Redefining Your Team – Leveraging Connections Made at CXO

The CXO Fellows Program enables rising leaders to grow and develop in their current position and prepare them for future endeavors. To that end, the Fellows are encouraged to use the connections they make as they continue to progress during and after the program. Here are some steps to leverage those relationships.

Ask What Other Fellows Are Working On

There are many times during the program when you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the other Fellows and their agencies and what they are working on. New ideas and strategies not only help you grow, but also make a positive impact at your agency. In fact, you may find that the work of another agency compliments what your team is doing, and that cross-collaboration would be beneficial for both agencies.

Ask a Speaker to Be Your Mentor

The speakers who participate in the CXO Fellows Program do so in the spirit of helping rising leaders in government grow. Their interest in the Fellows doesn’t end when their lecture does. If you feel that a speaker has resonated with you and that they are someone you can learn more from, by all means reach out to them and ask if they’d be willing to be a mentor to you. The right mentor can help you grow in ways you never thought possible while keeping you accountable as you take the steps to move forward. And mentoring relationships go both ways;

You might wonder what your mentor gets out of the relationship, yet you’ll find that a good mentor learns as much from you as you do from them, and it becomes mutually beneficial.

Expand Your Network

Through the Program

All the interaction you have with other Fellows and the speakers in the program is about growing your network. Growth does not happen in a vacuum. To truly be effective, now and in the future, it’s vital to have a robust, diverse group of people you can call on for answers, opinions, and opportunities. The CXO Fellows Program gives you a unique opportunity to grow your network among the government’s brightest and best. Leveraging those powerful connections will make a positive difference for you and your team, and can open doors you never knew existed.

Through LinkedIn

LinkedIn is often called the “business social media platform” and for good reason. It is the only social media channel devoted to professional contacts. As a CXO Fellow, interaction with others in the program helps build your network beyond your current agency and associates. While this gives you a diverse pool that you can turn to for advice and consultation, LinkedIn offers the potential to grow your network through the connections of other Fellows and program alumni, further widening your circle of influence. The larger your network, the more opportunities for growth!

Through Outside Engagement

Using LinkedIn and other social media channels is important, however expanding that relationship with other Fellows into the “real world” can enable a new dynamic in your agency. We have touched on the power of cross-collaboration in an earlier blog, and it’s important to nurture its potential, not just to break down agency silos, but for the benefit of the job we all share - the business of government.