Truth be told, it’s not what you know. It’s who you know. Who you know is the key to being more efficient and successful.
Connections are our most important form of currency. We can lose our jobs and we can lose our assets. But if we have a strong network and understand how to use it, doors will open and we will recover quickly. Having a great powerbase of people is half the equation. The other is how you leverage your influence
Four steps for building a strong powerbase are laid out below. If you think them through every time you need to make a strategic connection, you’ll be successful.
The first of the four is to identify what you want. Yes, you heard me right. What’s in it for you? Is it a new job? An introduction to someone? To bid on a new account? Be very clear on what you want.
Second, who can help you get it? Who is the person you need to know to get closer to what you want? By the way, this is not a lottery scratch ticket -- no one actually wins those anyway! There’s no instant gratification process to relationship building. This is about long term investing and starting well before you actually need the relationships.
So, is the person who can help you most someone you know?Or do you know someone who does Know that person?
Third, what’s the hook for getting to that person? This requires some serious stalking. You need to find out why they would want to meet with you. What’s in it for them? What can you provide to them that they would see as a valuable benefit? Maybe there’s someone you know that they’d like to meet. Maybe you have a skill that could be useful to them. Maybe they love animals and are passionate about the humane society and maybe you volunteer there. That’s a nice common interest to hook a conversation, at least initially.
Lastly, what’s your elegant outcome? Let’s say you tee it up and you get the meeting. What do you want from this person? What action? What commitment? This is your elegant outcome and it is up to you to leverage your influence and soft persuasion skills to make sure that meeting doesn’t end without your elegant outcome.
Similarlhen you work for a company, a strong powerbase is critical. You get things done more easily and greater opportunities come your way.
Go Ducks!
Teri Citterman is an author and executive coach. She is a UO alum and currently lives in Seattle.
To reach Teri:
teri@talonnllc.com
@CEOpov
www.linkedin.com/in/tericitterman/
For more information: www.talonnllc.com
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Duck Alumni Career Blog
September 4, 2014