Emerging Better Together: The Power of Connection and Collaboration, PART 2

This is part 2 to my last blog post, Emerging Stronger Together: The power of Connection and Collaboration. Check that blog post for tips 1-4.

How can you use the power of connection and collaboration in your everyday life? Both personally and professionally.

In the busy world we live in, it is easy to be distracted, hindering the possibility of creating meaningful connections.

Tip #5
Practice paying attention to people.

Try and give your full attention to each person you come in contact with today. Even if only briefly. Pretend that interaction is the most important thing you can do at that moment in time. Examples: the cashier at the store, your children when you pick them up from school, the people who live in your household when you or they get home, the friend or family member that calls on the phone, someone at a networking event, etc.

Tip #6
Connect with those who are important to you.

Unfortunately it is too easy to let time pass without connecting to those who matter most to us. Make a list of people who are important to you (both personally and professionally) that you don’t regularly connect with. Put a recurring weekly task on your calendar or to-do list to check in with one person on that list.

Tip #7
Know who you are, so others know how best to connect with you or how best they can connect others to you.

Carve out some time to figure out who you are. Really. Job title is only a part of that. Think beyond WHAT you do, but about WHY and HOW you do it. Put a version of this statement on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, your website, or wherever you are online or in-person.

Tip #8
Be a connector.

Help those around you make connections. Connect needs with those who can help with those needs. Connect opportunities to those who can benefit from those opportunities.

Tip #9
Use birthdays as a tool for connection!
Today is my birthday! Birthdays can be a great chance to connect with others. Just a simple “Happy Birthday” on Facebook is enough to let someone know you are thinking about them. But if you want to go further for that extra special person or customer/client, here are some ideas:
-Send a digital gift card
-Send a good old-fashioned birthday card in the mail
-Send a note or letter letting them know what they mean to you, personally or professionally
-Send a physical gift or have them pick one up in your store/place of business
-Celebrate true “birth” days (the birth of a customer/client/friends’s baby) with a gift! Maybe even a logo’d onesie or other baby item.

Tip #10
Use events as a form of connection or collaboration.

Keep an eye out for events going on in your community or industry. Use those events as a chance to make new connections, collaborate with existing connections, or celebrate existing connections by treating friends/clients/customers to tickets to an event or something special inside the event! For example, we are hosting our Pine Belt Women’s Expo for the 12th time in a few weeks. This is a great chance for:
-Exhibitors to collaborate with each other both during, but also before or after the Expo
-Businesses and organizations to meet each other
-Businesses and organizations to celebrate their current customers/donors/etc with tickets to the event or providing something inside their booth just for those people
-Creating new customers