Can't We All Just Get Along

I remember a few years back initiating a conversation in a LinkedIn group. What I thought was a topic that would inspire thought leadership turned into a war of opinions. I remember thinking to myself, "I'll never do that again". Not many things remain consistent in the ever-evolving world of social media, but my apprehension to participate in LinkedIn group discussions has.

Here are 3 trends that put a sword through the heart of the intended purpose of LinkedIn Groups:
1. "Vendors" use a "buyers" search for a solution
as an invitation to showboat
2. Personal indiscretions derail healthy debate
3. A discussion is created to bait competition

Why Decision Makers Only Passively Use LinkedIn
I remember being in an interview just out of college. I was nervous. I met a hiring manager at a run down motel to talk to him about his business. I think they supplied roofing materials to various hardware stores....? After being berated with questions, the "roofing guy" asked me if I had any questions for him. I asked him one in reply of which he went into (another) 10 minute diatribe that ended at something worlds away from the question I had asked. I didn't get the job but I learned an early professional lesson: Being a self-important jerk is no way to succeed.

...which leads us to a fundamental failure in LinkedIn groups. In order to aid an educational seminar I was conducting, I asked a question in a LinkedIn group. A person replied in terms that related completely to the company I worked for and his perception of us. He did not answer the question because he saw my request for collaboration as an attempt to sell something. Though my intentions were genuine, I can't say that I blame him.

You Suck (and other contextual abuses)!
I'm not sure I have heard the above noted 2 word salute in any given LinkedIn group but I can tell you it's come close!

Here's how it works:
1. A well-intended late adopter of social media builds up the courage to ask a question of the group
2. The sharks smell blood in the water
3. An argument over which vendor's solution is better ensues
4. Personal indiscretions arise from the thread

The aforementioned 4 step process emphasizes why decision makers shy away from social media. Like the "roofing guy" some see a request for information as a right to advertise.
Social Media is not a place for salesmanship! If you think that you are going to close a deal by touting your solution, website, and cell phone number in a LinkedIn group you are high as a mofo!

Posers
There are a slew of people (and you know who you are) who get a pay check from a "vendor" but pretend to be independent consultants. They bait the competition, the sharks bite, and they use their political science degree to dispel the over-aggressive sentimentality. I can't say I blame them either.
Influence is not for Sale!

I think it is really important to consider this when participating in LinkedIn groups:
1. Direct selling in social media is a one way ticket to hackville.
2. Until "vendors" start acting like adults in social forums, your buyers are not going to play in your sandbox.
3. The internet is written in ink.

I petitioned several times to be a speaker at a variety of conferences. I was consistently denied because I framed my intent so as to downgrade my competitor’s solution and promote why my widget was better. Over time I learned that people spend time away from their families at conferences because they want an outside source to tell them why their job is important. That is what differentiates a partner from a vendor.

So I took on the practice of sitting in on conference sessions and gauging the presumed buyer’s reaction.

Here's what they hate:
1. Product dumping
2. Promotion of the products of the company who paid for your flight and hotel room
3. Death by PowerPoint
4. The speakers abuse of the attendees time by thinking he/she knows more than they do

And then the doors opened...

* I learned to stop talking and to start listening.
* I learned people hate so-called experts.
* I learned that people who buy things and people who sell things share the same passion.
....and that most sales people have a knack for destroying this commonality within 5 minutes!

We are all in this together. The reason why it seems otherwise is because your bravado caused your audience to instantly distrust you!

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

Meet The Ables

The Ables are not just a family from Oklahoma. They are the functions of what empowers talent in your organization. I was conducting a thorough organizational assessment for a large company recently. One of the organization's leaders explained to me that she did not have the luxury of examining every area of her organization. There is no luxury in Leadership! We have to find time for the things that matter and minimize the priority of those that do not. Every great organization has an engaged culture. Creating and developing an engaged culture is not a turnkey transaction. It takes investigative commitment!

At the very least, every organization needs to meet The Ables:
Are your action items, actionable?
Are your core values, valuable?
Is your culture, engagable?
Are your program initiatives, measurable?

A Meaningful Path to Success
Very often an organization creates an employee recognition program from the top down. A CEO voices his/her opinion of how people want to be rewarded and a program is announced. Employee eye brows might raise when you are telling them how you are going to incent them without gathering their input.

The key to producing successful individuals (and thus furthering organizational success) is creating organizational initiatives applicable to employee preference. Programs designed for employees by employees produce enhanced adoption, engagement, and collective success. Top down programs often only produce lapel pins in desk drawers.

Words on a Wall
Integrity is a word used as a core value of many companies. Decision making rooted in integrity is vital to the success of any individual (and the organization they represent). But, what does integrity really mean? If I tell someone they acted with integrity today, their chest will swell. Teaching someone to qualify decisions at every project milestone develops a tactical skill set.

Core Values are only valuable when we dispel their ominous grandiosity. Organizations need to design initiatives that develop employee skill not just pat them on the back. If strategic organizational harmony is at the core of all employee actions, collaborative success is inevitable.

Too Cool for School
Our employees don't care to be recognized. I have heard those very words from a Vice President. A couple of thoughts:
EVERY employee wants their effort recognized and rewarded ....
ESPECIALLY those who say they don't want to be recognized!

The above mentioned point does reveal that organizational standards created by Abraham Lincoln may not be applicable in today's workforce. Leadership does not have to be a one way street. Directives for success don't have to be created and promoted in top down fashion. Employees want to be part of something bigger than themselves...a collective they helped create. The best recognition company leaders can give their employees is to listen and take action accordingly.

The Danger in Quantifying Human Effort
Show me the ROI...we hear it every day. Executives want to know that if they invest in a program they are going to get their money back. As if to say, I don't care how much you like it, it needs to produce revenue. I want you to take people's lives, make them numbers, and put them in a proposal for me. This request creates a hurricane of salesmanship mired in inconclusive evidence.

Let's simplify the process....

My mom used to want me to eat broccoli and I consistently left it on my plate. Occasionally she would shove it down my throat (not literally) and my night would be ruined. Then one night my mom put the broccoli on the plate and pulled up a bowl of Bearnaise sauce. She told me to dip the broccoli in the sauce. I did, I ate it all, and we enjoyed the rest of the night as a family. Would it have been better to leave the broccoli on the plate and to watch TV in separate rooms as life passed us by?

Your employees can grow to love broccoli. You just have to allow them to choose some sauce to dip it in.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

 

Now Boarding...The Enterprise

I remember giving a seminar to HR Professionals in 2007 extolling the virtue of what I called "Social Networking Tools". At that time, Social Media (as it would come to be tagged) was still suffering from the Paris Hilton stigma. This was the perception that tools like Twitter were of the same ilk as Facebook and that they had no business relevance. The crowd of HR Pros embraced the story I told of recovering addicts who used Twitter to encourage one another throughout the day. But, they still left with eyebrows raised.

Times have changed! I was blown away when I heard Salesforce.com's CEO, Marc Benioff, advocate the virtue of what he called "The Social Enterprise" a few years back. The spirit of the keynote inspired business progress through collaboration not competition. This was a foreign message to the cut-throat sales professionals in the room....but Benioff had conviction in his cause and it caught fire!!!!

Last week, I attended another Cloudforce event, sponsored by the aforementioned cloud computing maverick organizational leader. The message again redirected: Social Networking Tools evolved into Social Media which has now become "The Social Enterprise". The social enterprise has adopted two primary functions:

• Internal Strategy Platform
• Customer Community

#Chatter
There is a problem with email, it is nontransparent! I can cc the team on project objectives but this traditionally leads to one off cyber-conversations that create silos. What if it was all out in the open? What if you couldn't hide information or misstep deadlines any more? Salesforce.com developed Chatter a few years back. Chatter is a social application: an internal platform to share best practices. But, Chatter's divine power lies in transparency. No longer are there side roads in the path to success...we all face it together. Collaborative, Transparent and All-Accountable!

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
People fear social media because the interpretation of intent is a very slippery slope. "give them an inch and they'll take a mile". In other words, if there is an application central to my organization that I can access any time, I might go to happy hour, log-on, and tell them what I really think. So, we turn a blind eye to that which is there to help us for fear that it may expose us. The kids will not learn to play fair in the sandbox if you keep them tied down in their swings.

#CustomerService
Today you can go to Twitter, hashtag a company name, voice an issue, and get a reply in real time. No more waiting on-hold. Your issue is out in the open for millions to see....frequently asked questions in real time. An unavoidable basis for pro-active problem solving. Faults can no longer be put off or avoided. The sooner your problem is fixed the sooner they get off the front page. Today everyone works for Consumer Reports!

Customer Community
Let's not mistake the issue, social access is not an invitation to complain. We all simply need to adjust our frame of thinking to collaborate not compete. Before we know it we will all be on the same side of the screen.

The world's best companies are developing communities for their advocates to communicate across the Globe. It's product development through consumer input. You are no longer on the side lines, you are in the game, and your voice matters. Reviews are no longer confined to professional news publications, the board of directors voice is dwarfed by unavoidable customer input, and leader interpretation is backed by metrics from a thousand sources. The only solution is to get better, quicker. That's a good thing!

Mending Fences
We are at the crest of a tidal wave. Companies locked in buildings are becoming communities of unique individuals free to share their vision. Companies are no longer hiding their mistakes, they are inviting others to help create their destiny. Giving up control is no longer a sign of weakness but an invitation to consistently evolve. We live in real-time and everyone has something to teach. The opportunity is massive, if you ignore it, the wave will swallow you.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave