Networking importance

Why is so important to have a solid networking?

When we create social connections we refer to each people we know that can be helpful once in our lives. A network allows to handle a lot of different elements, we can relate to neuronal connections, information technologies, transports, telephonic, social among several others.

When you take time to construct a network, you take base on your personal values, expectations and accomplishments, the history that precedes your performance and the results you get.

Great leaders have a lot of useful connections that allows them to innovate inside their companies. Reid Hoffman, linkedin co founder, consider this ability as a must and it's one of the mail elements on this social network. Robert Kiyosaki (Rich father, Poor father) expresses that the investors and visionaries construct network that allows them to see beyond what it's evident.

How many contacts do you have on Facebook? Do you keep a certain level of communication with them? If you have the need to ask for a favor, do you have the level of confidence to ask for it?

Taking care of our friends and contacts translates in little details, likes at their publications, eventually organizing a sort of event to promote the bonding. It's easier to have a business encounter with a person you know and have permanent contact.

Networking Spaces

How you decide on the space you will need for your networking event?

On my personal point of view, networking is not that difficult or complicated, somehow it has to have attitude and interest. Meeting a new person, get interested on his needs, establish some agreement points and follow up. This can be done at any place, but there are some spaces that make easier this task.

The past week I participate on the inauguration of the learning commons. This event make me think about the possibilities of networking that could be done depending on the spaces.

Here I share a recommendation list to consider and have a networking event:

a) Food and beberage accesibility. It can be a restaurant or a coffeshop, if there are some awkward moments at some point, you can always speak about food and drinks and there you go.

b) Connectivity and technology access. A lot of business conversations are made from information that we have on the cloud, a USB or a presentation. Make sure you can expose the information.

c) Whiteboards, flipcharts or white paper to write down your ideas. A lot of people can take notes on the presentations, the posibility to make a scheme, outline, drawing or doodle, make the process of thinking a little bit easier.

d) Last but not least, comfortable furniture. Maybe the meeting take only 15 minutes, but if you are going to be there for more than one hour, you'll be grateful to have some ergonomic furniture that make your networking easier.

Antinetworking

How to make an entire team work in a few minutes?

I have to collaborate at some events each other day, among some activities that I participate are the attention at events, conferences, lunch, simposiums. The starting moments at these events use to be stressful for the organizers, and a lot of things could go wrong: Information, Presents, Spaces, Microphones, Guest Attention, Materials.

Some people work a complete year to get the event done and they make an effort and collaborate to achieve the goal that on the inauguration day everything runs smooth. Somehow the boss came in and with only a word, or the lack of it, the enthusiasm passed away and the people demoralizes.

Other kind of attitudes that "kill" the support spirit include: don't stop to greet the people, ignore the personal, talk in a rude way, give incomprehensible orders, think that people understand without giving the proper training, criticize the decision making without proposing different alternatives.

This attitudes are called the "anti networking" events. Walt Disney should explain it: "What happens off stage, is shown on stage". So to avoid this attitudes I recommend:

a) If you aren't aware on what your personal is feeling about an event, collaborate on one or two activities that you were not supposed to make, like welcome the guests or pass the microphones at a conference, so you can feel the stressful moments and you have the feeling on how to improve the performance.

b) Even if you are tired, control your voice and intonation with your member team. You can improve the team spirit with a good attitude, but if you have bad temper, the consequences could be a disaster.

c) Give some kind of attention, congratulation or applause for the well performed actions. Seize the moment and tell your collaborators what they have performed well, this little details can help you on your next project.

Cancelation Networking

Sure this has happened to you or you heard a story about it, you are at the airport and suddenly by events beyond your control,  the airline cancel your flight ... 

Last Thursday I had to take a flight at 8:00 am, I arrived at the airport with my regalement 2 hours in advance. To this point I have spent so much on the airports I've learned to take my precautions.

The airport seemed as a market day with your paycheck with you. You'd think they were giving away tickets or stays, since it was a lot of people there, the most interesting is that although the time was more regularly for working travelers, plenty of tourists were delivering their luggage. I think I was waiting for an hour to deliver my suitcase. Eventually as I walked in the control line, and went to the waiting room.

Oh surprise! the speakers began to notice that due to bad weather conditions, the airport was closed for operations, that means no flights arriving or leaving. A dense fog was observed through the windows of the waiting room, but I kept thinking that soon somebody would announce that my flight would depart from gate number 43.

Minutes passed and nothing, the speakers were announcing that passengers should wait for some more indications. And suddenly my flight that had the status of "on time" appeared a horrible "cancelled" in red letters and the whole thing. If you are going to cancel a flight, at least they should not make it so dramatic, but anyway, I went to the service station of the airline, and of course the lady who attended was not aware of the cancellation. I asked her politely what should a mere mortal like me do? And I thought she would answer me to buy something like Credit Card "X" and with that we give VIP status, but no, she spread a paper with a phone number and told me that my situation should be solved by telephone only.


The speakers suddenly told that people from my flight were directed to another station, in a separate room, with more trained staff or the understanding that they would be more informed than the girl in the other room. Finally the time came and I had been front half of the plane and the other half from the airport, because while I was thinking, more flights were canceled and that things there really started to get complicated.

I stayed on line for another half hour, but the lady with a very nice attitude, told me that I was going to lose my flight and would get on it the next day, until then I had not reacted, but at that time I pointed out that: 

1. I was not missing a flight, which was missing two flights (all because of the airport connections)

2. That I was going to do any major scandal, because I was sure that they should send me to my final destination. I just wanted to go straight to the beach.

Sure my non reactionary techniques, the girl should already have a signal (because there were several cases that morning) that from the flight from Madrid, they had to send landing Queretaro, or arriving from Bogota, had been unable to land and had gone to Toluca. And she will have noticed that there were some passengers who would be losing the connection. So I was assigned a place in the next direct flight to the beach :).

The nice lady gave me the following indications: Miss you are going to have to leave these waiting rooms, collect your luggage in the bands, go again to make baggage drop out, go back through the security line and ready. I was not going to lose bad mood, until then, all we lost was a flight, but according to the itinerary of my new flight, I will arrive at my destination about 15 minutes after the scheduled time, not bad for a cancellation .

What happened next is the result of Networking and commented to the note of what one can do in these cases and not spend so badly. To get out, no special ramps, one has to regularly go out in the designated areas, but I had not reached these areas, so I went to the security filters to exit. At that time there was shift change, so they were all serving security guards receiving their day assignments. But they not allow me to get out, so I have to say "please I'm going to lose another flight" and of course someone take care of me and told me the password to get out of there: "Jimenez"

OK, I was out, but I had to get to the delivery area of luggage, to go back, I passed through the filter of the airport staff, not to mention, I was wandering around all interior corridors until I got to where I would found easily my suitcase, but like everything went well on the day, of course it was not my case over there. Neither the passengers flying to Matamoros and San Luis Potosi. 

We all got talking and waiting, spent about 20 minutes waiting for the luggage and then Matamoros came in. 20 minutes after the San Luis Potosi flight luggage arrived. But nothing at all about my flight, and worse, no passengers, it was kind of strange.

Again no offense to affect the wonderful work of the staff of the airline, I had to tell them that or they I gave my suitcase, or we would have a pretty severe transportation problem, and asked for my suitcase, which arrived in about 20 minutes, the apparently estimated response time at this airline.

In the process, the man at the gate got a large group of passengers, supposedly would get to Sonora, but even if they were already on the plane, they take them down, I think that will make me get angry. 

With my suitcase I returned to the baggage drop off, and before it had taken me an hour to deliver, now 2 hours. There were many people making changes, asking them to give tickets for another time, etc. In a situation like this people can get very violent.

So my recommendation, when you pass something like that, take it easy, learn something in life, in my case two hours later arrived at my destination, but ultimately I arrived and had the best time.