Mastering Information Interviews for Internal Networking Success

What steps do you take to network and gain visibility at work? If your colleagues and leaders were asked to describe you in 3 words, would those words align with your personal brand that you wanna project? Or if not, then what needs to change? Well, get ready to level up your influence and expand your brand, networking, and career success. With our guest Monique Denault. We're talking all around mastering informational interviews for internal networking success. And in that, we're gonna dive into how you can leverage these conversations to build relationships, strengthen your personal brand, and mentor your team to do the same. You'll walk away knowing how to clarify and communicate your brand, how to set up and maximize informational interviews each and every month to build relationship, get that visibility, and ensure that people know who you are. And lastly, how to seamlessly weave your brand, your accomplishments into every conversation. You can learn more about Monique at mdconsultingglobal.com, and then get ready to take action on expanding your influence brand and visibility so you can achieve great success. Let's dive in.

Welcome to Shedding the Corporate Bitch, the podcast that transforms today's managers into tomorrow's powerhouse leaders. Your host, Bernadette Boas, executive coach and author, brings you into a world where the corporate grind meets personal growth and success in each and every episode. With more than 25 years in corporate trenches, Bernadette's own journey from being dismissed as a tyrant boss to becoming a sought-after leadership coach and speaker illustrates the very essence transformation that she now inspires in others with her tips, strategies, and stories. So if you're ready to shed the bitches of fear and insecurity, ditch the imposter syndrome, and step into the role of the powerhouse leader you were born to be, this podcast is for you. Let's do this.

Monique, how are you? Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Thank you, Bernadette. It's so great to be here.

It's great to have you because I found this topic of informational interviews Extremely intriguing because I've heard a lot of different takes on a lot of different ways to go about interviews, but I really am looking forward to learning more about specifically what you are doing. But before we do, I love our listeners and viewers to get to know our guests on a more personal level. So could you share with us a little bit about Monique?

Yes. Well, I am an executive coach. I come from a corporate background in HR. But have had my coaching practice for the last probably 11 years now. Time has really flown where I work with corporate executives and really helping them with any issues or challenges that come up for them in the workplace, which is kind of why this topic is so important, because many of them come to me wondering how they can get more visibility in the workplace and how they can get promoted and things like that. So it's really one of the topics that I work with them a lot on. And of course, now with a lot of the issues that are happening in the workplace, there are a lot of people getting laid off and they have never worked on how to promote themselves internally or externally when looking for other jobs. So I work with a lot of people depending on what their challenges are, but everything really relates back to the workplace.

Since you raised up the issues that are going on in the workplace, what are those issues that you're finding that are causing the layoffs and therefore a lot of people reaching out to you?

Well, companies are downsizing. A lot of them are having budgeting issues. So that's a big problem right now. And it's just that it's happening across multiple industries. It used to be maybe just one or two industries, and downsizing has always been a common thing when companies try to cut back and save money. But now it is happening across multiple industries. So it has taken many people off guard because some people have been with their company for 20 or 30 years and they haven't interviewed in all that time. And they haven't even needed to try to promote themselves within their company. They've gotten promotions because they've kind of been tapped on the shoulder and offered promotions. So people are finding now they have to work even harder within their companies if they're staying in their company to get promoted and to ensure that they're showing their value so that maybe they're not caught up in the layoffs that are happening.

Doesn't it also touch on the fact that you never want to get complacent, you never want to get too comfortable? You should learn techniques and strategies such as what we're going to talk about regarding informational interviews in order to always be advocating for yourself, creating your brand, communicating that brand, and so forth.

It's absolutely true. And when I coach people who have not been caught up in the layoffs, they're usually pretty worried. And they're saying things like, well, what if it happens to me next? Or I feel like I'm walking on eggshells. I never know if it's going to happen or not. Right away we start working on proactive strategies, things that they can do in case it does happen to them, which involves making sure their resumes are updated, making sure LinkedIn is updated, making sure they're networking, making sure they're learning these strategies that we're gonna talk about today for informational interviews so that they are prepared. And I have found that that seems to take some of the pressure off of them. And especially because throughout our work, we talk about helping them understand their value, because part of becoming complacent is that people stop realizing what their own value is in an organization and they stop talking about it. So as soon as you get laid off or you're faced with job challenges, you don't really even know how to verbally promote yourself because you haven't had to do that.

Well, I'll be thinking about all those people that are being laid off and going through challenges because it's never easy, even when you are prepared, right? It's never easy, but you're going to help us tackle at least getting as prepared as we can be proactively. So I mentioned informational interviews multiple times. Could be new to many people. Could you help us define and help us understand what informational interviews are?

Certainly. Originally, that term was used when someone was looking for another job in a different company, and they didn't understand much about the new company or even the new role or the company culture, and they wanted to gather information about the new company to see if they even wanted to work there. So informational interviews at that time was about contacting people who knew about the company or who worked in the company, scheduling brief 30-minute meetings, asking questions about the company, and just gathering information like a fact-finding meeting. And that way they could make a decision if they wanted to work there, apply there. Maybe they had been already offered a job and they were still gathering information. So that's originally how it started and that term came about and it's still used for that reason.

Before you move on, in case there are people out there that are going through that process and are wanting to do that reach out to individuals, what are the questions? What are the powerful, impactful questions they would want to be asking those individuals at another company should they be considering going to that company? Because I think we take those for granted as to what they should be. Yes.

One important question is, how would you describe the culture here? Many people are really concerned about going to a new company and having it maybe be a culture that is toxic or something that's not in alignment with their own values. So that's a really important question to ask. Anything around culture, values, what does success look like in this job, in this company, what avenue is there for growth, anything like that related to career trajectory and how to move, move up and move forward. And then they can get more detailed about the actual personality of the person they would be working for, the manager. What kind of a managerial style, what kind of a leadership style does that person have? So they should always be focused on not only the big picture, you know, what, what direction is this company going in, what's the strategy that this company uses, but then more detailed information about the person that they would actually be reporting to, because that's a big issue for, for many people. They've had bad experiences with bosses and with leaders, and they don't want to go back to the same kind of situation.

You were then saying that, however—

Yes, so that term informational interviews has now morphed into what can be used within an organization, so internally, and it can still be used for someone who is in internal to a company wanting a promotion, wanting to learn about that next job. So they would ask similar questions. If they're looking for a new position, they might meet with people already in that role or people who had been in that role, again, gathering information for a career move. But the other way that it can be used, that anyone can use informational interviews, even if they're not looking to move around, it can be used as a networking tool within the company where they are meeting with people in a very strategic way and asking very strategic questions so that they can get more visibility across the organization. And I have a whole strategy and steps that I take my clients through to help them understand how to do this because it's a— it can be a bit ambiguous. So what do you mean I just meet with people? What people? And how often do I meet with them? And what do I ask them if it's not related to a career move or a promotion? What do I want to ask them? So I take them through a whole strategy and steps. But ultimately, what it does for them is that it gives them so much more visibility across the organization. And then later on, if they decide they want to move in their role or move up or have a promotion, they have already networked with people who could help them get there. So it has multiple benefits. And I find that in some ways, some people do this automatically. It's just built into them, networking, meeting with people. But other people don't think to do it. They're focused on their daily work. They get into the weeds of their work and they don't think to get out there and make themselves more visible.

And what's the mistake or downfall of that for someone?

Well, it can be— it can definitely hurt their career because if they do want a promotion, nobody knows who they are. And especially in these calibration meetings that happen once or twice a year where their boss has to go in and provide justification for raises, promotions, things like that. Things that are commonly said in these calibration meetings is, well, we don't know who that person is, so why would we want to offer promotions or anything like that? So it really has a downfall when it comes to that. But also, when people are doing informational interviews within their own company, they are learning. They're learning really valuable information about what is going on outside of their own team, outside of their own organization. And they begin to put the pieces together and see how one thing impacts this thing over here, and this person, should meet this person because they have an alignment or a synergy. So it really is a great experience at getting to know people and gathering information.

How do you see it supporting someone's strategic thinking or strategic leadership as far as gaining all of this new information, this new knowledge, and these new relationships? Because so many managers, you may encounter this, I'd love to know if you do, are often told, "I need you to be more of a strategic thinker." Right.

And the way it supports the strategic thinking is that as the managers are branching out and doing this, they're meeting people, they're gathering information. Many of them start to see connections between one project that's being worked on over here and another project over here. And there are commonalities that the project owners didn't realize existed. But this manager now has met with people on both sides and sees the alignment and can connect those people. So additional connections can happen. And the one thing I encourage when I'm working with someone who, who is a leader and doing informational interviews, I encourage them that once they get the process down for themselves, that they mentor their team members and their direct reports to do the same thing.

Apart from the obvious, which is what you've already discussed, what is the— even the benefit of that mentoring your team to do the same thing while in this collective group of people that are working on common goals?

It's really the same thing. It gets the team members who are usually more tactical thinkers and they're, they're the in the weeds worker bees. It gets them thinking more strategically also because many times they are told the same thing. You're not thinking strategically enough. You're too in the weeds. So it gets them out of that. It helps them take the blinders off and it helps them get to know people also. So that's a big part of it. And then they also start to see alignment with projects. And people. This also helps in meetings when someone is expected to be influencing or persuading someone to get on the boat and come and do it their way. And if they already know that person because they've had an informational interview with them, that relationship has already been somewhat developed. The seed has been planted. Then you see them in a meeting. And they're more likely to listen to what you're saying, if not even get on the bandwagon with you. It's much harder to influence someone that has no idea who you are than it is if you know them.

What do you say to those individuals? Because I can imagine many of our listeners and viewers, they're kind of the hair standing up because they're sitting there thinking, there are other people are going to find this to be very intrusive. They're going to question why I'm doing this. They're going to get paranoid. Or think that I'm— there's an agenda. How do you solve that wrongful fear that they might have?

It is woven into the steps that I take people through. So can I spend a little bit of time going through the steps and I'll answer your question as I'm doing it? The first thing we talk about is why do you want to do an informational interview? Is it career-related? Or is it visibility? You just want visibility. So first I work with them on defining their objective. If it's visibility, then I say, okay, so that's your objective. And now who, what people do you want to meet with? So they go away with a homework assignment of making a list of people. And those people could be any level. It doesn't matter. Someone below them, up here, someone above them, because it's about visibility. And someday a person below them could be the person above them. So it's important to be visible to any level. So they come back with the list and they are usually very worried and they have this exact same question you did. What do I say? How do I get in to meet them? So first of all, most senior leaders in an organization have heard of this process before. That may even be how they got to where they are. They know what informational interviews are. They know what networking is. They know the importance of it. So they're not going to be real quick to turn anyone away. I've actually never had anyone turned away when they requested an informational interview, but I work with my client and we come up with a very short 3-sentence email that goes out to anyone that they want to conduct an informational interview with. And usually they'll say something like, I'm working with my coach and we're working on how I can network better and get more visibility across the organization. I'd like to have a brief meeting with you and pick your brain a little bit on a couple of things.

Love that.

It's a great foot in the door because most of the companies support coaching and the coaching process and networking and all of that. So that's usually a brief email that goes out, and then it's more a matter of the person making time on their calendar. They've never really turned anyone down, but sometimes it takes a couple weeks or maybe even longer to get on the calendar. So we start there, and then the next fear comes up is that, okay, I'm on their calendar, but now how do I present myself in this meeting? So the next step is that we create 3 to 5 open-ended questions that they're going to ask when they go into this meeting. And it's not like a Q&A. It's not an interrogation. It's meant to be a conversation that unfolds, and the 3 to 5 questions are the framework, and there's flexibility there. So usually if the informational interview is being conducted for visibility reasons, the person conducting the interview will go in with questions like, what— how is your team set up? What are some of your biggest challenges this year that you're thinking about? What are some of your pain points? So this is information gathering. Where they're trying to understand that person's world. And usually that person is very happy to talk about their world. They love talking about what's happening with their team, what's going on, what the goals are. So the conversation usually unfolds really well, and many times it can go longer than 30 minutes. Usually when my clients go into these meetings, they're afraid they're not going to have enough to talk about. And how are they going to fill the time. But usually it's the other way around. Usually there's plenty to fill the time. Sometimes the meetings go over. But when they finish the conversation, I encourage them to do what I call keep the door open. It's the planting of the seed of a relationship. It's not over and done. So I usually have them spend the last few minutes asking, can I connect with you on LinkedIn? Can we do this again in a month or in a quarter? Just to really get the point across that it's the developing of the relationship. It needs to continue. And the cadence of that is up to both of those people. Some people say, well, I'm too busy to do this monthly. We can try this every quarter. I've had others that are meeting monthly. So it really depends on the schedules, on the synergy that happened during that meeting. But I have had people come away completely amazed because the goal is when the person goes in to conduct the informational interview, what I say to them is, you need to do more listening than talking. Let the other person talk. You ask a few questions, but you do the active listening.

Right.

And I've had some people say, oh, I'm really nervous about that. I'm not a listener, I'm a talker. How am I going to stop talking? How am I going to listen? So it is a huge learning for many people because they've had to practice skills that they've not practiced before. And they come out many times saying, I learned so much by just listening. So it ends up being really valuable for, for both parties. And then it's a matter of how many of these can you do? Because that's the next question.

You mentioned it was valuable to both. Do you also coach your, your clients to go in intentionally, you know, structuring it and planning it to where it's a win-win for both parties? It's not just about what you're looking to gain. But there should be something in it for them as well.

Yes, we weave into the, the questions that are asked, the 3 to 5 open-ended questions. The person that's going in to conduct the informational interview also wants to find out what can they do for the other person. Is there some resource you need? Do you want me to connect you with someone? What can my team do for your team? So that gets woven into the conversation so that both parties end up getting something out of it.

You are moving on to kind of how this can be structured, you know, as you move forward.

Yes, the cadence is really important because it should be something that people do as part of their work. It's not just a one-time thing to have a couple informational interviews and then you drop it. Internal networking needs to happen constantly. You should always be networking. So I work with people on how, how much time do you have to do these? There's no right or wrong here, and it depends on everyone's schedule. So I have one client who is doing 7 a week. 7 a week consistently. Yes, that's impressive. He keeps adding to his list and growing the list, and when he goes in for an informational interview, usually the person says, Oh, you need to meet so-and-so. So then he comes out with a longer list. So I also have clients that can only do one a month. It really just depends. So I work with them on trying to figure that out. And I tell them it's, it's not the frequency that matters. It's the consistency. So whatever you say you can do, do it consistently. That's the really the important part of this. So then they get used to it. It's on their calendars and it— they get much more comfortable with it after probably the first 2 or 3, because then we've worked out the kinks and we've fine-tuned the questions and things like that.

The work that you do also focuses on the brand, establishing your own personal brand in the workplace. So how can all of this support someone in creating and/or living up to the brand?

Well, branding is really important. And as a person is doing internal networking, they need to be— that's part of the reason to be visible is so that you can promote your brand. So they first need to know what their brand is, which is a whole nother set of work that we do together. But once they understand their branding in these informational interviews, there's some reciprocal information going back and forth where people are— both people are getting to know each other during this meeting. So they need to be talking about their branding and their skill set and their accomplishments. Those can be easily woven into the conversation in subtle ways and even into the 3 to 5 questions that are asked. So as the conversation evolves and unfolds organically, the branding information gets woven into that also.

And the purpose of the brand is for that individual to know themselves, to really understand and be self-aware of what it is they bring to the table. Is that it?

Yes. Yes. And then that gets communicated in all of these networking meetings. Right.

Because again, you said at the very beginning, you need to be almost like reminding people the value and the contribution that you're making, because it's not as if you're top of mind to everyone on a daily basis. And especially if people don't know you, then it'll make those calibrations and those, you know, conversations behind closed doors difficult for you if people don't know you. Is that right?

Right.

I understand how valuable this is to our, to our listeners and viewers in their day in, day out, especially if they are either looking for a job or they are looking to advance their career. So you have a toolkit called Survive and Thrive. Could you give us a little tidbit of information in regards to that? And then I'll mention that you can go to mdconsultingglobal.com to pick it up.

Yes, it's a book that was just published by Mango Publishing Group in July. So I'm really proud of it. I'm busy promoting it, the Survive and Thrive Toolkit for Leaders. And it really gives a lot of tips and strategies on leadership and best practices that have come from my years of coaching. And there is a whole section and chapter in it about what we just talked about, about informational interviews and all the steps that they can go through to conduct them on their own.

So if they were to leave this conversation right now, and now their interest is piqued and You gave them great tips and strategies as far as what they could be doing for themselves. What would you say would be the number one most valuable thing they could put into action right now?

They really need to make a list of the people they want to meet with. That's the very first step is to make a list of the people and get on their calendar and then reach out to you, mdconsultingglobal.com.

And because why You know, why do it on your own, people? You know, when Monique is here to help you. I want to remind everyone, do go to mdconsultingglobal.com and learn all about the work that she is doing. And right there you can also pick up her book, Survive and Thrive Toolkit, and follow her on LinkedIn. And it's real easy, just go to Monique Daigneault, and the last name spelling is D-A-I-G-N-E-A-U-L-T. But of course, all this information will be in our show anywhere you're getting your podcast or watching it on video. Monique, thank you so much. This has been absolutely fabulous. I appreciate your time.

Oh, Bernadette, it's been so much fun. Thank you for having me.

You're welcome. Don't you just love powerhouse conversations, especially when they're so full of actionable tips and strategies that you can actually leave this conversation with today and go and act on and start seeing seeing some significant results. And one of those is all around the informational interviews that we discussed with Monique. We discussed what are informational interviews and how do you leverage them to build those relationships, not only across teams within your organization, but if you happen to have multiple divisions, multiple businesses, then you could be actually leveraging informational interviews to really gain that visibility, educate yourself on how other teams, how other functions operate, and even learn more about the business than you know today. And all of that lends itself to you having more knowledge, more expertise, being more empowered to gain the opportunities that you're looking for within the organization, because now people know of you, they know about you, and they know how best you can fit or serve a team or an organization throughout the business. I just absolutely love this conversation because informational interviews, according to Monique, are not just about networking. They are educational. They're to expand your strategic thinking. They're to really help you with that brand, that personal brand. Many might look at it as the perception others have of you. And you want to influence, you want to control what that brand is. And Monique's work centers around you really crafting the brand that you want to project. And it's all around the visibility, the relationship building, and overall career success. I just absolutely love this conversation. I hope you did as well. If you enjoyed this episode, then be sure to follow us each and every week for a new topic and a new guest and a new conversation around how you can become a powerhouse leader. All you need to do is go to ballofirecoaching.com/podcast, and you'll find links there where you can follow us on any one of your podcast streaming services or on our Shedding the Corporate Bitch YouTube TV channel. Until next time, bye.