Social media is good for you (when done well!)

Today as I set out to share some highlights from my past two days at the Melcrum Social Media conference in Sydney, I notice that I've still got a nice buzz...not from the networking cocktail session but from the interaction, both face-to-face and on twitter during the day. Read on to find out why social media is good for you, some ideas on how to do it well - and don't miss your TOP TIP at the end!


Social Media conference highlights

During the conference there was a particularly active tweetstream and there have already been a few great blog posts about the conference; I particularly like the insights of Emma McCleary:

Social media is about long-term engagement; creating things that people want to use and growing spaces online that encourage people to work communally.

We’re all a copy and paste away from inside to outside so there’s no reason to categorise social media as a risk to your organisation or check every post, status update or tweet happening if   you’re not also checking emails or USB sticks that carry files in and out of your workplace.

and Alison Pignon:

...if you don’t trust your workforce, then you have a management issue, not a communication issue. Meanwhile, encouraging free and open discussion (based on a good social media policy and user guidelines) can only help to demonstrate the trust you do have in them. 

Rather than feeling that it’s absolutely necessary to first build a social media strategy and get buy-in from the whole senior team before launching a new tool, sometimes it’s just best to go out there and try it.

Here are a few of the thought-provoking gems provided by Euan Semple's report of the state of social media (for now...):

• Social Media is about "Globally distributed, near instant, person to person conversations" from Cluetrain Manifesto
• Online the Customer really is King/Queen: “If you don't want me to criticize your product, don't have a shit product."~Dave Weinberger
• "In a knowledge economy there are no conscripts, only volunteers (but we train managers to manage conscripts!)"~Peter Drucker

CORPORATE CULTURES

• Paradox of corporate cultures: going to useless, time-wasting, pointless meetings = good, but having useful conversations with people via social media = bad(?!?)
• What's it say about corp culture that staff are unwilling to enter things about themselves on company databases/intranets that they will freely put on web via FB, etc? Dramatically low levels of trust...

HOW-TO

• "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." ~Sinclair Lewis
• How to run social media at your organization: Just do it! "Keep moving, stay in touch, head for the high ground" (from US Marines)
• When confronted by resistance (see "fear of losing control" below) and asked to "prove" the "ROI of social media?" Simply reply "what's ROI of not doing it?" Or, better still, "what's the COI?" (cost of inaction) of continuing to do nothing to engage with our own people?
• Beware of trying to "manage" online communities - they will grow organically, or not at all
• If you build it, they might or might not come... "It's easier to build a tool for the community than a community for the tool."
• And always remember: "No matter what you are trying to achieve social media adoption happens one person at a time and for their reasons not yours."

FEAR OF LOSING CONTROL (Hint: you never had it)

• People worry about "losing control". You don't have control anyway! What you DO have w. social media tools is the chance to influence
• "How do I control the msg?" - Try instead "management by being interested": seed existing conversations w. good questions (influence-not-control)
  
• These technologies surface what's going on in your organization (culture, behaviour, etc.) -->Agreed!:
• "Social media in organizations is great for surfacing morons"(!) - yes people will initially have a whinge, but they didn't start whingeing just because social media appeared; it's already happening around the watercoolers. Providing a forum surfaces problems that want fixing and (for those people who never stop whingeing) identify mis-matches in the organization that need addressing for everyone's benefit

BEING REAL

• Good tweets (that build trust & relationships), including those by staff on a corporate twitter account, need to be human and not corporate drone-speak; even inane tweets have a place if they are authentic and create connections
• Sadly, "Watching big corporations trying to get into 'this social media stuff' is a bit like watching your dad dancing at a disco" (LOL!)  
• The most tragic example lately: "BP's biggest failure wasn't only mechanical or engineering, it was in not actively building trusted social networks and not giving straight answers when given the chance

ONLINE EXPRESSION & LIVE INTERACTION

• "Even if no one read my blog, I'd still write it...makes me more thoughtful, more aware, notice more things" 
• Online media won't replace face-to-face interaction; a great use of online collaboration is to improve the quality of the face-to-face you DO have (e.g. by brainstorming ideas in an online forum before meeting face-to-face to arrive at a final decision, or getting a sense of someone's interests and areas of potential collaboration from their LinkedIn profile before meeting for a cafe-chat)

WHAT'S THE POINT OF SOCIAL MEDIA...?

• A few answers: it helps unlock the knowledge the exists in many people's heads throughout the organization/network, so people can find answers and information faster and easier - and get stuff done; it helps break down silos by encouraging interaction; it gives a place to have the conversations (they're already having) in a way that can be entered and influenced by managers and leaders - as equals and colleagues...

Finally, the thing I liked most about the conference was the sense that no one really has all the answers now. Like speaker Helene Bradley-Ritt put it, "implementing [social media] is a change journey" and on that journey we're all fellow travellers, so it was great to be a part of an event designed to help each other along the way to do great things!

Warm, twuzzy feelings...

What explains the need of our BlackBerry-bearing, Twitter-tweeting Facebook friends for constant connectivity? Are we biologically hardwired to do it? Do our brains react to tweeting just as they do to our physical engagement with people we trust and enjoy?

So how come I'm still buzzing today...? The answer to that question and the ones just above is found in this Fast Company article about research by Neuroeconomist Paul Zak (aka "Dr Love"), showing that social media can help spike oxytocin levels in the brain and reduce stress hormones cortisol and ACTH.

"Social networking might reduce cardiovascular risks, like heart attack and stroke, associated with lack of social support" because our brains interpret activities like tweeting as if we were directly interacting with people we have empathy for and care about: "E-connection is processed in the brain like an in-person connection."

Perhaps this is why so many Gen-Y's, whose lives are increasingly shaped by social media, expect to be able to maintain those important connections in the workplace - so much so that one source indicates "for 20 percent of Millennials, or Generation Y-ers (those born from 1980 onwards) a ban on social media in the workplace is often a deal breaker" when deciding whether or not to take a job. 

So here's your TOP TIP: don't just sit there - apply all these great ideas and get connected like your life depended on it...it just might! And please, allow me do my small part to promote your health: in just 10 seconds you can connect yourself with upcoming blog posts - enter your email address in the "Get blog updates sent to your email" box in the top-right side of this page or click on the "Get blog updates by RSS feed" button. (Wondering how RSS works? Watch this video.)

Social Media conference in Sydney 29-30 June

Still getting your brain around social media?

Join me as Melcrum Australia holds its 2-day Social Media Conference at the Vibe Hotel in North Sydney on 29-30 June.

If you're looking for ways to integrate social media within your internal communication strategy and align it with your key objectives, check it out.

The format is one day of workshops on the 29th followed by a day of speakers (for which I'll be acting as Chair).

On the 30th you'll hear a keynote entitled Social Media: The communication revolution by UK-based Social Media Consultant Euan Semple. Now I know, I know, everybody and his dog is claiming to be a "social media guru" these days - but I've heard Euan speak and he's been at it a lot longer than most. Personally I'm looking forward to hearing his latest thoughts on the following:

There has been a fundamental shift in the way we do business. How we communicate with stakeholders and how we organise ourselves to produce those messages has changed forever. Euan Semple examines:

• What these changes mean for communicators
• How they represent a new wave of exciting opportunities for 21st century businesses and their employees
• What lies in store for communicators and what role they will play in the future of business

You'll also hear speakers from Deloitte, Unilever, NAB, Suncorp, Ericsson and also Melcrum's own Robin Crumby.

Download the conference brochure here and I'll see you in Sydney!
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People Engagement sessions in Melbourne and Sydney

I'm presenting a couple of sessions at this year's "National HR Solutions/Strategies Summit" happening on 13-14 May at the Bayview on the Park in Melbourne and on 17-18 May at the Amora Jamison Hotel in Sydney.*

The sessions are entitled, "It's not Business. It's Personal" - People Engagement that works, on how to use the people-centred practices of Appreciative Inquiry and the Solutions Focus to turn engagement strategy into everyday reality. 

There's a white paper on the subject too, a version of which will be available via this blog in the near future.

For the moment, here's an excerpt from the report summary below:

High people engagement is a hard thing to get right but the payoffs are tremendous – in monetary and nonmonetary terms, including:

•  improved operating income and higher profitability 

• better company performance 

• lower staff turnover, absenteeism and sick leave 

• better customer satisfaction and increased sales

Engagement describes a relationship and, like any relationship, it takes time and constant attention to nurture its development. And business-as-usual doesn’t cut it. Because it’s not business, it’s personal.

Making business personal means having a people-positive culture. Appreciative Inquiry and the Solutions Focus offer practical, action-based ways to quickly bring out the best in your people and, by extension, your organization.

The Solutions Focus in particular is such a SIMPLE (though not easy!) approach that people quickly find themselves asking different questions and interacting in more positive and productive ways. And so “the way we do things around here” starts to shift in ways that actively engage people, because they’re the ones doing the shifting.

Your organization’s engagement strategy will stand or fall based on the ability of your people managers to make it real as they engage with people. Think of the numerous touch-points in your organization where engagement is created (or lost) every day. Equipping your people managers (a.k.a. your engagement allies) with these AI and SF tools can speed up that shift toward a healthy engagement culture.

Remember the engagement gold standard: when your culture fosters adult, two- way relationships between leaders/managers and employees, in which challenges are met and goals achieved, you get good people engagement, increased contribution and better business results.

Turn the “soft stuff” of human behaviour into your competitive advantage by engaging the whole person: make your business personal.

Sydney workshop: Is your organization change-ready?

On the morning of Tuesday 09 September I’ll be presenting a half-day workshop on communications and change in Sydney at Melcrum’s 5^th annual Strategic Communications Management Summit.

Is your organization change-ready?

A change initiative - whether a merger, acquisition, restructure, change in leadership or other shift in strategy - is typically undertaken for practical business reasons. A change that makes sense on paper, however, can fail to deliver the expected value if the change process is not supported with tangible actions in the short term.

People issues once were considered “soft” issues, but organizations have learned there are hard consequences to mismanaging people issues during a change, including employee disengagement, dropped productivity, decreased revenue and loss of competitive advantage.

In this informative and interactive workshop you will learn how to use communications as part of a holistic strategy to shape organisational culture and mitigate the people risks in the change process.

Using client examples, I will describe an approach to culture change that features proven models and offers practical tools to identify, prioritize and address these risks. Participants will leave the workshop with new insights on how to help their organizations to be “change-ready”.

For more details download the summit brochure.

Go here for registration options for this pre-summit workshop and for the full two-day summit on 10-11 September.

TM

Employee Engagement - interview podcast now online

Alex Manchester of Melcrum Australia recently interviewed me after I chaired the Melcrum Employee Engagement conference a few weeks ago here in Sydney. The interview is now available - you can listen to the podcast here and read coverage of the conference highlights on the Melcrum internal communications Hub.
TM

Chair of Melcrum's "Employee Engagement Conference"

I've been invited to chair Melcrum's upcoming Employee Engagement conference here in Sydney. On from 29-30 May, with a couple of pre-conference workshops on the 28th, it will feature lots of advice and expertise in an area of great organizational interest. Check out the brochure here.

Melcrum is the global membership organization for internal communicators, connecting more than 25,000 communicators through research and training to share what works, with the view to improve the effectiveness and influence of internal communication in business.
TM

Joining Mercer M&A – Culture integration, strategic communications & corporate change management

After some months of negotiations and discussion, I am happy to now say that I have taken on an engagement with Mercer’s M&A practice in Australia/New Zealand as principal consultant specialized in cultural integration, strategic communications and corporate change management.

Several factors have made this opportunity an especially attractive one for me: Mercer’s research-based consulting approach, working as part of a global business area and having the chance to apply my knowledge and expertise on a larger scale than what would be possible as an independent consultant.

Thanks to the positive feedback and encouraging commentary that I’ve had about this blog, I plan to continue posting here in order to share the same insights, knowledge and connections that I have enjoyed writing about to date and I hope that it continues to inform and entertain.

TM

What's coming up on the tmc blog

Today I'd like to give you a glimpse of some ideas I've formed during conversations and experiences over the past two weeks and give you a preview of blog posts that are coming up.

I had a conversation with my friend Sakyakumara in Cambridge, who's generously shared his thoughts with me on the subject of "MAGIC" negotiation and whose workshop rolls out next week in the UK. Our chat provided the prompt for me to explore further what happens with the brain when we're told to do something (à la command-and-control style management) vs when we're asked to be part of the decision-making that results in a decision. Watch for a post on this subject soon.

I've also spoken to Melcrum Australia , an conference organizer and publishing house working in the domain of effective internal communications. We discussed the subject of online social networks and wondered out loud: have we hit "Facebook fatigue" or are these networks still relevant today? The fruit of those discussions will, I hope, be a weeklong series of articles appearing here and possibly on their members-only blog, The Internal Comms Hub.

Working this week with a very bright bunch in the Human Capital team at Australia's largest professional services firm highlighted a couple of themes that I look forward to writing about in the weeks to come: first, what are the significant differences between the male and female brains and second, what in neuroscientific terms is the value of providing affirms and positive feedback to people?

While compiling a project proposal last week for one of Australia's top global investment banks I became familiar with Keith Sawyer's terrific book Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration. Watch this blog for a review of the book this weekend, part of a new series of book reviews.

Next week I'll be in Melbourne working with a group of senior partners, again at Australia's largest professional services firm. While I'm there I plan to connect with my mate Adrian Cropley to discuss holding a NeuroPower information session/workshop to be held in Melbourne looking at how neuroscience and brain research offer insights into the area of Change Communications. More info to come on that one, watch this space!
TM