Techniques for Giving Your Glow

Leslie Morse is a coach and trainer in Columbia, South Carolina USA. More from Leslie’s blog can be read at http://www.lesliej.net/category/work-with-leslie/biography/

Techniques for Giving Your Glow is a quick hit list of ways you can help share your light with others and lend a little bit of the credibility, trust, and subject matter authority you’ve earned yourself with someone else.

In order to build the list I asked @nataliewarnert what she thought…

“Before you can begin Giving Your Glow you first have to be out there meeting new people. Otherwise, who would you be giving your glow to? Once you have that taken care of, there are a few really basic ways to Give Your Glow:

• Sharing or Re-posting people’s blog posts / co-authoring posts / allowing people to guest-post on your site
• Introducing people to others who may be able to help them
• Co-teaching and facilitating meetings (They key: Look to co-present with someone that you can share your light with. In addition to sharing your credibility with them, there is also an opportunity for reverse mentoring from their side. Someone who is newer and less experienced often has a lot to share both on a different demographic and a perspective you often don’t get from peers with similar experience levels as you.)
• But perhaps one of the easiest ways to share light is exactly what we is going on right here – be involved in social media. Reference people’s relevant posts with links in your own blogs, Tweet and Re-Tweet posts, articles, ideas, and have conversations on Twitter or through blog comments. Its benefits are two-fold because it gets their name and content to your wider range of followers and since you’re promoting them shares your light while simultaneously reaching their followers and promoting yourself as a mentor and supporter to their followers. For example, Bob Hartman (aka Agile Bob) was sharing his light with me when he tweeted “Every so often you meet someone that is a bright, young, #agile and #scrum enthusiast who gets it! @nataliewarnert is one of them!” to his many followers. The more their name and your name appear online the more both social media presences and personal brands will develop. We’re seeing this from #WomenInAgile right now.
• A final idea is to network, now everyone knows what networking is but networking within the frame of sharing light is a bit different. It’s not just about meeting people, it’s about making meaningful introductions with the person who you’re sharing your light with and helping them to establish connections being backed by your credibility. For example, I’ve been introduced to many people and have made some great UX and Agile connections because of the shared credibility and light from more experienced and well know professionals who introduced me.”

I think that is a pretty great list. Just imagine yourself with an aura around yourself related to your career (or something you’re personally passionate about) and then imagine inviting someone in close to you, so that they are standing within your glow. When you do that, and you acknowledge that they are there whether publicly to the world (e.g. thru social media) or more privately (e.g. in a client meeting) — then when they walk away they get to take a little bit of your glow with them and that makes both of your auras brighter.

Who are you sharing your glow with today?