I always find myself scrambling at the end of a client engagement to get everyone to hook up with me on LinkedIn. It’s always nice to stay in touch with talented colleagues with whom you’ve been on the battlefield. I like to check up and see how people are doing, the skills they’ve acquired and the challenges they’ve faced, and tap them now and then for advice, invite them for a beer, or beg them to come see me at a gig.
Recently, I took a new position to help the folks at FirstEnergy Corp. in Akron, Ohio. What a great place to work! The facility is a large, modern campus with a bright, open floor plan, an entire wall of nothing but windows looking out upon the lush autumn colors beyond the parking lot which features priority parking spaces for green vehicles. The people are fantastic, albeit a bit anxious as would be expected with a tight deadline and ambitious goals, but really working hard and working well together.
I was driving my four-hour commute home and browsing the AM stations, and a man was preaching about treating people as though their lives would end tonight. A little extreme, but it reminded me of the Stephen Covey “begin with the end in mind” mantra, and somehow, my mind wandered to getting the LinkedIn hookups done at the beginning of the client engagement. Instead of doing so at the end, when the underlying motive is somewhat selfish and reflective – “I want to stay in touch, give me a recommendation, I need to build my network” – attempting to get those invites converted in the beginning sets a bunch of goals or motivators up: “I want to remain in good standing with those I’m connecting with, I want to deserve a recommendation. When I leave, I want these people to want to stay in touch.”
On some gigs, this is a really tough chore. People already see you as the “new guy” and a threat to their routine and progression. And project success may have already been determined. But having that enduring connection set up, sets up a context in your mind as you interact with people and try and build alliances to accomplish goals. Because the last thing you want in your contact list is a “dark” contact, inactive or dead because you didn’t really build that alliance, or gone because they dropped you from their contacts because you failed them somehow.
So a couple of weeks into my new gig, I went searching for contacts from FirstEnergy Corp., only to find a couple contacts available. Turns out, you don’t need LinkedIn if you’ve been employed by a company for 19 years and you’re happy right where you are! Which opens a good ancillary question: Why use LinkedIn if you don’t need to network? Do you still need to network?
Regardless, in the future, I plan on setting those connections as soon as possible. It’s like saying, “I plan on enjoying working with you through this project.” Sound like a good plan to you?
The Blog of Cliff Adams 