Guest Blog Post: “15 Slots of Networking” by Joel Ordesky

By Joel Ordesky

Joel Ordesky is an executive in the entertainment business, has led ExecTec, his Los Angeles bases weekly networking group, for over 5 years now. You can find out more at Ziggs: http://www.ziggs.com/apps/profile/Bio.aspx?uid=2014

I have for some time been sharing my new theory of networking. Since I know that driving oneself to network is a challenge for everyone, I thought this week I would outline my theory of the 15 slots.

Simply put in any given week there are 15 slots or opportunities to connect with others, 5 breakfast/AM coffee, 5 lunches or mid-day drop-byes and 5 dinners or drinks.

Now I am sure your boss, significant other, lending institution and or off-spring planning on spending their inheritance keep you well motivated to get done a plethora of tasks and projects, however no one (barring a retained executive coach) truly keeps you accountable to yourself.

Now I know lots of fantastic professionals and many of them are very good at networking however everyone struggles with being consistent about their networking endeavors. While transitioning professionals clearly must amp up their networking the truth is that if we all maintained a consistent level of networking then being in transition would not be as much of an issue. Clearly few of us are digging our wells before we are thirsty and many who have a well forgot where they left it.

I have led ExecTec, a Los Angeles based weekly networking group, for over 5 years now and I clearly remember one member who went into transition for the second time in the 5 year history of the group and showed up saying, “yep I know, I know I blew it, I got a job, stopped networking and now I have to start up my networking efforts again.” Are you doing the same?

Now naturally you could not fill all 15 slots with one-on-one networking opportunities even if you had nothing else to do. Even if we allow 1 out of 4 slots to be filled with networking “events” like ExecTec or association meetings there is a limit.

The slots are meant to give you a away to measure your performance.

Those looking for work should be targeting 3-8 slots a week with 1 to 2 being group networking functions (which will be critical to finding new people to fill the other slots). Working professionals should be filling 1 to 3 slots with one group networking function (anyone should be able to fill 1 slot out of 15 per week).

You are looking to connect with anyone and everyone. Get outside your circle, vocation, industry and meet with people you might not otherwise meet. You never know, that unlikely professional that seemingly has no direct value might be the person to connect you with the person who will fund your dream or open the door to that great job.

During these interactions don’t go straight for your elevator pitch or corner your contact and demand the name of three more potential victims. The goal is to establish a relationship and connection. What you must do is ask what you can do for them. Specifically transitioning professionals have a fantastic opportunity to invest their time in being of aid to others. Trust me nothing will make more of an impression then your doing for someone else. They will remember and they will look for ways to assist you now or later. Even working professionals can and should ask how they could be of aid to the other person. This approach will almost assure that no one will ever turn down an opportunity to meet with you another time.

With a relationship established you are clear to make plain your goals and when the time is right to seek direct aid for those goals.

Lastly establish a presence that keeps you in the peripheral vision of those that you have connected with. This means finding ways of interacting with your contact on the social networking sites where they exist. This helps keep you in their minds between in person interactions.

The goal is to connect and establish solid ties with other professionals, whether you measure success by how many of the 15 slots you can fill. After all you can loose the job, have your company bought out, change careers or move cross country but you can not loose a strong network and armed with that anything is possible.

If you are an executive based in Los Angeles, you are welcome to visit ExecTec, a weekly networking group http://www.ExecTec.us or you can find Joel Ordesky here: http://twitter.com/firqby

A Passion for Excellence

I got a call yesterday informing me that the data team on the Walgreens project we wrapped up this week said that our project was “the best installation.” That is a huge compliment considering the size of Walgreens. We handled the installation of a new Nortel BCM phone system, the installation of the voice & data cabling as well as extending the dmarcs for the voice T1 & data T1. The project had challenges but experience and passion saved the day. When I say passion, I mean a passion for excellence.The customer’s experience starts and ends at the top in my opinion. If a leader believes that customers should have “the best installation,” then this attitude will saturate a company, regardless of scale.Check out www.twitter.com/zappos for an example of a large company I respect that has a leader with a passion for excellence.