I was reading with interest the article from the APM in September (Five networking tips from APM President Dr Yvonne Thompson) about the power of networking, as described by the APM’s new President, Dr Yvonne Thompson. As an SME, there are challenges for us…..
One top tip Dr Thompson wrote was about the three P’s: passion, purpose and passionate. Passion is something that PLP have in our brand: Passionate Project Professionals – and this is always true. The recent PLP staff survey revealed that 91% of our staff were satisfied in their work, and 100% felt they were in a collaborative teamwork environment. Purpose relates to who you would be meeting at the networking, why.. and why they might want to meet me, and positioning about who I might want to chat to and who they know. These two parts are the bits that I am getting more experience in. Making sure that I can succinctly describe our services to a broad range of people has moved from a ‘project management consultancy’ to ‘we provide project management resources to help with organisational change’. Using ‘resources’ means that I can then expand upon project controls, governance and planning to name a few.
Listening is also important, and whilst I would like to share with others about what PLP do, it is also useful to listen to others and what they do. I have learned more tips about LinkedIn, which networking events to attend, and which to avoid (!), by listening. I have also found that once you have spoken to one person, and listened – it is then not rude to move on, but understood and supported. When I realised this was the case, I felt more comfortable in saying farewell. I must also say that hosts at a good networking event will also be active in moving the room around and making introductions.
The final tip that I haven’t tried yet from Dr Thompson is about using WhatsApp to connect and not only LinkedIn. I wondered if anyone else uses this technique? And how you then start that conversation digitally post networking event?
Three events down, and two more booked, I am improving. For an SME, networking can be crucial for new clients, but more widely as a business support community to all the other SMEs trying to make it happen!
With special thanks to Ian and Tracey at www.weareinbusiness.co.uk for the photo from the last event I attended, and for moving me so seamlessly around the room.
#SME #networking #listening #project #sustainability
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Josie Rothera
