Dr Sara Shinton Dr Sara Shinton www.shintonconsulting.com Welcome to Personal Impact & Confident Networking!
Nov 18, 2014
Dr Sara Shinton Dr Sara Shinton www.shintonconsulting.com
Welcome to Personal Impact & Confident
Networking!
PhD & Postdoc Physical ChemistryTeaching AssistantCareers Adviser
Founded Shinton Consulting in 2000
NETWORKING – IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT AND SCARY!
Actually, it’s just about talking to people. You do it every
day…
What are your personal barriers to networking?
Take a moment to note your own, then share with someone...
Common barriers
Cultural differences – not knowing rules of different societies and attitudes to small talk/direct questions/speaking to strangers!The awkwardness of starting conversationsKnowing what to sayFeeling intimidated by people who know more stuff than me (and them making sure I know they know more stuff than me…)Talking to people with more status than meSaying something stupidInsecurityFeeling I HAVE to network
Build your cultural awareness by talking to people from different cultures
You might also get some tips from cultural experts such as:
http://www.geert-hofstede.com/
“The awkwardness of starting conversations”Good habits from natural networkers – a supply of great questions to open conversations.
Situational questions (about the environment or shared experience) Let’s get comfortable talking to each other
Motivational questions (explore the values or attitudes this person has) Are you like me?
Functional questions (understand this person’s knowledge, skills, contribution) Let’s find out more about you.
These questions develop and emerge during the conversation so we can dig deeper more gradually. My preference is to see if we have a shared attitude to life before looking more deeply at common knowledge or skills…
Can I pour you a coffee? Isn’t this weather awful/fabulous? How was your journey? Do you know this city/venue well?Why are you here? Are you enjoying it so far? What did you think of that talk/session?Where do you work? What are you working on?
Sources of interesting facts to share – Twitter or Radio 4 !
What about me will attract & engage
people?
Write a quick summary of your
research
5 reasons you are interesting...
1. You work at the cutting edge
2. Your approach and knowledge are a unique combination
3. You are using the work of others and have opinions on this work
4. You are researchers at Dundee
5. You are immersed in research. (Not admin, teaching, politics, grant writing)
Make yourself even more interesting by...
1. Sounding interested in what you do
2. Reflecting your passion in your language – positive words, talk about the possibilities and importance
3. Relating your work to others and their interests or knowledge
4. Using hooks to get their interest
5. Constructing your story – i.e. we are here, we want to be there, this is what we’re doing to get there
Entertain me!
Why is your work
important?
Think of one person you
would like to connect with
Think of THREE things
that might interest them
Now identify one value you or your work will have for
them
Potential for new projects or collaborations
New methods for existing/old
questions
Opportunity to share facilities
Bridging “East” and “West”
Reducing risk of recruitment
Access to people or
resources in Dundee
To summarise
Think about the value, importance and relevance of your workStart with headlines, then add detail
React to your audience
Smile!
What's in your networking
toolkit?
What's in your networking
toolkit?
Questions
Think of three great questions in your group that will
stimulate conversations
Your ears!
Into pairs. One describes the last
really interesting paper you read, the other listens carefully. Let
the conversation flow...
Your enthusiasms
Into NEW pairs. If I gave you a day to do anything, how would
you spend it?
http://www.cio.com/article/164300/How_to_Network_12_Tips_for_Shy_People
Networking is worth it because...1. Facilitation of collaboration2. Knowledge Exchange, Public
Engagement and Impact3. Filter information and save time4. Feedback, inspiration and insight5. Evaluation of your work through a
3rd party
Thanks to Louisa Lawes, University of Edinburgh
for these ideas!
Using technology
The following slides come from
the session on social media, but
were worth recycling here!
Networking with social media?
www.shintonconsulting.com
www.shintonconsulting.com
Networking with social media?
www.shintonconsulting.com
Networking with social media?
www.shintonconsulting.com
Networking with social media?
www.shintonconsulting.com
Twitter - personal favourite because of the limitation on posts - just 140 characters to inform, educate, entertain and engage
Makes it efficient to follow a diverse range of people
Hashtags (#) enable you to follow trends & conferences without following all those posting on these topics
You can send private messages (DM) or restrict your profile to invited or accepted followers only
Many choose to “lurk” rather than post - a good start, but a waste of the potential of the site
www.shintonconsulting.com
The obvious careers related site - many people are explicitly looking for opportunities.
Think about who you are connecting to - your network is a reflection of your professional status. If you are seeking to
move on from academia, try to broaden your network.
You can engage in discussions on LinkedIn through the groups facility
This is also a way to connect with people with common interests without accepting them into your network
Academia is an academic version of LinkedIN which is set up for the academic career. You can post papers, presentations
and engage in discussion with an academic community
www.shintonconsulting.com
The principal SM site - has a “leisure” element but is beginning to meet LinkedIn “in the middle”
A useful facility is the “business” page which you can set up for your research group, community or any topic. This is a way
to connect with people you don’t want to see your full profile.
Remember you can manage your profile and only post certain material to certain users.
www.shintonconsulting.com
www.academicblogs.org
Blogging sites- choose the one that suits you best and market it through your other
SM channels!
www.shintonconsulting.com
A few of the many content sharing websites - useful depositories of papers, presentations and other media which
you can point to or embed in other places.
www.shintonconsulting.com
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JOINING - the right SM place for me (LinkedIn and Twitter)
Finding the right groups and people on the sites I choose
(follow tags for common interests, follow conference feeds, follow people through
connections)
Posting an appropriate photo (be consistent across profiles)
Defining a clear objective for my SM use.
Looking for feedback and input from my community
linking my various SM and find a way to manage them efficiently
contributing to relevant discussions
structuring my profile, using groups to help me
finding the right balance of personal information in my
professional feeds (enough to build relationships and establish my personality
writing some recommendations (hopefully some will
reciprocate)
integrating SM into my daily routine (apps)
Putting new information upSubscribing to RSS feeds or accumulators to manage this for
me
www.shintonconsulting.com
I COULD
START BY…
To summarise
Think about the value, importance and relevance of your workStart with headlines, then add detail
React to your audience
Find your online communityIdentify connectors & contributors
Comment, repost & contribute