???? The NOW Philosophy - Cont’d! ??

???? The NOW Philosophy - Cont’d! ??

This is the third in a series of articles, to read episodes one and two just use these Links below:?

So here we have our third and final in this series covering the NOW Philosophy but just in case you’re new here, I’ll take the time to introduce myself and explain where I fit in to NOW Group and its networking approach.

‘Networking Our Way’?

I am Chris, COO of NOW Group. Across these articles I’ve delineated a few concepts, unpacked some uniqueness that’s being nurtured at NOW Group and I’ve touched on where this philosophy statement comes from and what inspired its emergence or conception.?Today I want to pull together the purpose of the statement once more and shine a light on the final two elements: Client Centric thinking and Coaching and Growth Mindset.

Culture where does it come from?

Fifteen years of service in the Air Force made something very clear to me. By setting foundational standards and expectations you create what is essentially an environment, an ecosystem that has roots in the mind. By understanding and expressing what counts to the pioneers of an organisation, a unit, a team you can expect to ingrain that into the fabric of the space the organisation occupies, whether that be digital, physical or ethereal, it will take it's formation from these minds and how they conceptualise it.

So don’t let it be arbitrary.?

How you express the pillars is perhaps academic: whether written in books, splashed along corridors, uttered with a toddy in hand the night before a significant event or in the silence before the volley fire of a Military funeral. The delivery and context is by no means insignificant but ultimately the impact is always guaranteed across time regardless, as long as the message is consistent. That is to say, If the values of an organisation are made explicit often enough eventually they will stick: in minds, in hearts, even bodies! That’s how a soldier throws himself on a grenade, repetition…….??

So what does this have to do with Networking??

Well Business is a tough field to find yourself in and the quality of the people you're sharing a foxhole with (perhaps especially in times such as these) could determine the likelihood of your survival. Whats more as the year creeps on it seems pretty blatant that we may see some battles fiscally and beyond that. Rapid change is ever present while a foreboding lurks that we are just getting started.?

Yet a lot of us are facing these times alone, certainly in business. So where can you bolster yourself in such times??

What bulwark might you cling to in such stormy seas???

Family??

Friends??

Will they help your business stay afloat, probably but them and them alone? Difficult to be sure.?

So right now when shrinking back and tightening up feels safe, maybe expanding out and reaching forward as we witness the future emerging could be smart.?

At Networking Our Way we are facilitating the construction of relationships in a resilient and future proofed way. While adding as much value around the core goal of relationship building as we can. Doing that effectively requires many, many things, not least of all a guarantee that the other people you're connected to have got your back. Our Vision, Mission and Values are designed to communicate a contract, a contract with your connections and with the ecosystem itself that says.?

We will aspire to hold space for these values.?

It's that simple.

Our goal is to create a networking system that operates our way, with these values at the centre. So everyone within can rely on those fundamentals whose purpose is to create the conditions for shared success.?

For us, this is what a culture should be…..

So without further ado The NOW Group Vision:

The NOW Group Vision

"Providing a rich, resilient community for Lifestyle Business owners to grow within, alongside a tribe of impassioned professionals who genuinely love what they do."

VALUES - The NOW Philosophy

Our values are the driving force behind everything we do at NOW Networking, the assembly format, added value features, eye to eyes, social events everything falls back to these principles. The following has specified how we are developing the container and will continue to do so as we evolve. We hope they make for inspiring reading:

Business Freedom: We champion the idea of business freedom, promoting a remote service and product mindset that encourages businesses to thrive nationally and beyond, fostering collaboration and resilience. But most of all facilitating a lifestyle that you design.

Trust: Trust is the cornerstone of all successful businesses, both internally and externally. We coach our members to prioritise building trust in business to business, business to client and professional to professional relationships and encourage transparent communication and connection. Reciprocity: We believe in the power of giving without expecting immediate returns.?

Reciprocity: The key to building strong, supportive relationships within our community. True giving encourages the reception process.

Collaboration: We encourage collaboration even in the face of competition and the trends toward convention as we understand that together, we achieve more. We encourage our members to get their niche clear and look for the gaps and overlaps with other professionals even in their industry class. We actively facilitate these relationships to bring added value to all our members. Think abundance mindset.

Strategic Mindset: We approach networking with a sharp strategic edge, leveraging the weight of our combined profiles and creating an enjoyable networking experience for all, whilst incorporating fundamental principles like efficiency and effectiveness.

Agility: We remain open to change and development, fostering an innovation mindset not only within our organisation but also among our members. We have set up our Networking systems to deliver some of the most cutting edge elements available in modern business and enveloping them into our architecture and user experience. While eyeing future evolutions, we encourage you to do the same.

Client-Centred: Putting you first is at the heart of our service. We position and support our membership to help you maximise your investment and achieve your goals. All of our IP and collateral is designed with your business success in mind traversing territory that will seriously drive new growth.

Coaching & Growth Mindset: We provide support and coaching to help you assimilate into our network successfully. We are committed to developing mentors as an integral part of our values and strategy.

So that's our Philosophy. Today I’ll spend a little time opening up further into our first two values which are not specifically in order of priority but ultimately are certainly outstanding in terms of their baseline import in the business setting.


Client Centred

There’s a few ways we are attempting to master a client centred approach.

Number 1 - Data?

By providing many spaces and opportunities for feedback that are built into our new Community container we are really raising our capacity to create a blueprint of our clients experience. From that we can understand with more resolution how to get where we want to go. This is a bare minimum requirement to have any chance of developing our Networking system in a way that resonates with our members and improves retention year on year and drives new growth.?????

Number 2 - People focused?

At Networking Our Way we have Community Liaisons. These offshore support workers are incredibly effective at their job while also maintaining an affect of amiability and affability, i.e. they are fun to connect with! So although NOW is embracing modern tech and supporting itself to scale with said tech, we still have a human touch to our model and this is a key point of merit for our members.?????

Number 3 - The Leadership story?

Finally it's leadership. The reason this value made it to the paper is. During the negotiation process (and it was a negotiation) of developing NOW’s strategic vision for 2023-2026(.5) we had many sticking points and bottlenecks and seemingly antagonistic view points on how we get it done.?

Then it became apparent, quite beautifully I might add, that actually the focus was and seemed to consistently be.??

How will that Strategy/action affect the members??

And what members might it affect.?

In other words despite differing perspectives the same thing was really the goal, to make sure the member experience was positive and of high value. Once this became explicit the negotiations became far easier as the unity principle that brought us together as a team was undergirding the conversation - even when we didn’t know it.?

That's the beginning of a culture right there.?

So client centric thinking is in our DNA. We don't always get it perfect and we are pushing our members with our current innovation and agile approach but we are moving towards a better more effective service everyday.?????

Finally - Coaching and Growth Mindset?

I recently wrote a deep article on Coaching and Growth Mindset so I won’t wax lyrical here for too long today check out the article for the full story on this NOW Value! - ?A deep Article on Growth Mindset?

but here are a few succinct points

  • Beliefs and Statements that suggest a fixed sense of identity?are counter productive to growth and development.?
  • Many of these are inherited or learned?
  • Learning is often a failing process before it’s a succeeding one
  • Feedback and effort are opportunities to become more

So in our Community we encourage people to embrace self or professional development with an open mind that allows them to raise the ceiling on what they could become. Please take the time to get into the long form Article on Growth Mindset, it gained some great feedback so should be worth the time effort!???

NOW Mastermind Slide

Conclusion on NOW Group Philosophy - FINALE

I hope exploring some of our key values and how we engage with our community has been an inspiring read. While it’s not an exhaustive expression of the NOW Ecosystem's philosophy, it highlights our commitment to creating a networking container that goes the extra mile. As a business owner, I strive to uphold these values and support others to do the same.

If this article resonated with you and inspired you to think about networking differently, feel free to reach out. The NOW Group meets weekly on Wednesdays. Our Prime group is centred around Auckland, and our Excelerate group is focused on the South Island, with Christchurch as the hub. Meetings are held online via Zoom at 7:30 AM and 12:30 PM, respectively. Use the website link in my profile to get the full low down.?

At NOW we've been aiming to enrich New Zealand’s networking landscape but we have just expanded into Australia with our NOW Optimise Group, so the reach is expanding (in articles one and two that was a formless vision at best a plan)! So come and join us to support your business goals with a set of driven and determined individuals with a compass at the heart.???

A quick expansion of your marketing team by 40+ people before the end of the month never hurts! ????

**For more info on NOW Group right away, check out webpage from my LinkedIn Profile and pop to the featured section for resources, articles and more about what we are up to!

#Networking #Business #Freedom #Mindset #community

Christine F. Abela

Too much shit hitting the fan? Need more money? I help owners of $1M+ businesses to increase their profit, get organised, get more clients and GROW their business. Whatever it takes.

4 个月
Christine F. Abela

Too much shit hitting the fan? Need more money? I help owners of $1M+ businesses to increase their profit, get organised, get more clients and GROW their business. Whatever it takes.

4 个月

Shanelle S

Brennen Lewis

Financial Wellness Coach at FWG

4 个月

Love the article ,Chris. Always looking for ways to build our business with high value networks centered around people that we want to build with.

Tania Howard

I help business owners and managers make better hiring decisions by providing hiring expertise, strategy and resources. Outsourced and fractional recruiter

4 个月

Great being part of a network group that is more innovative in its thinking and uses modern technology to support our goals. I know my LinkedIn exposure is much greater through the group.

Dan Lewis

Financial Wellness Coach at Financial Wellness Group

4 个月

Chris White Thank you for sharing the insightful final instalment of the NOW Group Philosophy series I love your emphasis on Client-Centric Thinking and Coaching & Growth Mindset?in this instalment- such a key value set- NOW is a great community to be a part of.

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