Establish Connection

My kids and I recently spent a few days at my sister’s house and my parents’ house. We visited in order to see my nephew Jonah in a middle school play and to help my parents move into their new home. The play was adorable, Jonah was adorable and watching his siblings and cousins support him was adorable. It was good vibes overload. We all made a huge deal of Jonah and I know he felt the love. The next day my daughter helped my parents unpack boxes and organize their things while my son carried boxes and entertained my mom. The weekend was filled with tons of laughter. Helping friends and family is so satisfying. Helping and supporting others can be a win/win.

Which brings me to the final step of my process: Connection. Once we have determined your direction and steps towards that direction, we can build connections to help us stay the course. Below is a review of my process and how I help my clients build connections:

Establish Connection

You can build a village in a way that is supportive and comfortable. When working toward a goal or life change, we all need support.

I’ll help you create a community and network in a way that is effective and feels right for you. We will explore how to best make use of that network as you move forward to make changes.

It’s through building a community that we can ensure our success long term. We need support to stay on track. When we confront an obstacle, I encourage my clients to think about a resource. Is there someone who has been here before or has a special skill that could be helpful in moving forward? Oftentimes, clients have an aha moment where they think of someone who they feel should be obvious. They cannot believe they did not think of this person before. Just being asked the question allows us to think more clearly about the people in our network.

And while we should always be grateful for the help others give, we can also know that people are often happy to help and get joy on their end of the interaction as well. Sometimes we are the recipient of help and sometimes we give help and this is the beautiful thing about community.

Ways to build community:

-LinkedIn is a great resource for building community for a job search, career development or small business support

-Engaging in activities outside of work that are enjoyable and community oriented (sports, bookclubs, religious groups, hiking or gardening groups, knitting circles, etc.)

-Talk to people. Maybe your neighbor has a friend who has been where you are (had a similar medical condition, worked in the same field, just became an empty nester, etc.) and you could learn from them. Talking to people in your network and community is a great way to expand your knowledge.

-Join Facebook groups, What’s App groups, LinkedIn groups and pose questions as needed and follow conversations that others bring to the group.

-You can also build paid communties. Hire a financial advisor, coach, therapist, teacher, physical therapist, etc. There are people out their who are experts in an area and can help you move forward.

I work with my clients to help them build a community that will support them as they move forward. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. We can learn from others who have been there. We choose the strategy that makes the most sense for them. And I remind them that people enjoy helping others as long as we are respectful of their time constraints and show appreciation for their efforts. And hopefully when we have an opportunity to help others, we jump in to be supportive.

If you are seeking connection, I have several openings for 1:1 coaching. Click here to schedule a discovery call.

Photo by: https://unsplash.com/@brookecagle