Examples of what to say when you’re ‘staying in touch’.

The ‘How To Build Your Network’ cast is Wendii’s Most Important Cast. When asked why, she said, because everything we ever say always comes back to having a strong network. Whether it’s a new job, or how to do something, or support for your idea, having relationships within and without your organization is essential to your success.

We often get asked though, ‘what do I say?’. And in this cast, we’re going to give you some examples, so you know exactly what to say.

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This guidance completes our discussion on how to handle your lunch hour.

This may not make sense to a lot of folks, us talking about how to eat lunch. But the fact is, we all do it almost every day at work. If you do take a full hour, that's roughly 10% or maybe even 15% of your day as a manager or professional. That's a huge part of everyone's day. But, for many of us, our approach to it is rooted in how we had lunch at home as kids, or in school. That makes no sense for the busy professional today.

Suppose your boss takes a 45 minute lunch break most days between 1230 and 115. Should you eat then too, or eat at a different time? Should we eat a big meal, or a small one? I'm so busy…should I work through lunch, at my desk?

In a way, lunch at work is like email: we learned how to eat before we became professionals, and we learned how to communicate before we started doing email. And in both cases we probably have some bad habits worth pruning.

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This guidance describes how to handle your lunch hour.

This may not make sense to a lot of folks, us talking about how to eat lunch. But the fact is, we all do it almost every day at work. If you do take a full hour, that's roughly 10% or maybe even 15% of your day as a manager or professional. That's a huge part of everyone's day. But, for many of us, our approach to it is rooted in how we had lunch at home as kids, or in school. That makes no sense for the busy professional today.

Suppose your boss takes a 45 minute lunch break most days between 1230 and 115. Should you eat then too, or eat at a different time? Should we eat a big meal, or a small one? I'm so busy…should I work through lunch, at my desk?

In a way, lunch at work is like email: we learned how to eat before we became professionals, and we learned how to communicate before we started doing email. And in both cases we probably have some bad habits worth pruning.

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This cast gives a guide balancing your professional countenance with your community relationships.

A few weeks ago on our Facebook page, we asked: what are you doing to use your professional skills to improve your community? Many people posted about the projects they were involved with from working with children to marketing for non-profits.

We absolutely support all your efforts to improve your communities. And, there are some cautions about your behaviors which prevent problems in both your professional and your community efforts.

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This cast concludes our discussion on a framework for looking at where you need to develop internal relationships.

In our Build A Network cast, we told you that more relationships were better and to develop relationships with people indiscriminately. That guidance still stands. But whether you’re new in your organization, or you recognize that you don’t have the depth of relationships you need, the whole organization is a big target. This cast will help you narrow down where you want to direct your energies.

Equally, this cast will help you assess how good your network is. We’re going to give you a framework to put your current relationships in. Once you’ve done that, the gaps will be clear – and so will the relationships you need to develop.

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This cast gives a framework for looking at where you need to develop internal relationships.

In our Build A Network cast, we told you that more relationships were better and to develop relationships with people indiscriminately. That guidance still stands. But whether you’re new in your organization, or you recognize that you don’t have the depth of relationships you need, the whole organization is a big target. This cast will help you narrow down where you want to direct your energies.

Equally, this cast will help you assess how good your network is. We’re going to give you a framework to put your current relationships in. Once you’ve done that, the gaps will be clear – and so will the relationships you need to develop.

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This cast helps you word your request to your network for help with looking for a new opportunity.

Recently we were asked how a member should let his network know that he was looking for a new position. In his case, the company he worked for was about to announce a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and so would cease to exist in the near future. Some of you will be in similar situations where it's easy to be candid. Others will need to keep your search confidential. In either case, we're going to tell you what to do and what to say.

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This cast gives our guidance on developing your career using your network.

It seems like in every cast we record, we talk about the importance of building your network. We talk about how your network can help you with problems, get you a mentor and help you find a new job. We've told you how to build your network by being indiscriminate and adding everyone, and then, importantly, KEEPING IN TOUCH with them.

But how can you develop your career on a day-to-day basis by using your network? This cast tells you how.

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This cast concludes our conversation on LinkedIn and what it means for Managers.

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This cast reviews our recent Career Tools guidance on LinkedIn, as well as highlights LinkedIn's recent Fortune magazine cover story, and recommends some basic LinkedIn behaviors for managers.

About a year ago, Wendii created podcast content for us about LinkedIn, the digital social media professional website. At the time, Mark hesitated to publish it, because he didn't feel that it was content that would be timeless, and he wasn't sure of LinkedIn's reach.

We strive for all of our content to timely for many – because they're facing the very problem we're addressing. We also strive for all of our content to be timeless – that is – they'll still be of value to someone facing that problem 20 years from now.

But over the past year, two things have changed. First, Mark has realized that when it comes to digital tools, there is very little that we can say will be timeless. The digital world changes…well, too fast for "timeless". Also, there's far too many people saying EVERYTHING is timely, that being new is enough to make something valuable, which is of course silly. But with that in mind, it's still true that some digital tools – and perhaps other tools and situations – are something less than permanent in management, but need addressing. So, Mark came to realize that we could make recommendations for certain tools that are less than timeless.

The other thing that changed was the growth of LinkedIn. We had heard so many cases of LinkedIn playing key roles in recruiting, and careers in general, that we could no longer in good conscience let so many managers and professionals simply stumble through their profile development.

So, Wendii's work came to pass recently, and we recorded a multi-part series on LinkedIn on Career Tools.

Within 5 days, the cover story of the latest Fortune magazine was about LinkedIn could 'fire up' your career. The cover picture was someone sitting in a desk chair taking off like a rocket. Probably a little much, but at least if you see it on a newsstand, you'll know what you're looking for. We recommend Fortune, and this might be a good issue to start with, though we'll detail the cover article pretty well here. We take full credit for convincing Fortune to figure out how important LinkedIn is.

We believe that LinkedIn is important enough in the professional world that managers ought to know about it, so this is a career topic that we can talk about at Manager Tools. In this cast, we'll review the basics of the Career Tools content, review the Fortune article, and then make some specific recommendations for managers in a professional world that includes LinkedIn.

The Career Tools Content

1. Career Tools Recommends LinkedIn
2. First, Complete Your Profile
   1. This Is Not Your Resume
   2. Employment History
   3. Education
   4. Other Sections
3. Photos Aren't Necessary – And Must Be Done Right
4. Connect With People You Know
   1. Contact Settings
5. Ok, So I'm On, What Now?
   1. Recommendations
   2. Groups
   3. Questions and Answers
   4. Job Board

The Fortune Article

1. Accenture Will Hire 50,000 People This Year – 40% Through Social Media
2. Facebook is For Fun, Tweets Have a Short Shelf Life
3. LinkedIn Had 17MM Visitors In February 2010
4. Oracle Met Their CFO on LinkedIn – ORACLE!
5. Professionals Are Researching Sales Contacts in Advance of Sales Meetings
6. Present Your Skills Attractively; Pack Your Profile With Keywords
7. Connect Through Groups
8. Feedback is Different/Better Than Facebook
9. Recruiting Cost Savings Can Be Enormous
10. Heidrick & Struggles Is Now A Leadership Advisory Firm – Heidrick & Struggles!
11. Pictures Are Iffy – Even to The Founder

Manager Tools Guidance – Use LinkedIn To Find Your Bench

1. Add People You Meet To Your Network
   1. Keep In Touch
   2. Whom THEY Know May Pay Dividends
2. Join Groups That Have Relevance To You
3. Keep Track Of Your Bench (And Network) With LinkedIn

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