Business Relationships and Networking - help

[bunchofkeys]

-Mods please feel free to a better forum if necessary

As part of my yearly development at work and goals set for 2024, I've been set the objective to define/propose and lead networking events with and across the tech team. This is in addition to attendance and sponsorship of company training and events.

This is way out of my comfort zone.
I'm a techy i like doing techy stuff as I'm good at it and moved away from work people interactions (apart from my immediate team) a few years back.
However, my manager (who actually has my back) wants me to develop and not be stuck to something that i may live to regret.

Taking a "lead" is something that I've never really considered before or even know how to build the first foundation block.

So, my question to the PH crew, is where do i start?
Do i attend a courses (paid by the company) if so what would i need to attend. Or is it a matter of jumping on to YouTube and piecing it together? As much as i would like to build a library or good books, i know i won't learn using this format from the start.

[Hoofy]

Great! I'd begin by asking your boss if your company has any training they could offer. If your boss has your back then he'd either point you in the right direction or give you some mentoring on whatever he thinks will challenge you.

[GappySmeg]

...define/propose and lead networking events with and across the tech team

So a trip to the pub then?!?

[Stick Legs]

Stay one drink behind your colleagues & 2 drinks behind your boss.

Be kind, honest (within the bounds of common sense) & remember they employ you, not the other way around.

That means they need you & quite often you could do their job but they can’t do yours.

Always worked for me.

[Slowboathome]

Ask the team for suggestions.

[MOMACC]

Where are you based?
I can recommend a very good trainer

[surveyor]

This is not my favourite area either. About 20 years ago I was sent on a course aimed at getting people like me to be more confident in a networking environment.

I can do it. I don't like doing it. It's about building up small talk, something which I'm not a huge fan of, but it does get easier with practice.

Of course as you have been asked to organise these, you have a head start to choose things which are not just sat in a room talking but involve doing... eg go karting etc....

[asfault]

bunchofkeys said:

-Mods please feel free to a better forum if necessary

As part of my yearly development at work and goals set for 2024, I've been set the objective to define/propose and lead networking events with and across the tech team. This is in addition to attendance and sponsorship of company training and events.

This is way out of my comfort zone.
I'm a techy i like doing techy stuff as I'm good at it and moved away from work people interactions (apart from my immediate team) a few years back.
However, my manager (who actually has my back) wants me to develop and not be stuck to something that i may live to regret.

Taking a "lead" is something that I've never really considered before or even know how to build the first foundation block.

So, my question to the PH crew, is where do i start?
Do i attend a courses (paid by the company) if so what would i need to attend. Or is it a matter of jumping on to YouTube and piecing it together? As much as i would like to build a library or good books, i know i won't learn using this format from the start.

Uhhhh
The old "your goals and targets should stretch you and make you push yourself outside your comfort role" appraisal.

I just used to suggest st I was halfway to doing.
Learned the hardware setting actual goals that wernt achievable due to the company's red tape that you ended up with missed or failed on those objectives and no pay rise.

[wisbech]

Kill two birds with one stone. A LAN gaming session. Get to network while also working out how to set up the network

[ATG]

asfault said:

Uhhhh
The old "your goals and targets should stretch you and make you push yourself outside your comfort role" appraisal.

Yup. This is often (but not always) straight out of the "I'm a clueless manager" run book

If YOU want to get better at something that doesn't come naturally to you, that's fine; 100% go for it.

But if you're being told to do it unprompted then it can be completely counterproductive. If you're a manager and you need to find something to say to an employee at their year-end and you haven't actually been doing your job all year so you are struggling to generate feedback ... then the go-to bkological solution is to identify something the employee hasn't been doing (because it isn't part of their job) or has been struggling with because it doesn't fit with their natural aptitudes and say "work on this thing you find difficult". It is unbelievably easy to do this because we all have massive gaps in our experience and aptitudes. "Oh dear, you're not very good at baking cakes. Work on it!" Etc.

Concentrating on getting better at the things that you find naturally interesting and for which you have a natural aptitude generally produces much more productive outcomes. Concentrating on weaknesses can make you marginally more capable of a broader range of things, but you'll never be great at stuff that scares you, that doesn't really naturally just click deep down in your brain.

It takes a bit more skill and diligence for a manager to help you get better at doing things that you're already better than them at doing. Distraction tactics often get deployed instead.

Edited by ATG on Thursday 30th November 18:21

[NickZ24]

wisbech said:

Kill two birds with one stone. A LAN gaming session. Get to network while also working out how to set up the network

+1 excelent recommandation

[bunchofkeys]

Hoofy said:

Great! I'd begin by asking your boss if your company has any training they could offer. If your boss has your back then he'd either point you in the right direction or give you some mentoring on whatever he thinks will challenge you.

I did mention that i would want class/one to one training for this objective. If i don't receive it, then i will use that as to why i "failed" the objective next year.

[bunchofkeys]

MOMACC said:

Where are you based?
I can recommend a very good trainer

Around Fenchurch Street in the City.

[bunchofkeys]

Thank you for the suggestions so far.
I've bought a book, much against my initial view of how i don't tend to learn from books at the start of a new subject, and i'm hoping that i can just casually read it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09TWBJF8C?psc=1&r...
Just over 200 pages, so it shouldn't take too long to finish.

[clockworks]

I spent years thinking I was no good at small talk. I spent most of my working life "on the road" in IT, never really had to interact with customers beyond asking a few questions, and telling them I'd fixed it before leaving.
I'm not really an outgoing person, preferring "things" to people, as "things" are much easier to understand.

Aged 53 I packed it in and decided to get a part-time job in retail while building up my own business. It was a real culture shock, working as part if a team, and having to get along with colleagues and customers. I learnt to while away the quiet periods talking nonsense with people I had very little in common with. I actually came to enjoy the interaction.

I still don't particularly like most people, but at least I can talk to them now.

Step outside your comfort zone, and it gets much easier quite quickly.

[Grrbang]

It seems that you have a book already, but the book that helped me the most was Dale Carnegie's 'How to win friends and influence people'. It's cliche'd, but has stood the test of time (first published 1936) and is very straightforwardly written as a set of ground rules.

I do still find small talk difficult though. Where 99% of small talk in my area is to do with kids, holidays and sports, the absence of kids or sports means that holidays are my only touchstone! It's possible to make small talk by focusing more on the other person.