Effective Ideas

Get Connected in Your Community: Be Interactive

What is the best way to get connected? Being Interactive. This means you get involved and stay involved with people without there having to be a problem or situation that gets you started. You will then know what is happening around you. You will know your neighbor’s names. What concerns your friends and community members have. And at the same time, don’t be shy about your own goals and needs. Make sure other people know what you are thinking and planning. The more you know about your community and the more people know about your goals, the more successful they and you will be.

Will being interactive mean that you will never start to feel that you don’t know what is going on? No. However, when the unexpected happens you will have a better sense of how urgent the matter is because you will know the priorities of your community. If a problem develops, you will know who to work with so it can be resolved with a minimum of fuss and effort. And you will know what is needed and not have to second guess those around you – you will know that you are headed in the right direction and have support and understanding from your community and friends.

How to change tactics

How do you make this shift? Try these suggestions and then practice them.

1) Look for barriers to understanding and cooperation. Then work with others to eliminate these as they arise.
2) When going into a new situation, ask of everyone: What do you want to happen? How will we measure our success? Look for understanding, past successful actions – start out right.
3) When completing a task, ask everyone: How could this be better?

Use these suggestions to increase connection and introduce an interactive approach to everything you do.

© Fritz M. Brunner, Ph.D. 2005

Fritz M. Brunner, Ph.D. is a coach and consultant engaged in working with people wanting to excel in life and business. Please visit his web site at fmbrunner.com fmbrunner.com or contact him at mailto:fritz@fmbrunner.com fritz@fmbrunner.com.