Douglas E. Welch of Career Opportunities article/podcast declared 2008 as the year of “visibility” – get your name out there. He is now declaring 2009 as the year of “leadership”.
I had a smile on my face when I listened to his podcast from Jan 2, 2009 since I’ve already started that.
Thanks to the Mark and Mike at Manager Tools, I’ve learned the value of a network (being visible) and the value of leadership (stepping up and giving.) The investment is very rewarding both personally and professionally.
One of my latest efforts has been to create a local meetup of managers in my area. I started contacting local people (mostly in my field) a couple years ago under the recommendation of Mark Horstman (of Manager Tools.) I’ve developed some great one-on-one relationships with other area managers over the past several months. When I felt I had a critical mass (6-8 minimum) I started asking “What would you think about getting together as a group and discuss management topics?” Everyone was very positive about the idea so much so, that word started spreading at other companies what was going on and people I had never met were responding to my invites.
This is a bit different way to organize a group gathering. Many groups start out large and dwindle due to lack of focus or leadership. Thanks to Manager Tools and their following, I’ve got a strong base to build on. Yes, it took a bit longer, but I feel we’ll have a lot stronger group.
The group is meeting monthly (save December) on the second Tuesday. We will be utilizing the Manager Tools information as the basis for our meetups and over the next few months it will be branded more as a Manager Tools meetup than just a local group.
I’ve been fortunate enough to attend similar meetups in other areas like Milwaukee and San Diego and learned a few things about what works (and what doesn’t). One thing I noted in San Diego was that they met at a company and sat around a conference table. This worked better than the restaurant venues I attended and organized in the past because it affords a quieter atmosphere and opportunities to use technology should we want a presentation. The company I work for has graciously offered space for our gathering in January. With the response so far, I am very much looking forward to this leadership opportunity in 2009.
If you are a manager in the Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac area of Wisconsin and want to discuss these items with your peers, please contact me (chuck at chucktomasi dot com). We would love to have you on the team.
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