Christmas Party Opportunities to Chat With Others, Get Your Manager's Attention With These Three Tips & MicroTask Subscription
Hi there,
In today's edition of the Newsletter, let's prep for those Christmas Party Events: how to improve your network.
Most teams have different types of Christmas Parties: at team, department or company level.
So it's time to gather as many invites and get yourself useful for your VisibilityAtWork!
When you want to improve your network, you must find people like you that are in other departments. The way to figure them out? Be around them!
And as Christmas period approaches it and it starts at different times for different companies, I believe November is a great time to think about them.
The goal here is to get as many invites as possible. Especially from those teams you have some interaction with, but they are a stretch to your expertise.
So start chatting in the kitchen or around the office about them. Ask people if they are ready, costume wise, location or date wise. And try and see if you can get an invite.
This is a great opportunity for you to share some time with people you don't have the chance to connect very well in the kitchen.
With a drink and some good music, everyone will enjoy it, right?
When you are at the Christmas Party, be it with your team or others, focus on two things:
So here, for both topics, prepare one or two small bite chats to be ready if someone pays interest at the Christmas party.
Think about it from a business point of view: what is the benefit there, and from your point of view: e.g. experience that you gained / will gain.
The next thing you do as you prep?
Find a Person or Two Whose Interest You Want To Grab
Be it your manager's manager or some new genius that joined that team. Try and connect with them. If you can't, try and find someone who can introduce you to.
But prepping in advance means: learn something about them, something that not everyone knows. Or maybe look at their results from a different perspective: admiration.
The idea is for you to already know something about them before you meet them. Show your admiration for a skill they possess and make yourself remarkable. So that you can keep in touch after the party is over.
You can't go to a business event without having this growth factor in mind.
So if the closest business event is a Christmas Party, make the most of it.
So make sure you select your people, you know something about them and you surprise them by showing that you already know about them and that gets you excited.
Not like meeting Taylor Swift, but as being interested to meet a peer.
Get Your Manager's Attention With These Three Tips
In my LIVE WORKSHOP, we have a full chapter where we look at how to network. And the first exercise we do is to identify people who have an influence on your career. For example, your manager.
He or she has the power to propose you for a salary increase, a bonus or a promotion. Or to include you (or not) in critical projects for the company or for your development.
So one of these people that we need to connect with at work is the line manager.
No matter what your opinion of your manager is, you need to realise that they can make you or break you.
So, here are three tips to help you with it:
1. Ask About Their Experience
There are many times when a manager has an interesting story behind their career to date. And not enough time to tell it. So, put the spotlight on your manager. Try and see if you can get curious about their skills.
This can be as basic as asking them directly, or being a bit more subtle and ask them as part of your 1-2-1 meetings. For instance, if you ask for advice on a thing, or they did something that caught your attention, show interest on how they developed that skill?
Everyone wants to feel important. So make sure you show your manager that he is important to you. And just listen on the story they have.
2. Ask For Tasks
One of the greatest way to make yourself visible to your manager, is to get things done. If you take something off their plate and you complete it with minimum supervision, you show your manager that you are valuable and they could count on you.
This doesn't mean that you will always take things off their plate, but you have to build that trust somehow, and especially if you're competing for your manager's attention, this is a way to do it.
3. Ask Them What Are They Doing For Your Growth?
Here is good to be careful as how you say it, so it doesn't mean arrogant or demanding.
So in a 1-2-1 meeting, don't say 'so how are you helping me grow, huh?'
But say 'is there anything you can do to help me grow in this area?'
This way it can mean that maybe you want to read a book or have someone to train you on an area that you could use some help. But what you're actually doing is you are demanding your manager to think about his contribution to your growth.
And honestly, I don't think many people ask this, so maybe if you do, you'll get your manager's attention.
Your manager wants to help you grow. He or she needs people to rely on. So when you show interest that you want to grow, they will help you get there.
If they don't see your potential, don't always think that is because they aren't good or they have something against you. Start putting yourself on his or her map, so that they can see you.
We're Launching The MicroTask Subscription!
So as you may already know, a MicroTask is a short-term task that focuses on either improving your experience and knowledge that you lack, or refreshing your old experience, so that is still relevant today.
So, we are launching a weekly email subscription that contains a MicroTask.
Personal Branding Means Being Credible In Your Industry
How do you do this? By proving yourself. Knowing your skills. Upskilling. Become a trusted authority figure.
So, if you need some guidance on how to improve your knowledge and expertise, consider our MicroTasks.
❇️Build competency skills (critical thinking, decision making, leadership etc)
❇️Build lacking experience
❇️Refresh dated experience.
One email per week.
For a full year.
52 MicroTasks.
Be The Only Person Who Cares About Your Career
No matter where you are today, build what you want to become.
How does it work?❓
1️⃣You get an weekly email with a MicroTask.
2️⃣It gives you specific instructions on how to carry it out.
3️⃣It gives you specific outcomes for it.
For example, if you want to build leadership skills, you can have a MicroTask that asks you to lead a project
This Is How You Have The “Right Attitude”
📧What to expect?
✅Weekly emails containing a MicroTask. They can be considered as tasks to be performed (short term task), or inspiration (adapt to your own situation).
✅The topics focus on having the right attitude at work
✅Building competency skills:
🔰critical thinking
🔰decision making
🔰leadership skills
🔰time management
🔰stress management, etc.
This is applicable for yearly subscriptions only!