It's been nearly a year since Cher made her debut on the Field Service Podcast. Since then a career move, a successful presentation at last year's FSN Connect, not to mention a well-deserved place in FSN's top 20 service individuals - the FSN20, has made the last 12 months, by her own admission, rather crazy. Yet despite the madness she has still found time to contribute thought-pieces for us on reframing networking and to make a second appearance on the podcast on nurturing young talent.

Cher's belief in guiding the next generation of leaders in service and FM remains undiminished and has possibly got stronger. She shares with us process her firm is undertaking when guiding through young, new recruits; and ponders if anything has changed around the perception of our sectors, a key metric when attracting new talent. She also explores some of the ideas raised in her article about networking.

As ever, it's a fascinating listen from one of the strongest most forward thinking voices in the sector. Listen now!

You can listen to Cher's previous podcast for us here and you can reach out to her on LinkedIn here.

Silicon Valley thrives as its own ecosystem exists on disruption. Each start-up flourishes with individuals all moving in the same direction; keen to change what's gone before. Each person has the same values, habits, goals and mindsets. As a collective it's no surprise this part of California is one of the most creative hubs in the world.

In this edition of the Field Service Podcast, moreMomentum's Founder and MD (and long-time Field Service News' Collaborator) Jan van Veen urges service leaders to choose their network wisely if they want to change the status quo. Citing the aforementioned Silicon Valley and high-performance judo athletes van Veen lays the foundations of a successful social environment for your business.

Also, for the first time this series, the podcast incorporates input from a LinkedIn discussion on this topic before the podcast was recorded. One of those who contributed to that discussion, Rohit Agarwal shared this diagram with us. It's handy to reference this image at the appropriate point of the podcast.

You can reach out to Jan on LinkedIn here and find out more information about moreMomentum here. 

Cheryl-Anne Sanderson, says reframing your approach to networking could reap more benefits than you realise.

We often hear how important it is to network, yet barriers always seem to be put in our way, these include: 

• Not enough time 

• Do I want to network? 
• It's too formal and I'll feel out of place 
• Operation deadlines 
• Management/leadership that sees networking as a threat. 

All the above in my view is just a myth or a perception. More often than  not, there is time to do it you and you just need to make it happen. Networking shouldn’t be a have to do you should actually want to do it. If you're passionate about your industry and you want to do the right thing, not just for yourself but for the next generation of service leaders, then why wouldn’t you do it?  

Surroundings 

 If you feel you need to change or adapt to the environment then change the scenery then surround yourself with a network who appreciate the version of you; who want to share your passion and drive; and wants to work with you in a collaborative manner. Networking doesn’t need to be formal and doesn’t need to cost money, for example, you could set up a local network instead of joining something corporate which can be costly in terms of travel etc. So while these networks are instrumental and essential to our industries, don't be put off by creating your own personal network; local to the businesses that you serve. You could even cross network across sectors - networking doesn't need to be the same people from the same industry - the magic happens when you bring creative minds from a diverse range of businesses together.  

Wellbeing 

Don’t let the day-to-day of business as usual take over your life. We all deserve time away from the job and while networking could be seen as personal the majority of the time, the firms we represent also get the benefit of our appearance, so just be aware of this. 

However, networking is great for our own wellbeing: sharing experiences and hearing people stories, knowing that the challenges you face are faced by others too can be really affirming. You can also collect great idea and tips that motivate you to do more; that makes you do your best; and you can share with your own team spreading the positivity amongst your colleagues. 

Sharing is caring 

So to sum up, I'd like to say sharing is caring. Networking within your industry is just another way of sharing, and most importantly: caring. 

The UK Service Community is a group of professionals who are passionate about service and believe in sharing ideas and experiences in order to improve. It is a community in the true sense of the word in that there is no legal entity, no sponsors, no sales pitch, no exchange of money.

Yes, it is free and no-one gets paid! Members give their time, their expertise or facilities so that we have the opportunity to talk, share and learn from our peers who operate in a whole range of industry sectors.

The Service Community generally has two half-day meetings per year which are generally attended by between 30-50 professionals. Recently we have been at GE Power in Stafford, the Institute of Manufacturing at Cambridge University and at Konica Minolta’s London HQ. We have had speakers from small SME’s, to the largest and best of UK industrial businesses, including buyers of Advanced Services such as the Ministry of Defence.

Generally we run the meetings from 11-4pm, including lunch, with an opportunity to listen and discuss 4-5 topics plus lots of opportunities for informal discussions with your peers. The discussions range across 5 broad areas, so there is always something of interest:

• Service Sales & Customer Success
• Operational Improvement
• Achieving Transformation & Change
• Leveraging Technology to achieve growth
• Leadership in Service

With this informality, yet access to the very best industrial thinking, the discussions run deeper and more intimate than one usually might find at networking events. To get an idea of the topics we cover and the speakers, have a look at the Service Community website on www.service-community.uk

First started in 2012 the community has grown to over 240 members, despite losing the founder of the community Steve Downton to cancer. His philosophy has been taken forward by a loose collection of service professional, including a number of senior leaders from Pitney Bowes, Elekta and Fujitsu, as well as ourselves. The membership is extremely varied across a wide range of industries and includes practitioners, consultants and solution providers.

At our next event at Renishaw new HQ near Gloucestershire, we are taking the community to a new part of the country with an agenda that will be to promote discussion through smaller groups of people to discuss common problems in the industry.

As with any community, the energy comes from its membership, so we are always interested in new ideas, or people who want to get involved.

If you believe that talking with peers is one of the best ways to improve your performance, then you can register for our next event at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-service-community-at-renishaw-tickets-52993610315

Or if you are interested in talking or even getting involved, please contact us at info@service-community.uk

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