E94 The UC Playbook: Unlocking the Power of Effective Networking

Ever wondered why some people naturally excel at networking while others seem to struggle? What if you could unlock the secrets to becoming a better communicator and networker? Today, we glean the wisdom of master facilitator and networker, Keith Bailey, as we unfold the UC playbook - the key to refining your networking skills. We explore how acknowledging our strengths and polishing our weaker areas can transform us into more proficient communicators than we ever imagined. 

Keith introduces us to the PEN method - Prepare, Engage, and Nurture, a game-changing strategy that will significantly elevate your networking experiences. We also delve into the concept of conversational threading, a skill that enables you to better connect and engage with others. The UC moment of this episode underlines the influential power of honest curiosity, a trait that has the potential to truly revamp your interactions. Remember, networking isn't just about enlarging your circle; it's about becoming a superior communicator. So, join us as we navigate the world of networking, armed with authenticity and confidence.

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Transcript

James Gable : 0:21

Welcome to the Uncommon communicator podcast, where we are here to bring enlighten to the topic of communication, moving into today and today's. For today we're going to discuss the UC playbook. Now, this is a new format that I'm bringing to you based on our conversation from our last episode. We're going to dive deep, a little bit deeper into these topics so we can walk away with a tangible playbook to improve our communication and to improve upon what we heard in our last interview.

James Gable : 0:54

Now, in my last interview, I interviewed Keith Bailey. Keith Bailey is a master facilitator, great communicator and a master networker and he gave us some fantastic tips on how to network and we're going to break them down today. One of the things I really walked away from from our last conversation you know I had stated that I'm terrible at this. I just I confessed. You know I'm terrible at networking, but in reality, we need to understand that we're better than we think we are a lot of times and I found out that I was better at some things that were that were all networking related. Like I'm pretty good at creating a conversation. I'm pretty good at keeping those conversations going and I have no problem meeting new people. All of those things are important for networking. Now, one thing I learned from Keith is this 75-25 percent ratio 25 percent of our time we should spend networking with and meeting new people, whereas the other 75 percent is about maintaining and following up on those connections. Now that is where I admitted admittedly, I am very weak at Now. That is 75 percent of networking, but I was still pretty good at some of it. So always recognize what you're good at first and then all then. Then you can work on the things that you're not good at to improve those percentages.

James Gable : 2:14

Some of the things we really learned from Keith and this is part of our playbook for today is to have a plan. Go in with a goal If that goal is simply to meet one person or three people, but go into any of these events saying I'm going to walk away with something. That's one of the most important things we can do in any networking situation. Now Keith also brought us this idea of pen prepare, engage and nurture. First, show up early. If you're going to prepare, show up early, clear your calendar out and make sure that you can stay in that moment. You don't want to always be answering phone calls and not in that moment when you should be there connecting. So prepare for that event. The next thing is to engage. You know, always start with a smile but be prepared to bring others into the conversation. That's part of engagement that I caught was very important is if somebody comes up and Keith and I share this as well If somebody comes into your conversation, first off, they were brave to do that, but always be that gracious person that's going to invite that other person in, even get them up to speed and say, hey, we've been talking about this, you know. Or maybe make an introduction. But those are the one of the things that I think are very important in any networking situation not to exclude people, bring them into the conversation, bring them up to speed and sometimes even get angst when the other person is continuing to talk and not even acknowledging the person that just showed up. So, smile, bring those people in. That's engaging. And then this is the probably one of the most important things is to nurture. Back to what I said earlier, if you're committing, say, four hours of networking a month, you want to develop your network. Three hours of it should be spent with connecting with the network you already have. That's one of the most important things that you can do is to maintain those relationships. So that's the pin. That's one part of our playbook that we received last week is to prepare, is to engage and it's to nurture. It's the pen technique.

James Gable : 4:18

The next thing that Keith brought in was this idea of conversational threading, and this was very interesting to me. I love the idea of it. Now, it starts with just a simple question, and one thing that you can do is, if you have these four ideas, to start that simple question like a first, a best, a last or a worst. Hey, is this the first time you've been to this event? What's the best thing that you like to do on the weekend? What's the last thing you did when you were out networking last time? Or what's the worst thing that happened to you in? Whatever it might be, if you have those, those are great things.

James Gable : 4:54

Everybody always has one of those that they can connect with you with A first, a best, a last or a worst. Those are simple questions that start those conversations and starts that conversational threading and, very important, wait for an answer. Listen for conversational clues. As that person begins to share and elaborate, you might find other things that you connect on. That's part of creating that thread and keeping that conversation going and then always follow up with open-ended questions. Don't ask questions with yes or no. They should always be questions like how, how would you have done this, what do you think? Those type of things don't end the conversations with a yes or a no and those are often conversation killers.

James Gable : 5:43

And one of the most important things is to keep that cycle of conversation going. Always remain and to always remain unending is to actively and sincerely listen to the conversation. You have to be in it, you have to be involved, you have to be interested with that person. And that follows up with our final point, which is really what became the UC moment, which is to have honest curiosity. One of the best ways you can move through this world is to have an open curiosity for people, for things. If you really want to know, then things get so much easier. It's not fake, it's real and people know that and they sense that, and when you are truly interested in somebody, that's a compliment to them. So a quick review of today, today's UC playbook moment. One, use the pen method Prepare, engage and nurture. Next, use conversational threading. Be able to tie those conversations together and, above all else, and our UC moment for today as well always have an honest curiosity and remember this. Use networking to become a better communicator. That's all I've got. See you, bye.