Time for Kick-off at work? Need ideas? Smartphones @ Work

Need inspiration for your kick off?

Re-invent your great offerings!!!
1. arrange for groups of 4-6 people
2. make sure you have at least one smartphone in the group
3. let your groups chose one area, product, service or something else – and make a video about it. Keep time short, make sure the culture is supportive and the mentality of work is having FUN.

A bit more serious: Corporate Culture
Norms for the team – what culture is dominant at work?
Let a group visualize your current culture, and the effects of it.
Also if found not so productive – let them propose another culture, what characteristics it may have – and its effects.

Boldness as Managers: Expose yourself!
Run a SWOT on yourself as the leader  – and the team.
Use video – if you dare!
Add a part on proposed development.

Check your glasses: We live in different universae!
Yes, we all have different truths and they only partly overlap each other.
What differences do we experience – show this in a video!

Need more help?
Call us!

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All business development today involves your IT dept. Where does that leave YOU?

How would you rate your IT Dept? Are they

Really up to date – surfing on the waves of the latest tech?
Are they “pretty good” at answering demands?
Are they passive, not listening to your needs?
Are they defendant, explaini g why it can’t be done?

Today, no business development is possible unless your IT Dept is really on their toes. To make this happen, a basic demand is the CIO should be part of the Management Team, and at least one IT/Internet expert on your board.

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One each from The LUCK Concept

I was so inspired by the feedback on my simple hints on a few things to do to bring the happiness of vacation to work. So, here’s some more: I’ll try and limit myself to bring out only ONE area each from the LUCK Concept:

L – for Lean Leadership:
Try and use the “No Blame” philosophy. What ever happens – I prefer action to ignorance. This is sometimes misinterpreted as “supporting sabotage” – but nothing is more distant. By accepting misstakes we vaccinate our people with trust: trust to act. Trust to think. And the team to correct if needed. But never hiding misstakes in fear of “getting caught”. By finding faults – we can improve even more.

U – Unifying Communications:
Sharing what’s happening. Actions in organizations sometimes fall into “actions in islands”. We need to know that more are doing the same, and know of their experiences.  – channels being the intranet, microblogs that travels, pictures, videos (preferably streaming, to be shared)

C – Coaching Leadership:
Learning to SEE (in Lean) what actions and behaviours that create our results. Excel in releasing suitable feedback to support your staff – as well as excel in receiving it.

K – Cognitive reactions in this internetified times:
How to avoid fast response defensive, flight and attack reactions. Primarily as they block the responsible dialog and results.

More on the concept: www.luckconcept.com

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Effekterna av öppenhet och transparens börjar visa sig tydligare och tydligare

Nu börjar transparensen få allt tydligare effekt. I förra valrörelsen tappade Alliansen förmodligen majoriteten pga en endaste blogg. När allt fler får den mäktiga pennan som vapen gör detta det lättare för aktörer som fackordföranden att agera. Med vinden i ryggen är det lättare. Parallellt med detta har Sveriges Radio inrättat “Radioleaks” – ett ställe att läcka uppslag i. Räkna med att det blir många läckor framöver! Om den senaste: http://www.svt.se/nyheter/sverige/blev-av-med-jobbet-fortsatter-lyfta-miljonlon

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My learnings as Community Manager – part 3: more how!

This is a continued story from part 2.
Here’s part 1
this is part 2

More!

Cross-Feed w groups
Use other groups and let them use you too. Cross-events revitalised many groups as new ideas poured in. Prerepquisits for this is of course a group or environment where we feel safe – still trilled to do something new.

Visualize – see individuals
Observise what happens. Most people think that they are activing “wild and crazy” but from the outside we see there’s a lot more to release. Do it! Present people with great ideas – present each other. Break patterns.
(This is a skill especially important i times of change and change management)

Visualize – results, relations and More
Yes, everything we do: visualise. Graphs and tables are ok – but video and other visualizing. Look at Hans Rosling: (a bit old, but still very fun!) Never ever think statistics is boring!

Create New goals
When you reach your goals – celebrate! And… get going some plans… What’s possible to achieve? Why not challenge top managers in video or some other social tool?

Meet often
Regular meetings are key to keep a community together. Rather shorter meetings more often than the other way around.

Update norms
All groups working together need a common set of rules and frames.
I gave a few basic rules (visual of course!) when I started the groups. From time to time we had to adjust rules and directions, but only marginally. In those days cafe owners were not used to huge groups and long staying – and we weren’t either. We shop more nowadays. Lesson learned!

People have different needs
We didn’t get as far as with mapping of personalities, communication styles. At work it may recommended. Have a look or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – or any other. You will find that although we have common pieces in our personality – but also a lot that is very different! Roughly: Do you like alternatives and freedom – or structure and boxes to check off?

We have different plans and goals
People’s plans (preferably acces To consultant profile – or à system where these Are Open. Several organizations are using fullfledged intranets where all staff is present – but the active person will most likely benefit.

Learning styles are essential
Knowledge in personal learning & communicating skills will help any Community Manager with respect again to understand differences and make the best of them!

Interpersonal skills
Understanding discussions and conflicts. Not all coflicts need to be held down. They may be very agile in solving the situation. Check, be present but let the members act. Understanding that we together really resolved the conflict.

Fingertip sense & Coaching skills
I REALLY  recommend coaching as means of leading a Community. More about this in Part 4 of this series. I’ll open a few doors to the LUCK Concept and let’s see what conclusions we can draw with some distance.

Feel free to comment, retweet and more!!!

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My learnings as Community Manager – part 2: HOW

OK, here for the second part of the Community Management (four parts are planned).
My previous post tried to focus mostly on WHAT. What was it? Who ran it? Who were involved? I’ll return to that and possibly with some interviews… (It would be very interesting to see what CMs made of their skill!)

So, today it’s about HOW. How did we do it all? How do you know if your action will succeed. Well, you don’t. There was a lot of trial-and-error! Lycky thing: We CM’s were noobs, rookies and so was our members. A kind of Klondyke (in the positive aspect). And yes, I had a feeling “this is good stuff to learn” – i didn’t really know why, but in some way all this we did for fun would sooner or later make their way into organisations.

We off on a straight path into the unknown. Yes! We were thrilled! Time was perfect, as needed “collagues” to talk to – being new as consultant wasn’t all that ease in a recession. So, Social Media made a perfect entre. I ran seven groups in total but will focus on the group “Cafe life”.  That was my main goal: to gather in groups and for discussion at cafes, preferably covering work. I was not alone – less than a month later we were 100+ and we peaked at 670 members in 2006.  Then came Facebook 🙂 Nah, not really true. A number of changes to the platform struck our groups heavily. Parallel to this other networks like Yahoo, Jaiku took its tooll. In Sweden “Lunarstorm” was huge as well. I guess that’s true everywhere – we all started in national communities – and now we’re attracted to huge networks.

Goals?
Dialog. Coffee. Great cafe’s. It’s easy to forget when you’re part of a development. In parts of town we had very few cafes – let alone even fewer wifi’s.

Intentions?
My hope was to encourage, empower and breathe for more air. Cross-functionality with other groups. Especially the groups “Skärgårdsaktiviteter” (The Archipelago Group) and a few others.

Purpose?
Nutcracking. Philosophy. Engineering. Blogs, sites and more. Bring your stuff and tell us. We’ll figure something out. And it’s amazing – most groups do! Trust the process, trust the group.

Channels to communicate?
This is probably one of my clearest views ever. After my first meeting at Shortcut I grasped the pen and signed in. The fantastic this case was the hazzle-free communication – almost no problem if you don’t attend. (Well, some – these were still the days of on-off. Not calledup modems, but we did disconnect from the service from time to time. Would you do that with your electric connection?

The tremendous change was – if you attended a meeting but didn’t manage to talk to all – you could continue on the community. It’s easy to forget the importance of this!

Communicare
The first and the last – the most important in Communities are the same as always: First expressions last. I’ve seen many communities and they treat their members in different manners. The care you share with your members are immediately and over time reflected to you. Here’s probably one of the most important skills!

Critical level
All groups of people need critival levels. How? People are funny. Watch gatherings of people. Some people love it – some not so much. We’ve found events to be slow in start if they start from zero (or one). We people have at sticking surface. Attract more and it will grow. We co-operated cross-borderwise – all arrangements then start with a number of REAL people, participating. For a “fika-paus” (coffee break in Swedish) 2 – 4 may be enough. Travelling to an island in the archipelago probably would need 8-10 people.

Welcoming new members
No matter our volume as a group – we all appreciate being welcomed! Nowadays my community management is limited to our showgroups’ “Club Jambalaya – new group”. We still welcome new members as often as we can. I attended other Communities but no matter how much you offer – if the heart is not there the community will die. It’s hard to fake passion. And I believe a CM should have a lot of that – still not dominating.

Restart after breaks
I realised during the first year or so how important a little extra spin on the wheel is needed in summertime and over  Christmas and New Year. On the second year we gained so much speed that we made it past those phases of lower activity. It’s also extremely important to level this with member’s activities (see below)

Invite others To act (delegate)
Under the first year of “Cafe life” (and the six other communities incl Gardening, Freelancing and four more) the number of arrangers grew steadily. It takes some guts to arrange something in a fastgrowing group. This may be just the same in an organisation. Who’s the one kick-starting projects? To grow and prosper a lot of people need to act – release them!

I’ll stop here. More very soon!

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Always remember: “The opposite is true as well”

 

Whoever you argue with – they may have a completely different opinion (and agenda). Now matter HOW wrong you think they are – they probably have THEIR reasons. If you are prepared to listen – you will understand their position. Not necessarily AGREE. But understand. And that’s a start!

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Vad gör egentligen en Community Manager? Litet input från “Enterprise 2.0”

Ja, den frågan tog fart i samband med att en nyfunnen vän ställde frågan i svenska medier. Vi var själva på seminarier om hur sociala medier i synnerhet – och internet i allmänhet – påverkar och kommer påverka våra organisationer.
Konferensen heter “Enterprise 2.0”  – läs mer om den här!

Den första frågan som kom var “HAR vi några Community Managers” i Sverige?

Fråga två som då snabbt uppstod var – “Hur vet vi det? Vad GÖR egentligen en CM?”

En diskussion utbröt och det verkade rätt klart att ytterligare klarhet skulle skapas om rollen kunde definieras. Här är mitt bidrag till diskussionen. Den gör alltså inte anspråk att vara fullständig men kanske ger den någon klarhet och kanske även inspiration. Här är mina intryck – vägledda av en utmärkt bloggpost som jag utgår ifrån. Posten är av Jason Quesada – originalposten finns här.

Jag tycker att de är svåra att se idag, men vi kanske är på väg
mot en situation med fler. De behöver nog vara mycket tydliga med vilka värden
till tillför. Jag hittade en bra post av Jason Quesada som jag kommer citera här –
och naturligtvis ge några egna tankar kring ämnet. Till sist några slutsatser som
vi drog i de nätverk där jag själv agerat community manager – men på fritiden.
Några av våra lärdomar håller nog fortfarande!

En Social Media manager – en rätt ovanlig roll i våra företag:

Rollen är inte helt olik den vi tog i ett nätverk som jag engagerade mig i 2002.
Det hette Shortcut.nu och var helt unikt i sin form – och vad det tillät.

Vi fick nämligen öppna grupper och sätta rätt mycket av spelreglerna i dessa.
Vi som ledde dessa grupper (jag hade som mest sju stycken) lärde oss rätt
mycket av det som man i USA nu definierar som en Social Media Manager:

Så här sammanfattade Jason som också var på workshopen
“Community Managers: What They Do. How to be a Great One.” det hela:
* Social Media and community management are NOT the same thing
* Social Business is a strategy
* To make organizations more human, adaptive, and resilient in order to increase * revenu through relevance and reduce costs through crowd sourcing
* A community structure promotes shared ownership and commitment
* Community Managers are match makers and relationship builders
* Community manager should inspire conversations, not dominate it
* If you are doing community management without goals, then you are just shouting at people
* Finding community advocates helps you increase reach and word of mouth
* Engagement is about building relationships to support organizational goals

Låt oss ta dem en och en:

“Social Media and community management are NOT the same thing”

Sociala Medier är ett vitt begrepp som kan omfatta t ex Yammer eller annat verktyg för att underlätta intern kommunikation. Vackert så – men rätt långt från den “community manager” som mer i detalj definieras nedan. Det handlar mer om en person som leder och håller en community igång. Vi talade om “tribe leaders” där i början av 00-talet. Det kräver en hel del kunskaper! Kognitiva, coachande, gruppdynamik, förståelse för olika enheters skillnader i krav, mål, behov och tidsaxlar. Vidare ledarskap, internpolitisk insikt och förmåga att påverka. Förutom att veta vilka möjligheter tekniken ger – men också vilka gränser den sätter. Så – den som rekryterar en Community Manager ska vara medveten om vad man startar.

“Social Business is a strategy”

Att göra organisationen mer lönsam genom lyhördhet, kunskap för anpassning genom att arbeta smartare och reducera kostnader genom bland annat crowd-sourcing – klungtänk. Strategi sätts alltid på en relativt hög nivå i en organisation. Förr var den något som regnade ned i lagom stora bitar till cheferna som serverade sina medarbetare något smakligt. Idag behöver samtliga i snart sagt varje verksamhet känna till vilka visioner/mission som gäller för verksamheten – samt vilka strategier som valts – och hur dessa hänger ihop med just MINA ansvar, uppgifter och aktiviteter.

“A community structure promotes shared ownership and commitment”

Det är lätt att se att silo-tänkande och egna resultat i enheten gör ett dylikt tänkande omöjligt. Vänder vi på perspektivet kan ju effekten bli att dessa sociala nätverk (och inte minst framgångsrika Community Managers!) kan slå hål på silo-tänkandet. Detta diskuteras mycket i USA just nu. Silo-tänket
kommer vi se i många organisationer som har svårt att hinna med i de förändringar som sker framför våra ögon. Så länge Nokia gick bra var ju lokal förankring i butiker och kontor en stor fördel – när siffrorna
blir röda blir i ett slag allt detta belastningar – och det går FORT utför!

“Community Managers are match makers and relationship builders”

Det är här en CM utskiljer sig rejält från t ex en Social Media Manager enligt min mening. Rollen är här en matchmaker som dels ser vad organisationen behöver – men även vad de respektive individerna behöver. Samt klarar av att spela det politiska spelet och inte ställa till det i den ordinarie verksamheten. Förutom linje-verksamhet kan vi ju ha projektstruktur, processorienterade verksamheter, ja varför inte en matrisorganisation?

Det handlar alltså om såväl social kompetens som förmåga att se vilka samarbeten som kan växa och utvecklas. Det kräver kunskaper inom kognition: hur vi tar in och hanterar information, hur vi interagerar, vilka drivkrafter olika människor har, kommunikations- och lärstilar samt djup förståelse för organisationens
lång-, medel- och kortsiktiga mål. Vidare en mycket god förmåga att “få chefens öra” och kommunicera bakåt i processerna och uppåt i hierarkierna.

“Community manager should inspire conversations, not dominate it”

Tänk på skillnaden mellan en bra och en mindre bra moderator! En god moderator låter andra ta plats, talar inte mest – men får andra att tala – och att tala om (och lyssna!) – de är som katalysatorer: de tillför energi utan att själva förbrukas.

“If you are doing community management without goals, then you are just shouting at people”

Kanske litet överdrivet i vår kultur – men vi kan åtminstone säga att vi pratar förbi dem – eller över deras huvuden!

“Finding community advocates helps you increase reach and word of mouth”

Om man inte ÄR den där supererfarne community managern på 25 år med 15 års arbetslivserfarenhet – hur gör man då? Ja att ha fränder i organisationen som tror på det du gör och som förstärker dina budskap är av yttersta vikt. I min verksamhet är jag tacksam att ha en härlig samling följare som tror på mitt koncept och fortsätter stödja det. Men detta sker inte av sig självt! Det krävs intresse i båda riktningar. En bra grund är den så kallade tillitsgrunden jag lånat från retoriken:

* Se till att du har kunskap i ämnet
* Se till att du talar om sådant som är relevant för målgruppen
* Se till att du visar liknande värderingar som målgruppen – ta folk på allvar!

“Engagement is about building relationships to support organizational goals”

Javisst – en community är ju till främst för organisationens välmående – genom välmående och utvecklande medarbetare. Relationer är allt viktigare och den trenden lär hålla i sig. Hur mycket automation vi än inför kommer de människor som finns kvar att vara allt mer beroende av goda relationer. Vi lär se uttrycket “social kompetens” under lång tid framöver i våra anställningsannonser!

I nästa post om detta återkommer jag med de erfarenheter jag och några andra drog under Shortcut-tiden ca 2002-06. Jag tror en hel del av dem är giltiga än idag.

Nå, vad tycker DU?

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Why Generation D means Good Things – for all of us!

There’s been a lot of talk about the new generation (isn’t there always? Even Sokrates complained over disobeying youngsters) and especially Generation D, where D stands for Disruptive. Not to mention all changes happening to most our known structures. This generation faces an economical future that for the first time in history is worse than the one their partents met.

Ready to act – high demanding – but also prepared to deliver (Stockholm and Helsinki RollerDerby teams)

I for one use to claim personal differences are often bigger than generalizing So, is there anything special with this generation? Often, differences on the individual level are a lot bigger. But, if there are indeed theses differences – which are they – and yet more: How should I act if I’m a manager? (And I will conclude – what they’re asking for is at work is something we should all have asked for long ago!)

They need more attention – and have shorter attention span. Take the MTV effect. Double or triple it. We need action. Great! Let’s GO for action!

They expect more feedback – Well, great news again! We all need that, in fact human beings are juat that by mirroring in others minds and communication.

They expect kickbacks – well, that’s just great – as this is normally how it works! But what are the kickbacks, and what levels of kickbacks are achieved when and how?

So as a boss, what do y0u need to do?

My recommendations:

SLA – Seen, listened to, acknowledged – simple actions, but you need to  prepare yourself – your mind and philosophy – before the action is needed.
We all have this need, so better get prepared. It’s a great tool as it works both ways: Seeing some-one and giving feedback makes you visible as well!

Transparency by Reverse leadership style – telling people what to do is out of age. Not only will it stop people from thinking – it only opens a handy escape route as what you are telling is percieved  YOUR goal, not theirs. (Of course you won’t notice as we all learned play the of the game.)
Instead: Regularly ask your employees to present goals, reasons and strategies – why we do what we’re doing et cetera. You not only get to know what is known, but also basic values, how they regard your leadership and – the way business is run.

Coach in a goal-centric way – skip discussions of “right or wrong” issues. In the age of ubiquitous search discussions about who is wrong and who is not is pointless and will only drag the both of you down and you will lose momentum. Focus on “Why?” questions and reverse goal-setting. You may rapidly hear how well goals are understood. (How can one achieve goals that aren’t clear?)

Employees of today need to know it all – from Vision and Mission via Strategy to Tactical/Operations level. The needs of generation D will benefit us all – if we’re just willing to be a little bit more open, transparent – and… demanding! I strongly believe we are now at a good point in history to re-vitalize Management and Leadership.

What do YOU think?
Do you have any similar (or completely different) experiences?
(You may answer in Swedish if that makes you feel better – I’ll provide a reasonable translation in the flow.)

Thanks to Ari Lightman, presenter of this topic at the Enterprise 2.0 conference recently in Boston, MA.

Johan

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Some REALLY cool stuff from Enterprise 2.0 I’ll cover

Now a day after the completion of the Enterprise 2.0 conference (from now on “E2”) things are slowly coming to a level possible to grasp. Some of the areas I will cover the next couple of days include:

Race against the Machine
Reverse Mentoring
The meaning of Big Data – even for the sole entrepreneur
Visualization of Big Data
Game Dynamics and Gamification

I’m looking forward to interacting with you on this!

Johan – currently in Boston, MA

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