Belonging

Many times, people will evaluate the groups they belong to at the end of a year (or the beginning) to determine if they will continue their membership with each group. I encourage that. There is nothing worse than wasting both time and money.

However, and you'll notice that I put that in large type, sometimes the wrong or incomplete criteria are used when doing the analysis.

First of all, what was the original goal for belonging to the group?

Was it to get more business, to develop referral relationships, to gain more knowledge or to give back to the community?


Second, are you doing all you can to achieve the above goals?
Are you an active member, do you go to the meetings and do you participate on committees?


Third, is the group what you thought is was going to be?

Does it meets its mission, fulfill its promises and deliver value for the members?


Fourth, does this group help you to deliver to others?

If you only go to groups to gain for yourself, you are going to become known as only a taker. But if you attend group meetings looking for connections for your other networking contacts, you are leveraging your networking capital. I'll write more about this tomorrow.

So as you review the groups you belong to, do you need to resign, step up your involvement or continue as is?

Say That Again

Okay, here it is.

I am hard of hearing.

I have been struggling with this for about two years now. Every time I see the specialist, he says that I am not yet ready for a hearing aid. But I think I am. (I'm not going to get one of those ugly flesh-colored ones either, no sireey, I'm going for the pretty ones!)

With the everlasting cold I seem to have right now, my hearing is even more affected.

As a result I have a very important message today.

Ready?

If you want others to hear what you have to say, especially we who are hearing-challenged, project your voice. If a microphone is offered, use it. If you are making a comment or asking a question from the audience, please stand to do so. That helps to get more umph behind your voice.

During this past week, I missed out entirely on the presentation of the main speaker at a chamber luncheon, (there was a microphone available, but it was not adjusted properly) and at our Leadership Toledo gathering where we were reporting on our morning group visits, many times I could not hear the presentation and 100% of the time I could not hear the comments or questions. (There is nothing more frustrating than to not hear a comment, but then to have the speaker say, "Yes, that is a perfect example of what I was talking about.")

I know, I know, your remedy is for me to sit in the front row and yes, that would help. But as a speaker, I know that my job is to project to the people in the back row. If they can hear my talk without reading my lips, then I have achieved my goal.

As a group leader, encourage the above. Some people don't like to talk into a microphone because they've not done it before, but as a leader, I feel it is your job to set the "tone" of the event. Most don't think to stand when making a comment, but will do so if told.

Huh? What'd you say?

Leadership Toledo, Part VII

Okay, yesterday was medical day for Leadership Toledo. Again, I was not looking forward to this topic. I was sure it was going to be a boring day of listening to talking heads tell us about the hospitals in the area.

By now, I should know that Dave Schlaudecker, the executive director of LT, will create a day that has interest. He didn't let me down this time, either.

We were all again divided into smaller groups and my group was assigned to the Center for Creative Instruction on the Health Science Campus of University of Toledo. This is the old Medical University of Ohio, before the merger with UT.

Wow! This is the most amazing jewel that most people don't know about. The Center does everything from create and manage websites for all of UT to creating DVDs to be used in teaching, marketing, recruiting and whatever other use can be dreamed!

One particular aspect of their work that they are very proud is the DVD Anatomy & Physiology Revealed. It is so wonderful that the publisher McGraw Hill thought so too and CCI works directly with this company to publish the DVD along with an anatomy textbook. McGraw Hill markets it directly to professors, but the DVD can be purchased at Barnes and Noble if you have a high school biology student in your life. This small group of 15 people are now working on the second edition, which is probably at least a two year project.

In another project they were asked to build a website and animation that explained the clinical trial for renal artery stenosis in order to gain more people in the trial. Now that's a mouth full, isn't it?!? The funding for that is from a grant from CORAL. (which I'm not sure what that is) They were successful in this project and then it was decided that both French and German versions were needed, too. They had to find local talent that could do the voice-over in those languages. Interestingly, the French version was done by a stay at home mom, not a a professional talent.

Roy Schneider is part of this small staff and has worked at CCI for 30 years. He started out loving both art and science. His dad told him that his art would never take him anywhere, but when he was working as a hospital orderly, one doctor realized Roy's talents and the rest is history. He is widely recognized and has won an award (that I cannot remember the name of) but it is the Oscar of his world.

Our time was way too short at this part of the medical world of NW Ohio. When we asked why we had never heard of this facility before, the answer was that the staff is all so busy with the multitude of projects that they just don't have time to do marketing or PR.

This was only the morning but I now understand that when we talk about the medical world here in the Toledo area, that there is a whole lot more than just hospitals.

Thanks, Dave. You make me so glad I am a member of this year's LT class.

And by the way, for those of you in the NW Ohio area, LT has an annual breakfast in March. If you'd like to find out more about it, touch base with me.

No, I Don't Want To!

Yesterday morning, the first appointment on my schedule was to attend a networking event that I had never attended before. To add to my anxiety it was at a location that would take a little bit of thought to figure out where it was.

I also had a second networking event at the same time that I usually attend each month that was on my schedule. I knew where that was and knew who would be there.

Listen to a recording of the voices in my head yesterday morning:

"Oh, you don't want to go to (new event) because you won't know anybody."

"You should go to (familiar event), it's safe and you'll meet people you're comfortable with."

"You know you're going to get lost."

"What if they act like you shouldn't be there?"

"Is it really a good use of your time?"

"No, you'd better go, because MB (a friend) invited you."

So I ignored the voices and did go. Guess what!

They didn't look at me like a had two heads.

I actually carried on conversations with a couple people I already knew.

I ran into someone that my presence triggered a question from him.

I made acquaintance with a new person who lives in a area where we are filling one of our Certified Networker classes.

Lesson Learned?

Do the difficult, scary stuff an it won't be so difficult and scary. It might even have a future ROI.

When did you push yourself outside your comfort zone and how did it turn out?

Where Has Winter Gone?

Where have all the snow fences gone?

I thought of this today when I was dismantling my winter village that my son, Andy, continues to create for me. He paints the buildings and over the years (20 years since he started) I have added people, trees and other items that I think should be in the scene. I think the village takes me back to my childhood in western NY, where we had REAL winters.

So as I was rolling up the miniature snow fence, it occurred to me that I have not seen one of those in a very long time.

For those of you who live in more temperate climates, a snow fence is a wooden slat and wire fence that a farmer would install in his field before winter hit. The fence would be parallel to the road (usually a north/south road) and back about fifty feet. As the wind blew (usually from the west) the fence would slow the wind speed, allowing the snow to be deposited right in front of the fence. Hence big drifts would pile up away from the road instead of on the road.

I don't think the farmers were paid by anyone to do this -- it was their community and their way to help. Of course, if the roads became blocked with snow, the farmers would be snowbound, too. If they were dairy farmers, that meant dumping the milk when the milk truck couldn't get through.

With global warming seeming to be the trend, maybe snow fences are a thing of the past -- an antique.

What is still in fashion is community engagement. Doing whatever it takes to make a community stronger and better.

What do you see being done in your community that might be today's snow fence?

Charlie's Dummy

A couple days ago, Seth Godin wrote a post about how he gave readers an excerpt from his new book and the same day he wrote about another friend's new book, too. Guess what! Seth sold more books for his friend that day, than he did for himself. He said, "The truism of the web: people talking about you is far more effective than talking about yourself."

Well, guess what! It's not just a truism of the web.

It is so much easier for me to sell for someone else than to sell for myself that it is almost heartbreaking!

That's why I like to introduce two people to each other with me in attendance. I can "sell" each person to the other saying things that would be considered bragging if they said it themselves.

That's why at our Evening with Masters event, when we also showcased three local authors, they sold more books than they had ever done at such an event. The reason was that I told the audience why I liked the books and why I thought they should purchase them. I had nothing to gain.

That's why I can sell my hairdresser's services to an acquittance before my friend even needs a haircut!

So it is not a mystery. The public is suspicious of you when you sell what would be a gain for you, but trust you implicitly when you represent someone else. Partnering to sell for each other is a good way to use this concept to your advantage.

When was the last time someone else sold for you?

How Many Are in the Circle?

How many people do you know?

Probably more than you imagine.

Today at my BNI chapter meeting we talked about the mechanics of hosting a visitor day. A comment was made that we all had to agree to the number of letters we would each send out, that all of us had to equally participate. The number of possible invitations suggested per person was 40. One member said that she would not be able to do that because she didn't know that many people.

So here is the challenge. How many people do you know? They don't have to be best buds, but people with whom you are acquainted.

In the Certified Networker class one of the tools we use helps participates to remember people they know and yet may have forgotten. There are twenty four different categories of people. My guess is that we could all easily invite 50 - 75 people to an event if we just took the time to remember who we know.

Do you use all your social networking capital or do you just forget people after you've met with them?