The 7 habits of highly effective people are:
1. Be proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Put first things first
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek first to understand, then be understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw
Stephen R. Covey wrote these 7 habits almost 30 years ago, and to this day, it still stands as one of the most read books of our time. I shall not go into the details of the book, however I would like to share with you my personal adaptation of these habits in networking – especially as a trainer.
Habit 1: Be proactive
As trainers, we are encouraged to take action. Being proactive means, to maximize the opportunity in our network and not just sit there and wait for business referrals to drop from the sky. In fact, to be able to bring value to our network, we must be proactive to keep an eye (and two ears) out for potential referrals for our own network members. During a face-to-face meeting itself, we must be proactive in participating – learn and ask sincere questions to educate yourself about the other person.
Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind
Have a goal. Have a vision. Have a reason. At least go with a focus – an area, an industry, a company, a department, a position, a name – know what you want. Having the end in mind helps us to have a clear expectation about our reasons for networking. Are we looking for links to new customer base, are we there to be more resourceful, are we there for self-improvement, are we there just to make new friends. Whatever it is, it is OK as long as we know where we are going.
Habit 3: Put first things first
Fundamentals: Be present. Pay attention. Listen attentively. Don’t get distracted with things that are not important. Connect people from your other networks and don’t be selfish.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win
Help other members to help you. Educate members, not sell to them. Make it easy for members to look out for business referrals to give to us. Built rapport with people in your network by being more resourceful to them. Share. Introduce them to your contacts and vice versa. Offer services to members first – demo, samples, allow them to experience our excellent service, unique product, great hospitality, WOW them first – when they like it, they will talk about it – they win, you win.
Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then be understood
How well do we know about our network? How well do we know about the members’ product, service, strengths, capabilities, limitations, constraints, goals, ambitions, interests? How can we expect them to know what we do if we don’t try to be nice to them and get to know them first? Know. Like. Trust. Some of your network members are not in the same industry, so they may have different understanding level, and definitely have different background experience in the subject matter. Get to know them, get to understand them first to enable us the ability to explain about what we do at their level of understanding – not the other way around. If we don’t get the right referrals, ask ourselves, what did we do or said that may have caused their misunderstanding.
Habit 6: Synergize
Form your own business ecosystem. Create a power team of specialists. Collaborate. Leverage. Think of what we can do with different members – how can we add value to our existing customers by working hand in hand? Try offer new products or services that we now can do or offer with the availability of our network members. Discuss. Brainstorm. Ask for feedbacks. Lead the collaboration if we see the opportunity – others may not see it straight away.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Attend trainings. Attend different topics at least once. Attend same topics repeatedly – no one says that we are not allowed to attend the same topic over and over again. In fact, chances are, we can’t absorb everything the first round. Hence when we go again, we learn new things. Open our minds to seek new approaches, new way of doing things, new attitude. Learn. Unlearn. Relearn. Attend networking meetings with a self-improvement