Bring the outside in, or 'how to use your friends to influence people'

They say variety is the spice of life and I reckon it can help inject a bit of magic into teams too. I'm not talking about naughtiness, or indeed diversity, although that's important, but rather the power of inviting (weird nuns-flashback from the Beeb's brilliant new Dracula) people from other teams, businesses and sectors into your own.

This is hardly rocket science or a new idea, and I'm sure there must be a 'handful' of other articles on here with exactly the same point, haha, but it really is a trick that can be hard to remember or fit in during hectic periods. And one that should not be forgotten or underestimated, especially when you're facing into tough stuff. Or just looking for inspiration.

I was reminded of this not once, but twice yesterday... Firstly, when the digital ninjas in Centrica's corporate affairs team organised one of our friends from LinkedIn to do an interactive talk for colleagues from across the business (on how to make the most of the platform as individuals and a company). Did I mention we are one of LI's Top Companies? Perhaps not, but I don't like to talk about it.

Then, again, when I was joined by my former colleague, good friend and all-round superstar Benjamin Bell in the afternoon. Although currently on paternity leave with his family and beautiful new son, he was kind enough to give up some of his personal time to come out to our Windsor HQ and talk to the corporate affairs team about some of the challenges, changes and opportunities he's worked on with the Uber team.

We had a good turnout and kept it informal - a few slides with pretty pictures and plenty of questions - and we really enjoyed it. There are clearly so many places to get new, or indeed similar perspectives, including other areas of your own business or this 'LinkedIn' thing I've heard about (I'm not getting paid, but open to offers).

There are also conferences, webinars, podcasts and many other social media platforms, from Tiktok to Timbuktu, but my point is you sometimes can't beat bringing a real-life, walking, talking, joking expert into your midst and just having a chat. There are of course endless experts out there and many are making a good living from it, but others are sometimes happy to help for 'old times' or as part of an 'exchange programme'.

Not everyone is willing to be so generous with their time and experience of course, but regardless of your role in your own team, why not try 'reaching out' (I hate that phrase more than a media crisis on a Friday evening) to your own connections, either on here or via that thing that you keep in your pocket, and you might be surprised about who's willing to do you a favour in the pursuit of shared learning and fresh perspective.

And if you already use this simple tactic yourself, then just see this as a little nudge if you haven't organised anything in a while. It's satisfying, effective and (almost) free, so what's not to like?

Mind you, I say almost free because I'm still nursing a gigantic hangover from my 'thank you' to Mr Bell last night...

P.S. If anyone reading this fancies following in Ben's footsteps, call me ; )