Our last topic is Relationships from Networking to Building and Nurturing by Jimmy Buck, Chief Advancement Officer at Deakin University. Jimmy is leading a growing team of advancement practitioners at one of Australia's youngest and most progressive universities, Deakin University. As a lifelong fundraiser, Jimmy started his career in advancement as a university student, co-chairing Boston University's Class Gift campaign, which raised over $100,000 from graduating students. During nine years at the University of Sydney, Jimmy worked across all areas of advancement, leading advancement services, alumni relations, and development teams in both higher education and medical philanthropy. At Sydney, he played a leadership role in the university's $1 billion Inspired Campaign, the largest philanthropic campaign in Australian higher education. My name is Jimmy Buck and I am the Chief Advancement Officer at Deakin University in Australia. In this session, I'll be talking about relationships and moving from networking to building and nurturing those relationships. I came to Australia from the United States 11 years ago, and my career has been defined by the relationships that I formed. I'm particularly excited to be talking about this topic because I believe that our work in advancement is all about relationships. If you even look at the words that are associated with the work that we do in alumni and development, relationships and people and nurturing those relationships are all a part of the work that we do. It's important to keep in mind as well that relationship management is not just for frontline staff, but for everybody working in advancement. Whether you're soliciting major gifts, managing alumni volunteers, researching prospects, processing donations, or pulling data extracts, relationships matter, whether they're within your own team, across your organization, or outside. The other thing that I think is important about relationships that I'll be touching on particularly with this presentation is the notion of networking and building relationships from the beginning, and how we as practitioners in advancement can build relationships and build networks to advance our own profession as well. A lot of my presentation today is going to be based on an article that I read in the Harvard Business Review about smarter ways to network, and there are two key ideas that I want to borrow from this article. The first is that there are six critical kinds of connections that we can use in networking and building relationships, and it's important to have this kind of mix and variety of connections in the work that we do and the relationships that we form. The article also goes on to explain four key steps to building a better network and building these relationships, and I think that these are really interesting recommendations for how to grow and manage the relationships that we have. What I'm going to do then is I'll outline these examples that are included in this article, and I will then overlay them with periods and phases in which I think it's best to look at implementing these types of relationships. As I said, this article was published by the Harvard Business Review. If you're part of a university or a library, you should be able to download the article for free, and it's a really interesting read and quite insightful about managing and building relationships. So, six critical kinds of connections while networking. The first that I think is probably the most important is looking for people who inspire innovation. They can be internal or external clients, peers in other groups, but people who offer expertise and real knowledge about the work that you do or that you are interested in learning about. When I think about my own career, I think about the people that I reached out to early on while I was trying to start finding work, people who were experts in the field who could offer a bit of advice and a bit of guidance, people who really, really knew their stuff, people who are sort of more experienced practitioners. It's really valuable that there are people that we can turn to who can give us guidance and expert advice. The second group of people really are probably the ones that may be the most difficult to sort of have in our groups, but are some of the most important for us to have because they challenge us. They push us. I reflect on some of the people that I've worked with that have pushed me, that have met this trait, and they're often very highly trusted colleagues with whom I'm still in regular contact. I had a boss early in my career who asked all the questions that I hated answering. And she didn't do that because she was trying to make things difficult for me. She did that because she was trying to make me better. And I know that because she demanded excellence, that helped me to advance professionally. It's really important that we don't isolate or move these sorts of people out of our networks because they can make us better. We need to know who can help push us and who will ask us challenging questions and provide us with constructive feedback. So I think it's really important that we look for a mix of people who can provide us with that kind of skill as well. The third group is the people who build balance. That can be friends or members of your community, whether it's people who are part of a local running club or an intramural sporting league, people who can just give you some spiritual guidance or advice. I once worked with an executive coach who was not afraid to push me out of my comfort zone, but she did so in a way to encourage balance and really got me thinking about what it meant to have a work-life balance. And as a result of working with her about having this person who brought balance to my working life, my team's performance was able to improve because she helped me become a better manager. But my personal life also improved, and I, in fact, was able to train and run an ultramarathon. And so I think having those sorts of people as well in the relationships that we build who can get us to think beyond our day-to-day work and think about what is really fulfilling for us in our lives and maintaining that kind of balance is really important. The fourth group of people that the article talks about is those who can provide personal support. Really a sympathetic ear. While it's great to have people who will push us and challenge us and provide us with advice, it's also really helpful to have people who will listen. And for us to be listeners as well, sometimes we don't need people to provide us with the answers. We just need people who will listen. The fifth group of people is those who have power. People who can either be formal mentors or informal influencers. Now, this is similar but different to the people who offer expertise, because these people offer authority and the ability to make decisions. I think that we should be brave about connecting with these sorts of people. Sometimes they can be gatekeepers or decision makers. As major gift officers, we're often dealing with these sort of people. If you think about major gift donors as individuals who have amassed a tremendous amount of wealth, they're usually very powerful people. And we need to be able to have a level of confidence for dealing with these people because we can learn a lot from them, but we can also probably offer them quite a bit as well. When I think about my day-to-day interactions and do the work that I do, I deal with powerful people all the time. We all do. We need to have a level of confidence and understanding that we can't always be the most powerful person in our network of connections. And having people who can actually offer us that kind of connection is really quite valuable. The sixth kind of connection is probably the most personal and, for many of us, the most important. And it's the people who add value to our lives and worth, oftentimes family members or spouses or friends who can show us that our work has broader meaning. Now, this is similar to the people who offer us balance, but it's also the people who just sort of make us feel like we've had a nice day. I really enjoy, as part of my work, sending handwritten cards to alumni and donors, and I get a kick out of it. I know the people who receive handwritten notes from me often appreciate receiving some sort of message from our organization, but it's compounded even more when they send me a note to acknowledge how much they've enjoyed receiving that, especially in these difficult times where so many of us are isolated and working from home. If you're able to pop a letter in the post, the person on the other end receiving that often appreciates that kind of outreach in a different way. Being that person for somebody else can be really quite valuable, but also seeking those people and acknowledging their generosity is something that I can identify as being one of those critical connections for us. These are the six critical connections that I have borrowed from this article that I can relate to. I can see that I have identified people in my own life and career who offer this. I think as we build relationships and networks, it's important that we see if we can identify individuals who tick some of these boxes. Now, the way to go about building up these networks, there are four key steps. I think that they can happen in any sort of order. This one makes a bit of sense. To start with, you analyze the situation and what your network currently looks like, identifying people who are already in your network, but who you'd like to get into your network. This is where you have to really step outside of your comfort zone. Oftentimes, when I'm trying to introduce myself to a distinguished alumnus or to a prospective donor or to a senior academic, I'll reach out to them because I'm keen to learn from them and I'll acknowledge that they're a leader in this field and that I would really appreciate the opportunity to speak with them to learn about what they do and to understand more about their insight. It's really important, I think, that we're constantly reviewing and assessing the networks that we have and where we have gaps, identifying ways that we can fill them. Now, one of the ways that we can create more gaps in our networks is to follow Marie Kondo's advice and look for things that spark joy or de-layering some of the relationships that we have. Sometimes, there's people who really are not worth having in our networks. Maybe it's people that we lose contact with, people who move into different fields, people who really don't sort of share the core values that we have, people who aren't willing to offer constructive feedback or criticism but who really can't add value or who can't receive value from our relationships. It's really quite important that we go through this step because we can't have a never-ending network. As human beings, we can only do so much, and it's important to be mindful of our limitations. I think it's really important that in focusing for quality over quantity, we have to realize that de-layering or de-cluttering or spring-cleaning our networks from time to time will be important and to acknowledge that that's not a terrible thing. It's just a part of life, and it's a part of the work that we do. The third step is to diversify the networks that we have. It's more than just the people that we deal with on a day-to-day basis, but looking for people outside of our teams, outside of our organizations, outside of our countries, outside of our sectors, seeing how we can learn and innovate from different people with different backgrounds or different skill sets, different industries, I think is really important. We really shouldn't be shy about this. For me, one of the things that I do as a higher-edge fundraiser is I have regular catch-ups. I used to meet for coffee, now I meet for Zoom meetings with people who are on hospital foundation boards. Back in the day when we used to go to art gallery openings, I would follow up for conversations with people who I met there to learn more about what they did, even though I don't work in that specific area, because I think it's really important that we have that kind of diversity of people who are involved in different areas. The other thing that I think is really important about diversity is not just by sector, but sort of age and experience levels. For me, one of the cohorts that I really try to network with is early career practitioners, people who are just starting off. Right now, I might have something to offer them in my own expertise, but I'd like to think that those early career practitioners could someday be somebody hiring me, and that if I invest in building a relationship with them while they're early in their career, that could be a real benefit to me later down the track. And then the fourth step is really to capitalize on the networks that we've made, making sure that we're using the relationships as effectively as we can, and making sure that our contacts are meaningful. If there's somebody who is doing really well in their career, you should reach out to them and congratulate them. One of the ways that I try to capitalize on the relationships that I have is in the work that I currently do, when somebody who's in my network receives some sort of accolade or has a milestone birthday, or I find an article that I think might be of interest to them, I reach out to them and I share it with them. And I keep in touch with them, because I want to make sure that I'm getting the most out of the relationship that I share with that individual. Now, here are some of my personal tips based off these two frameworks that I've just covered off. The first is to make sure that you listen intently, really putting an effort into the relationship that you're building with somebody. Most of the examples that I've shared and that I'm talking about in this presentation are in a professional networking sense, because I think that's one of the things that we spend most of our lives doing. I have to put listening at the very top of what we do, because from my experience, I've learned that the best fundraisers and the best alumni relations practitioners are the people who listen more than they speak. And I think that's one of the things that we must do as we build relationships, is having a willingness to listen and making that effort to let others do the talking. We also have to take advice, act on it, and demonstrate gratitude for receiving it. If somebody in our network is providing, willing to provide and open to provide advice, I think that it's our responsibility to acknowledge it at the very least. And if we do act on it, to thank them for it and to follow up with them. That level of reciprocity is really important for the maintenance of relationships. I've worked with and kept in touch with people over the years from different parts of the world who, when they have shared advice with me and I've used it, I've reported back to them, whether or not I should go for a particular job or how I handle a difficult conversation. Having that full feedback is usually very important. As I mentioned before on decluttering the networks that we have, it's really important to focus on quality over quantity. While it's great to have a vast network of thousands of LinkedIn contacts, if you're not able to really have a meaningful relationship with those individuals, then it's kind of like a waste of a connection. And it's really quite important to keep in mind that we're only able to manage so many relationships meaningfully. We have limitations. And in our professional networks and in the relationships that we build through our work, we do have to keep in mind that we can't have a top quality relationship with everyone. And so we do have to focus on having quality relationships in the work that we do. I think it's also important to be consistent, you know, not fair weathered as a friend. I don't just contact somebody when I need something. And I think that that's a good practice to share updates, even informal update. I think people like to hear from us periodically, not overkill. I worked with a donor who every year we would provide an update on the work that the research team was doing, a very formal update. Periodically, I would send he and his wife an email just with a note or two from one of the researchers who had recently made a breakthrough or had just gotten engaged or had a wedding, just that they had a bit of a bit of continuity and a bit of regular contact from us in a different way. It's important that we do that to care, to demonstrate that we care so that it's not just about those sort of formal agreed upon checkpoints, but actually a really genuine connection with that individual. And then the last little personal tip from the book of Jimmy Buck is that it's important to be open, to talk about the good, the bad, the ugly. Now you probably don't want to go into too much detail, but, you know, Instagram isn't reality. If you've messed something up, it's much better to fall on the sword and to take ownership for something than to ignore it. Oftentimes, you know, I've made mistakes in lots of different things, probably too many to share right now. But it shows good character when we can admit having done something wrong and we can provide a solution. And when a donor or an alum or a colleague or a friend or a loved one, when you have to deliver negative news or bad news, when you've made a mistake, it's really important to be honest about what went wrong and what the solution is and to be completely vulnerable when you can, because when you're vulnerable and honest, people respect that. And I think that as we build these relationships, respect is one of the things that is sort of consistent throughout them. The last sort of key point that I want to make before moving on to a bit of an exercise is that for me, at this stage, I think it's most important to pay it forward. Even if you're not in a leadership role, if you've developed some experience or expertise in this sector, I think it's important to pay that forward. It's one of the things that I really value about CASE is the opportunity to learn from peers but also to share my learnings with others. And I think as we build relationships, as we look for those key critical connections in our careers, we also look for how we can be those key critical people for others. And so for me, one of the important questions that I think we all have to ask ourselves is who are the people that we can nurture and support in the work that we do? So the layer that I'd like to add to this is looking at those six key groups, but rather than looking at all of them at one time, looking at them in three distinct phases. The people who we've dealt with in the past who have helped us get to where we are, the people who we deal with on a daily basis who are currently helping us, and the people who we'd like to help pay it forward to, the people that we'd like to add value to. Now, I've actually put in here a few examples of people that I have worked with or who I've come across that I depend on. You know, the people who have helped me in my career are former bosses of mine, mentors who helped me find a career in advancement, that coach that I talked about that not only helped my team perform but also helped me become a better runner, the people who I talk to on a regular basis, you know, peers at other institutions, my husband, the chief of staff to my vice chancellor who I can talk to on a regular basis because she's a trusted senior colleague, the people who I want to help in the future, the people who I might need to turn to later down the path who I think it's definitely worth investing in. Now, for me, what I've also done here is I've sort of put in where I think those people fit into those first two categories, people who offer expertise, advice, power, balance, just the sympathetic ear that I can have a talk to when I've had a tough day. For you, I think it's important that you go through this exercise as well and you think about the six critical connections that you would have in a network and you overlay that with the people who have helped you get to where you are, the people who help you on a regular basis and the people that you'd like to help someday. I think it's a really good exercise for all of us to get into the habit of assessing the networks that we have, thinking about the relationships that we've developed and which ones you can nurture as well. I hope that you'll use this guide and refer back to it because our work, as I said earlier, is all about people and what we can do to take care of them and to support them. And I hope that you will enjoy building relationships and networks into the future. If you have any questions or feedback, please don't be shy. My contact details are here and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

relationships

networking

building connections

relationship management

diverse network

network analysis