Create Your Own Engagement Strategy

One of the first things I do when I am brought into a company to help them with strategy or business development is to evaluate who the company is already connected to.

What companies are they are already doing business with and how invested are they in those relationships?

Which of their clients would benefit from knowing one another and how can my client be the catalyst for putting that potential connection in motion?

Who is it that the company needs to know but doesn't?

They may seem like simple straightforward questions but they are anything but.   As a recent brainstorm strategy with a group of executives from my client revealed, simple doesn't necessarily mean easy.  What was originally planned to be an hour or so turned into a several hour marathon discussion about these very questions.  The executives got a totally new perspective on the power of engagement and what if could mean to their company's ongoing success. Plus in the interim their executive team became stronger for going through the exercise together and sharing at a level that was previously unfamiliar to many of them.

The result was a commitment to go forward with a more invested engagement strategy and a plan for making it a priority for every member of their staff.

So what can you, as an individual, do with a similar type of exercise?  It's simple really, you can call me and we can sit down and talk about the connections you have made, need and want to make and how you too can formulate your own engagement strategy for your own life or career.  My time isn't cheap but it's guaranteed to be a great investment on your part and a productive, eye-opening session that will have you approaching your business building, networking and/or interpersonal relationships much differently.

Or...

You can simply undertake this exercise yourself!

If you aren't building the types of personal and professional relationships you truly want then I suggest you lock yourself in a room somewhere and ask yourself the questions I've outlined above.  Perhaps replace the words "companies" and "clients" with "people" and "you" where appropriate and start writing, drawing, doodling, whatever it takes to get these people firmly affixed in your mind.  And then let your imagination and thoughts run wild and I bet you'll come up with your own plan.

If you don't give me a call, I'll fly with you.

Ripple On!!!