I'm always trying to hone and improve my soft skills so I find some books to read on things like negotiating, networking, charisma, etc. I have access to LinkedIn Learning and I was listening to the topic on superconnecting last night and thought it was interesting. I took some notes on it and thought they may help.
Superconnecting: The Secret of Professional Networking
Figure out your purpose:
Determine what platform to use:
Managing your relationships:
The Fruit is in the follow-up:
Consistency:
Doing well by doing good:
Being interested versus interesting:
FORM Questions
How to stand out.
The Connector Mindset:
The Blue Ocean Strategy
Comfort Zone -> Growth Zone (Yellow) -> Burnout Zone
Deep Expressions:
Emotional Intelligence:
Humor
Crafting humorous stories:
Invest in your speaking skills.
Always add to the conversation.
Super Actions:
Attend other events:
Mentor and be mentored:
Network for a purpose:
Join digital groups:
Superconnecting: The Secret of Professional Networking
Figure out your purpose:
- What impact do you want to have?
- What special talents do you have?
Determine what platform to use:
- Show up more in person. Be present.
- Don’t be the most interesting person in the room; Be the most INTERESTED person in the room.
- Connect with people about your shared passions.
- Offer people your help, not your business pitch.
- Add value. Be a go-giver.
- How present are you in your online precense.
Managing your relationships:
- Add contacts to your phone immediately.
- Immediatelely contact them.
- Send a follow-up email. Become sticky as possible to become more memorable. You want to be multiple levels deep.
- Build an automated process to keep track of your connections.
- Learn. Do. Teach.
The Fruit is in the follow-up:
- Keep data on your connections to ensure you follow-up with the right information.
Consistency:
- Use automation to follow-up on schedule.
- Invite connections to events regardless of their response.
- Consistency enables you to build a whole world of connections.
- Keep updated notes on your connections to remember everything.
Doing well by doing good:
- Doing good with others provides a way to connect personally.
Being interested versus interesting:
- Being interested makes others feel important.
FORM Questions
- Family
- Occupation
- Recreation
- Motivation
How to stand out.
- Invite someone to a new version of an old event.
- Suggest active events to create dynamic opportunities to connect.
- Traditional Walk & Talk.
The Connector Mindset:
- Be open and connectable in your daily interactions.
- Make little connections to build your momentum.
- Practice asking FORM questions to everyone you meet.
The Blue Ocean Strategy
- Go where your skills will stand out.
- Unique environments allow time to make real connections.
- Being unique puts your expertise on a pedestal.
Comfort Zone -> Growth Zone (Yellow) -> Burnout Zone
- Discomfort in the yellow zone leads to growth.
- Make a list of whatever makes you uncomfortable.
- What can you anticipate?
- How will you respond?
- What questions will you ask?
- Saying “I’m not sure" gives you time and space to consider your options.
Deep Expressions:
- Open ended questions deepen your conversation.
- Open ended questions encourage people to open up.
- Ask deep, thought-provoking questions to get into a super-connecting flow.
Emotional Intelligence:
- Empathy
- Listen
- Repeat
- Add “I would love to help you with this”
Humor
- Find humor in your everyday life events.
Crafting humorous stories:
- Embarassing situations.
- Frustrating situations.
- Laugh out loud situations.
Invest in your speaking skills.
- Do you feel confident that you can go into a room, share your message, and impact the audience?
- Don’t try to memorize a speech.
- Know your key points.
- Consider how you want people to feel.
- Aim to impact one person.
Always add to the conversation.
- “Yes, and…”
- Say yes to the idea, then add to the idea.
- Saying “yes, and…” spurs more ideas and creates endless possibilities.
- Take an improv comedy class.
Super Actions:
Attend other events:
- Find a new event to attend every week.
- Chamber of commerce
- Local activity listings
- Universities
- Non-profits
- Virtual events
Mentor and be mentored:
- The Law of 33% Aspirational People / Peers / Mentees
- Spend time with peers who are going in the same direction as you.
- Being a mentor means guiding others around the obstacles.
- Find mentees
- Find mentors
Network for a purpose:
- Toastmasters
- National Speakers Association
Join digital groups:
- Make a goal to join 1,000 groups in a year.
- 1000 groups = 300000 people = potential connections
- The Go-Giver
- To Sell is Human
