The Lunch Club

Last week, on my facebook feed, a post from nearly 4 years ago popped up that had me reflecting on what I call the "lunch club". It was a few weeks before my birthday, nearly 4 years ago,  and I took the opportunity to catch up with my girlfriends and yes I know what some of you are thinking right now – a great excuse for a bunch of girls to get together and have a few bubbles. Well that may be partly right I guess but here are some of the other reasons.

The Lunch Club is simply a bunch of business women, majority of whom own their own businesses, getting together for lunch and networking.

However here is the key difference.

We come together as mothers, business women, friends, and sisters; there is no pretence; no judgement; just honesty, trust and the ability to simply be ourselves. We give each other permission to be who we are, to share, and to ask for help, to provide the kick in the butt when needed, to cry to laugh and support each other. We all know that no matter what if one of us was in dire need the rest would be there to help or support.

 It is the group that have the permission to pull you aside and dong you on the head with an empty drink bottle (plastic one) because you needed it. (and yes it did happen to me!)

It's almost the same as when we were a lot younger, in fact as young teenage girls, talking, sharing, laughing, crying over a drink or a coffee or an ice cream. Why is it as we get older, we seem to stop doing the very thing that makes women different?

Do you have a lunch club? Why not create one for yourself? How often do you get together with likeminded people, peers from other industries? Are you a member of your institute or  chapter. And it doesn't have to be lunch, it can be a coffee, or a drink or an ice cream!

Networking is not about meeting at the local pub it is also about seeking new opportunities, promoting what you do, learning and sharing.

Too often I see businesses and teams who only really mix amongst themselves with no encouragement from management to expand their horizons.

If you only network within your own businesses how are you benchmarking yourself, learning, understanding, how is your industry is changing, recruiting or marketing your businesses.

Remember if the same bunch of people, from the same organisation meet with each other on a regular basis and tell each other how wonderful they are and how fantastic everything is or in fact the opposite you will not be aware of what changes are occurring in your marketplace, potentially become complacent, believe in your own babble and be unaware of your competitors until they bite you on the proverbial.

So start up your own lunch club, have a mix of business and pleasure, attend industry events, be involved – it’s the only way you create change and most of all share and learn