How to Use Coffee Breaks to Network and Caffeinate Your Career

They say you never forget your first love. And certainly, that holds true for me. The first time we met, I remember my heart racing, my pulse pumping. I felt warm and cared for.

I was 15. Coffee was thousands of years old. But the connection was instant. Blissfully, the coffee was not.

In the intervening years since that fateful first meeting, coffee has been a faithful companion, holding my hand and carrying me through some rough patches. I credit it with helping me survive grad school, my children's infant years, and even the launch of my own business.

Let’s talk about the power of the coffee break and how you can tap into its unique potential to help you move your career forward.

Coffee—or rather, the coffee break itself—is the perfect accompaniment for human connection. We drink coffee together. And that’s where the strategery comes in. A coffee break is only a break if we use it as such. But if we use it wisely—as a means of connecting, learning, growing, asking, experimenting— it can be so much more.

So let’s talk about the power of the coffee break and how you can tap into its unique potential to help you move your career forward.

We’ll use a simple framework. I call it the who, why, what.

Begin with who

They say success is all about who you know. I find that a depressing proposition.

It’s not all about who you know, but who you know matters.

But, while it’s not wholly true in my experience, neither is it wholly untrue. In other words, it’s not all about who you know, but who you know matters.

Give some thought to your network. Who do you know? Who would you like to know? Think of people you could forge a connection with to help you reach your career goals.

Here are some guiding questions to ask yourself in order to develop a list of potential co-imbibers.

• Who's currently doing a job you aspire to do someday?
• Who could be a great advocate for you when you’re looking for your next role within the company?
• Who works in a function you'd like to learn more about?
• Who has a particular skill or capability you’d like to emulate?
• Who has done something captivating, challenging, or surprising that you’d like to hear more about?
• Whose point of view could really help challenge or round out your own thinking on a particular topic?

These are just a handful of thought-starters. Be thoughtful about how you invest your time, and whose you ask for in return.

Next, move on to why

Remember, just because you recognize the coffee break's strategic potential doesn't mean others will be on...

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