Some people seem to just ‘click’ with others, building a large network and loyal friendship group.
Built on the current research into Social Intelligence, this workshop focuses on how you can take a strategic approach to building bridges rather than relying on chance. You need to be clear about your ultimate purpose and develop a structured plan for achieving it. It is also about connecting with others and that means conversational skills are critical, making engaging small talk and introducing yourself memorably.
Learning objectives
- Understand the social mind and how it works
- Be able to take a strategic approach via net-mapping
- Know how to reach out and connect with others
- Adapt to different people and link others up
- Have an action plan for how to implement the learning so it’s sustainable and transferrable
Webinar outline
Designed as a highly interactive 90-minute webinar.
1. Welcome, agenda, overview
- Why does building bridges with others matter?
- What are the benefits to you, your business and to other people?
- Group discussion via ‘chat’
2. Understanding the social mind
- Introduction to up-to-date research into neuroscience and social intelligence
- We are ‘born social’ and our brains are wired to connect with others
3. Who do you need to connect with?
- Group sharing session. Participants reflect on the areas where it would be most beneficial for them to increase relationships with. It could be internal, external, professional or personal
- The facilitator introduces the idea of ‘net-mapping’, a practical tool for identifying your network and assessing the level of relationship between your connections
- Identifying the level of the relationship based on Maister’s Trust Equation
- Individual activity where participants map their networks and then share the areas where they’d like to build stronger bridges
4. Reaching out and connecting
- Taking that first step of approaching someone else can be scary: the fear of rejection, saying something incorrect or seeming too keen can be barriers to reaching out
- Strategies for intentional connection and how to get through those first few sentences, whether it’s face-to-face, over the phone or online
5. Adapting to others
- People are different, and sometimes we need to re-build broken bridges with people we work with
- Understanding that people see the world differently and thinking of how to adapt our approach and communication with them can be important for success
- Brief discussion about behavioural styles using a high level description and tips for adapting
6. Action plans and next steps
- Participants reflect on their next steps and how they will implement their learning in the workplace
- Each person makes a commitment for what they will do differently in a group whiteboard which can be circulated to participants following the session as a reminder of their actions
