Exploring the intersection between digital connection, community strategy, local communities, belonging, permaculture principles, sustainability, and psychology. My work analyses the systems that prop up our current networking practices and looks at practical steps we can unlearn to build stronger networks that serve both people and the planet.
Thoughtful and magical questions
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Here are 3 ideas to help you cultivate more connection in your life this week 👇 1️⃣ Practice Magic I don’t mean the tricks; I mean practising, crafting, and developing an understanding of magical questions. I am a fan of Priya Parker's work and her book The Art of Gathering, and she’s recently been talking about Magical Questions. A magical question helps a group meaningfully connect. It asks a relevant question that everyone can answer, and one that everyone is interested in hearing other people answer. Check out her video series about these on Instagram and LinkedIn. I’ve been thinking deeply about magical questions ever since, why they are fun, and how sometimes dividing opinion can help a group more meaningfully connect. It's food for thought - check out her recent videos here. 2️⃣ Asking Other Questions I truly believe questions are the key to connection. In networking situations, one question I’ve found to work well: How can I support you? OR How can I support your business? This immediately gets to the point about what people need and why they are seeking connection. Whether it's new clients, referrals, recommendations for suppliers, or the support your own business can offer, this question really helps people articulate their current goals. 3️⃣ Know Your Own Answer Consider if someone asked you the question “How can I support you?” - what would be your answer? People find answering this much easier than asking it. The answer will change as your goals change, but can you truly answer this question if you were asked it today? What’s one thing that would help take a positive step forward? Know what that is and how to articulate it. You’ll get much more out of your networking efforts if you know the answer to this question. Can you answer the question how can I support you? Please let me know if you're enjoying this series. It's been fun putting it together. You can leave a comment online, and view previous editions here. See you next week, Anna |
Networking: A New Manifesto
Exploring the intersection between digital connection, community strategy, local communities, belonging, permaculture principles, sustainability, and psychology. My work analyses the systems that prop up our current networking practices and looks at practical steps we can unlearn to build stronger networks that serve both people and the planet.
Here are 3 ideas to help you cultivate more connection in your life this week 🔗 (if you're new here, I publish these weekly here, and also on LinkedIn). (1) What brings you here today?I run a lot of events. I attend a lot as well, especially networking ones. The question every business coach will say you MUST have an answer to, and one people dread the most (both asking and answering it) is this: so what do you do? There are so many reasons why this is a really hard question to answer, and...
Here are 3 ideas to help you cultivate more connection in your life this week - all about approaching conversations. (1) Have a difficult conversation Especially in the workplace where connection is so important, we have to be prepared to have hard conversations around things like team dynamics, performance and employment. People appreciate it so much more and conversations can help provide resolution and support. Hunter Leonard recently shared the news story from last month about Atlassian...
Here are 3 ideas to help you cultivate more connection in your life this week. If you enjoy this week's edition you can leave a comment online if you like. (1) There is joy to be found in fandomsThis newsletter is running late in part because of Taylor Swift. In case you weren’t aware she dropped a number of delightful clues yesterday and announced a new album. Whether you care about this or not makes no difference to me, but it did cause me immense joy and distraction. My Threads feed...