Bev's Tips for a Better Work Life

Tips for a more rewarding and resilient career

For almost 20 years, Bev has been coaching
professionals to thrive at work, navigate
transitions and grow as leaders.

Career management

How to reboot when work is a drag

Posted by Beverly Jones on

 So things are tough at work?

These 5 strategies can help.

 Most of us have periods of misery, when it seems like our careers are caught in a downward spiral. Sometimes the trigger is big and in-your-face, like the arrival of a new leader who wants to change everything about your job and mission. But at other times you just gradually lose hope, until thinking about your career leaves you wallowing in despair.

So what do you do if you can’t find a way to leave your job, but it feels like it’s only going to get worse from here?

Time to boost up your energy? (Image by gingerwisi via Fotolia)

The first thing is to understand that doing something is better than doing nothing. Chances are that nobody else will rescue you. So you’re the one who’ll have to shake things up and scramble toward paths leading to a better place.

If you’re caught in the mire, it’s time to get moving, even if you venture out only a little bit every day. As you look around for starting points, consider five strategies for bringing positive motion back to your career:

  1. Build valuable expertise.  One reason to develop greater subject matter expertise is that it will increase your job satisfaction. It takes long hours to acquire deep knowledge or technical skill, but people who have it and use it are more likely than their peers to find their work to be inherently rewarding. Beyond that, becoming an expert may translate into greater job security in the near term and a wider array of opportunities in the future. When you’re thinking about broadening your areas of know-how, don’t just jump on the bandwagon for whatever is hot today. Instead, focus on emerging issues that may become prominent down the road. Then position yourself to become the go-to answer person for next year’s questions.
  2. Embrace technology.  Change is tiring and it’s normal regret losing the old ways, particularly if that’s where you’re an expert. But this is the digital age, and — regardless of your profession — your future is being reshaped by changes in technology. If you drag your feet when it’s time to learn the latest system or application, colleagues may assume that you just can’t do it, perhaps because you’re too old or lack the education. Don’t fall into stereotypes or allow yourself to be marginalized. Instead, show interest in new trends and learn the latest relevant App. A good starting point can be social media. Professor Karen Riggs, who leads an SM program at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication, says, “Social networks have low barriers to entry for professional use and can give you a way to show that you’re not intimidated by tech.”
  3. Learn something.  When you’re in the doldrums, a smart method for working your way out is to learn something new. This might mean expanding your expertise, but the approach works well even if you focus on a topic that has nothing to do with your day job. Being in learning mode changes the way you see the world. You become more alert, less bored and, perhaps, even less boring. You are more likely to spot opportunities and make connections among seemingly unrelated issues. And, while you’re gathering information outside your normal patterns, there’s a good chance you’ll try new experiences and broaden your network.
  4. Focus on people.  When you’re struggling in the morass, it’s easy to stumble into self-pity. But self-absorption will make your situation worse. If all you can think about is how unhappy you are, it’s time to shift your thoughts and start noticing other people. To get started, look around your workplace and ask yourself, “Is there any way I can help.” If you’re in a situation where others are struggling too, an easy way to add value is to listen carefully to what they have to say. Another is to be a positive force in the office, whether that means complimenting and thanking co-workers or consistently sounding upbeat and friendly. Many people find it satisfying to help out by mentoring or assisting colleagues or others in their professional community. And if you’re really feeling frustrated at work, volunteering in some kind of unrelated non-profit activity might help you regain overall perspective.
  5. Enjoy other parts of your life.  Most of my coaching clients were “A” students at school, and now they still want to feel like they’re regularly earning accolades and moving ahead. But a sense of achievement is seldom enjoyed at a steady pace in today’s long careers. There are times when trying too hard to get ahead may be self-defeating. In some difficult periods, the smart move may to do the best work you can, but then give yourself permission to stop striving so hard in your professional life. There are other ways to find enjoyment and satisfaction, and get your mojo back. One strategy for escaping career doldrums is to pursue a healthy hobby so passionately that you are energized and in better shape for your work life. The best path to a reboot at work may be to take a great vacation, vary and expand your social life, or try a new sport.

Want more ideas for creating a thriving, resilient career? Check out my book, “Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO: 50 Indispensable Tips to Help You Stay Afloat, Bounce Back, and Get Ahead at Work.”

Your free time activities can energize your career

Posted by Beverly Jones on

 Things you do in your spare time

can support your success at work.

 Because energetic, enthusiastic employees get more done, today’s managers are exploring many ways to stimulate employee engagement. Some programs work better than others, but one point seems clear: it’s difficult for bored or unhappy leaders to motivate their teams. So perhaps your first rule for engaging colleagues is to be engaged yourself.

Of course, it’s not always easy to pull yourself out of the doldrums. A variety of steps might help, like remembering why your work matters, learning something new or spending more quality time with supportive co-workers.

In this article, however, I’m focusing on a strategy that brings dramatic results for some people: pursuing your healthy hobby so passionately that you remain in great shape for your busy work life.

A striking example of someone whose thriving career is supported by her favorite free time activity is work and finance expert Kerry Hannon. She is a prolific author of books like Love Your Job, as well as a columnist and writer for media organizations like The New York Times, Forbes, Money and The Wall Street Journal.

Kerry seems to be constantly in the news, speaking at conferences across the country, testifying before Congress, serving as an expert for groups like AARP and turning out a steady flow of influential articles.

It’s hard to understand how she does it all, but part of the explanation is that Kerry’s favorite free time activity helps her remain grounded and upbeat. Riding horses is Kerry’s passion and she has been doing it since she was six years old.

Kerry Hannon & her horse Brinkley

But Kerry doesn’t just hack around. She has elected to pursue a very challenging sport, one that requires intense concentration. She regularly competes and wins blue ribbons in top, “AA” rated, Hunter and Jumper shows. In these events, the horse jumps over a series of fences, all the while maintaining a smooth stride and excellent form. It’s almost as though horse and rider are joined in a choreographed, flowing dance.

Here are some of the ways that Kerry’s passion for horses supports her busy work life:

  • It keeps her centered. Kerry loves being outdoors, looking at the countryside, particularly when she’s with horses and dogs. And substantial research suggests that human beings are hard-wired to let go of anxiety when they spend time with animals and in nature. More than that, Kerry seems to find something almost mystical about working so closely with a horse. She says, “horsemanship is about caring for another living being and accepting accountability and responsibility for another life. And that is magic.”
  • It reduces stress. Kerry says that being with horses is her time, “it’s incredibly freeing” and it’s “the ultimate de-stressor.” She says, “Earth people don’t know what it’s like…You can’t think about anything but what you’re doing when you’re on a thousand-pound animal… Riding requires, and, in fact, demands total focus.” Kerry says she’s like a new person after a few hours with her horse Saintly (also affectionately known as Brinkley).
  • It makes her a tougher competitor. Kerry is more entrepreneurial because of her experience in the horse world. She says, “In many ways, setting goals and developing the inner tools to grind it out during rough patches to achieve at this level are transferable to other parts of my work and personal life. To succeed in the show ring and jumping courses of fences, for example, you must be positive, have a plan, be prepared for the unexpected. You must flow forward, always moving and adjusting to changes in a fleeting second while appearing calm and steady on the surface. You must be confident and instill that confidence and trust in the horse… And you’re always learning when you work with animals. You’re learning about the sport, about the animal, about yourself, facing fears and the rewards of hard work and practice.”
  • It offers another reason to work hard. Kerry says that horses are expensive, so they provide a financial motivation that spurs her work. She explains that, while in many ways competing at a top level reduces her stress, participating in this world also brings certain pressures. “So I’ll equate a new assignment I get with Brinkley’s board bill. It becomes a barter system in my brain — if I do this extra assignment my hobby is paid for.”

Not many of us have a long-time interest that we can enjoy with the intensity that Kerry adores riding. But we each have the potential to find a few entertaining weekend pastimes that can transform the attitude we take to work on Monday. What might work for you?

And for more ideas for bringing energy back into your career, check out my book, “Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO.”

8 tips for inspiring employee engagement

Posted by Beverly Jones on

Engaged employees get things done.

See 8 tips for re-engaging your team.

It’s well understood that upbeat and highly motivated employees achieve more than their negative, disgruntled peers. Recognizing the link between attitude and job performance, human resources experts used to talk a lot about the need to enhance “employee morale” and build “job satisfaction.”

In recent years, however, the buzz has been all about increasing productivity and innovation by promoting “employee engagement.” Definitions vary, but the Gallup organization describes “engaged employees” as “those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.”

Your engaged colleagues are the builders – the ones who are moving the organization forward. You probably enjoy working with these animated people. Folks who aren’t engaged may do the basics, but they won’t be passionate about tackling challenges or breaking new ground. And your actively disengaged coworkers can spread their unhappiness around and undermine the whole group’s progress.

According to Gallup Daily tracking, only about 32 percent of U.S. employees are engaged at work. And, despite a wave of engagement improvement programs, that number hasn’t fluctuated much since Gallup started its measurement in 2000. Experience shows that there’s no one simple way for leaders to jumpstart a surge of workplace enthusiasm, but many small steps can help.

My client Heidi began reading about employee engagement as she started a new assignment. She had moved out of the busy headquarters office of a Federal agency to become director of a low performing regional office.

Heidi is talented, personable and deeply committed to the service mission of her agency. To date, her rise through the government ranks had been rapid and smooth, and she’d made many friends along the way.

When Heidi arrived at her Midwestern post in the dead of winter, the climate inside her office felt as cold and frightening as her icy commute to work. Three of the top ranking members of her team had applied for the directorship, and now all three made it clear that they resented having the position go to her, an outsider. And while the attitude of those senior staffers seemed to vacillate from sullen to openly hostile, most of the dozen other professionals just seemed tired and disinterested.

Happy folks get things done (Image by whitehoune via fotolia)

Heidi developed a set of principles for stimulating new energy and commitment from her team. After a year, she has seen a mood shift, and the office’s performance statistics are up. These 8 strategies are helping Heidi to stimulate better work from her more fully engaged team members:

  1. Meet in person. Heidi’s predecessor, Jill, was described as a brilliant but reclusive workaholic. Jill spent long hours alone in her office, with the door closed, and she’d make her wishes known by shooting out frequent emails. Particularly during her early weeks on the job, Heidi elected to meet often and face to face with her team members. She shared news from around the agency but generally tried to listen more than she spoke. As Heidi concentrated on listening, she grew better at resisting the urge to feel defensive or disheartened from the flow of negativity
  2. Empower the team. Jill had talked often about her own high standards, and had tried to control the workflow so that every project was done in exactly the way she would do it. Heidi looked for ways to delegate more responsibility, and make assignments that allowed professionals to show off their strengths and personal styles. She caught an early break when her embittered deputy left for another job, enabling her to distribute his responsibilities so that more people could share in team leadership.
  3. Reward good work. As a Federal manager, Heidi had limited control over bonuses and raises. But she found other means to express appreciation for excellent work. For example, she shared an insightful staff memo with high-ranking colleagues in Washington, she worked her network to snag a plum speaking invitation for one of her experts, and she asked her people to speak about their successes at meetings with sister agencies.
  4. Find learning opportunities. Heidi saw that many of her team members had been doing the same kind of work for years, and they were bored. She made training a top priority, and encouraged each person to commit to a professional development path. She also shuffled assignments so that most folks enjoyed more variety, and she came up with new projects that meant learning for everyone involved.
  5. Clean up. When she agreed to take the job, Heidi negotiated a budget to improve the office’s aging physical space and furniture. Early in her tenure she involved her team in planning the modest office redesign. And she designated certain days when everybody wore jeans to work and pitched masses of old documents and other clutter. When the renovations were done, the fresh new atmosphere gave most people a boost.
  6. Have fun. In an early meeting, one employee told to Heidi, “Once this was a fun place to work, but Jill didn’t believe in fun.” On the job, “fun” might mean that the tasks are stimulating and coworkers are good partners for brainstorming. But sometimes “fun” just means having a good time. Heidi found ways to vary the routine with surprise treats and entertaining meetings. She invited clever speakers to come to staff meetings, she encourages humor as long as it wasn’t mean-spirited and she created a committee to create events like surprise pizza parties.
  7. Remember the mission. Most members of the staff began working for the agency because they believed in public service. But they had become cynical and discouraged. Heidi invited reports about the full scope and value of the agency’s work, and she encouraged team members to join agency-wide or other professional committees. She regularly looks for ways to remind people of the value of their work together.
  8. Take care of yourself. Even though she had family members nearby, Heidi was a bit lonely in her new town. And after a week of struggling to be relentlessly positive, she often felt like spending the entire weekend in bed watching old movies. Heidi knew that negativity can be contagious, and in order to inspire her team she needed to remain optimistic and energetic. So a key element of Heidi’s leadership philosophy is to find stimulating activities and build supportive relationships when she’s away from the office. As part of her program of self-care, she decided to act on her lifelong dream of horseback riding. She rented at horse housed near an indoor riding arena, and she takes lessons every Saturday.

Engaged employees need strong relationships and lots of communication with their managers. To launch an effort to energize your colleagues, consider a round of meaningful conversations.

For more tips on how to engage your team or rediscover your own enthusiasm at work, check out my new book The Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO

Learn how to accept tough feedback

Posted by Beverly Jones on

You can become more at ease

with criticism of your work

During my first coaching session with “Jodie,” a talented scientist, she expressed frustration about not getting the challenging assignments she thought she deserved. She theorized that she might be a victim of gender discrimination. Or perhaps she wasn’t respected because her Ph.D. was from a university some regarded as second-tier.

I heard a different story when, with Jodie’s permission, I interviewed some of her current and former colleagues. It was clear that Jodie’s accomplishments and credentials were widely respected. But people were reluctant involve her in demanding or innovative projects because she was so overly sensitive to criticism.

One colleague liked Jodie personally but suggested it could be exhausting and time-consuming to work with her. “When we start something new, it’s normal to make false starts. Somebody comes up with an idea, we try it out, and if doesn’t work the team gets together to pick it apart. But when Jodie’s on the team she’s so defensive that we all have to walk on egg shells.”

Criticism hurts – if you let it (image (c)olly via Fotolia)

As we spoke, Jodie became aware that her inability to accept negative feedback was limiting her professional growth. And she acknowledged that she had long found it difficult to accept criticism, not only at work but also with her friends and family. A harsh comment could make her feel physically ill, and might send her mind racing with protests and catastrophic predictions.

Jodie found that her employer’s family assistance program would subsidize the cost of weekly counseling to help her learn how to better manage her visceral response to any disparaging comment. She felt some relief when she understood that it’s normal for people to react more strongly to just a bit of criticism than they might to lot of praise. Soon she was learning to manage both the angry, defensive voice in her head, and the physical pain she felt when it seemed like she was under attack.

Meanwhile, in the context of coaching, Jodie developed this plan to overcome her reputation as someone too delicate to be part of a problem-solving team:

  • Recruit support. Jodie scheduled individual meetings with several trusted colleagues to let each know that she was working to get better at accepting negative feedback. She said she was becoming more comfortable in an environment where people typically make well-meaning but blunt suggestions about each other’s work. She asked for both patience and suggestions about how to engage in the give-and-take normal among the high performers in her group. And she requested that colleagues not to try to keep her away from situations where they thought her feelings might get hurt.
  • Pause before responding. During counseling, Jodie noticed how her defensive reaction to criticism tended to quickly build until she couldn’t seem to contain it. As she became better at spotting her emotional build-up, she learned to take a few deep breaths instead of immediately expressing her anger. She found that if she waited a day or two, criticism might feel less like a personal assault and more like a useful suggestion. And if she felt particularly wounded, she might soothe herself with a treat, like arranging for a massage, or taking her husband out for a nice dinner.
  • Stand in the speaker’s shoes. Once Jodie slowed down her quick response to criticism, she then tried to look at it from the standpoint of the critic. Sometimes she would write an analysis because that helped her to be objective. She would address questions like:
    • Who made the comment? Did it come from her boss, who might be typing to help her? From someone with expertise different from hers? And does the speaker have goals that are valid, although not the same as hers?
    • What might she learn from the comment?
    • Was the remark truly about her work or idea, or did it say more about the mood of the person who spoke? If it was just a casual comment from someone having a bad day, she might just let it go.
  • Define the goal of any response. Once she paused and thought about the criticism, Jodie would decide whether something could be gained from answering back. She wouldn’t indulge in venting. But if an important point were at stake, she would frame her arguments in a positive and strategic way.
  • Practice accepting corrections. To become better at remaining detached from the emotional impact of criticism, Jodie decided to practice in situations where the risks were low. She signed up for a creative writing course and learned to keep her cool when it was her turn to have an assignment critiqued by the class. And she joined a knitting group where more experienced knitters helped her to untangle the mistakes she made with her needles.

It’s normal to feel defensive when people criticize you. But feeling insulted is painful and doesn’t get you anywhere. With practice you can develop a thicker skin. You can choose to let go of your hurt feelings and refocus on the work product or concept under discussion.

Moving past an error of judgment

Posted by Beverly Jones on

How to bounce back after

 a poor decision at work

Recently I wrote about Ira Chaleff’s fine new book, Intelligent Disobedience, that explores situations where ignoring your supervisor’s command may be an act of wisdom and courage. In response, a friend told me a story about an executive who kept pushing on a proposal after her boss had nixed it. In this case, the CEO not only forgave the executive, but also had a transformative leadership experience as a result of his team member’s challenging behavior.  In this post I’ll share that story, modified to protect identities, and then offer my own suggestions about how you can recover from a poor decision at work.

That CEO, who I’ll call“Tony,” ran a large medical technology company, and “Sarah” led one of the company’s research and development units. Sarah had teams exploring a variety of tools for delivering more effective patient care. Personally, she was particularly interested in devices addressing cardiac disease because she had friends and family members with heart problems.

Sarah sent Tony a detailed proposal for an innovative device with a high likelihood of helping patients suffering from a certain kind of heart defect. She made a strong case that the device could save patients’ lives and that it had a good chance of moving quickly through the regulatory review process.

When he received Sarah’s proposal, Tony was preoccupied by a corporate merger. Although normally a thoughtful and thorough decision-maker, this time Tony just took a quick look and fired back a note saying that the proposal was a non-starter because the defect was relatively rare and the impacted patients didn’t represent a big enough market to justify the cost of introducing the product.

Despite Sarah’s appeals for further consideration, Tony made it clear that he didn’t want more resources to be invested in the device. But Sarah was haunted by the thought of the people who might die without it. So she ignored Tony’s wishes and authorized continued work on her pet project, quietly folding the costs into a much larger cardiac initiative.

Sarah kept pushing forward without seeking permission. Eventually the device was approved and did indeed start saving lives. Soon the technology was attracting attention in the medical community because it held the potential for additional applications. Then one day Tony called Sarah to his office and handed her a letter from his college roommate. It said, “Tony, your new device saved my life.”

Soon after that, at an annual meeting of the company’s top 400 leaders, Tony told the story of Sarah’s defiance. And he made three statements that won respect from his team and shaped the corporate culture for handling future errors of judgment:

  • He apologized for being wrong and acknowledged that he had told Sarah “no,” not once but three times.
  • He commended Sarah for having the courage and strength of her conviction to approach leaders repeatedly and finally buck the system because it was the right thing to do for patients.
  • He committed to doing something “exceptional” to make amends and create a process that would make future errors in judgment less likely.
Sometimes ya gotta say "sorry"
Sometimes ya gotta say “sorry

In an environment where innovation is encouraged, professionals must become comfortable with taking risks. And where risk-taking is the norm, it’s inevitable that some decisions won’t work out well. Savvy leaders support the creative culture by modeling a method of accepting responsibility and moving forward after a mistake has been made. One smart way to manage judgment errors is the three-part approach I call “Plan A”:

  • Acknowledge that you made the wrong choice and accept responsibility for the consequences. At the same time, thank anyone who helped you to recognize or overcome the problem.
  • Apologize for the damage you caused, or the opportunity you missed. Be specific so that people can see how you recognize the result of your choices and actions.
  • Identify Action Steps that will rectify or make up for your mistake and make it more likely that good judgment will prevail in the future.

We all make decisions that don’t work out well. Next time you make a blunder, face it straight on, try handling it with Plan A, and quickly refocus on doing excellent work in the future.

To explore more career issues, please check out my book, Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO, coming soon from Career Press.

Smart entrepreneurs know the power of communities

Posted by Beverly Jones on

Being active in communities

can help your career to thrive

When I meet new clients, it’s sometimes easy to spot the ones who’re enjoying resilient careers. Whether they’re solopreneurs creating their own thing, or professionals making their way through large organizations, people with thriving work lives tend to share some of the same characteristics, like a positive attitude and an ability to listen.

As I chat further with clients, one thing I want to know is whether they consciously manage their networks. While most people know that networking means building strong personal and professional relationships, the most well connected people go even further. They not only create and care for individual relationships, person by person, but they also understand the power of their broader communities.

A “community” is a group that has members, rather than a collection of unconnected people. While membership may be informal or unacknowledged, the members of the community are linked by common values, interests or history. And often they have some feeling of belonging, as well as a sense that they matter – that they can make a difference to the group.

Among your communities are your neighbors, people with a background or interest similar to yours, professionals who share your training and expertise, and members of the clubs and associations you’ve formally joined. Your communities are packed with people you haven’t even met. But when you approach someone as a part of your group, it’s unlikely that he’ll treat you like a stranger. Your communities are a source of business intelligence, clients, customers, mentors, introductions and friends.

There’s a growing body of research that links good health with your degree of social connection. That reflects not just relationships within your inner circle, but also your interaction with far-flung communities. Reasons for the health impact might be that supportive communities can help us to manage stress, gain perspective and maintain healthy habits.

Beyond that, your emotions and behaviors can be influenced by the emotions and behaviors of those in your extended communities.   Research on human networks suggests that your attitude and habits may be shaped not only by your close contacts, but also by your contacts’ contacts and their contacts, as well.   If the people in your communities are energetic, accommodating and creative, their positive vibes can be contagious, assisting you to stay upbeat as you push your boundaries.

Successful entrepreneurs are often particularly attuned to their business, customer and social communities, looking to them for inspiration, technical knowledge, referrals, and empathy. Photographer Molly Peterson, is a fine example of a modern entrepreneur who is investing in her communities as she continues to invent her multifaceted career.

Molly Peterson & friends. Photo by Mike Peterson.

Molly’s documentary-style photos are beautiful and authentic, and have been widely published. She’s known particularly for her food and farm shots, and she took the pictures for “Growing Tomorrow,” a new book with portraits of 18 sustainable farmers. Photography is only one of Molly’s professions. She and her husband run Heritage Hollow Farms, where they raise grass-fed livestock and also operate a farm store in Sperryville, a village in Rappahannock County, Virginia.

Although it seems like two active careers would take up all Molly’s time, she’s one of those natural givers and connectors, active both in community nonprofit groups and in online networks. Everything seems to work together. It was through customer and online communities that Molly came up with one of the Farms’ distribution channels. She noticed that many Washington, DC, residents care about the benefits of sustainable meat but can’t always make the two-hour drive to Sperryville or be available for a scheduled delivery. So she arranged for meat orders to be delivered to freezers installed in Washington area Crossfit Gyms.

When I asked Molly why she’s so active around the County, despite her heavy work schedule, she said, “Iwas taught from a young age from both of my parents to be curious, connected, and ‘well rounded.’ They were both entrepreneurs… I’ve always been curious and interested in a world outside of my own: why do people do what they do, is there a deeper reason for it, what makes them ‘tick’. I also feel it never hurts to ask; nothing frustrates me more than when I’m told that something can’t be done simply because that isn’t the way it’s usually done.”

Molly also said, “Outside of my careers I have a genuine care and concern for my community and the

Heritage Hollow Farm Store in Sperryville, VA

Earth and how to make it better, more joy-filled, healthier – whether that’s through my photography as art, through the way we raise our livestock that ultimately feeds families, or through my time.”

Staying in touch with a range of supportive communities can be key to building your resilient career. These strategies can help you to build stronger community involvement:     

  • Identify your communities. Start by listing groups of people with whom you’re already associated. This might include your college or other alumni groups, professional associations, neighborhood committees, and even online groups. Then think about your interests or favorite activities, and search for additional organizations of like-minded people. If you’re an Italian-American who likes to raise herbs and cook, look around for a garden club, a gourmet group, or an Italian-American association.
  • Become active. Consider organizations where you are now a member, as well as others you might join, and target several where you’ll raise your profile and build relationships. Next, watch for opportunities where you can make a contribution. This might mean volunteering for a service project, joining a committee, or simply attending functions.
  • Care about an issue. Many communities are built around causes or local needs. If your family has been touched by cancer, you may want to join a committee that raises money for research. The best way to get to know people can be working with them to address a problem you all care about.
  • Be a mentor. To connect with a younger crowd or make your network more diverse, offer to serve as a mentor. Contact a professional association, or get in touch directly with someone who is starting something new and volunteer to share your skill set or serve as an advisor.
  • Give money. If you’re overwhelmingly busy right now, you can quietly begin to build name recognition by making contributions to nonprofit groups. If your name shows up repeatedly on donor lists, group leaders may eventually beg you to become more actively involved.

Maintaining your connections with multiple communities is not just about your career. By investing in your communities you’ll be forging a support system that can help you through the tougher times and make the good days even more enjoyable.