by Ron Sukenick

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter 

1. Invest more time with people – The biggest investment you will make in building relationships and proving out a productive working relationship is TIME. Simply stated, the more you know and understand others, the more likely that relationship will flourish.

2. Become purpose driven – If building relationships are going to be at the fore-front of you networking activities, then you first have to strengthen your relationship with self. Self reflection, reason for being, purpose driven and vision is an important part of that process. If you don’t take the time to sit back and work on yourself, who will?

3. Create unparallel visibility – The bottom line for more business in 2010 is simply becoming more visible. That means getting targeted with face to face and on-line social networks. While Face book is a cool place to hang out, consider strengthening your profile and connection base on such sites as LinkedIn, and other industry specific portals to make more of a professional impact worldwide. Also, take a closer look at the micro sites that are more geographic to the area where you are marketing your services and creating impact.  Some examples are – www.SmallerIndiana.com (central Indiana) www.biznik.com (Pacific Northwest) etc.

4. Develop relationship strategies – Everyone talks about relationships.  Now you can do something about it. A relationship strategy is anything that you can do that adds value to others. Strategies put you in command and control of your relationship mindset. Don’t just talk about it. Do something about it. Develop your strategies today.

5. Relentlessly follow-up -Think about some of the recent networking events you attended and ask yourself the following questions:

a. From the 10-15 people you might of met, how many actually followed up with you by sending a note in the mail, an e-mail, or a phone call and said – “What a pleasure it was meeting you at the recent any-town Chamber of Commerce event”?

b. In fact, ask yourself the same question – How many did you actually follow up with a note, an e-mail, or even a phone call?

See what I mean? I told you so. Nobody is following up with anybody.

6. Be in a hurry – The biggest driving force in most countries continues to be speed. People want what they want, and they want it NOW! Take the moment and dance with it. Don’t wait to get better connected. And don’t wait to provide the support that’s needed now by the many people your meeting.

When you act on the environment, you being proactive and by being proactive, you’re generating excitement, energy, focus, and enthusiasm. Thus leading to greater success.

If most of your efforts are in the reactive mode, it’s simply a slower process and your generating fatigue, crisis management, thus often leading to failure.

7. Find ways to become more useful and resourceful to others – Simply stated, whatever you have done to satisfy anyone yesterday, it won’t be enough to satisfy them tomorrow. Make sense? Immediately look for no less then 6 ways that you can become more useful and resourceful to others.  Keep meeting people. The more people you know that know what to do next, and know how to get things done, the more useful and resource you will be.

8. Increase you frequency of interaction – Increased interaction brings increased cooperation with others. To many times people fail to follow up with people their meeting. If you can get up to 6 interactions with anyone, it’s likely you’ll have a good beginning for a relationship that will never end. (See suggestion # 5 for more comments to support this suggestion.)

9. Join a referral club – There is a distinction in the kinds of networks that exist. Go for the strong contact, referral giving groups. The BNI’s, LeTips and the newest and closely watched Gold Star Referral Club are for sure your best bet for the greatest return on your time and money invested.

10. Connect the Dots as often as you can (making the most from the Small World Phenomena) – When was the last time you heard that infamous expression – It’s such a Small World Isn’t It? – Keep in mind that the power in your networking efforts is always in the connection. And that the connection between you and the people your meeting, is never between you and the people you’re meeting. It’s between you, them, and something else that you have in common.

11. Increase the rewardingness – If you want people to act the way you want them to act, you have to increase the rewards of being and doing business with you. Whether it’s knowing more people, becoming a better listener, or even just putting in a toll free number to reach you, people will always respond to something they like and appreciate. Keep the rewards coming.

12. Take the Joy of Interaction to higher levels – Let’s face it. The reason why you love this thing called networking is clearly because of what I call – The “Joy of Interaction”. Isn’t it fun? I didn’t say it was productive. I just said it’s fun. So when you’re out interacting with others, consider bringing the following characteristics to the table – fun, excitement, passion, creativity, dependability, responsibility and support. Make it a joyful experience for the people your meeting.

13. Go after the relationship, not just the sale – This is the very reason why most people find networking so in-effective. There going after the sale. When looking to build your business, think relationship first.

14. Don’t manage people (manage the system) – Systems build business and are more predictable and reliable. In a networking environment, it’s very difficult to get people to do what you want them to do, and if you could, it would have to be with their own willingness to get it done. Stick to a predictable system that works every time.

15. Listen three times as much – When you speak, you learn what you know. When you listen, you learn what others know. The power has always been in the listening. Here’s a good question you should ask yourself – When was the last time anyone said – Thanks for taking the time to listen? If it’s been while, go back to work and become a great listener.

In fact, great listeners, have great connections.

When all is said and done

Stay focused, challenge your thinking and underlying beliefs, be more strategic, go after the relationship, connect the dots, make the connection, and always take the moment and dance with it.

Ron Sukenick is the Chief Relationship Officer and founder of the Relationship Strategies Institute, a training and Relationship development company that provides innovative, effective and relevant programs and systems for corporations, organizations, and associations. To learn more about the value of Relationship Development, visit his Web site at www.Ronsukenick.com . You can reach Ron by phone at: 317-216-8210, or by email at rs@ronsukenick.com

by Katie Mead

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

The success of any project, from facilitating key special events to designing a communications strategy, is dependent upon great coordination.  However, it can be difficult putting your finger on which criteria will best set a project up for success.  Whether designing and coordinating your own project or looking to hire an exceptional project coordinator, here are some key competencies to keep top of mind:

 1. ‘Getting it’ and making changes
A talented project coordinator will quickly and effectively grasp the project goals and be able to readily articulate them (translating technical jargon, if necessary) to the team.  And it’s not just the goals at the project outset that matter: great coordination depends upon agility and flexibility – the ability to respond to changes as they occur.  It’s not enough to meet every pre-arranged milestone and deliverable on time and on budget if the project goals have changed.  Constant vigilance and the ability to change tacks are essential to good project coordination.

2. Team building
The results of a project are usually reliant upon the efforts of a team.  With a focus on effective team-building, a great coordinator is able to marshal the resources of many, while maintaining the vision of the project’s greater scope.  Especially valuable is the ability to anticipate and remove barriers to team-effectiveness before they become problematic.  A successful team will result in a successful completed project.

3. The great balancing act
Intrinsic to any project, regardless of its size or complexity, is the buy-in of various stakeholders.  Whether the development team, business sponsors, sales, marketing or human resources, each group has its own agenda and priorities.  It’s the job of the project coordinator to keep all these ‘balls in the air’, to stay abreast of the different needs and requirements of each stakeholder, and juggle priorities appropriately.  This balancing act is intensified when the project also requires the facilitation of outside or outsourced talent.

4. Following the leader
Seamless project coordination requires excellent project leadership ability.  An exceptional project coordinator possesses a variety of important skills and qualities: exceptional communication, the ability to motivate others, the ability to negotiate, as well as consummate organizational and conflict resolution skills, just to name a few. A project will be successful according to how well the project coordinator manages this skill-set.

5. Natural-born diplomacy
Regardless of the nature of the project, any competent project coordinator will tell you that effective project coordination deals with people as its first priority.  Great diplomacy skills are required to keep people productive and feeling valued. And if problems can’t be sidestepped, great conflict resolution skills are essential.   The ability to smooth out people-problems when they occur with great tact and respect is an invaluable skill, and an intrinsic tool in any good project coordinator’s toolkit.

6. Persistence
An often overlooked, but nevertheless essential, part of effective project coordination is persistence.  To overcome all the various obstacles and challenges that can arise, a great project coordinator depends upon both a sense of humour and a flexible contingency plan.  The ability to regroup and come at the problem from a different angle is an important skill for any seasoned project coordinator.

7. Trustworthiness
Let’s face it: hiring an excellent project coordinator ultimately comes down to trust.  Look closely at their credentials: it’s guaranteed that a seasoned coordinator will have a demonstrable track record of success and excellent references.  An effective project coordinator will take the needs of the project and run with it.  Along the way, they’ll go the distance by utilizing great communication skills and transparent processes to put you at ease while ensuring delivery of a successful finished project, on time and on budget. 

Katie Mead is the co-founder of Springboard Consulting, Katie is a passionate about good communication.  From a diverse background in the fine arts, she has developed a proven track record of success working in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Her particular areas of expertise include marketing, grant writing, non-profit resource building and management, fundraising, and the design and launch of various keynote projects and events.  Katie can be reached at:  katie@springboardconsulting.ca

by Dave Walker

   This cartoon was published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

We welcome your thoughts and comments on this cartoon.

Dave Walker
Cartoon Blog: http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/
Church Times Blog: http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/blog
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/davewalker

by Galen McPherson

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter 

So there I was… driving all along FM 1960 [that's a road name, for all you non-Texans] looking all over for the Dunkin’ Donuts that Mapquest told me would be there.  Finally, I called Nancy Johnson, my coffee partner, to let her know that I was late, I had been unable to locate the place, but I was looking.  When she answered, she told me that she was also driving up and down 1960, also unable to find Dunkin’ Donuts either.  Darn Mapquest.  So we agreed on Starbuck’s, which we were both somehow near, with another lesson learned about today’s electronic world.

This was a marathon cuppa, not that we noticed until too late, almost three hours, but most enjoyable.  Nancy and I have both been struggling with a bit of “personal” re-invention this last year, having been let go from our separate previous employers at the start of the new year, a circumstance not unfamiliar to a great many Americans.

We are similarly aged, and seeking corporate employment was most often met with the “over-qualified” euphemism, creating quite a bit of angst and anguish.  We were, at our advanced maturity…  well, age, because I certainly cannot consistently claim maturity… having to decide “what we wanted to be when we grew up“.  We had to re-invent how we looked at ourselves, driven by how others looked at us.  Inside, I am still 25, immortal and sporting the body I inhabited while flying fighters and carousing in Korea- I have no idea how that overweight grey-haired guy gets inside my mirror.

We talked about the struggles of learning new skills, particularly the ubiquity and variety of electronic social media - so critical to today’s networking candidate.  Skype, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Naymz… and those are only a few of the myriad options available.  We talked about blogging and what it takes to get into that, and then there is website design and upkeep, and on and on and on.  I had decided simply to jump in, to go get started, but Nancy had found herself a bit more hesitant, wanting to research it “just a little bit more” to “make sure [she] was doing it right”.

That is when a favorite admonition from a friend of mine from long long ago came to mind - “Anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly at first”.  If you want to be “good” at social media marketing, you will have to be bad at first.  You will make faux pas, you will goober up your Twitter account, you will forget the eighty-five new passwords you create [some with caps, some with letters, some not], you will try to make a connection on LinkedIn by signing in to Facebook.  Trust me- I have “been there, done that”.  But all these applications are amazingly forgiving [I can delete the pages I don't like] and the community of users is amazingly supportive and receptive.

So we came around full circle to the adage-esque Nike slogan of “Just Do It”.  Social media is the “new thing” especially to us “boomers”, but it is the new thing.

We have to become adept at using it.

Even though we will be poor at using it at first

Galen McPherson is an unabashed Intellectual Capitalist, specializing in knowledge systems optimization. Every company has a knowledge system.  Usually, though, the knowledge system is not a designed feature but one that simply “happened” over time. His work can help ensure that you provide the right information to the right person at the right time in the right format.  He can be reached at 832.298.4940 and galen@galenmcpherson.com.  His profile is on LinkedIn and Facebook, and his blog can be found at www.galenmcpherson.com.

Better knowledge.  Faster.

by Norman Levine

   This article was published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

The opening ceremonies were so spectacular I sometimes wish they’d cut directly to the closing ceremonies with an exhibition or two in between. Instead, after expressions of camaraderie, we get fierce competition provoking nationalism, grudges and divisive rivalries.

In spite of a general disinterest in most events I watch along with an expected global audience of two hundred million. I become an avid fan fixed on these athletes who soar and swoop and leap and loop in sports I’ve barely heard of. I even cultivate a sudden and short-lived enthusiasm for such alien pastimes as curling, biathlon and downhill mogul. If I learn the difference between a double axle and triple lutz I’m sure I’ll forget it before the next Olympics.

I’m caught up in ice dancing and snowboard competition but can’t work up much enthusiasm for the luge except relief when it’s over and no one else has met his maker at ninety mph.

Is anyone else bothered by the perfection we ask of these young men and women? The winners all have perfect teeth and the losers lay soft-boiled eggs, They all look great to me. But a bobble here and a wobble there and they’re dead meat. Is it right that teenagers should live in slavish servitude to their event and then return home humiliated because they didn’t nail the landing?

Bad enough that Sparta reigns over Athens for a few weeks. In the rush for gold the ice is littered with broken dreams but it’s the judges who frighten me most. They have those jaundiced eyes that see only faults and give me the heebie-jeebies. Dare I eat a peach?

When I cut the morning melon I can feel the eyes of the Bulgarian scorer all over me taking off points for my grip. Have I divided the sphere into four precise quadrants? Let’s get an instant reply and take out our protractors.

The next time I negotiate my shopping cart through Costco I must remember how those giant slaloms did it. But I’d better not try the speed bumps on the side streets at Olympian pace when the limit is 15 mph.

When the gun goes off for the speed skating sprint did I detect an ever so slight lunge? Tell me, what is the first bud in an early spring other than a lurch in response to the starter’s gun?

If I were a judge I’d give messy humanity it’s due. A misstep here, a blemish there. Satchmo’s rasp, the riff not on the page. Blessed are the slips and flops, the accidents that have gotten us this far as we stumble our way along. Hopi potters knew to make an imperfection in their bowls so not to offend the gods.

Norm Levine is a happily retired pharmacist. After reading doctor’s chicken scratch hand-writing for 53 years he has taken to prose and poetry writing himself. He has published two books of poetry along with his wife, Peggy Aylsworth and one work of his own. Some of his poems are available on http://poetsplace.blogspot.com. He claims to have found his calling in creative idleness, thinking great thoughts which he tosses off the Santa Monica pier in a bottle.