It’s the middle of February. Time to celebrate those connections that make us feel special and valued. And if those connections work right, we get engaged.
This is the story about Bob in Accounting. Bob just got engaged!
It started when he connected with Charlotte, the CEO of his company. Charlotte recently started holding regular gatherings where she could talk informally to her staff about the company’s vision and direction. Bob attended one of these gatherings because he was frustrated with how long it took to process contracts.
After introducing himself, he expressed his concern. He feared the procurement process was driving away potential customers. He impressed Charlotte with his concern for the company and his simultaneous focus on both bottom line profits and top-line revenues.
She decided she wanted to get to know him better so she invited him to lunch. He explained that he had recently attended a conference that gave him some great ideas for how to make the process more efficient. She was enthralled and asked if he would be willing to share these best practices with Donna, the Procurement Director.
Although he was busy closing the books for year-end, he thought this was too good an opportunity to pass up. He worked twice as hard to get his work done on time and found time to meet Donna. Donna and Bob hit it off. They saw eye to eye on the problems and potential solutions. Bob’s problem, he confessed, was that he didn’t know how to get the support he needed to implement his changes. Donna made him a proposition: she’d connect him with the needed resources if he would spear-head the change effort.
He took her up on the offer and she introduced him to a multitude of people. Before long, he had hooked up with Ed in Procurement, Francis in Legal, Greta in Marketing, and Han in Manufacturing. For the first time ever, he was working across organizational boundaries and seeing the big picture! It was exhilarating!
Even more exciting was how many people were reaching out to him. No longer was he Mr. Invisible in Accounting. He was sharing expertise and ideas and people were listening! And the more he did that, the more attractive he became to his colleagues and company.
So who was the lucky winner of Bob’s attentions? Why, it was the company, of course! Bob became an engaged employee. By making the effort to network internally, Bob was able to reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks, break through departmental silos, collaborate more, share information, access resources and expertise, innovate to improve the company’s processes, build stronger relations, and feel a sense of purpose and success.
While this story might seem like a fable, the facts are there: unconnected employees can hurt your business. Check out this 5-minute video for the facts.
Want to help your employees connect? Contact Comprehensive Learning Solutions. We partner with Contacts Count to teach practical, fun, and interactive workshops on networking that are customized to meet your organization’s needs.