Mastering Post-Pandemic Networking: Strategies for Nonprofit Leaders

Hey there, nonprofit leaders! Ready to shake up your networking game in this post-COVID world? 

Let's face it - networking events aren't quite the same since the pandemic, right? And if you're an introvert, you might be feeling the struggle even more.  On today's episode, Tim Barnes and Nathan Ruby share some game-changing insights that'll transform how you build connections, strength those relationships, and ultimately connect more people to your organization. 

Chapters

• 0:02 Networking Skills for Nonprofit Leaders
• 8:43 Authentic Networking for Nonprofits
• 18:39 Building Authentic Connections Through Networking

Transcript

Nathan Ruby: 0:02

What would you think about going to an event if you knew you were going to meet someone new and develop a professional relationship but also make a new friend over time? Would you be more willing to make the effort to go?

Tim Barnes: 0:20

Welcome to the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership. I'm Tim Barnes and I'm Nathan Ruby. Nathan, here's a question Networking events thumbs up or thumbs down?

Nathan Ruby: 0:34

Oh man, tim, you know that's an interesting question. You know pre-COVID and I hate that we still use that phrase you know pre-COVID, after COVID, but you know, I guess it's a pretty good description of time, so I guess it's accurate. But anyway, pre-covid I was thumbs up. I was all about networking. There was an event somewhere. I was there and I loved it, especially if it had free food and or free beverages and my favorite beverages. I was all about that. But you fast forward to today and I'm still a thumbs up, but I am not as enthusiastic to go, I guess, and I think maybe I just got out of the habit, maybe a little bit. I don't know. What. Do you think about that, tim?

Tim Barnes: 1:33

Well, I think some of these events are starting to happen, uh, starting to come about again a little bit more Um and. But I feel like there's a little bit better. Who you talk to's a little bit of reluctance. Maybe it is I'm out of practice, maybe it's I'm cautious or whatever. Also, there's something inside of us we want to kind of get reconnected with people again and find our tribe, find our people that are doing stuff that we can learn and connect with.

Tim Barnes: 2:00

When we talk about networking, it could be a simple little garden party somewhere in your neighborhood with a few people to going to a large convention or conference somewhere in Las Vegas or do wherever. So it's all over the map. But, yeah, I think networking is making a little bit of a comeback when it comes to event type stuff, I think the challenge is, nathan and I know you're going to talk about this today not everyone is an extrovert and I would say I'm not an extrovert. I don't run to these events enthusiastically as an executive director of a non-profit, director of a nonprofit. We need to develop the skills of an extrovert if we're going to really get the benefit of doing good networking with others. Okay, nathan, why don't you walk us through our four points today about networking.

Nathan Ruby: 3:01

Okay, here we go. Number one is leverage your passion for your cause, or leverage the passion for your organization, and networking events are really about sharing the organization. There's a little personal component there as well, because you know you're meeting people and they're meeting you at the same time. But but don't make this about you. It's it's not. It's not about you, it's about the organization, it's about the people you serve, it's about the mission and the vision and the outcomes that your organization is creating, and so that's what you're there to really talk about. And, you know, will you talk about? You know your kids? Yeah, probably. And you know the local sports teams? Yeah, probably. And the weather? You know, absolutely. I mean, weather is an awesome topic for networking events, right, tim? Always always talking about the weather. Oh, and make sure, when you're talking about the weather, that you complain about the weather, don't say, oh, it's great weather, because then nobody knows how to respond to that. But don't make it about you.

Nathan Ruby: 4:13

And I think for a lot of introverts, you know, tim, I guess maybe we define an introvert here. An introvert can be somebody who just doesn't like going out and talking to other groups. They would rather stay home and read a book or, in the case that we're talking about, stay in the office and work on the board report or work on the next year's budget. They're more comfortable in that space and they don't like being out with groups of people. They're more comfortable in that space and they don't like being out with groups of people.

Nathan Ruby: 4:47

Or you could also have people that are introverts who actually do a really good job when they are out networking. They're in a group of people and you would never know that they're introverts. But how it affects them is when they're in a group of people in a networking situation. Then when it's over, they are exhausted and they need to go home and go to bed or go lay on the couch because it just sucks all of the energy out of them. And both of those personality types can be really successful in networking. And one of those things our first point here is just don't make it about you. Make it about the organization.

Tim Barnes: 5:26

Yeah, I think we need to get out of our heads. And you know, I'm the kind of person. I walk into a room. I'm not necessarily not everyone's going to be super attractive. Hey, you know, life of the party, here we go. I would rather get one or two of you sit down at a table, let's talk and let's go. You know, let's go deep. That's kind of where I'm at.

Nathan Ruby: 5:44

And for those of you who haven't met Tim yet, he is absolutely correct. He would be the first one to say, no, let's get two or three of us to go sit down. And then, when he sits down, he won't talk about himself. All he wants to talk about is you, and so that's the way Tim rolls. So if you want to talk about yourself and your issues and what's going on, reach out to Tim, because he's a guy that will listen and give you great advice on what to do.

Tim Barnes: 6:09

Thanks for that. I'll give you 50 bucks later.

Nathan Ruby: 6:12

All right. Point number two. So point number one was leverage your passion for your cause. Number two prepare talking points in advance.

Nathan Ruby: 6:22

And I think this is a great tip, not only for networking, but also for public speaking. I mean, the more prepared you are, the less anxious, the less nervous you're going to feel. And so, before attending events, work on a brief introduction about yourself and your organization, because there's going to be a point guaranteed when somebody will come up to you and say hi, I'm so-and-so, what do you do? Or what's your name. And there's that little three seconds of awkwardness of you know deer in the headlight, look where you're paralyzed of oh my gosh, what do I say? So the more prepared you are for that, the less stressful it's going to be when you're driving in the car to get ready to go to the event. So, Tim, let's role play here a little bit. Tim and I are going to role play that we're in a situation and at a networking event and Tim's going to come up to me, and then this is something I've actually used this before, and so I'll I'll give you what I would say in the situation. So, Tim, you're on.

Tim Barnes: 7:32

Hey, Nathan, Nice to meet you. Hey, what do you? What do you do? I'd like to find out more about who you are.

Nathan Ruby: 7:39

Well, hey, tim, it's nice to meet you, and so I am a co-host of the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership. I co-host it with my friend, tim Barnes, and we are a resource that takes your small nonprofit from barely getting by to thriving, and every week we bring stories, tools, practical tips that will help you grow and expand the vision and mission of your nonprofit. So we talk about things like fundraising and improving leadership, motivating staff and volunteers, managing finances and, for example, recently we worked with a new executive director. She'd never been an executive director before and boy was she overwhelmed on day one. So we got her pointed in the right direction, doing the right things at the right time, put a fundraising plan together for her, and she raised more money than she ever thought possible. And now she's doing awesome, and that's what we do. There you go.

Tim Barnes: 8:38

Wow.

Nathan Ruby: 8:39

So that's like 40 seconds, 42 seconds that took.

Nathan Ruby: 8:43

And so now you've told a story, you've talked about outcomes, and you could do that about your organization, you could do that about a program. And now I guarantee you, when you frame it that way, tim in this case Tim's our co-player here he will have questions about oh well, you know what about this, what about this? And now, all of a sudden, you're in a conversation and for most people, once you get into a conversation with somebody, all of the fear and anxiety will go away because you're just talking to another person. And so if you have that prepared in advance and even maybe practice it a little bit, you know, stand in the mirror and it could be the same, the same story at every event. I mean, you're not meeting the same person again and again and again and again, so you're meeting somebody new all the time. So it's the same story. So if you practice it and you're confident with it when you walk in the door, it's going to be a lot less stress for you to and I think it may feel kind of rote at first.

Tim Barnes: 9:53

You know you may have a little card that you have with you with a written down and you're practicing it and all that. But I think the key, one of the keys, is to get to the place where you feel comfortable enough that that's very natural. It doesn't come across as being, hey, I've got this all prepared, or whatever it just it comes out and and and that's that's the whole key. The whole key is to is to let that your passion for your, your cause, for your mission, so that just flows out rather than being kind of a road thing that you do each time.

Nathan Ruby: 10:28

Yeah, the, the um. I can't remember who said this to me the best in in. I don't know if I have this exactly right, but the best improv-ing improvisation is that how you say it. Yes, the best improvisation comes from extreme preparation. So when you have your thing that you're going to say to people your story, let's call it your story. When you have that, so that you have it nailed and you know it just flows out of your mouth. Well, now, all of a sudden, now you can improvise a little bit, you can adjust it here and there for who you're talking to. If there's a, you could speed it up or slow it down, or say less or say more. I mean, and that comes from having being prepared so that it does sound natural as opposed to you know, some AI bot that's reading off a card for you. So, yeah, that's a good point, tim. So all right.

Nathan Ruby: 11:26

So number one was leveraging your passion for your cause. Number two is preparing talking points in advance. Number three is you know what? Let's take the pressure off ourselves and let's do the one-on-one rule. So one-on-one comes from basketball. You know, when you get a certain number of fouls and you get to shoot free throws if you make the first shot, you get the second shot. If you miss the first shot, then you don't get the second one. It's called one-on-one, so this is a one-on-one rule and this is going to be very simple. So the first one is to just attend one networking event per month.

Nathan Ruby: 12:10

So on this podcast, we talk all the time about things that an executive director should be doing, and, man, if you line up all the things that you need to be doing as an executive director, tim, it's a long list of oh, you need to do this, and you need to do this, and you need to do this. I don't even have time to do the first thing, and now we're on thing 32 that we need to be doing. So, as the networking and as events really get back up to where we were in 2017, 18, 19,. You could do a networking event probably every day, depending on how big your community is, and so we're not saying that, but let's pick out one a month that you could get into your schedule, and there are organizations out there that the chamber is the perfect example. You know most chambers will have a before work event or an after work event. You know, at least monthly, and so that may be like a really good place to start.

Nathan Ruby: 13:07

If you're in a community that has a chamber and just go to that one thing a month for three, four or five months. So just start with thing a month for three, four or five months. Uh, so just start with with one a month. Don't, don't feel like you have to. You know, go to every single thing that that's being offered. Um, so that's the first one, and then the second one, contact or or make an, an interaction with one person per event. So we're we're not talking about you have to go talk to everybody. Just just find one person that you could connect with that one time a month and if you do that six months in a row, that that is six new connections within the community that you have now, that you didn't have before. And those six, those six connections, who knows where those could take you, you know, in in the future, for you personally, but also for the organization.

Tim Barnes: 14:05

So the one-on-one rule yeah, and you know you talk also, nathan, a lot about the. You know the value of networking is not necessarily the event or even the first time meeting. It's the relationships that come out of that. You know you don't always walk away with, hey, this guy's my best friend forever, but you just, you just never know. You start to have this, this group of people that you can connect for different things, and you never know when, when that might really be helpful. So it's not just the event itself, but it kind of what flows out of that down the road.

Nathan Ruby: 14:43

Yeah, exactly, and you know, I met a a person about six months ago at an event. She's in social media and during that conversation I found out that she had a couple of interns that are with her for the next several months and that they were doing her graphic things. And I've got a client who is in need of a graphic, but budget's not very big. And so, you know, because of that connection, I have a person I can call and say hey, you know, what would it cost me to have, you know, one of your interns do this? I don't, I don't, there's not enough budget for her to do it because at her skillset, her, her, you know, her hourly rate or her rate is too high. So I can't afford that, my client can't afford that. But an intern, I think we can get it to be right and that's in the price range. So I wouldn't have not known that person if I hadn't met them six months ago.

Nathan Ruby: 15:49

So you never know where those relationships come. Those relationships come from and or, or what, what, how, what impact they will have. And it, like Tim just said, it may not even be a business thing. It may be somebody who loves quilting and you're a quilter, or it could be somebody who you know loves the Cardinals, because everybody loves the St Louis Cardinals, and you know. So there's. You just never know. And and that's, I think, for me but I'm an extrovert, but for me that's part of the fun of going to these things is, who am I going to meet and what is their story and how does it connect to my story? So, um, yes, you don't have to connect with everybody, just start with one. And which then brings us right into our next point, Tim, which is focus on genuine connections, not quantity like see how many people you can take in this meeting.

Tim Barnes: 16:53

So I, man, I met 50 people tonight. Is that, is that what we're looking for? Or is it? Hey, let's find two or three that are going to really connect with us. So I'm glad you're jumping into that, because it's a question I would have.

Nathan Ruby: 17:03

Yeah, exactly, and you know what, what would you think about going to an event If you knew you were going to meet someone new and develop a professional relationship, but also a new friend over time? Would you be more willing to make the effort to go? I think I would. I mean, if you I think, tim, you mentioned this early on in the in the show but there is a overall lack of connectedness and just outright friendship in the world today. I think, gosh, darn it.

Nathan Ruby: 17:36

Going back to COVID again, I think it's just that time where we were so unable to even get out of our own homes just smashed or tamped down those relationships that that we had and it made it so difficult. And you know, I think this is especially, you know, those kids right out of college, out of high school, into college, out of college into their early to mid-20s. From what I'm seeing, that group especially is struggling with authentic relationships that are not online, and so I don't know. I think this is a way to make those connections and to build a friendship with people, to build a professional support group or help to help you at work, so you can just focus on the connection, genuine connections, and the the uh, the score is not how many you have, but how deep they are.

Tim Barnes: 18:39

You know we we talked about questions that typically come up during this time when you're in this. You know what do I say when I'm in this situation, and the easiest one is hey, what do you do? And again that, again, that's appropriate because you're trying to connect with people. But I think having some other questions to ask that can help lead you to maybe deeper connections. So someone had challenged me one time about being in those situations. Instead of saying what do you do, the question could be hey, nathan, what are you excited about right now? It could be hey, nathan, what's the most fun thing you've done in the last few weeks? So you're looking for some other questions that aren't like typical networking questions. You're trying to really make a genuine connection with people. So think about what questions would you like to be asked, what would you like to be able to share? And that's a good way to to approach these kinds of events.

Nathan Ruby: 19:37

Yeah, and I think when you ask a question of somebody else, they, you know, when you ask a question, they're going to have to answer because you, you've asked it. So, basically, you're taking the ball, you have the ball, while you say, oh, you know. So what, what are you excited about? And now you're handing the ball to them, and now they're going to talk, and so it it gives you. It gives you a little break because you know, as you're listening and and hearing what they're saying, and um, and you could, you could this, this relationship starts to build. And yeah, maybe it's only 90 seconds, but you just, if you feel like you are starting to build a relationship with somebody, if you're an introvert and you're, and you struggle to be there in the first place, this is a way to start to feel more comfortable because you are building.

Nathan Ruby: 20:24

Introverts are really good at building personal relationships because that's, you know, in an intimate setting. That's more where they get their excitement and where they get their energy, and so you could be in a room of a hundred people, but if you're in a one-on-one conversation with one person and they're talking about what they're excited about in their life, and of course you know when they're done, they're going to ask you oh well, what are you excited about? And you which means you have to have that ready to respond with and you, you can have your own little connection together within this larger group of people, like they don't even exist, and that is something that, for most introverts, would give them energy.

Tim Barnes: 21:06

Well, Nathan, I think you have one more thing you want to share about a five second rule. You want to tell us a little bit about what is that.

Nathan Ruby: 21:14

Yeah. So the five second rule. It's a great concept. It was originally came out in a book called the Five Second Rule Transform your Life, work and Confidence with Everyday Courage by Mel Robbins.

Nathan Ruby: 21:28

The premise of the book is that whenever you have something that you don't want to do so let's say that the networking event is an after hours. It starts at 4.30, goes from 4.30 to 6.30. It's 4.30-ish, so it's already starting, but you're still at work. You've got a 15-minute drive to get there, okay. So if you close up shop, you close up your computer, you get out, you get in the car. You're going to get there about 10 till 5 till, okay, which is great, fashionably late. You know you're not the first one there, so that's about the right timing, and you're sitting at your desk and you're you need to make a decision.

Nathan Ruby: 22:14

Am I going to go to the event or? You know, it's really not that big of a deal. I'm probably not going to know anybody there anyway, so I'm just gonna. I'm just going to go the other way. I'm going to go home. You know, I need to mow the yard, I need to feed the dog, I need to. I got all these things I need to do.

Nathan Ruby: 22:31

It's in that, those five seconds. All it takes is five seconds of courage to say, nope, I'm going to the event because there are people there that I can meet, there are people there that will help the organization. There is probably somebody there that I would really enjoy meeting. And so in those five seconds and I and I you actually count. You know five, four, three, two, one you get up, you go, you get in the car, you go out of the parking lot, you turn left to go to the networking event instead of turning right to go home.

Nathan Ruby: 23:03

And so what this does is this concept actually is a way to override your brain. When you are wanting to do something that your brain is telling you no, no, we're not going to like that, that's going to be horrible, we don't want to do that. So it's a good book that gives you some tools to in the moment when you're ready to make your decision, even in the parking lot am I going to get out of the car and go in or am I going to put it back and drive and go home? It's just, you know, in five seconds, make the decision. Don't give your head time, don't give your brain time to talk you out of it. Just move and it'll get you to where you want to be.

Tim Barnes: 23:41

Well, that sounds really, really encouraging. This is a good challenge, especially for those of us who struggle a little bit with actually doing the work of networking, which is really, really important.

Nathan Ruby: 23:54

In the end, networking doesn't have to be daunting. By shifting your perspective and focusing on authentic connections, you could turn it into an opportunity to share your passion and make a real difference. Remember, networking is not just what you get out of it, but what you give to others.

Tim Barnes: 24:14

Thanks for listening today. If you'd like to get in touch with us, our contact information can be found in the show notes, or you can send us a text on the platform that you're listening to. That's all for today, until next time.