Recently I was talking to a business contact about someone we both knew. He said “Oh I’d never refer him to my contacts, he’s always late and disorganised” I was surprised since I also thought the same thing. I was interested to work out why we had come to the same conclusion but we both didn’t really know why.
We discussed it further and realised that it was based on two things:
1 Arriving late at meetings, even virtual ones!
Now, neither of us had actively thought about this individually, but both of us thought he was always late, without being able to say when he had been late, how late and how often. We just both thought he was always late, and we wouldn’t make any introductions because we assumed he’d turn up late to any meeting.
2 Not prepared.
Again, we realised that we hadn’t made a decision about this, we just thought he was ill-prepared. My contact said he never came to a meeting and seemed to have thought about the meeting. In addition, my contact had once seen him give a presentation at an event and he didn’t seem to know what was coming next…and it was his presentation! Oh, and he had turned up late!
So why is any of this important?
We need to know that we all make judgements: “Wouldn’t have put those shoes with that dress” at a base level to “Wouldn’t refer him/her to my best client” at a much more important level. The problem is that some judgements we know we are making, even if we try not to. Some judgements we make subliminally and those are the ones that are much more difficult to deal with.
The important thing is to know that subliminally we are all being judged, and so perhaps we need to behave as if we are trying to make a first impression.
What do you think?
If you want more networking tips go to: https://blog.ebn.uk.com/tips-on-networking.html
Have fun, stay safe
Glenys
