While we are concerned to identify our close contacts over the last week in order to track and trace potential spread chains, we should equally be concerned to optimize and reactive our networks.
Keeping meaningful connections in a world that is limiting physical contact requires attention to details but mostly lots of effort to reach out virtually to a contact network that might be even more distant.
Keep a log of your contacts and update it regularly!
As a good practice I would like to suggest that you keep a log of your contacts and check them regularly. There are many tools available to track this in a digital way, but if you prefer a more vintage approach you can use a physical logbook with details about the respective people.
For contact diary to be an effective tool, make sure you differentiate between log (time-bound) and contextual information (non time-bound).
Time-Bound information
Only brief information is needed, and this is mainly the four Ws (When, Where, Who, What):
- When: Date, time, duration of the meeting / encounter
- Where: Location / Reason of the meeting or encounter
- Who: Names of other people participating
- What: The core of the conversation with details about agreed actions, next steps and important notes.
Contextual Information
Here you need to capture your own thoughts and reminders about the person. For example, you can describe the preferences of the person but also a little bit about their personal stories that you became to know along the time.
For more professional purposes, you can capture the different professional experiences that the person had and in particular the connection that both of you had during those experiences.
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