Keeping an international network alive

Picture source - United Nations:  http://tomun.eu/mun/

Good Morning, dear LinkedIn colleagues and business partners.

So, it's time again for some best practice news from my daily work as an Partner Manager @Talentor since 16 month.

Finding new partners is one thing, but keeping them alive and proactive in an international network with cultural-, virtual- and collaborational - challenges is the other important thing, because after 6-12 month there comes a feedback round back to you and it does not matter, if it's pro-active or if you have to ask for, because in the end it's important to get it from satisfied coustomers.

Getting feedback and see, where you stand , is important in differents stages of your business, job, relationship and also a network, because reality and product sometimes drift away or fit together. So it's important to talk about and do 'fine Tuning' after that, so that all people will be back int he boat again and not get lost in the ocean of global possibilities.

At Talentor we discuss this things at every partner meeting, what we can adopt or have to change to have a better business match for all. Reviews, Action Plans, Tasks, Milestones and the 'latest news' are very important for that, if you want to move something and build an active network, which is not just a website and a logo, meeting twice a year for drinks and party. But, it's also important at any stage and time, to engage people, motivate them and give them a view to new changes in business as well as in collaboration and tools.

Especially during daily business most business partners do not have the time and mood for observation of new business trends and tools, which will make your daily live easier or disrupt it in one day.

Commitment and an pro-active inner drive is important, if you want secceed in international business accross different cultures and timezones.

By leading and engageing virtual teams I learnd a lot the last 3 years, but also during my middle eastern science studies in Teheran, Cairo, Istanbul and London.

In the end we are all human beings, but with a different approach for doing business, communication and fullfilling our tasks, which are very important to move something. It's also not easy to find time for video calls and personal meetings during the year an daily business, especially, if you are an entrepreneur and have to run your business, but I think the commitment with other partnes gives you also the energy and inspiration to find this time.

And it's similar to the EU or United Nations, where people from all over the world are coming together to talk and move something. There are show offs. there are Kings and Queens, Clowns and brave workers, Cats and Dogs and sometimes Aliens - a potpourri of human beings. This diversity is quite important for rhe EU and also a network, but sometimes you have to fiight for acceptance and peace within such environments.

Everybody want to be an important part of the "Big Thing" and plays his role as good as he knows it. It's members want to be loved and honored for what they do and bring in. For me it's quite interesting during this refugee-war-crisis, how similar soemtimes international politics and challanges are to international business and networks. 

I think networks and multinational companies do have the same challanges during these days, than Angela Merkel, Victor Orban and David Cameron. It's about power, information, being clear-sighted, success, lobbyism and many other factors entereing this meta-level.

With small steps, listening and talking to eachother, respect, engagement, innovation and doing our homework with respect I think it can work to manage challenges in the EU now and also in business.

So let's start, to build a better world and business network now. ;-) :-p

Best regards from Vienna in September 2015,

Thomas Zahlten
www.breadhunter.org

Picture source - United Nations:  http://tomun.eu/mun/