different relationships, including with clients and partners. It was heartwarming to hear how these small experiments reshaped the way they approached communication and visibility in ways that felt more effective and sustainable.

I then invited the group into our guiding question:

How do we build relationships within our organization?

We started by exploring why networking within matters in the first place.

Together, we surfaced reasons including:

• Smoother collaboration
• Building trust across teams
• Reducing misunderstandings
• Creating support systems and advocates
• Helping others understand our work
• Learning how the organization functions
• Making work feel more connected and human
• Opening future opportunities naturally

One theme that stood out was how relationships help reduce friction and create stronger collaboration over time. When people understand how we work, what we care about, and how we think, it becomes easier to work together with more trust and clarity.

We also explored how networking within is not only about visibility or opportunity—it can also help work feel more human and connected, especially in environments where we may otherwise feel isolated or disconnected from others.

I then invited the group into a reflection about their current relationships and support systems within their organizations:

Who inside your organization truly understands your work, strengths, or perspective today?

Participants explored questions through quiet reflection such as:

• Who are these people?
• What role do they play in your work or experience?
• How did these relationships begin or develop?
• What makes these relationships feel supportive, grounding, or easy?
• What kinds of people do you naturally gravitate toward?
• How do you feel when interacting with them?
• What patterns do you notice in the relationships that feel strongest or most meaningful?
• Are these relationships built through shared values, frequent collaboration, trust, curiosity, personality, or something else?
• How have these relationships helped you in your work or growth?
• What do you notice about how you naturally build connection?

This reflection helped participants notice that many of their strongest relationships were often built more organically than strategically—through trust, curiosity, shared work, consistency, and genuine care over time.

One participant reflected on how trust and communication play a large role in how they build relationships, especially when navigating complex work across teams. They shared the tension between wanting to stay engaged and supportive, while also giving others enough autonomy and space.

Another participant shared how they think about relationships more intentionally and holistically—building both active and quieter connections that can support collaboration and growth in different ways over time.

We then brought the reflection back to ourselves by exploring:

What kind of relationship-building at work feels most natural and sustainable for you?

Participants reflected on questions such as:

What am I already doing?

• How do I currently build relationships with others at work?
• Who do I naturally connect with across my organization?
• When do I tend to reach out, collaborate, or engage with others?
• What already feels natural or easy in how I relate to people at work?

What might not be visible or connected yet?

• Which parts of my work or thinking are less known by others around me?
• Where might I be more “working in parallel” than in connection?
• What do I assume others understand about me that may not be shared?
• Where might relationships or awareness be more limited than I realize?

Where does it feel harder?

• When does building relationships at work feel uncomfortable or draining?
• What situations or types of interaction do I tend to avoid?
• Where do I hesitate to reach out or engage with others?
• What thoughts or concerns come up in those moments?

What is within my control and what is not?

During optional sharing, participants reflected on the complexity of building trust and connection in professional environments.

One quiet leader shared how relationship-building can involve constantly calibrating how much to engage, support, and communicate with others. Another reflected on adapting communication styles in different environments to better connect with different kinds of people.

A theme that emerged was that meaningful connection often does not come from forcing ourselves to network more loudly—but from being intentional, consistent, curious, and human in how we relate to others.

We then moved into designing small, personal experiments for the coming months.

What is one small experiment you can try this month when it comes to building relationships and networking within?

Some suggested experiments I shared with participants included:

• Reach out to someone you don’t usually interact with and start a small conversation
• Learn more about someone’s work in another team or function
• Share a bit more context about what you’re working on (not just updates, but why it matters)
• Ask someone about their work, priorities, or challenges
• Stay a few minutes longer after a meeting to connect with someone 1:1
• Acknowledge or thank someone whose work you’ve benefited from
• Offer support or help to someone in a small, low-effort way
• Join or initiate one cross-team conversation or collaboration touchpoint
• Experiment with one relationship that feels important but underdeveloped

One participant planned to stay a little longer after meetings to have more one-on-one conversations and create more space for connection. Another planned to continue intentionally reaching out to people in their broader professional ecosystem through conversations and coffee chats.

We closed the session with this understanding:

Networking within is not about performing or collecting connections.

It’s about building relationships, creating mutual understanding, enhancing collaboration, supporting each other’s work, and letting your work and presence be known in a way that feels natural to you.

At the end of the gathering, I also shared that Quiet Leaders Lab will pause in June as I begin a new tech policy fellowship opportunity.

I also introduced an early idea I’ve been reflecting on: a possible Quiet Leader Snail Mail Club—a slower, more reflective way to continue supporting quiet leaders through physical letters, reflections, prompts, and small pieces of art.

Sometimes leadership growth does not need more noise or more information.

Sometimes we simply need a quieter space to reconnect with ourselves.

If you’ve been reflecting alongside these gatherings and would like more personalized support, I also offer the Quiet Leader Deep Dive—a focused 50-minute 1:1 session where we work together to move from reflection into grounded action.

If you’d like dedicated support around leadership, visibility, confidence, or navigating work in a way that feels more aligned and sustainable, you’re welcome to schedule a session here.