By the time you read this, there will be only four more shopping days until Christmas, only six days left in Hanukkah, and 10 days until the last day, the giving day, of Kwanzaa.
Some of you may be considering giving a gift to someone in your business circle. However, there are often concerns about the appropriateness of giving a material gift to your boss, subordinate, colleague, or people you work with in other companies such as vendors/suppliers or distributors. In this season of giving and gratitude, why not give those in your business circle a valuable gift that keeps on giving?
Such a gift is helping them by expanding their network, which could help them now and well into the future. What follows are some ways you can help others expand their networks.
Introduce them to others in your network. This is probably the most obvious way to help others expand their network and you probably already do this, but likely to a limited extent. We tend to connect those we know to others who might become potential customers, suppliers, or collaborators.
However, if you think more widely, it will pay greater dividends for all involved. Introduce to each other those who have similar values, work, ethical philosophies, and complementary skill sets. They will likely be able to help each other by tapping into each other’s similarities and differences to be better managers and leaders. Your role will be to lend the credibility that would not be possible if one person self-introduced to the other.
“Like” and/or comment on their posts on LinkedIn. By either “liking” or commenting on someone’s posts on LinkedIn, you will implicitly “introduce” that person to your LinkedIn network. Your LinkedIn connections will be able to see what you liked or commented on and will therefore now be exposed to something your other connection posted.
If you want to significantly impact the size of someone’s network, the more you interact with their posts, the more likely other members of your network will take notice. This is another way to enhance a person’s credibility and make others aware of her/him.
Invite them to professional meetings and events. While many are tired this time of the year by the number of social obligations they must attend, as the new year commences, most are happy to attend events where they can meet those who can expand their network. Bring those people in your business circle to organizations, such as Rotary, Exchange Club, and Kiwanis, where many others in the local business community participate. This will enable them to meet many people and have the opportunity to positively impact the local community.
In addition, help them connect with local professional organizations. For instance, for those with a background in project management, the local Project Management Institute (PMI) chapter is a great vehicle for expanding one’s network.
Help them volunteer with non-profits. One of the great things about the Augusta area is a large number of non-profits and the number of business people who volunteer to assist these organizations. Such organizations allow people to demonstrate their capabilities and meet others who have similar skills and giving natures. Working as a volunteer will allow people to further expand their networks.
Gifts during this holiday season do not have to be of the material kind. I think this can hold not only during the holiday season but throughout the holiday year. Gifts that require our most valuable assets – our time and our talent – translate into our most valuable gifts. Therefore, I hope you will use your time and talent as I outline above to expand the networks of those in your business circle.
As we wrap up this calendar year, I want to thank Neil Gordon for the gift of providing me with a forum, three times every two weeks in this outstanding publication, the Augusta Business Daily. I appreciate the opportunity to share this column every two weeks and also my “Mondays with Rick” which are available weekly. I thank Gary Kauffman for his outstanding work of turning our weekly interviews into a great reading. It is my great pleasure to work with true professionals like Neil and Gary.
I appreciate all of you who read these and wish you all a very Happy New Year, when I will return with a new column and “Mondays with Rick!”
