Fit Into the Organization 11: Connect to Past Co-Workers

This continues our series on how fitting in helps you get the biggest raises and better jobs

Dave attended college 35 years ago. He kept intermittent contact with his former classmates over the years even though none of them lived in the same state. He started his own business after years of successfully working in several businesses. One of Dave’s major clients reduced their work by 30%. Dave reached out to his former colleagues and found an entirely new market that more than compensated for the lost work.

Keep Important Information About Friends and Co-Workers

My best friend in high school and college had a birthday this week. He calls me on my birthday every year. We stay in touch. Old friends add their competence to yours vicariously. They built different skills, connections, and wisdom. You can tap into theirs and share yours with them if you stay in touch.

Take time to add the names, job titles, phone numbers, email addresses, birthdays and other information about people in the same company to your address book: a real book, a Gmail or other email account, or Microsoft Outlook. Change the information if they go to another company.

 

Contact Current and Former Co-Workers

Call or email 2 people who used to work at your company, but moved to a new company. Share a few brief & positive comments about what is happening at work. Ask them about what is happening in their workplace: what they like, what they do, people they work with, and projects they work on. Limit the call to no more than 5 minutes. Keep the conversation professional and not gossipy. Do not backstab.

In addition, build your internal network by strengthening a relationship this week. Ponder what you have to do on your job. Identify someone that does that task better than you do. Talk to them this week about how they learned to do it so well. Ask them for tips you can use to improve your ability to do that task.

Friday we review how Making Your Boss Look Good (MYBLG) helps you fit in

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