I work at a company that places a huge emphasis on the value of people and collaboration. Naturally, a lot of my colleagues have (since we started working together) morphed into friends. Which causes me to continually assess my professional network and understand what value my relationships, colleagues, and network bring me (and, converesely, and value I am making sure I bring them).
Just the other day, I asked a few people to take a peek at my site and offer some feedback. Of course, I didn’t expect a 100% take rate. I knew that some of them would punt it because they were too busy, some would give me the bare minimum to make sure I knew they valued our relationship, some would go over the top and give way too much, etc. Such is life.
An excellent colleague is irreplaceable. I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy finding someone that I work well with (inside as well as outside of work) and aligning myself with them in future endeavors, even if they aren’t project or work-related. You know they have your back and will always go to bat for you or help you in a pinch. Largely, the people I sent the michael-wiggins.com survey to were those people. But it’s still intriguing to see how much time and energy some of them have dedicated to ensuring that I am fulfilling my goals with the site and helping add further value by offering suggestions on my next post or helping point out grammatical issues/typos (even if, as much as I hate to admit it, imperfection in my original drafts has somehow unsuspectingly entered a post – kidding). I truly value those kinds of feedback and it is my goal to always make sure I am giving them the same type of help if asked.
Another Public Service Annoucement: the holidays are rapidly approaching for most of us. Be sure to recall those excellent colleagues and do something special for them. A bottle of wine, a hand-written note, a $5 Starbucks card. No gift is too small. But also be sure to remember them at other times of the year. If you ignore those relationships, there’s a chance they will move on from you because you aren’t reciprocating their energy and collaborative spirit. Don’t be that guy. Nobody likes that guy.
Til Next Time,
Michael