Voluteerism & Networking

Instead of making networking a big, hairy, scary chore, what if you found ways to make it easier, fun and more effective?

For example, find an organization you’re interested in joining, or an event you want to attend. Offer your services. Yes; raise your hand to be part of the programming or planning committee. Get to know fellow committee members while you plan the organization’s next event. Discover shared interests and build relationships.

Volunteer to help with onsite event registration or guest reception. You’ll have easy access to a preview of the list of attendees and which organizations they represent. With that information in hand, you can target the two or three people you absolutely want to meet. When they arrive, greet them and say you look forward to connecting later.

Volunteerism can make networking easier. Help a good cause & yourself.

Competative Co-Workers

Are you competitive? Do you have competitive coworkers? I mean really, super competitive? The kind of person who will do anything, to anybody, in order to look good, win at all costs and come out on top? With them, every conversation and interaction is a contest to see who will prevail.

Highly competitive coworkers can be difficult to deal with because they appear to be out solely for themselves, with little to no concern for their impact on team dynamics. Could it be that how you respond to them depends on your genes and early childhood experiences? Well, that’s what recent research suggests. Studies have found warrior variant genes that are linked to performance under pressure, and worrier variant genes that are linked to a tendency to shy away from performing competitively when feeling threatened. Interesting; right?

For more information, here’s a link to a Wall Street Journal article about the work of Harvard’s Deepak Malhotra and John Houston of Rollins College.

The Best Way to Handle Not Being Passed Over For Promotion

Charles engaged me as his coach when the promotion he expected was granted to a colleague. He was devastated, and embarrassed.

Through our work, he dealt with his anger, hurt and resentment. Then, he put together a solid plan that helped him get on the success track.

Here’s what he did:

• Reevaluated his career goals and clarified his preferred next move.
• Sought feedback from his boss and senior leaders about what he needed to do to be better positioned for the next opportunity.
• Took a lateral move into another area of the company to broaden his breadth of knowledge and experience. The feedback from leadership pointed him in that direction.
• Today, he volunteers for special projects. Yes, it adds work. And, it pays off. Charles is now seen as team player. He’s more aware of developments across the business and he enjoys increased visibility.