The recent growth of my professional connections 😀

Whilst impossible to measure, I consider this to be the best 3-4 months of network connection building EVER – both F2F and in the virtual space of social media.

I’m disappointed with myself by typing this cliché but it feels as though “everything just clicked” 😉

Again, no tangible measure but everything has been very positive and given me a craving to keep raising the bar. It has felt less of an “effort” recently but I’ve gained much greater reward, a tipping of the scales.

I will even confess to a tinge of regret that I’m on annual leave this week, just from a momentum slowing perspective! If my wife reads this, I’m in real trouble! 😱

For my own purposes, it’s worth setting down what has gone so well and why, it will give me something to refer back to if I hit a bit of a fallow period during the year! If anyone else gains some useful thoughts or ideas from my experience, that’s great!

As always with my writing, these are thoughts in no particular order or relevance!

* I am being invited to events, not just hunting them down myself. That is a big boost. There is no skill to this I’m afraid, it is simply some reward for all those “hard yards” of pushing myself out there and making myself better known. My calendar is filling up for me.

* I have gone from more of an event attendee to an event participant, that’s also a big difference. For many years I’ve been a very confident attendee, comfortable being there but generally a follower of discussion. I’m now much more of an instigator of discussion, taking a leading role. The biggest benefit of this is that connections seem to come in my direction, I have less hunting down to do!

* Socially in a business sense, I’m much more active. I tended to avoid evening events and didn’t see the added value. However being more assertive has made these great fun and very productive. I embrace evening events and dinners, rather than endure them – that’s a total shift. I feel less of a passenger at these now and at the last two events in Glasgow, I was the last to leave! Nothing to do with me maximising a free bar either, I gave up drinking 4+ years ago, I was there late purely for the good company I was in!

* I’m happy enough walking into a room where I don’t know anyone. However I would be lying if I said it isn’t INFINITELY better when I spot a few familiar faces straight away, immediate chat and friendly banter! That launches me straight into the room and if an event starts well, it ends well. From a mindset perspective, I now expect to know people in the room – that expectation alone gives me a surge of extra positivity and energy…whether I do or not.

* I have much more to talk about, that makes talking a lot easier! I have access to a wealth of services and products in my role, not to mention access to a global network of great colleagues. So I know I can help pretty much everyone I meet professionally, directly or tapping into the expertise of others. Whether a business is a sole trader  or national business, I can engage with and assist them.

* On social media, particularly LinkedIn, I am reaping what I sow! Plenty of effort has gone in but the quality and volume of interaction is ample reward! I’m happy to engage with most who are keen to do likewise, whether we’ve previously met or not. The difference recently is the higher relevance of connection invitations I receive, meaning a greater likelihood of future F2F interaction. I will find reason to connect to anyone. I gain as much from engagement with those starting out in their career as I do from CEOs – genuinely.

* This recent freshening up of my LinkedIn network has lead to much more interaction and engagement online, which further boosts this. It’s a bit of a snowballing effect. Guilty as charged, I have historically been more a writer of than engager with posts. More of the latter has raised my profile hugely – and lead me into other areas. We hear about what those algorithms like, I am taking the advice on board – and the engagement is fun! The writing (like this one!) takes a bit of time, wheras engagement is instant! As I type this paragraph late on Sunday afternoon, a newer contact of mine has just engaged, it never stops…but that’s good ☺️

* Social media is tolerant of Insurance stuff – but clearly much prefers more personal insights! So whilst it’s important that I share information about the breath of Insurance matters I can help with, these do nothing…at all…to raise my profile. It is the more random moments which gain most interest online. The interesting  places I go and people I meet are the posts which are commented on, not my preferred industry sectors or interesting products.

I’ve already written a Networking themed post, however as I said at the start of this one, recent months have been at a different level. A good time to reflect – and to diarise a reminder to read this again when I come back from this holiday, relaxed and ready to keep growing 😎

#networking #linkedin #insurancebroker #accountexecutive