Читать книгу Business Networking Simplified - Les Garnas - Страница 20

If you identify with this style, you are likely to have a relaxed, go-with-the-flow attitude toward life. You adapt easily to a variety of situations. You like spontaneity and are not very driven by discipline and detail. You probably have many friends and acquaintances, because you are so easy to get along with. You often live in the moment and are generally satisfied with your life.

With this networking energy you are not all that rigorous about setting goals and making plans. However, if an opportunity presents itself, be sure to respond. Being affable, accessible and easy to talk to, you are likely to find people coming to you with networking opportunities. You need to be sure to recognize this as an opportunity and pursue it with interest and commitment and follow-through. You need to be careful here, as opportunities to network effectively can easily be overlooked because one of your laid-back characteristics is to be open and unfocused. And you often need prompting to make commitments and to follow through. Knowing this, you should allow your sense of “opportunity management” to kick in. This style can be very effective as you have little to do other than recognize opportunities and be mindful of your considerable strengths . . . and perhaps weaknesses. You have the ability to manage to your benefit and the benefit of others.

Beyond one-to-one networking, use your laid back style to provide “informal” leadership in your company. If you are asked to be part of a special project, go for it—even if it means putting in some extra hours. Recall: one of the special advantages of your networking energy is that you are so easy to get along with. In a group setting this characteristic will be noticed by others and people will naturally want to associate with you. This will make whatever ideas and contributions you choose to share with the group meaningful, often with little effort on your part, because people are already receptive to your energy style. Likely, your participation will also open up additional networking opportunities as people identify with you. As compared to other energy styles discussed below, your problem will be which opportunities to pursue, not trying to get your networking engine started.