Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 2: Today's tip is about how to have casual relationship building
Speaker 2: conversations with people you would like to get to know professionally,
Speaker 2: even if you are not in the same place. A
Speaker 2: virtual coffee date is a great way to build your
Speaker 2: network and maybe enjoy a little downtime in your day
Speaker 2: as well. Whether you work in the office five days
Speaker 2: a week or are part of an entirely virtual team,
Speaker 2: my guess is that at least some of your professional
Speaker 2: relationships are mostly virtual now. It can be harder to
Speaker 2: get to know your colleagues when you never cross paths
Speaker 2: in person, but it is not impossible, and doing so
Speaker 2: will help you do your job effectively and efficiently. This
Speaker 2: is where virtual coffees come in. If you join the
Speaker 2: workforce before twenty twenty, you no doubt had coffee dates
Speaker 2: with co workers, clients, and people you met at conferences
Speaker 2: or networking events. Meeting someone for coffee is a casual,
Speaker 2: low pressure way to get to know someone better. There
Speaker 2: is usually no formal agenda. Usually it is not a
Speaker 2: ton of time, almost always less than an hour. But
Speaker 2: the upside from these casual conversations is that you know
Speaker 2: the person a little better, know what they're interested in,
Speaker 2: and know how they work. You trust each other more
Speaker 2: and that makes it easier to get things done. In
Speaker 2: the past, these coffees were obviously assumed to be in
Speaker 2: person where you have coffee together, But as more people
Speaker 2: work remotely, and as more people take advantage of virtual
Speaker 2: meeting technology, you can certainly recreate these casual conversations in
Speaker 2: virtual form. So why not bring it up. If there
Speaker 2: is someone you'd like to get to know, you could
Speaker 2: send a note saying that if we were in the
Speaker 2: same place, I'd suggest we grab coffee to get to
Speaker 2: know each other. But since we are in different places,
Speaker 2: what about virtual coffee? If the person accepts a thirty
Speaker 2: minute video call can work just fine. Send a calendar
Speaker 2: invitation with a link, just as you would for a meeting,
Speaker 2: and you can, of course just show up at the
Speaker 2: appointed time, But it might be wise to make best
Speaker 2: use of your time by thinking it through in advance.
Speaker 2: Consider what you'd like to talk about. Has the person
Speaker 2: mentioned anything important to them that you could ask about.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've picked up on some detail of their personal
Speaker 2: life where you have an overlap kids of the same
Speaker 2: age previously living in the same town. That sort of thing.
Speaker 2: To help the conversation along, think about some questions and
Speaker 2: conversation starters. You want the call to feel casual but focused,
Speaker 2: so one approach is to have a list of questions
Speaker 2: you could ask, but then let the conversation flow naturally,
Speaker 2: rather than feeling like you have to ask all the
Speaker 2: questions in a pre planned sequence. You should also think
Speaker 2: about how you want to answer these same questions, since
Speaker 2: anyone with a modest amount of social skills will not
Speaker 2: to say and how about you? After answering anything extensively,
Speaker 2: think about what you would like to share a milestone
Speaker 2: you have just reached, a project you are excited about
Speaker 2: that you like to spend your lunch break weading your garden.
Speaker 2: Since this is a professional colleague, be sure you learn
Speaker 2: a little bit about what makes them tick professionally. If
Speaker 2: you are new at a company and having coffee with
Speaker 2: a more experienced colleague, this is a great opportunity to ask,
Speaker 2: what do I need to know or do to be
Speaker 2: successful here? Or what do people who thrive here have
Speaker 2: in common? If there is something you are aiming for
Speaker 2: feel free to share it. Not so much that you
Speaker 2: intend to become CEO in the next two years, but
Speaker 2: if you always love to work on events or want
Speaker 2: to do more writing, people should know about that. Since
Speaker 2: a virtual coffee is about building relationships, use open ended
Speaker 2: questions that people can take in whatever direction they want.
Speaker 2: A question like what keeps you engaged when you're not
Speaker 2: at work. Lets a person share about their family, their hobbies,
Speaker 2: a new skill they're trying to build, or any other
Speaker 2: topic that is important to them and that they are
Speaker 2: comfortable sharing with you. Think about what you want to
Speaker 2: share too, information about family members, pets, hobbies, volunteer commitments,
Speaker 2: and so forth. A practical note, since you are not
Speaker 2: actually at a coffee shop, you don't have to purchase
Speaker 2: a cup of coffee to be sitting there, but it's
Speaker 2: kind of nice to have a cup of coffee or
Speaker 2: a glass of lemonade or something up on your screen
Speaker 2: that signals this is a casual conversation rather than a
Speaker 2: formal meeting. You might also move away from your desk
Speaker 2: and sit in a more comfortable spot like a couch
Speaker 2: or maybe even your hammock outside. As with in person coffees,
Speaker 2: it is always nice to follow up with a note
Speaker 2: saying that you enjoyed meeting the person. Assuming you did,
Speaker 2: you can thank people for their time regardless and make
Speaker 2: a note about anything you plan to follow up. On
Speaker 2: the upside of a virtual coffee is that you don't
Speaker 2: even need to build in travel time. This can truly
Speaker 2: be a quick thirty minute thing which could fit in
Speaker 2: a packed day in a way that driving to Starbucks
Speaker 2: from your office often can't. So if anything, you can
Speaker 2: err on the side of scheduling more virtual coffees. It
Speaker 2: is a small investment of time that can have a
Speaker 2: big payoff in your relationships.
Speaker 1: Do you have virtual coffees. I'd love to hear about them.
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 2: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 2: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: breakfast Pod.
Speaker 2: You can also shoot me an email.
Speaker 1: At Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
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