“What are some resources you may consider helping you in achieving this goal?” This is an example question recommended in my current graduate program for executive and professional coaching. It emphasizes something I learned early on in my career, networking and engaging your community are critical success factors for any endeavor. We may think accomplishments are all our own doing, but in reality, it truly does take a village. The best career experiences I’ve had over my 30+ year career happened through networking and community engagement. And it doesn’t only apply to career. It applies to our personal goals as well, like my health journey.
“This can’t be right!” I exclaimed this morning after stepping on the scale for my weekly health journey weigh in. I haven’t lost any weight in the past two weeks! But it shouldn’t be a surprise to me. I know where I’ve slipped up the past two weeks and gotten off track with my health journey. I needed to reach out to my network, health coach, and my health journey community for support, encouragement, and guidance.
As I shared before, I’ve lost a total of 50 lbs. since December 15th, 2024, which is definitely an accomplishment to be proud of and recognize. However, I still have a long journey to my health weight goal with another 50-70 lbs. to lose, and not seeing the scale move any at all for two weeks is disheartening. It comes down to basics for me, including not hitting my daily hydration goal of 100 oz. of water each day, and making poor nutrition choices, like snacking way too much on nuts, including cashews and pistachios I have in the house. I need to go back to basics with my proper hydration and better nutrition choices. That includes referencing a resource that my health coach gave me, which provides question prompts to ask yourself when you have food choices (Stop: Challenge: Choose). This helps me to pause and consider if I’m reaching for food because I’m hungry, thirsty, bored, or otherwise emotionally triggered etc. so I can make an informed decision on whether or not I really want to eat the food. These resources came from my health journey network and community to get me back on track. I can’t do this journey alone. It is essential to tap into my network and community.
However, as I’ve told many coaching clients and mentees, your network and community don’t just happen or sit idly waiting for you to reach out to them. It takes intention and continuous care and nurturing to build and maintain your network and community. And it is a two-way reciprocal relationship. Don’t always think about what your network and community may do for you. Also ask yourself how you can assist others in your network and community. People remember those who help them. Don’t ignore a networking contact for months or years to then reach out to them when you find yourself in between jobs to ask for their assistance. Maintain regular contact and assist them when needed, and when the time comes, and it will, that you need to reach out to your network and community for assistance, they will be there to return the favor. There are many online resources to use for managing your network and community, like LinkedIn and others. But like many areas of our life, we have information overload sometimes, and it may be challenging to figure out how to effectively manage, care and nurture your network and community. There will be some network contacts who are much closer than others, but each has an important place in your network for reciprocal support and engagement. One book I highly recommend that provides insights for how to effectively build and manage your network is “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazi and Tahl Raz. Keith was previously the CMO of Deloitte Consulting and of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and the CEO of YaYa Media. It is an excellent book with applicable recommendations for managing large complex, multi-tiered professional networks. I’m sure there are many other similarly valuable books and resources out there, and I’d love to hear your recommendations if you have some to share.
This importance of network and community also resonates with a recent documentary film that I unfortunately missed the screening of today but want to see at some point. It is a film called “Join or Die”, which is about the importance and value for people to join clubs and engage with community as a critical component to making our democracy work. It follows the works of legendary social scientist Robert Putnam and his research for “Bowling Alone” examining the decline in community connections and their association with American democracy current crises. It seemed very timely that a close friend invited me to this documentary today as the topic of network and community are front of mind for me. This is relevant in my own health journey, my professional career and graduate studies, and in the coaching work I do with many clients who may benefit significantly from tapping into their network and being part of communities to empower them to accomplish their personal and professional goals. And from what I’ve read thus far of Robert Putnam’s work and this documentary, the community engagement also has critical benefits for our entire society and democracy. I encourage you to research the documentary “Join or Die” as well as “Bowling Alone” by Robert Putnam (see links below the article and photos).
So, I’ll update my opening coaching question and ask, “What network and community resources may you consider helping you to accomplish your goals?” What community groups/organizations are you engaged with now? What are some you may consider becoming an active member of in the near future? How do you care and nurture your network? What ways have your network and community helped you with your personal and professional goals and broader community? These are weighty questions I ask myself now as well. I encourage you to reflect on your own stories to see where your network and community made a huge difference, helped you accomplish goals and thrive, and where you helped others. We are all on this journey called life together, and network and community create the connections to help each other along the journey. As the saying goes, we are all just walking each other home. May you have a strong vibrant network and community to tap into and join you in your journey. And always remember that Your Story Matters.
