Last week, a new LinkedIn connection messaged me about my post and shared she had similar experiences.
She also mentioned that she moved to Wilmington recently and it was difficult to meet other professional women in the area. I mentioned I was in town once or twice a month and would be happy to meet for coffee. The next day I thought, why not invite her to meet us Friday night? I had already planned to meet a good friend who I partner with to teach communication, presentation and leadership courses at Cape Fear Community College Jan Yokeley, MBA, Broker/Realtor. She was going to introduce me to one of her good friends who recently moved to the area as well.
When Patsy and I arrived at CFCC to take a peek at Jan‘s new office within 10 minutes one of Jan‘s colleagues shared a job opportunity with her friend. 15 minutes later we went to Marina Grill and as Amy Olmedo got out of the car, she realized that she knew Jan and had sent her resume to her and to Jan‘s husband the day before.
We had a wonderful visit and now new friendships, new networks and new business opportunities are being created.
“Time and time again, the quality of our social relations has been shown to be one of the best predictors of our emotional well-being.” The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Winking What if Amy didn’t reach out to me on LinkedIn? What if she didn’t accept the invitation to meet some new people?
What if Jan‘s friend decided not to come up and look at her new office and just stay in the car?
Sometimes, it’s all about stretching our comfort zone. Having good relationships at work is super important too. Commit to a drama free zone, avoid gossip, embrace conflict to evaluate growth and learning opportunities, seek to understand others perspectives, give colleagues credit when due and avoid the temptation to always be right.
Reach out to someone this week to see how you can help them. Build relationships to build your network and to build business and make every day count!
