NetworldingPlus

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Behind the Scenes of Networlding

It all started here right before the holidays:

Hi Melissa,

As a new subscriber to your Networlding Newsletter, I am proud to tell you that I have purchased your book.

So in my most humble manner I am begging to get a copy of your E-Tips Booklet so I can get the most out of LinkedIn :-)

A copy of my paid receipt is located below.

Happy Holidays!

Matthew Stack

Portland, OR

And so I responded:

On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 5:04 PM, Melissa Giovagnoli <melissa@networlding.com> wrote:
Matthew,

All I can say is "wow." You get it. You really get it. May I put your
email up on my blog www.bestlinkedintraining.com. It is so good and I
think will help you connect with others like you. And, if you do want
to, yes, please invite me into your network.

Finally, please do join our Networlding Group on LinkedIn. We are in
the 1% of all the thousands of groups on LinkedIn and the #1 socially
responsible groups. I think you will really enjoy the group that has
people who are broadway and movie producers to top executives at
Fortune 500 companies to really great, passionate, make-a-difference
entrepreneurs.

Thanks again so much and please also feel free to call sometime! I
would love to know more about you. Finally, we will be starting a
four-month membership for people wanting to do accelerate their
learning around LinkedIn. If you want I'll put you on our newsletter
list and notify you of the time.

Thanks!

Melissa

Matthew's email back:

Yes, Yes, and Yes.

I will be sending you a LinkedIn request. I will also request to join your Networlding Group as well. And Yes I would also like to participate in your four month membership to accelerate my LinkedIn learning curve.

Additionally, you have my expressed written permission to include my comments here, and previously, on your blog.

Now getting back to your comments about the "wow" you get it.

(I am humble, but will embrace your comments)

My reply is that You get it. I just happened to recognize from your comments, and your professional career, that is the way to be, like you. I can do it this way by learning from you.

But I did not just up and e-mail you, and request to be linked with you. I knew that I did not merit taking that action yet.

I had to stop and let my discovery settle. I had to own what I had learned. Sure I could have ordered your book, and said how wonderful it was, and how I was benefitting, but that is not who I am. But I was "gonna" learn from you, and get the book to learn from it, as well as the comments you make on your blog and elsewhere.

Then I read where you were offering to supplement a purchase of your book with the additional 101 e-Tips booklet, and took that opportunity to complete my intentions. But before I could reach out to you with a LinkedIn request, I owed you work on your questions. Yet my process was accelerated when you replied to me and asked a specific question. Despite the book being still enroute from Barnes&Noble, we are having this conversation today.

Thanks again, and I will make a point of speaking directly with you, because that would just be wonderful.

Matthew Stack

Portland, OR

Friday, January 2, 2009

Doing Well by Doing Good: The Upward Spiral of Success

The table to the left displays a creative way to get what "Doing Well by Doing Good" is all about.

Even more so though is that because everyone and everything is indeed connected, there were many more things that evolved out of my efforts to do well for others--to help them really get how one small opportunity can lead to more and more.

Further, the experiences all build off of one another. The learnings from one become the levers for the next and the next, allowing you to do more with each successive connection.

It all comes down to "network thinking" which involves seeing things as connected.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Best Questions for 2009

I co-authored a book called 75 Cage Rattling Questions to Change the Way you Work and in doing so decided that questions are such powerful tools for getting us moving forward in our lives that we should ask questions more often. So, let me start with some great questions for the new year. First, consider using the acronym ASK - Awaken with a question; Spin out with more and better questions and Kindle and ignite with action questions.

For now, let's Awaken with a question. In this case, questions. Here are some of my favorite questions:

What is one thing you can do today to make this day more productive than yesterday?
Who is one person you know who you admire but have not reached out to lately?
Where is a unique place you can go in your area you have not ever gone to?
What will be the theme of your 2009 year? (Mine is transformation).

Monday, December 15, 2008

Networlding FAQ's

FAQs

Below are five of the questions most often asked by those new to Networlding. If there is a different question that you would like answered, please email us at info@networling.com.

What is Networlding?

Is Networlding for me?

How do I start learning Networlding?

What are our core values?

Where should I start?

Networlding is a process to develop better, key, pivotal relationships for professional and/or organizational success. How often have you experienced networking that does not work? You attend an event assuming that you will meet at least one person with whom you can do business, but instead you find yourself pressured to give business. In contrast, Networlding involves building "value-based" relationships that are mutually beneficial. These strategic connections create the base for short and long-term, higher quality results than achieved through any other traditional marketing and sales strategies. Following are just a few of the ways Networlding can help achieve success:

For organizations:

Building better business faster through the exclusive Networlding methodology that rivals the best sales programs.
Retaining top corporate talent. Organizations like CDW, Motorola, CNA and American Express have found that top employees leave within one year of employment if they have not built strong, internal networks. We offer a proven, exclusive system for ensuring retention.
Breaking down the silos in organizations
Identifying those people in your organization who can support you in accelerating the progress of key initiatives
Moving from a hierarchical organization to create a matrixed organization where networks are leveraged both internally and externally through alliances and partnering
Developing leaders within companies and their communities of practice
Supporting change leaders in organizations to improve communications
Accelerating the exchange of information
Building a dynamic, collaborative and creative environment that fosters superior performance

For individuals:

Achieving professional and personal goals faster and more easily
For sales professionals, helping you get those new key accounts faster
Finding new and better jobs faster
Starting new, powerful entrepreneurial endeavors
Building a strong support network (for those new and not so new to the area)
Aligning with people of similar and complementary values
Becoming part of a community
Building powerful, professional and community networks
Experiencing a sense of belonging

Networlding is for anyone who wants to build better relationships faster that can lead to truly transformational opportunities (more productive employees, better business opportunities, faster and better goal achievement) and at the same time, have more fulfillment in their lives. Networlding has served:

Executives in Fortune 500 and 1000 companies
Presidents
Chief Operating Officer
Chief Learning Officers
Chief Information Officers
Sales Managers
Alliance Directors and Managers
Non-profit Executives
Individuals in job transition
Entrepreneurs growing dynamic organizations

Networlding has also helped in these areas:

Sales acceleration and key account acquisiton
Leadership development
Alliance creation and leverage
Team building
Performance improvement
Nonprofit fundraising
Recruitment and retention
Community relations
Cause-related marketing
Creativity and innovation
Supply-chain management
Benchmarking
Knowledge management
Customer service improvement

3. How do I start learning Networlding?

If you are a manager, director, vice president or president of a company and want to use Networlding for your employees, you can start Networlding in your organization by bringing together as few as 10 employees to go through a half, one-day or two half-day Networlding Boot Camp with a certified Networlding facilitator. Here, together with your employees, you learn Networlding, and form a core "learning" circle. Once you have completed a Boot Camp, in the next stage, which we call the "growth stage" the original group initiates new learning circles with leaders participating from the core circle as well as new participants joining in an even more powerful learning experience. In these extended circles two paired leaders from the core circle help further facilitate the practice of Networlding with your new participants along with your prior Networlding facilitator to sustain and leverage learning and results across all divisions of your company.

Our top values are:

Integrity
Making a difference
Collaboration
Creativity

We integrate these values into our work with leaders because we have found, through research, our own experience and the experience of hundreds of other top executives that these three, key values are the winning set of core values for a top-performing organization that "works to win" rather than "works to avoid losing." These core values create the kind of organizations we want to create networks with around the world.

The path to success is through trust and courage to own the values of integrity, collaboration and making a difference. By owning these values organization will form internal and external alliances to co-create transformational opportunties for all their key stakeholders: 1) their employees, 2) their community and 3) their shareholders, vendors and other financial participants in the value chain. For all non-profits, we offer our free, exclusive, 100-plus page guidebook to you to help grow your organization or association.

Next, you can start your own Networlding learning circle of 4-10 people to get the most out of Networlding. And if your circle moves through the first three steps of Networlding, Melissa or a certified Networlder will join you at a meeting by phone to answer questions and provide you with guidance to help you master the Networlding principles at no cost!

Networlding, through its worldwide network of past participants, can help you not only learn the process but connect, one person at a time, to other like-valued people. Along with our team of Networlding Certified Facilitators we can provide you with ongoing assistance in learning and mastering the science of Networlding.

Contact us at info@networlding.com or call us at 312-421-4213 to get started with Networlding. We'll at least provide you with the free e-book, "The Nanosecond Networlders" and our great, top-selling tips booklet, 101 Ways to Networlding when you call. We'll also sign you up for our free e-newsletter.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A Networlding Wish for You in December

I wished it looked like this in Chicago on this third or so snowstorm of December. I remember walking down Michigan Avenue, one of my favorite places in the world, this last September. I had just bought my Ipod and was, believe it or not, for the first time, taking pictures that I would keep (like the one above) and actually look at them again and again.

It was such a pleasure to connect with the beauty of the warm, Fall afternoon. I hope for anyone who lives in the northern part of the United States, that these pictures give you some pleasure. Ah. Chicago in the Fall. It is hard to imagine it was just a few months ago.