Are Toastmasters Natural Networkers?

Not familiar with Toastmasters? It's a world-wide organization dedicated to helping people improve their communication and leadership skills. Meetings include prepared speeches and extemporaneous speeches, as well as the opportunity to take leadership roles in the meetings. It's helped millions of people around the world improve their speaking skills.

As I sit here in the lobby of the Bakersfield Marriott, waiting for hospitality night to kick off the event, I wonder if Toastmasters have a natural edge in networking.

• Toastmasters are good communicators. Networking takes excellent communications.
• Toastmasters are excellent, trained listeners. Networking takes good listening skills.
• But are Toastmasters extroverts? Put on the brakes! I suspect many Toastmasters are actually introverts. But that's okay - you don't have to be an extrovert to be a good networker.

Want to improve your networking skills? Try Toastmasters. You'll boost your confidence, learn better communication skills, and you'll make some great friends!

Are you Changing Your Networking Habits?

My opinion of the swine flu?

I think America has lost its collective grip! Maybe after so many other pieces of bad news, this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

My husband saw two people in the grocery store wearing masks. My friend who works for an office supply company says they cannot get hand sanitizer, disinfectants, or face masks for the next three weeks.

Photo from Flickr by Ottmar, Jolly and Joni

I'm starting to wonder if I'll see a decrease in attendance at Clovis Chamber networking events until we come to our senses. I'll be polling my Chamber friends on Twitter to see if they're experiencing anything yet.

In the meantime, please be sensible. Don't curtail your life. Don't be afraid. And of course, don't stop networking!

Overdramatic Reporting Makes Job Seeker Look Ridiculous

Today's paper had a McClatchy article about a pair of job seekers who have created "Laid Off" wristbands. I admire their creativity and their resilience. Hopefully taking this action and garnering all the press coverage will help them in their job searches. I wish them the best.

But I have a real bone to pick with a terrible conflict in the article. I hope it's the result of overzealous dramatizing by the reporter and not the job strategy of the person in the article.

In the opening paragraph, the article emphasizes just how hard this person is looking for a job. She has been "spending 10 to 12 hours on the Internet looking for a new one."

She's spending all day inside her house, talking to no one, going nowhere and doing nothing but searching for job listings on the Internet??Is that what the reporting is implying? Because that's what I'm inferring.

If that's true, no wonder she's having a hard time finding a job.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70 percent of all jobs are found through networking. Sure, there's rapid growth in jobs found through social media, but it is still a tiny fraction.

The really hilarious part of the article comes toward the end when the reporter quotes a spokesperson for the local workforce board.

"Networking in today's economy is very important and a very big part of what job seekers should be doing... Sending resumes to companies is not enough. It's getting in front of people." [emphasis mine]

I suspect that the reporter didn't interview the workforce person in the context of letting her know that he's telling us the job seeker isn't getting in front of anyone.

It gets better. The end of the article is another quote from the workforce person, "...the unemployed are a little bit invisible, and this is to make them more visible."

How is anyone going to see the unemployed person wearing the wristband if she's on the Internet 10 hours a day?

Let's hope this is over-dramatic reporting and that the job seeker - who is a smart and creative for coming up with this idea - is getting out and networking in person.

The Irony of Toastmasters ...

Andy Lopata of Connecting People had a guest blogger today, Neil Urquhart, who wrote about becoming a great networker through good listening skills. It's a post worth reading; it approaches listening skills from the perspective of learning from other people. It made me think about my own ability to listen, which I hope is good since I love to talk.

Photo from Flickr by JIFormales

I realized that I get excellent practice in careful listening every week in my Toastmasters club. I was "grammarian" this week which means not only listening, but reporting to the entire group on their grammer, uhs and ums, and any other verbal "tics."

It's ironic that Toastmasters turns us into better listeners because the image is that it's a public speaking organization (which it is). But there are many roles that require you listen carefully. Not only do you have to listen with intention, you also get to practice shutting up! When a speech is given, it's not a dialog. You are to be an attentive audience, but not comment. And, you're also not supposed to "kibbutz" when the Toastmaster or General Evaluator is running the meeting. It's funny how hard it is for some people to let others play their parts without commenting.

Your Comfort Zone is Someone Else's Scary Place

You have to remind yourself that what seems easy for you, can be a real difficult stretch for someone else. If you don't, you'll misunderstand other people's reluctance to do things that seem like a no-brainer.

If I forgot the first awkward days of insecurity and nervousness about networking with complete strangers I wouldn't be able to encourage and reassure new networkers. Instead I might look down on them or dismiss as being stupid or unmotivated.

Photo from Flickr by Sarajea

Here's an example. Occasionally I run into someone who says they don't like networking because other people try to sell, or don't have good conversational skills, or who commit any other number of networking "sins." I try to remind that person that not everyone is a skilled networker. They need to try to gently guide them toward good networking, instead of writing off an entire business-building strategy because they think other people aren't good enough. Plus, that's another example of a comfort zone: only wanting to network with people who are at the same skill level they are.

Have a little compassion. Think of the things you're not good at where other people have to be patient with you. Now, apply that to those who are brave enough to get out of their comfort zone, but aren't yet skilled.