Welcome to the New Manager Podcast. I'm your host, Kim Nicoll. Hello and welcome. I'm glad you're here and I hope you're doing well. Last week I attended a conference. It was the California Conference for Women and it was held in Santa Clara, CA, which is about 45 minutes of driving from where I live in San Francisco when there's no traffic. When there is traffic, it can easily be twice that amount of time, maybe a little longer, but I share this because it was such
an incredible experience. It was just one day and there were amazing speakers and there were incredible attendees. And the reason I was there was to participate in what they had designated to be the Coaches Corner. And the conference organizers partnered with the local chapter of ICF, the International Coaches Federation, which I am a part of. And so myself and maybe 20 other coaches were there to offer free coaching to whoever dropped in.
Each session was about 20 minutes, and I have to tell you, people were lined up the entire day. I coached as many folks as I could. It turned out to be about 16 people by the end of the day. And it was incredible. The energy of the group, the energy and the inspiration of the speakers. And it was so much fun to be both with some of my coach peers and have some professional collaboration and connection
with them. And it was also a lot of fun to be available to offer these 20 minute coaching sessions on any topic at all. Career, life, leadership, you know, managing like what all of the things. And it made me really think about the importance of choosing to put yourself in rooms with people that will both inspire you and help you to see things a little bit differently. And also the importance of gathering with others in your
industry. And gathering with others where you get to exercise the gifts and talents and perspective that you have gained in the course of your life. Because doing that feels really good and it will get you out of both kind of being in the weeds of the day today. It will give you a bigger perspective, like a fresh look at who you are, what you do, what's possible out there.
And I think that now, as you know in the last year or so, as the world is opening up a bit more, I think there's also a just a hunger for the community that we experience when we're in person sharing space together. And so I had this really beautiful full experience of it and it made me want to remind you that you you want to choose that for yourself as well.
And it might require looking for yourself at the kinds of industry events, the kinds of professional communities where you will find that connection and that kind of energy. But it's so, so important. Related to that, one of the topics that came up quite a bit, especially as folks were asking me about job changing, so people who were on a job search or
career progression. So conversations about what is the next step in the career, stepping into higher levels of leadership, how to navigate the internal ecosystem of promotions and managers, And you know all all of that, how all of that works. One of the recurrent themes that came up was about the importance of networking and we were at a conference, so that was also a real ideal place for that.
But I had found myself having quite a few conversations about this and I wanted to share this with you too. Also, I will be at the Transform Conference in Las Vegas in about a week. We'll be there from, let's see,
March 11th to the 13th. So if you happen to be at that conference too, because it's all about transforming the workplace, how we work together, people and culture, all of that, then let me know because it would be so much fun to meet up in person and have some of these conversations together. But when you are thinking about growing your network, I want to take some time today to talk about why you would do that and
also how. And if you are a person who's a little bit more of an introvert or a little bit more reserved, then this is especially for you. Because what we tend to do when we're not that excited about a thing is we avoid it. Whether it's having a difficult conversation or going to an event and meeting people or reaching out and trying to establish a relationship with someone for the purpose of expanding relationships, building a network.
If that feels uncomfortable to you in any way, there's a good chance you will avoid it. And that has a negative effect over time because so much of how we find opportunities, the way that you will find new job opportunities, new collaboration opportunities and not just for you, but you might find yourself in a position of needing to hire someone.
And the more active and robust your network, the more you will have resources of folks to reach out to for different ideas or being able to simply, you know, pass along, Hey, this is who we're looking for. Or this is the kind of, you know, collaborative opportunity that we have coming up. It will be to your benefit to recognize that you are not an independent individual kind of cast about in the big ocean.
But whether you realize it or not, you are a part of a bigger community and you can become intentional about how you wish to Foster and nurture relationships within that community. And what's nice is that it then creates the increased likelihood that you will thrive in your career and life, but also that the community of which you are a part can also thrive because of your participation in your engagement there. So why you want to grow your
network? And I honestly think network is just the people that you know, you know like why you want to be mindful of growing. That is because it gives you access to new perspectives, to fresh ideas, to different opportunities both for yourself like if you are looking for your next career step, your next opportunity. But also as I mentioned before, you might have an opportunity that you are looking to give to someone or to connect somebody
with. And so having that active network helps you to do that too. And also in kind of also very selfish perspective, it it will give you a better experience, like you'll just have a more enjoyable quality of life and quality of work when you have this sense of connection with others. It's one of the things that helps us to feel less alone in the world, to help us feel less overwhelmed in the face of challenges. And there are, you know, so many of those that we see all of the time.
But having that connection, that conversation with others, so valuable, so important to do that. And if you think about it throughout, you know, the first part of your life, you have some of that built in just because of the way the education system works. We often end up developing our first kind of informal network through our education and our school.
But once you are working out in the world, it may take a bit more intentional effort in order to create, establish and maintain some of these relationships. So that's why you'd want to do it. And now let's talk a bit about how value the current relationships that you already have. Now, if you are like me and maybe the last three to four years, some of those friendships and relationships have gone a
little stagnant. It is OK to choose today to reignite and re engage in some of those friendships and relationships. That's part of what I've been working on too. In my own work in my own life is reconnecting with folks that I worked with in the past and different folks that I've known and starting to have conversations around. Hey, it's been a while. I'm sure there's a lot that's happened in your work and life too. Would you like to have a catch
up call? And it doesn't have to be long, you know, it could be 15 minutes. It could be 20 minutes, but simply inviting someone, saying, hey, it's been a while. I'm so curious to hear what you've been up to, how you're doing, having that invitation to connect and have a conversation that can be a very simple way of engaging with your current network and adding value. And when I say that, what I mean is by adding value, it's you're adding this quality of attention that people value.
It feels good when someone says, hey, I've been thinking of you, how are you doing? I'd love to hear what you're up to these days. Like it can be just that simple, that kind of human connection. I don't know if I've mentioned this to you before, but I also am active on Insight Timer. I think in my mind it is the best platform out there if you're interested in meditation and mindfulness.
And I've been going live there on Fridays talking about mindfulness at work and life and kind of starting to giving my myself space to speak and teach more openly about mindfulness and how that affects us in our work and our life. And last week in the talk that I gave, I spent a lot of time focused on how the quality of your attention is one of the most valuable things that you bring into.
And in any relationship, whether it's personal relationship or friendship or a colleague or a work relationship or with your clients, the quality of your attention is so valuable. And so it doesn't have to feel like this heavy lift when you think about, oh, I have to add value to my to my network, that
sounds so transactional. But if you think about it on a very human level, it's simply the willingness and the intention to bring a quality of attention to someone to be interested in them, this desire for connection and conversation and hearing what they're up to. If you work in similar fields or in similar industry, you can ask the question of I'd love to hear what you're seeing in our industry. I'd love to compare notes with you.
I'd love to chat with you about what you think about, you know what what you're seeing in in the industry and that also is a value because your perspective and experience is a little bit different. So it's a it's a way to share, you know what are we seeing And that additional perspective adds value to that other person as well because the world is really big, things move really fast. It's rather impossible to know
everything about everything. So instead of trying, think of it like you get to learn and hold up perspective from your corner of the world, and then you get to connect with and share that with someone else and they may find it really valuable. Just in that. The same way that them sharing what they're doing and how they're doing it and what they're seeing and thinking might also really help illuminate something for you.
So just by being who you are in the world, the quality of your attention, the perspective that you have, those are two very valuable things. And that's what you can think about, you know, when you're wanting to engage with your network. So valuing the connections and the relationships that you have right now, even if they've gotten a little bit neglected, it's OK. You can always reach out and just say, hey, I was thinking of you, I would love to know what you're up to now.
Would you like to schedule a catch up call or a virtual coffee something, something you know, something easy, something light? The next thing to think about is how you'd like to grow your network. And this is really good, especially if you're thinking about making a little bit of a pivot in your career or if you're, you know, considering like, oh, maybe I want to do something slightly different or maybe I want to go into a different industry or a different organization.
If you're sort of, you know, re evaluating what you're doing now and thinking about what else is possible out there and how can you find out what it's like and what's out there and how you might make your way there. You can always start looking for people you'd like to connect with. LinkedIn makes this really easy. You can look for people in different specific organizations or industries, or with certain job titles and responsibilities, and you can simply send a cold
e-mail. Hi, we haven't met, but I saw this about your profile and I wanted to reach out. Would you be interested? Would you be open to having a brief conversation? I'd love to hear more about what you do, how you got there. You know what you're seeing in, you know XY and Z. It can be that simple. The one thing you'll have to get over is the fear of bothering
people. If that's something that's pretty active for you, remember that they can always just say no or ignore you, so that's OK. And #2, you're still offering them a high quality of attention when we're being very intentional about who we reach out to and why. So I would encourage you to not feel too reserved about that.
The other thing is that when you're at a conference and you connect with someone there, definitely connect with them on LinkedIn because that will make it easy to follow up later. Don't follow up the next day because the next day everyone is tired. Everyone gets lost in their inbox. Everyone is like, oh right back, back to the grind. But the following week or two send them a note saying, hey, it was so great to meet you at this conference. I'd love to chat a bit more and
learn more about you. I'd love to talk of, you know, continue the conversation about XY and Z. Would you like to have a virtual coffee? Would you like to schedule like a 20 minute call to when when we can talk a bit more. And what's nice about that is that, you know, it can be so easy when we're at a meet up or a conference to connect with somebody on LinkedIn and then never go back. Go back.
Like in make this part of your plan, make it a strategy that you'll follow up with them, invite them into more of a conversation to learn more about them and to also share what you're doing, who you are. And remember that what you're doing and who you are is valuable. It sometimes doesn't feel that way, especially if you are in a work situation where you feel a bit overlooked or under
appreciated. It can become easy to kind of take ourselves for granted if we're not feeling very appreciated in the work that we're doing. But remembering that bringing your perspective about the industry, the work, the world is of value. Just because like just because it is just because it's an angle and a view that nobody else has the exact same perspective that you have. Use that to, you know, like motivate you or to remind you that it's OK to reach out.
It's OK to say, hey, would you like, you know, I'd love to invite you to a conversation if you're open to it, if you'd like to and to make it super easy. This is why I started doing is I love Calendly. They're not a sponsor or anything, but I just love the, I love the product.
I use it in my own coaching business and what I've started to do is I now create this like virtual coffee, you know, 20 minute conversation and I'll say, yeah, here's my calendar, find a time for that works and we'll chat. And in the Calendly link, when they're going to schedule, there is a question box that says remind me again of how we met.
And that's great because then that person will say, oh, we met at this conference or we were introduced by so and so or oh, we attended the same virtual meeting together. People will put that into the booking link. So when it's on my calendar, even if it happens 2 weeks later when I see that calendar invite, I can read in the notes, oh, this is How I Met this person. And it helps give me context. It helps give them context. I've said this before, as a
human, you're very intelligent. As a human, you're also very forgetful. So make it easy to remember how you meet people just by having them put it in and it'll show up right into the calendar invite. So let it be simple. You know the how of building your network. When you're at a conference or you're at an event and you meet someone, simply ask them directly, hey, would you like to connect on LinkedIn? They might say, oh I'm not on LinkedIn are they? You know, are they going to say
sure. But just use that as the starting point and then the following week or you know, a little time after, reach out with a follow up. It was great meeting you at this place. Would you be interested or open to 20 minute virtual coffee? Love to hear more about XY and Z and invite them to book a time. And they might, They might not, but that is the invitation you offer That makes it easier to start developing a more robust relationship and network. So think about where you can do
this in your own life. Realize also. That you're not just building your network outside your organization, but you can also do this within your organization. Especially if you work in a very large organization. Be curious about what other functions are doing. Be curious about the business. Be curious about how it all works. Building your internal network is also very valuable.
Just get to know who people are, what they do, what they care about, what makes their job easier or harder, what they want to do next in their career. Just be curious and learn about other people from this place. And that is like, not just the easiest but one of the most satisfying ways to build out your relationships and your network. So that is what I wanted to offer you today.
You know, especially if you're an ambitious person, especially if you're in a leadership role, it becomes very useful to have a well nurtured network. The higher you go, the more you want to have relationships with others who can offer perspective opportunities. Insights like that will be a good thing for you to have. Oh, and you know what? My other tip? Do not limit yourself to people
of your same generation. Think about expanding your network in both directions with folks who are older than you and with folks who are younger than you. Because again, folks older and folks younger will have different perspective, different experience, different ideas about what they're seeing and the resources that they find useful. And that is really valuable. It's so great to have people that you know who are both in the generation above and the generation incoming.
So make sure that you do that. So that is what I wanted to share with you today. If you want to get a glimpse of the conference I attended last week, then go to my TikTok. My handle there is at Coach Kim Nickel. I am still in my 30 day Challenge. I am posting every day. I have to say I'm a little bit proud that I am continuing to show up there. It's a little bit different for me, but you know, we're learning and growing and that's always a good thing.
So you can see some of the video from the event there on my TikTok. If you want to connect with me on more of the meditation mindfulness front, then you're going to want to find my profile on Insight Timer. I'll see if I can add that into the show notes as well and if you want to work with me one-on-one. If you're looking for leadership, coaching, career, communication, life questions, like all of it, come and talk to me. Book a consult.
I will be taking new clients and I'd love to talk with you about what your goals are and help you understand your options with my coaching engagements. So link to that is in the show notes or just go to kimnickel.com. All right, that's it for me today. Have a great one and I will talk to you next time. When you're more effective at work, you're happier in your life, and when you're happier in your life, you're more effective at work. I can help.
Go to my website kimnickel.com and sign up for a coaching consult.