WORKING WITHIN: Networking and Productivity United for Results

Working Within with Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Since networking is all about relationships, then networking is great strategy to increase productivity in all aspects of any organization. I realized this a long time ago when working with clients. Let me explain.

A team was not performing to its level given the depth of the experiences within the team. During the numerous workshops and one on one coaching sessions, I realized that the team members truly did not know each other.

Sure, the might have knowledge specific to if they were married or single, birthday dates and the place of last employment. However, they did not truly know their fellow co-workers. This lack of knowledge was keeping people at arm’s length and creating some very negative attitudes.

Then during the next six monthly follow-up workshops I began each session requesting that each team member share something that others in the room did not know. Watching the non-verbal behaviors of the listening team members as a fellow co-worker shared his or her little piece of personal trivia was quite enlightening. As time progress, the honesty of sharing increased and as did the emotions within the room.

While all this was going on, something else was happening in between workshops. The team began to function better. Members began to ask each other when they had some free time, How can I help? Projects that used to take several weeks were now being finished in less than one week.

President Roosevelt was quoted as saying: No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. This is just as true internally when networking as externally.

Productivity is the direct result of how we feel about doing something. When we are engaged for whatever the reason, our productivity will increase. Having a team support is critical to sustaining productivity especially during stressful times.

Now more than ever it is important to invest the time to learn about your fellow co-worker and be authentic with your intentions. You may find a kindred spirit and someone who will help you out when your desk is overflowing with ASAP to gotta, gotta, gotta have this right now!

For more information, please visit Leanne's TNNW Bio.

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WORKING WITHIN: Networking and Productivity United for Results

WORKING WITHIN: The Unknown Talents Within

Working Within with Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Do you know your talents specific to working with others? What I have found to be true is these 3 facts:

• Many individuals do not know their talents
• Many individuals do not leverage their talents (think strengths) within the workplace
• Many individuals turn their non-talents into weaknesses and then focus on these weaknesses even if they are not related to their current role

Part of the reason is due to conditioning from the K-16 experience. People are almost trained to focus on what they do not do well. Remember all the emphasis in school about improving your weaknesses? How much time did your teachers invest to reinforce your strengths? Probably not as much when compared to the amount of time devoted to the development of your weaknesses.

This emphasis on weaknesses is truly backward. Let me ask one question: Why do winning sports’ teams win?

Do they win because of the collective weaknesses of their team members? Of course, not! They win because of the collective strengths of each team member.

Another reason for the lack of emphasis on talents is because many companies do not have:

• Current written job descriptions with written job performance benchmarks
• Process from which to close the gap between benchmarks and performance
• Proven assessment that looks to the talents instead of the personality
• Plan supported by written goals to align employee’s performance to the overall strategic action plan
• Understanding how employees make decisions and how those talents are involved in that decision making process

Imagine the possibilities if your employees and you as the CEO or business owner could isolate specific core talents or attributes ranging from Accountability for Others to Using Common Sense? Then be able to build effective team where decision making styles are balanced.

For example, how many times have you heard one employee complaining about being the only one doing anything on a seven (7) member team? The attitude of this employee could be potentially affecting the overall team’s performance. Then you learn through an assessment that this employee is truly the only one focused on getting things done while the other 6 members are busy thinking and feeling. Their decision making style is necessary for the team to work effectively yet the team is unbalanced results potentially in negative productivity. You bring the team together to discuss this information. Then you ask the team what do they need to do to improve the teams’ performance?

Human capital when not leveraged to its full potential is a significant waste and drains the bottom line. When companies begin to help their employees build stronger networks based upon each employee’s individual talents while understanding their decision making styles, the results can be truly amazing.


For more information, please visit Leanne's TNNW Bio.

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The National Networker Companies
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WORKING WITHIN: The Unknown Talents Within

WORKING WITHIN: Five Blinding Flashes of the Obvious

Working Within with Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Of the 130 plus million U.S. labor force, one third of them are baby boomers and represent the largest demographic within this labor market. As these soon to be retired workers leave employment, most businesses will be facing a critical human capital talent gap. #1 Blinding Flash of the Obvious

Looking at the K-16 educational experience, there is far more focus on acquiring knowledge and skills than developing good attitudes and habits. This focus continues in corporate America where training is still about technical skills while people or soft skills have perceived little to no value based upon the emphasis within existing training curriculum and budgets. Yet when analyzing performance failure such as in sales, customer service or management, the question to be asked is not “Do they (employees) know it, but rather do they want to do it?” #2 Blinding Flash of the Obvious

President Teddy Roosevelt was quoted as saying “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” #3 Blinding Flash of the Obvious

Business research continues to indicate that people leave managers and not companies. #4 Blinding Flash of the Obvious

Additional research by the HayGroup suggested that worldwide one-third of the workforce was thinking of jumping ship to work somewhere else given the first four Blinding Flashes of the Obvious. #5 Blinding Flash of the Obvious

All of these Blinding Flashes of the Obvious can be traced back in many cases to failed internal networking where mutually beneficial relationships have not been maintained. From the top down to the bottom up, many individuals feel devalued and disconnected from the organization. These feelings create distrust and distrust breeds fear. Fear creates uncertainty resulting in people leaving the organizations. This migration or what others call turnover costs billions of dollars annually including:

• New hiring costs estimated at 1 to 3 times the annual salary
• New training costs estimated at $750 to $1,500 per person per year
• Additional costs such as unemployment taxes, etc.
• Lost customers to lost productivity
• Lot more stress increasing health care costs, absenteeism, etc.

Within many small to large organizations, silos (think turfs) are created. Everyone is concerned about his or her immediate turf area and cannot see the entire football field so to speak. For example, the inside sales manager for a 15 person industrial wholesaler cannot get the Warehouse manager to make a delivery because it would mean overtime. Yet the client who needs the material is a significant long-term customer with a pending multi-million dollar contract. The salesman does not want to be disturbed because it is not his job and it’s the responsibility of the warehouse manager. Everyone is protecting her or his turf and bottom line the company loses so everyone loses.

One of the activities I share with CEOs to department managers to small business owners is to ask them about their employees. The purpose of this activity is to illustrate how well the employees are known by management. If you, as the owner or manager do not know simple information about your employees, how can you create mutually beneficial relationships?

Years ago, many companies provided opportunities to know fellow co-workers a little better. These events usually happened in the summer and in many cases involved picnics with associated team activities including: baseball, horseshoes and volleyball. By having these internal networking events, employees had time to play together and learn a little more about who they were working with.

Now is the time to invest in your internal customers (a.k.a. employees) before they leave you for greener pastures. Through internal networking and creating opportunities for your team (employment force) to interact will only strengthen your organization, create a culture of mutual trust and keep you from having one of these Five Blinding Flashes of the Obvious.


For more information, please visit Leanne's TNNW Bio.


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WORKING WITHIN: Five Blinding Flashes of the Obvious