With a little help from your friends

You may still be sceptical of networking. “Surely”, you will say, “sometimes people are your competitors and that’s the end of it?” I truly believe that if you can learn to start to look at the world through the lens of win-win, you will find that situation happens much less often that you would think. Even when two people are applying for the same job, they often do so with very different aims – one may want to switch departments and position themselves for a more senior role, while another may be looking for a management challenge and a payrise. If you are lucky you may work for a company where you could suggest a different split of the role to get you both what you want. But even if not, suppose that you get the role? You will always need good people around you, so having thought about what your competitor wants, you may be able to use your new position to find a role for them that benefits you both.

There is very little that you can want from life that you won’t need someone else’s help to achieve. Every modern job relies on a series of intertwined organisations in order to make it possible. Take my previous role as a coder. That role wouldn’t have existed without the sales team to close business, or indeed without the clients to demand it. It also would have been a lot more painful and less fun without payroll software, administrative and support staff and our office chef!

Networking allows you to reach the people who can help you best. It allows you to make contact with individuals who you would otherwise have not had access to. Most of all it allows you to uncover serendipitous opportunities that you could not have planned for, for the simple reason that you were not aware that they existed.

Understanding who you are is central to being a successful networker

While you do not have a very developed network, the easiest way to begin to expand it is by meeting people at events, whether these are purposely designed for networking, or just a place where lots of people are gathered. This can be the most difficult and nerve wracking way of networking, much more pleasant is to network over a coffee or glass of wine with an engaging and influential person.

That is how we recommend you do it at Tech Talkfest. Being able to ask for specific introductions to relevant people, walking into a room full of people, many of whom you already know. They, in turn, will make introductions to some of those you don’t know.  The conversation flows and the trust grows.

Zoe

@ZoeFCunningham

No longer ‘I win, you lose’

I have made the personal journey from shrinking violet to life and soul of the party. But unless you have been through this journey yourself, you might be thinking “Why bother? Yes, I can see how perhaps I too could come to love networking, but I don’t see that I need to.”

My journey to understanding why networking is for everyone, not just salespeople, started with a fundamental shift in how I viewed the world. For everyone, our training for the real world starts in a schooling system, almost all of which operate in a way that is, it turns out, not at all like the real world. If you help your friend to study and get an A grade, it doesn’t help your marks. Worse, most grading systems are relative, so by helping your friend to get an A you are actually reducing your chances to get one.

Lots of people operate with a win-lose mind-set. If your colleague wins the promotion, you don’t. If everyone in your organisation becomes more talented, you become less valuable. If a similar company to yours makes a sale, your market share diminishes.

It is natural to think this way. In the formative years of the human race, resources were scarce. Human beings were very often in the situation that if someone else ate, you did not. You had to be prepared to fight to stay alive. There are also situations today that are win-lose. If you are competing against others, for example in a professional sport, only one person can take home the gold medal. However, nowadays the win-lose situations are mostly artificially constructed. School, sports and political elections are systems that we have created to function in this way. Remarkably, once you start to think in the opposite way to win-lose, which is win-win, you will start to see that win-win applies to almost everything in your life.

What if… your colleague winning a promotion means that you now have a useful friend in a more senior position who can help you with your agenda? What if… everyone in your organisation becoming more talented means that collectively you achieve more, win more clients and gain an improved professional reputation? What if… your competitor makes a sale, does a great job and as a result increases the total market available for everyone?

Win-win is the concept that, I can get what I want by helping you to get what you want. Win-win is a common negotiation strategy for ongoing relationships. Rather than beating down a supplier to a price that is uneconomical you instead want to negotiate a deal that works for you and for them, so that they want to continue working with you longer term.

When you deal with other people with a win-win rather than a win-lose attitude you are much more likely to get to a solution.

If you are working together you can trust each other and pool information and contacts, making you both at least twice as likely to make progress towards your goals.

In reality it will often be more than twice as likely as information does not combine in a linear fashion – for example two pieces of information put together may uncover a third.

Zoe

@zoefcunningham

Advice to my younger self

After completing a mathematics degree, I started working as a software developer. For five years I talked to machines, in their language, or to my colleagues who were also coders. I socialised with people I knew; I was terrified when I had to sit at a table without my husband at a friend’s wedding because he was the Best Man.

I hadn’t heard of networking, and if I had I would have been appalled by it. I would have understood networking to be cold calling but in person – truly horrifying!

Gradually as my career developed my role expanded and I took on responsibility for talking to clients, eventually heading up the support team. I talked to clients on a regular basis, but in a support rather than a sales role. Working in support I was helping people, whereas in sales they were trying to get things from people. I knew that sales was what paid my salary, but I considered it a kind of necessary evil rather than genuinely useful.

My first experience with the sales function of the company came in the form of “technical sales”. As I worked more closely with the sales team, a lot of my fears diminished. Sometimes the work could be high pressure and nerve wracking, but the emotional rewards of winning a contract more than made up for this. Further, the “real” sales work that the sales team, rather than the technical team, did seemed to not be work at all. A lot of it was lunches, coffees or just general meetings with clients and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. I decided that maybe I would give it a go.

The move to the sales team was the smartest of my career. Everything I had previously thought about sales was incorrect. I learned a new phrase “consultative selling”, you are on the customer’s side. What’s more, learning how to solve other people’s problems using the skills and services that you have available (which is how I would now describe the sales process) is applicable to almost every scenario where you want to achieve a specific outcome. Which, it turns out, is almost always.

However, true to my expectations, the first few networking events I attended were horrifying. I remember following around my manager and mentor Justine Solomons (now founder of Byte the Book) like a lost puppy. I remember really clearly Justine giving me a pep talk as I was clinging to her coat-tails. “You need to go and meet people. Off you go. Shoo!”

Hundreds of events later, I have learnt from the hard master of experience how easy networking can be if you approach it with the right attitude. I’ve learnt how to make meaningful connections by being myself. Most of all I’ve found not only that I can have fun at networking events, but also that having fun makes me more successful.

If I could go back in time and tell myself this ten years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it.

Zoe

@zoefcunningham

Virtuous Circle of Generosity!

Hi! Have you met Vijay?

He was responsible for ensuring the infrastructure was fully functioning for one of the major global investment banks. A vital role for any large organisation, but not one that is often front and centre of a business. It is so fundamental to the business, that you only hear of someone like Vijay when something goes wrong. As well as the smooth running, he had the added responsibility of some of the highest security requirements to manage.

Now he has stepped into the limelight by taking on the role of VP of Operations for EMEA at Digital Realty, the world’s leading provider of data centre and colocation solutions. He now extends his extensive expertise by helping many more companies understand their unique needs and providing client-driven, secure, reliable and cost effective data center and colocation solutions. He should know, working for a bank, these are the must have requirements, not the nice to have optional extras.

Vijay Mistry – VP of Operations, EMEA at Digital Realty

Vijay is quite a private person, he loves meeting amazing, interesting people, but you won’t find him holding court at countless networking events. He has a great network of people he knows and trusts, having cultivated relationships with a distinct group of people over his career. He truly understands the real meaning of networking and how helping people is the basis of that. Because of that, he has a large number of people who support him and help *him*. Chances are, he knows someone you know, and if you get the chance, I would ask for an introduction through one of your mutual contacts.

I don’t think he will mind me saying, having spoken to him recently, he really saw the huge benefit that meeting new people recommended by his already extensive network provides. He didn’t waste lots of time trying to meet the right people at a myriad of events, he spoke to the people he trusted and explained how he could help as well as the challenges he faced. They in turn introduced him to the right people he could help and who could help him. In,  what seems as, no time he had helped the right people and he had a solution to his challenge!

If you are lucky enough to meet him, you will be regaled with great anecdotes and funny stories. If you know him, you know how great his offer of help is and graciously, he will accept your help. The virtuous circle of generosity!

Putting People back into Recruitment

Wouldn’t it be great to meet the members of a company before you apply for a role; hear the CEO talk about what they are looking for; work through practical examples of their values and teamwork ethos. The last time you did that was, surely, to apply for the graduate training scheme at a large corporate?

After reading time and again that the hiring process is broken or questions about what value recruitment agents bring, Tech Talkfest decided that it was time to put people back at the centre of companies hiring great people. We took the best elements of the ‘assessment centre’ and combined them with the best way to get a job: networking! And we produced Networking to a New role with the Beans Group.

THE BEANS GROUP were looking to fill a mix of roles, so we had people with different skills to bring to the table. They mixed well together and James put them at their ease to get them talking to each other.

James has a very charismatic presentation style. His enthusiasm is infectious when he talked about where the Beans Group came from, what they’ve achieved so far and where they want to go. That gives a very clear narrative vision for what the company might be in a few years’ time, especially when you think about how far they’ve come already. That got the motivated, innovative people in the room very excited about being part of that vision.

James was clear that even if they weren’t going to apply for jobs, he wanted to make sure they took something away from the evening.

The exercises worked well to help people focus on what they wanted going forward, whether or not that’s going to be part of the Beans Group. The fact that so many of his employees were eager to come along for the event and help facilitate also speaks highly of what is clearly a strong workplace culture.

The feedback from the guests was terrific. They all appreciated the ability to talk about what they can bring to the table and help the beans group with their challenges. They didn’t have to write an amazing cover letter, just turn up, be themselves and let their abilities shine through.

Suitable candidates are not necessarily a list of qualifications, but unleashed potential or an attitude .In great companies, word of mouth and networking play an important part in filling key positions. Having a conversation is more pleasurable than sifting through reams of CVs and cover letters. It allowed James and his team to talk about the company as a whole and see first-hand, how these people could fit into the company and where.

Some of them may be successful, others may not, but they will all have met some great people and we hope, made some great contacts that could help them find their next role.

If you missed out on the event there’s still time to apply online for a number of roles – http://thebeansgroup.workable.com/ feel free to mention in the cover note you missed the opportunity and would be interested in exploring more.

Help!

Helping others comes in many different forms. People think they need to spend their money, or a lot of their very precious time. This is not always the case, something that comes easily to one person could take hours, weeks, months for someone else to master. A flippant comment from the right person can release a solution to someone who has been agonising over a problem.

Someone may have a great solution to a problem that is costing you time, energy and pain. If they try and ‘sell’ you the solution you seek, is this help? Of course it is, you value what they provide, they need to pay the bills and eat. Many people don’t like heavy handed sales tactics, and rightly so, in my opinion, but equally, should you get help for free?

What have you done that would benefit you so greatly as to receive free help from everyone you know? I believe that many fortunate people do receive just that. But their definition of free is often different to those that think it is just without money being exchanged. They receive time, expertise even gifts, because they freely give up their time, expertise, skills.

Is the barter system alive and well? A lot of people think help is and should be a truly altruistic endeavour.

Do you treat  ‘mates rates’ as cheaper than your average? Is that how you value your friends, trying to get things at cut price, or paying the full value, but knowing you get a result that you can trust.

Within Techtalkfest, we believe in the latter. With this great exchange of skills, time and expertise, we are helping everyone grow: Grow as people; grow their skills, grow their contacts; grow their business

This is the joy of a group of people with diverse skills and experiences, there is a reason they make the strongest and most successful teams. Someone who looks with fresh eyes on a problem; someone with strengths in your area of weakness; someone who has solved a similar challenge can all help with a creative solution.

Having a general conversation in relaxed, fun surroundings is the ideal situation to bat about thoughts that are on your mind, with people who want to help. You should try it! We try to regularly do just that!

What do you do with what you know?

Sir Francis Bacon (1597) said that “knowledge is power“. That term can, no doubt, have so many meanings. Governments use it to keep their citizens in the dark or the more enlightened know that by providing good quality education, it can make a country a great place to live, with civilised and caring citizens. If anyone knows a country that has cracked it, please do let me know. I would very much like to experience it!

In the western world, basic education is given freely, whether it is valued is for another post, but what do you do with all that you learn along your life journey that they don’t teach at school? Do you hold on to it because you want it’s power or do you share it with as many people as possible to help them shine?

There have always been great scholars and teachers that have shared their research, knowledge and experience. Historically, that meant that they had to be part of a religious order or could only pass it on to small groups of local people who had the time and inclination to learn.

With the advent of books and now the internet, we can learn about pretty much anything. So how is it that we keep making the same mistakes? “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” George Santayana.

Humans seem to have this amazing capacity to believe that their way is the best and even though countless people have come before, they can do it better. This often stems from people who feel they can be successful alone. Those that manage to achieve change or make great things happen, know full well, that it takes a team and complementary skills to achieve their goal. They learn from mentors, they reach out and ask trusted advisors, they call on others’ experience to make their solution better.

Often, those with a great wealth of experience and knowledge know that there is always more to learn and by sharing their knowledge they gain even more by learning from those they are ‘teaching’. As Phil Collins stated “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”

Tech Talkfest benefits greatly by having members who share their knowledge and experience with those that value it, to enable others to shine. We pride ourselves on the generosity of our members and it is the overriding factor in deciding who we invite to join. Together we are busy learning and teaching and sharing the wealth of experience and knowledge we have within our membership.

Let us know the greatest lessons you have learned by tweeting with #Ihavelearned, some of them may feature in future posts!

 

Are you too busy?

Do you get your head down and move forward? How long is your ‘to do’ list? Do you think you will get it done? How do you determine what you need to get done and when. What do you prioritise?

We are all busy, we all have lots to do. Doesn’t matter if you are CEO or a frontline entry level member of staff, your to do list is just as full. Some people feel that their to do list is more important than yours. What is important to you, may not be important to someone else. Have you thought about finding people that have the same priorities as you to help you get things done?

By working together with another person or group who all have the same goal, you can share the load and get things done quicker. In a household, that means everyone mucking in. In a company that means everyone doing their job that feeds into the strategy.

With that long to do list how do you find people of like mind to help you achieve it? You can join a club, go to networking events, stand out on the street and start asking people walking by. Some are more extreme than the others. If you are busy, how do you find the time for this, what events or clubs do you join?

Sometimes you need to look up and look out and see what is going on in the outside world. When you look up, you see what others are doing, possibly quicker or better than you can do. When you look up, you can see faces, make friends, make connections. These are the people that may have the same priorities as you, you can help them reach their goals, tick off their to do list. They may have information that can help you tick off your to do list.

Win Win!

It may seem a bit strange that by spending your precious time helping other people out would leave you with less time to get your things done. Using your precious time to find people to help, means you are meeting more people that can help you out with great suggestions or even their precious time to help you.

Are you too busy? Think again, start finding those people of like mind and get those heads together to solve their problems and by extension, yours. If you want to help people out and have fun, Tech Talkfest may well be that group of likeminded individuals, but head out there and search for your club if not. There are so many, your group is out there!

 

Networking is the best way to recruit the best people

We think that Evan Harris has. His experience in the corporate world has given him the skills, and, with the spark of a great idea, he created the Expert network. As you know we have a passion for helping our network, so you can see why we think Evan is terrific!

Evan came up with the idea for The Expert Network after using his personal network to recruit the I.T. team for a large programme. This approach created a higher performing team than usual and saved the client external recruitment fees.

Around the same time an I.T. recruiter called him about a contract job. He wasn’t interested. But in response to the inevitable “do you know anyone else?” he suggested a former colleague. The great news is his former colleague got the job, the recruiter pocketed £40,000 in fees.

He thought that it was time for experienced professionals to collaborate more effectively in the recruitment process and beyond. Peer-to-peer models had already revolutionised so many other industries, why not recruitment?

The best people to help you build a team are those that have worked directly with and have relationships with the best people they know. Why not build the team from the expertise of those people? He launched The Expert Network connecting the individual networks of top I.T. professionals into an invite-only super network You can bring the benefit of your network to benefit everyone within and beyond your network.

You can see why we love him at Tech Talkfest!

It seems they are building a trend, according to their blog

If you want to get involved, you are going to need to reach out to your own network to get yourself invited to The Expert Network. Evan personally welcomes everyone who is invited, so it would be your opportunity to find out more about him or follow them on Twitter @TheExpertNetwork

Evan understands how much building relationships is important. Trust and privacy are what people value with the advent of social media. We all know that it is not what you know, but who you know or, more importantly, who knows you!

What are you missing?

Spending so much time in London, I am surrounded by people, but mostly, I don’t get to know any of them unless I have arranged to specifically meet them. Is this a missed opportunity? James Eder of the beans group has answered this question by setting up @FriendlyFriday.

In London it is hard to start a conversation with a random stranger. It tends to mark you out as a tourist or a bit strange. Sometimes though, a well-placed question because of a mis-heard announcement or a flippant comment can open up a relationship that may surprise you.

I have had another great week, meeting amazing people. These were not random, I was recommended to meet them by amazing people, the luxury of Tech Talkfest! Listen to those around you, are you missing out on meeting great people?

I met Tom Butterworth, who is helping great start-ups with funding at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). He focusses on giving great service to all his customers, the main value of SVB, big or small, they treat you well. He was explaining to me how the traditional banking sector doesn’t understand this amazing technical explosion we are seeing so doesn’t lend money to these businesses. He has a passion for helping out those that can’t get funding through the traditional SME business channels.

Simon Wax at Buzzacotts is working hard to help those in the technical world understand what has been made available by the government to make the UK a country of Innovation. He really enjoys working with creative people and helping them grow their business with all his expertise. Some people just don’t like numbers, Simon helps them by taking away that pain, providing them with the tools to maximise their finances and strengthen their business.

The Gherkin

I had the pleasure and fortune to meet Oliver Werneyer, from Swiss Re, at the top of the Gherkin, what a view!! He is not someone who I would have bumped into in my normal activities. But because of the great connections of our members and partners, I got to meet him at one of the best places in London. We marvelled at the view and how higgledy piggled London is. It made my week!

So what are we missing? Sometimes we need to take a look at the bigger picture. Take a view from high up and look down. Are we doing the things that engage us, grow us, challenge us? Who do we not meet because we are looking down and keeping busy?

I am not suggesting that you start randomly talking to strangers on the tube, the looks of disapproval may put you off. But how about you chat with someone in the queue for coffee or lunch? Alternatively, ask someone at work to introduce you to someone interesting, once you have chatted with them, ask them the same question. You never know where it may lead……..

Have a great weekend!