in this current financial climate there’s a danger that we can lose our sense of humor (spelt Humour in UK). We have all becoming increasingly entertained by the incompetence of the Government when they all suddenly pretend that their favorite food is Cornish pasties. But how important is humor in business?

Business Humor?
I’m not talking about playing jokes or being silly at work. I mean the humor that attracts people to it and relieves pressure and stress of day to day work. That management encourages humor and is even prepared to initiate it rather than take itself too seriously. 

Let me give you some examples:
Given the choice of two networking meetings which would look most attractive to join?
A group talking seriously with each other or another group that’s obviously having a good laugh and being entertained as in the picture above.

At work do you mix with the individual who’s always smiling or the person with a depressive nature who when he smells flowers looks around for a funeral.

Humor and success
In my experience I often note that the person with appropriate business humour skills, as well as qualifications and experience, is the individual that’s more easily promoted.
The problem with so many people at work is that they have great senses of humour, but manage to hide it well.

What are your experiences of humor and success and your favorite stories?

Last week I attended a number networking events and was surprised at how badly some people use them to make contact with people. At one I was monopolised by someone desperate for an appointment to sell their product to me and was sticking to me like glue. After a boring fifteen minutes I managed to introduce him to someone that, on relection, I’m sure was a waiter and then I managed to move away.

At another meeting I met a very nice couple who subsequently told me that they wanted to meet me  again because I was “the only person that looked as if they were having fun”

A lot of my Senior Executive mentoring time is spent on creating “personal presence” and a personal brand image and this includes how to network.

The most common mistakes we talk about are:

• Monopolising a single person (Between 5 and 10 minutes is generally enough before inviting someone else to join the conversation in order to to create a larger group)
• Describing what you do and your benefits to a potential prospect in more than 21 words (rambling and ill constructed descriptions are boring and confusing. If it takes more than 15 seconds to say it’s time wasted)
• Not acting as a host to the group (leading the group by initiating introductions, leading topics and making sure that everyone gets to say something)
• Being too serious (only wanting to talk about business. Have fun and make sure others are having fun too)
• Handing out business cards instead of collecting them

Last night I was at a business networking event and thoroughly enjoying myself when an old contact approached me and started to moan about “how slow business is”. His main misfortune was that companies weren’t buying his product and his pitches seemed to fall on stony ground.

He was downbeat, defeatist and depressed and after spending five minutes trying to motivate him to think more positively suggested that he was not going to improve his situation by spending time me. I was, after all, a friend who was never going to buy from him because I’m not his market and that he needed to be making new contacts, working the room, and not sticking with the familiar.

“Well thank you for being sympathetic!” He said with a growl
I ignored the veiled criticism, smiled and introduced him to the people I had been talking to earlier and who I thought might be in a position to need his expertise. Within a few minutes I saw that he was on his own again.

This morning I hear that retail sales had their worst ever December and thought of my friend. Could we in the UK be, unnecessarily, talking ourselves into another downturn, worried about inflation, afraid of the future, terrified of Government spending cuts and generally making ourselves depressed?

Probably!

Last night I was the invited guest speaker at a Director’s network meeting in London and was speaking on internal networking. Feedback from the talk was excellent and I was delighted that the group seemed to gain so much.

It came as no surprise that those leading organisations find internal networking as difficult as everyone else. The group told me that:

1. There often isn’t enough time to network and complete the daily “to do” list
2. The difficulty is often to get other areas of the business to recognise one’s worth

In this respect the difficulties are shared with everyone else. However, a strategy of internal networking is essential if one is to have two or three vocal and continuous supporters in each area of the business. If one has then one gains support when things are difficult, forgiven more easily for mistakes and job security is increased.

A friend of mine that I’ve been working with has received three job offers in the past two weeks. One of these he was told was through networking and only 8 people were approached.

He’s encouraged me to post the advice. So whilst I am definitely NOT a head-hunter or run a search firm here goes.

Most job roles are now only advertised on-line and the role of newspapers in attracting job applicants has almost disappeared, along with the advertising revenue that such adverts produced. However, most job roles  use personal networks and aren’t even advertised.

Indeed it’s said that 60% of roles are filled through networking. At one time this meant using ‘the old boy network’ or ‘the golf-club’. Nowadays, however, this is mostly via networking sites such as linkedin.com where professional recruiters source possible candidates and reference them before any formal approach is ever made. The advantage to the employer is that it avoids receiving thousands of applications through the post.

So how do you position yourself to be identified as someone to be “networked for the job” on sites such as linkedIn and Facebook?

Here are my top ten tips to being networked for a job through Social Media:

1. Have a large network. Most people on social networking sites have less than 300 people in their network. When looking to be sourced for a job your network needs to be as large as possible. This also means researching the membership each network will give you. For instance Linkedin will connect you with individual professionals mainly based in UK and USA. Twitter gives you the opportunity to connect with businesses as well as individuals.
2. Have a good mix of people in your network. Link with friends but also link competitors, people in other industries and professions, head-hunters and those in search companies. If you’ve not got a Twitter account then consider doing so. This will allow you to connect with search companies as well as individuals.
3. Communicate with your network. Having a large network gives you no visibility if you aren’t contacting them on a regular basis. Send personal messages and responding to questions and contact a few people each day that you haven’t connected with for some time.
4. Link your Twitter account to your other Social media accounts. This allows your tweets and updates to be read by your entire network
5. Become an expert. Answer questions on Linkedn to be seen as an expert. As a result of answering questions on Linkedin and having 14 best answers logged I’ve received emails and connections from USA, Canada, Middle East and Malaysia.
6. Post slide-shows on Slideshare. This is essentially a PowerPoint slideshow. This also promotes your expertise and link these to your linkedin profile. Linkedin allows you up to three slideshows.
7. Have a facebook profile.Though be careful about your on-line reputation. Lots of people are making a lot of money on Facebook. Those that have used it to promote their drunken parties have often come to regret their posts.
8. Don’t over-promote your products and services. Remember that social media is like “going to a party”. You wouldn’t make many friends at a party if all you did was to talk about work. Create a personality. You also don’t want to be Blocked for spamming!
9. Have a YouTube film about you and your products and services. Place it on your website as well as other Social Media sites.
10. When posting be complimentary about people. Avoid criticism and  try to sound motivated and upbeat. No-one wants to offer a job to “Mr Grumpy”. However also consider that you are wanting to share expertise so be as generous as possible with the advice you offer others.

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