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As a professional woman, each day can be a challenge as you climb the steep ladder of success. In this highly competitive world, wrought with glass ceilings, how do you jump ahead of the pack? Being successful requires not only a high level of technical skills in your chosen field, but also tremendous people skills. If you're looking to get promoted, understand that your managers will often promote employees they have a very good rapport with, not necessarily the ones with the best skills. Have you ever experienced a situation where the less qualified candidate received the promotion and everyone wondered why? More than likely, if you evaluated that candidate's relationship with their supervisors, you would find that they often chit chatted with their bosses about how the boss may have spent their weekend or how their kids are doing in soccer this year. They would have a personal or social relationship in addition to a professional relationship. The facts are people promote people they like! Now I'm not talking about kissing up to your boss…sometimes known as "brown nosing", but rather taking the time to get to know your colleagues on a personal basis. Today many of us call it "networking". Good networking skills combined with your ambition and technical knowledge will make you a dynamite professional.
If you are serious about adding networking to your arsenal of professional skills, begin taking the time to talk with coworkers, not only about work assignments, but about personal and social things like their family, hobbies, sports, current events. Look around their office. Do you see golf or tennis knick-knacks sprinkled around their office? Do you see pictures of their kids? Do you see pictures of them skiing with friends? This will give you a good idea of what your boss and coworkers are interested in. It is human nature to want to talk about yourself. Although we know it's not polite to talk about ourselves, we would rather talk about our interests and not anyone else's. So become a good listener, not a good talker. God gave us two ears and only one mouth. Let them talk about themselves and their interests. This will be the secret to your success in networking. You don't have to be a dynamic speaker or spout off intelligent philosophical phrases to capture 's anyone's interest, you just need to show them that you are sincerely interested in them and what they have to say.
One of the best ways to get to know someone is over a meal. "Break bread" with your coworkers. Invite your boss to lunch with you and other coworkers. It's a good chance to discuss different strategies or even discuss some of your own ideas. Typically, the presence of food drops the atmosphere to a more casual level and everyone is more relaxed, therefore more open to hearing your suggestions. But don't forget to mix in some pleasure. Find out what plans they have for the upcoming weekend. Talk about their favorite sport. You get the idea. Also, happy hour at a local restaurant after work is another good way to get coworkers together. The idea is to get your colleagues out of the work environment so you can get to know them on a personal level. Remember people promote people they like.
If you are interested in fine tuning your people skills, there are several good books to read. Add "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, "Friendship Factor" and "Bringing Out the Best in People" both by Alan Loy McGinnis and "How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing With People" by Les Giblin to your library, MsFiscallyFit has. These books will not only give you insight as to what makes a person tick, but how you can gain their trust and friendship. When you start reading these books and begin to apply their techniques you will see a very positive difference in the way people respond to you both professionally and personally. So get started now and we'll
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