​Years ago, I worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, a large consulting firm in the DC area. For two years, my office was on the recruiting floor. All around me were interview rooms, networking events, and lots of hardworking recruiters. They were all go-getters. Big personalities! They walked fast, dressed to the nines, and got a lot of work done. It's the closest I will ever get to working on the floor of the stock exchange or in a newsroom. So much energy! I have kept in touch with a few of the recruiters I met during that time. It’s no surprise. Recruiters are amazing at building and maintaining relationships. It’s their job. Without a network, there are no candidates. I was thinking about how good recruiters are at networking, and thought we could all take a lesson from them. Here's what I observed...

 

1. Answer your messages. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised. I recently set a question via LinkedIn (messenger) to a group of recruiters who were former coworkers from years past. I received responses within hours. They stay on top of all their inboxes!
2. Don’t be shy. If you’re interested in talking with someone, reach out. Recruiters don’t hesitate if it’s someone they do not know, someone who may be “too important,” or someone they have not connected with in years. Just reach out. What’s the worst that can happen? 
3. Use all the channels. Given our reliance on social media, the lines between personal and professional relationships are blurred. Many former colleagues are also Facebook or Instagram friends. You can learn a lot from those who use all the channels. The occasional personal post on Facebook can help you connect with people from years back in your career, and it can help you get to know current colleagues at a deeper level. 
4. Leverage every opportunity. A recruiter who checked my references for a job years ago made friends with the woman I provided for my reference check! No surprise, she also makes friends in line at the grocery store. Leverage every opportunity.
5. Do something everyday. Whether you’re the type to regularly schedule lunch or coffee dates, or simply spend five minutes a day reading your LinkedIn feed and commenting on posts, you’re doing something. Another recruiter I worked with would leave her lunch in a different kitchen every day. (There were two kitchens on each floor, and the building was big.) That would allow her to meet new people every day while warming up her lunch. Also provided exercise. You pick the thing. Consistency is the key.

 
 What did I miss? What would you add to the list?

Over the past few years, I have been neglecting my professional network. I also really miss my chats with some of my favorite work friends from years past. Between leaving the DC area, the demands of motherhood (goodbye, free time!), and leaving a large employer, I had not kept up with my work buddies. Many of them had new jobs and had made big life changes—and I had not so much as checked in! (Do Facebook comments count? Not so much.) I also did not have a great avenue for meeting new people and was craving an inspo injection—wanting to hear the latest and greatest from people I admire. 
 
I remembered the movie Field of Dreams. “If you build it, they will come.” 
 
And I built it. I set up a community of practice for my biggest area of focus, internal and employee communications. We meet every other month via Zoom, for an hour. At each meeting we hear from a speaker and then do some mixing and mingling. The format is simple, managing the group is simple, and I have reconnected with dozens of people I adore. It's a start at rebuilding my network, and it's been enriching.

I recycled the idea of a small community of practice, similar to one that I had been part of years back, and it’s a concept that anyone could replicate. In case you’re inspired, here’s what I learned, and a recipe to start your own group…

1. Set your scope – In the world of “comms professionals,” this group is focused on internal and employee comms. Just one slice of the pie. We also have some graphic designers and event planners in the mix.
2. Define the purpose – My initial goals for creating this group were to have a forum for benchmarking, ideas sharing, and easy networking. We revisit the goals informally at each meeting, to make sure the time is well spent. 
3. Start small – I wanted to keep the group small as we were in start-up mode. Our initial group was about two dozen people. We have about half of that number in attendance at each meeting. To create the list, I about spent 10 minutes clicking through my LinkedIn contacts, drafted a list of people who might be interested, and invited that group to join as inaugural members. Since then our inaugural members have shared the invite with friends. The group is already growing. With intention. 
4. Keep it simple – Our meeting format is quite simple. One hour, every other month. Half of the meeting is a presentation on a cool thing (we rotate speakers), and the remainder is for sharing wants and needs. (Also noteworthy: If you set up your own group, you can pick meeting times that work for you!)

 
Have you ever set up or managed a group like this? What tips do you have?

I worked in Learning & Development (aka ‘corporate training’) for nearly a decade. During that time, I did some classroom facilitation and I read A LOT OF participant evaluations. You know, the short questionnaires you complete after a training session that ask what did you like most/least, and what to change for next time. It didn’t take long to see the universal trends in that feedback. It came to mind a few weeks ago as I was reviewing feedback from an offsite, and I thought I'd share it here...

Here are the three things that come up regularly in participant evaluations: 

1. Unclear instructions for activities – If at some point in the training, you’re pairing off or breaking into small groups for discussions (without a facilitator), you know to provide the instructions and repeat them three times. Inevitably someone will say, “Now what are we supposed to be doing?” 

What can you do? Before you send everyone off to the small groups, ask someone from each group if they have questions about what they are supposed to be doing, provide a handout/instructions that is available in the breakouts. If you’re in Zoom, don’t rely on the main presentation materials—send a handout in advance, and make sure everyone has it handy.
 
2. Not enough time in the breakouts – There’s almost always feedback about the time in breakout or small group discussions being TOO SHORT. We humans like to talk, and the discussion time is NEVER enough. “We didn’t all get a chance to talk” or “We rushed through the last person.” Most of the time you leave them wanting more (or complaining that they were rushed).  

What can you do? After you debrief the small-group discussions, ask everyone individually to reflect on one insight or one idea that came out of the discussions. Ask them to jot it down. It’s a simple step that helps them see value in the discussion they had, and think less about what was lacking or how they’d have preferred to have more time.
 
3. Too much content – If you skip over a section of content, if you provide a lot of back-up materials, or if you mention, “Let’s move through this part quickly,” it gives the perception that you’re managing your time poorly or you are cheating the group of some good content. Participants feel they are not getting the full experience. 

What can you do? Create one main presentation with the content that’s essential, and that you’ll definitely make time for. Have additional slides at-the-ready in case you want to supplement the discussion with additional materials. Pull them out if there actually is time, and/or send the additional slides in a follow-up communication after the course. Avoid the chunky back-up section or appendix.
 
 
A lot of these “universals” are relevant to meeting planning and offsites as well.

L&D friends: What would you add to the list?