A different networking exercise to help your career (and resume)

I had the honor of conducting two content creation workshops for microbusiness owners earlier this week (developed with my wife and business partner, who also did two separate workshops), and one of the things I had them do was a networking exercise.

We’re talking about a hundred people who, for the most part, are doing so much in their own businesses and lives that they hardly get out to workshops and meet other microbusiness owners like themselves. So, as they were out for an entire day, I wanted to make it as useful for them as possible.

So in my session, I had them fill out a five-question form, and then I gave everyone in the room 20 seconds to read their answers out loud.

And before I did this, I gave everyone one simple instruction. Since the golden rule of networking is to help others before you help yourself, I told them to actively listen, and find at least one person in the room whom they could help. A strategic contact, a useful business tactic, a specific tidbit of information, whatever form it took, I wanted everyone to help someone else that day.

Refining them slightly for you, the manager, executive, or profession, the five questions were:

1. What’s your name?

2. What’s the name of your company?

3. What do you do? (As a company, or your function within your company)

4. Who do you do it for? (External or internal customers)

5. List five talents of yours.

In that workshop, I handed out a list of 100 talents for people to choose from – anything from “Drilling down” to “Meeting deadlines” to “Being creative” to “Empathizing.”

And I’m sharing this to give you another way to “do” networking. In your field, chances are you either participate in a local trade, industry, or professional group, or you serve on the board of such a group.

Take this exercise to your group, and try it out for a different flavor of networking.

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