Spice Up Your SMPS Network
Posted by Communications on Mar. 13, 2023 / Subscribe 0
SMPS provides a great many things to our community. From professional development and continuing education to the CPSM certification, it is where we come to hone our skills as marketing professionals and become experts in our chosen field. SMPS provides a framework for that expertise in the Domains of Practice and makes resources available for us to learn from the collective expertise of our community. Even with all the value-add that SMPS membership brings, I would argue that there is one member benefit that stands out above the rest. The network. The question is, what do you do with it?
I have been blessed over the years to have had many amazing mentors through SMPS. I joined SMPS in 2004, and in that year, I met someone who would go on to have a tremendous impact on my life personally and professionally (she knows who she is!). This amazing individual gave me what would become the best SMPS advice I ever got. With one little nugget of advice, she gave me the key to maximizing the SMPS network. She told me to collect spice jars.
That’s right – spice jars.
You know, the kind our Generation X parents had in a decorative spice rack on the wall in the kitchen when we were growing up (I am dating myself a bit here – so for all you youngsters, I am sure your parents kept them neat and organized in a cabinet.) Those spice jars. She told me to look at the people I meet through SMPS as spice jars.
First, you have the spices that you use every day – salt, pepper, garlic, sugar, etc. Those are your people. Your tribe. You keep those close, and you keep those jars filled. That is a two-way process; sometimes you use the spice, and sometimes you fill the jar. Give as much as you get, and those close relationships will thrive. These are the people you depend on when you need help, they are the ones you bounce ideas off, and they are the ones that make you BETTER at your job and as a human. Keep them stocked and keep them accessible.
Second, you have your secondary spices. You may not use nutmeg every day, but if it is missing from a recipe, you know it. While cumin is not needed often, try making an Indian or Mexican dish without it! These are your specialty people. Connect with someone who is an expert in social media if you are not. Add them to your spice rack. See a great presentation by an expert in federal contracting when you do not have much experience? Introduce yourself after and ask if you can keep in touch. Offer some of your expertise to them in return. You may not need to have daily conversations with these connections, but when you need them, you will be glad you can reach into your rack and pull them out! Look for as large and as diverse a network as you can and add them one by one to your spice rack. Ensure that you have the resources you need when the recipe calls for them. Stock your rack with expertise that supplements your own.
Last, never forget to be a spice jar. What are your strengths? What expertise can you add to someone else’s spice rack? Remember, you must give as much as you get. You need to fill their jar as many times as you pour some from theirs.
As for my spices, my rack is thriving thanks to the advice I got many decades ago from the salt to my pepper. I hope you all start your collections – let me know if I can add a little spice to your rack!
About Melissa Rysak, CPSM
Director of Communications & Member Engagement, International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI)
Melissa Rysak, CPSM, is the Director of Communications & Member Engagement for the International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI). She is a past president of SMPS Philadelphia and has served as SMPS National Conference Programs Chair and Chair.
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