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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to upgrade your introductions. Aim for introductions

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Speaker 1: that do more than just break the ice. Ideally, you

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Speaker 1: wind up feeling like you actually know the person better.

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Speaker 1: On a Before Breakfast episode a few months ago, I

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Speaker 1: suggested that when you are given the common icebreaker topic

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Speaker 1: of sharing a fun fact to introduce yourself, you choose

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Speaker 1: a fact that is more than just fun and say

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Speaker 1: something about yourself that connects you to your colleagues and

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Speaker 1: the work you are doing. Togather. If you are the

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Speaker 1: one teaching a class or leading a group of people

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Speaker 1: who are meeting for the first time, you can help

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Speaker 1: this process along by not asking for a fun fact.

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Speaker 1: Instead ask people to introduce themselves in a way that

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Speaker 1: builds relationships or shares resources. For instance, if you are

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Speaker 1: leading a group where everyone had to opt into the team,

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Speaker 1: an obvious question is what attracted people to the work

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Speaker 1: in the first place. That lets you get to know

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Speaker 1: people's motivations, which can prove helpful as you divvy up

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Speaker 1: work and work to keep people engaged Along the way,

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Speaker 1: you could also ask people their favorite tool to use

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Speaker 1: in their work. This can be an app or digital

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Speaker 1: tool like calendy, or a physical tool like a certain

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Speaker 1: kind of name tag that people feel more motivated to wear.

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Speaker 1: It could be a procedure or routine that helps people

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Speaker 1: in their work, like putting the next day's priorities on

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Speaker 1: a sticky note on their laptop before they quit for

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Speaker 1: the day. Asking people about their favorite tool may reveal

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Speaker 1: the diversity of work styles and creativity of your team,

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Speaker 1: and it may spark people's interests and tools and routines

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Speaker 1: that work for their colleagues. Plus, it conveys an attention

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Speaker 1: to productivity and intentionality, something that isn't necessarily conveyed when

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Speaker 1: you ask people to reveal something idiosyncratic about themselves. Another

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Speaker 1: approach to introductions is to invite people to share their

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Speaker 1: hopes for the group and your work together. Now, obviously

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Speaker 1: everyone wants the main outcome. If your team is coming

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Speaker 1: together to land a certain big client, everyone wants you

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Speaker 1: to win that big proposal. But you can ask what

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Speaker 1: beyond the main outcome people would like to see if

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Speaker 1: this team is a success will win that proposal, and

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Speaker 1: fill in the blank. People will may express hopes about

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Speaker 1: the impact of your work, or the experience of working

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Speaker 1: to gather or their own learning. This sets a positive,

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Speaker 1: forward looking tone, and it lets you see what's important

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Speaker 1: to each person on the team. If you're looking for

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Speaker 1: something that's a little more retrospective, you can ask people

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Speaker 1: to share a favorite aspect of a previous project. No doubt,

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Speaker 1: people have had lots of different experiences, and knowing what

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Speaker 1: people liked in the past can help you figure out

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Speaker 1: who should work on what and how you might keep

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Speaker 1: people more motivated. While there is nothing inherently wrong with

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Speaker 1: asking people their favorite animal or Thanksgiving side dish, or

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Speaker 1: which day of the twelve days of Christmas they most

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Speaker 1: identify with, this may or may not help you build

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Speaker 1: relationships or recognize people's less or known skills. If you

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Speaker 1: want to know things that will help you professionally, you

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Speaker 1: might as well ask for that. If you try upgrading

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Speaker 1: your introductions, I'd love to hear how you do it.

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Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the moose of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at iHeart media dot com that before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I

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Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio apps, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Yea