By Kristina Tool, PWA Speaker Director

PWA member Angie Katselianos, consultant, executive coach and head of Platinum Performance International, shared her expertise in assisting her clients in achieving peak performance with her presentation, Successful Networking Strategies: Reaping What You Sow.

Angie began by stressing that networking is a process – and in order to benefit most – we must look at in phases. She outlined steps and provided targets to be achieved during the three phases of networking: preparations before the event, making contacts during the event itself and follow up actions after event.

Some of the strategies provided included taking the time to develop a memorable and meaningful introduction before you go to an event, assessing body language to understand which people are open to being approached once you enter the event and finally, making sure that you follow up promptly with your contacts post event.

Attendees had a chance to put into practice some of the tips provided during the presentation. An exercise was assigned where participants sought out a partner they didn’t know, learned about what their partner was seeking and presented what they were looking for to their partner – all within the recommended ten minute time limit.  Participants in the exercise noted that the ten minutes went by quickly, but were reminded that it was the ideal time frame to make an initial contact in order to follow up later and still have time to make additional contacts.

In addition, Angie discussed the importance of giving referrals and the “Seven Levels of Referrals”; with each level requiring more effort and time on the part of the referee, thereby increasing the potential strength and value of the reference.

In stressing that the most effective networking is an ongoing process, Angie reiterated the importance of continually cultivating our relationships, so that we have a strong network in place when needed.

By Kristina Tool, PWA Speaker Director

Mirella Visser, founder of the Netherlands-based Centre for Inclusive Leadership, board room advisor, former senior executive for ING and KPMG, and president of the European Professional  Women’s Network, presented Women in Leadership – From Crisis, Opportunity to a group of members and guests on April 22, 2009.

Mirella’s presentation shared insights she has gained as president of EPWN and as a female who left her gender-balanced university studies to enter a career in male-dominated multinational corporations.

The higher she climbed in her career, the more she noticed the absence of women and began to wonder what the problem was. She realized that while women work at least as hard as their male counterparts do, they had different views than men on how to advance their careers, as well as the benefits that higher level positions could provide. She noted that hard work alone does not allow you to rise to the top and that more strategic behaviour is required. 

Mirella acknowledged the challenges to women advancing to higher levels in general, and in particular during the current economic crisis. Women are losing jobs at twice the rate of men, as female workers often tend to be employed in departments which are considered non-essential and therefore more susceptible to layoffs. In addition, the pay gap between the sexes is growing.

The situation is far from hopeless, though, and opportunities remain for those who can adapt to the changing work environment. While evidence demonstrates that smart companies benefit from women in leadership roles, women need to do more to put themselves in line for these positions.

Understanding some of the differences in how men and women work may help us to advance. Women tend to be more introspective and self-reflective and may blame themselves first for problems, yet not take credit first for successes.  Modifying this behaviour to take more credit for your contributions will help in job security and advancement.

Mirella left the group with some strategies women can use to advance their careers including:

• Connect yourself to decision makers
• Become part of internal networks
• Prepare yourself for new professional options
• Make sure that your professional image is visible and portrays your skills and accomplishments (check LinkedIn, Google, etc).
• Voice your ambition
• Become invaluable, but be careful with what information you share
• Communicate your contributions and take credit
• Assess transferability of your skills
• Challenge limits
• Support other women

She reminded us that we can all reap the benefits from changing our career advancement strategies from working harder to working smarter.

Andrea Casartelli of Edison Energy presented What it Means to Be Green.  The presentation began with an overview of the pros and cons of different types of energy sources, including, “green sources”.  Andrea defined  green energy sources and explained how energy producers can earn certifications to validate their efforts. Theses certificates are a commodity which can be sold by energy efficient businesses to those with less efficiency and are becoming more valuable as stricter regulations are being put into place.

 While awareness is growing on the importance of going green, cost can be a stumbling block. A survey of European nations indicated a resistance in a willingness to pay additional costs for use of renewable resources, though a fair amount of respondents would be willing to pay up to 10% more for using these sources for their energy needs.

 Andrea brought forth additional benefits in going green. Not only is it politically correct, it can be good business. He cited examples on companies marketing their green efforts to increase business and mentioned how renewable energy is the only sector during the economic crisis with growing investment. Also mentioned were creative ways to offset carbon footprints; everything from concerts powered by sustainable energy to airlines charging a few extra euros per ticket to passengers to go towards planting trees.

 A good portion of the evening was spent discussing how we can offset increased costs while contributing to the green movement. Individuals and businesses can invest in more efficient appliances, light bulbs, and insulation. Measures such as these easily bring the costs of electrical bills down, eventually overcoming the initial expense.

 Comments from those in attendance included the challenges in costs and efforts in making these changes. Andrea acknowledged that many questions remained unanswered, and that many kinks still need to be worked out, but as we become more used to thinking in this manner, improved options and pricing will be available for all of us in our efforts to go green.

Blog entry from PWA member Kristina Tool exploring what we can learn from the film The Breakfast Club about communication.