Speed Networking - A How-to Guide

You've probably heard of "Speed Dating," an activity designed for single people to get together and meet as many potential Mr. or Ms. Rights as possible.  A couple of months ago, I was at a party, and we did a different version of speed dating - more like an icebreaker to get to know everyone at the event.

I decided to take the idea a step further, so we could use it in a work setting.  We have people moving in and out of our departments all the time, and usually we only know them well enough to say "hello" at the coffee pot.  This is a fun (and fast) way to get to know people - at work, in a social club, or even at a party!  You can always adjust the questions to slant it more toward the social, or more toward the professional, depending on the group!  Here are the basics - but you can tweak any of the steps so it can work for you.

Click to Share - 3 reasons why you SHOULD be sharing

The idea of “sharing” is tossed around pretty often these days. The rise of social media and availability of the internet to virtually everyone makes it very easy to share (and sometimes over-share) everything from music to presentations to what you had for breakfast on a particular day. Here are a few reasons why sharing is a GOOD thing:

1. It's the Way we Learn

A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of listening to George Couros, the self-described Principal of Change, spoke about “Leading Innovative Change.”  At one point, he stopped his presentation and asked the audience, “Who in this room has something they can teach me?”  At first no one moved – which is especially interesting since he was addressing a room full of educators and administrators. Eventually, most people in the room raised their hand, he said, “Great! So where’s your stuff?