NETWORKING, THE POWER OF COLLABORATION PART2

NETWORKING, POWER OF COLLABORATION PART2

This is my second article on networking and the power of collaboration.

In my first article I explained about why I am so passionate about this and announced the launch of the Tutors Association regional meetings. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/networking-power-collaboration-ana-ambika-pindoria-1c/

In this article I want to talk from my first-hand experience about how networking and collaboration is so influential in business and why franchises become appealing and more popular to anyone new to enterprising. When you start up in business one of the most daunting things is feeling alone and worrying whether what you are doing is the right thing or wondering whether you are making mistakes. This is all about making sure you do a lot of research, financial analysis, investment appraisals, market research and strategic business planning. However there is a human element in this in that you need to bounce ideas around and have a chat with people who may have trod those paths and been in the similar shoes as you are in. When your mindset is not aligned with your intention and you still hold fears or uncertainty this will hold you back from growing your business or even just making a start. You need to be in FLOW and you need to be able to hold an evolving mind-set ready for growth, new ideas and ways of thinking. I was really fortunate that my first proper business investment was through entering into a franchise network with people that I could connect with straight away from day 1 and help me feel more confident about what I was doing. Other franchisees could relate to my emotions and worries and they could confidentially reassure me. Business is quite personal actually, it’s about the emotion, joy and elation you feel when you get your first client and when you strike a really great bigger deal and so forth. When there is an audience and network of people who are ready to share your wins and say ‘WELL DONE’ that makes you feel super proud and confident you are on the right path. In fact it’s the biology of the human hormones that particularly interests me as being married to a scientist it’s always amidst every conversation in our lives. Stress releases hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol which make you feel anxious and worried (however I appreciate adrenalin is sometimes good in some situations). If you want to reduce anxiety and increase positive emotion we require more serotonin (this makes us feel as if we want to HIGH5 everyone) and then oxytocin, which is the hormone that evokes more feelings of connection and love. I have always maintained that growing a business is like having a child from birth to adulthood. It sucks every emotion in your world and if you can understand that and work towards finding support systems and networks that will help you get through, it will accelerate your potential to grow your business.

In the online space today we have a number of tools such as Gotomeeting.com, Skype.com and Zoom.com which are transforming the way we connect and do business online. Social Media networking groups and collaboration forums in Linked In and Facebook are housing hundreds to thousands of entrepreneurs in groups and chat groups, pop-up groups and hubs. I am probably a little old school and I feel that even though I use these groups quite a lot and subscribed to at least 60 across platforms, I am still reticent that one can gain the emotional support I require through chatting in posts online it doesn’t give me the same satisfaction. It really doesn’t excit me as I feel that true human connection and support comes from a chemical hormonal release and this is better released through physical human present connection. I think they call this love and passion whether business or personal it sticks!

You can accelerate this through finding a great support network that have the similar aligned values or passion for the product or services that you offer; albeit online or offline. My personal preference would be collaboration through networking in a combination of both face to face and online format. This is whereby mastermind groups and powerful smaller group mentoring is currently under development by my company.

So this week, the The Tutors’ Association. Regional Hubs face to face meetings kicked off in Edinburgh yesterday morning. Believe me the weather was not easy at all but the meeting was still a great success. These networking meetings are being set up around the country to increase collaboration between tutors and for sharing great practice, ideas and supporting each other to help deliver superb tutoring. Tutoring and coaching can be a lonely profession and the need to collaborate through networking in an online and or face to face format is very much needed on a global basis. If you are a school teacher you have the school network and tutors within franchises benefit from an excellent collaboration and support structure. If this isn’t in place finding the sector specific network can be a bit trickier.

This meeting was a superb opportunity to meet and get to know some of our existing Scottish tutor members and welcome new members to our tutoring community. Due to the very poor weather conditions a few members could not make it however it was still lovely to meet Verity Thwaites, Martin from Tutornet

Ltd, Jonas Virsilas from StudySquare and Deany Judd from ‘How to tutor online’ and their contribution to a morning of tutoring talk!

Some of the areas we discussed were;

👌 how we got into tutoring, what was our journey, what are our current challenges, what would you be looking to gain from the tutoring association and what do you do for continuous professional development.

👌 Strengthening our network, exchanged specialisms.

👌 Karen Elwis lead a lively discussion on the impact of dyslexia and her personal experiences.

👌 Great hosting by Karen Elwis and what a fantastic venue in Edinburgh Central (Apex Hotel,The Grassmarket).👌

The next regional tutors meeting is Thursday 27th February in Bracknell, Berkshire. Followed on by Stockton-On-Tess, Yorkshire on Friday 28th February both start at 10am. These meetings are being hosted by Sarah Gordon and Lucy Spencer.

Hope to see you there. I would love to hear your perspectives on networking!

Ana :)) Ana Ambika Pindoria