One very good reason to be nice to your staff: you never know where they might end up…

It makes sense to be good to the people you manage, and one selfish reason for that has been brought home to me recently, with some moves made by former team members at Edinburgh council.

Mike Pinkerton has my old job as the council’s news manager. Alice Robertson is on the health desk at the Scottish Government. Gareth Jones is now a client, as head of corporate communications at Lothian Buses. And Katie Spence is managing the council’s communications for the tram (which will be run by Lothian Buses).

Of less recent moves, Ruth Macleod is the head of comms at Scottish Fire and Rescue, Kelly Murphy is the comms manager at Education Scotland. Lynn Mcmath works in Scottish Labour’s press team, and Shona Cameron is the head of comms for Edinburgh Bioquarter.

Aside from the one current relationship, all are potential clients or current/potential stakeholders in work we do for clients. And that’s just a small group of former colleagues from one organisation, in a career of 18 years to date.

To be clear, none of them owes me anything; the point of this isn’t about obligation based on previous connections. But, all other things being equal, it certainly does no harm to be on good terms with your former charges (and that’s the case to the best of my knowledge!) The same is true of many other professional relationships of course, but as a manager you have a unique opportunity to screw that up in how you treat people. Read the rest of this entry »

How to network without feeling like an idiot

Feeling awkward at networking events, or other occasions involving relative strangers, seems to be fairly common. I’ve certainly felt that way, and still do sometimes, although much less than I used to.

I’m not an expert by any means, nor do I always practice what I preach, but I’ve given the whole thing a fair bit of thought, and now seems a good time to share that given that my first event in a while is coming up on 6 February. 

First steps

Before I go any further, there are some basics to highlight. Some of this isn’t directly related to attending events, but is all part of the networking lark. Nor is it all essential for everyone – but anyone whose employment depends directly or indirectly on new business needs to do more than others.

1. Have a decent Linked In profile. It’s easy to do and if you’re not sure it’s easy to find a guide online. I’ve put this as number one quite deliberately as I feel it’s an important one to get right.
2. Have a digital footprint that isn’t just a personal Facebook page. There will be a social network that suits you, whether its Twitter, Pinterest, FourSquare, Google+, Flickr, a blog or whatever. (It doesn’t have to be about work, but make sure it’s not detrimental to your professional life!)
3. Manage your contacts. Linked In can be a useful phone/email directory, but it’s not foolproof, so you really do need to record and maintain details for yourself.
4. Remember to take business cards out of the drawer and use them at events!
5. Be bothered. Look for events or opportunities and go to them. I don’t just mean PR events. Find other relevant gatherings where you can broaden your network. Buying decisions aren’t always made by the comms people, or just by the comms people, that you’re already used to dealing with.
6. When you do go, don’t just speak to your colleagues or people you know already. Okay, sometimes that will be fine. But in many networking situations that’s going to be of absolutely no value to you at all.

The difficult part

There are probably a few people who are effortless social butterflies. I suspect most of us find it difficult to some degree, even when it appears to others as if we don’t. I’ve certainly found myself reaching for my phone and using it as a crutch to feel less like a lonely idiot when I’ve been in-between conversations or building up to speaking to someone who doesn’t know me from Adam. Read the rest of this entry »