Black Belt Dojo

When do internal communicators stand up...

I just received one of my regular update emails from the UK CIPR and it included a link to a speech by the president Lionel Zetter, about lobbying and democracy.  He makes the highly laudable point that dictators have no need for PR - only publicists and spin doctors (which compares interestingly with his thoughts on the evolution of PR in China).  I'm not calling him inconsistent because there's a nice point about which side you're working on...

When I was at Marconi, and we were downsizing aggressively in an attempt to stay afloat I was called Dr Goebbels on several occasions (and not just at home).  I'm very certain that our communications with staff were always honest and ethical and as candid as the law and stock market rules allowed.  And recently I had a call from a contact whose employer had made the headlines for announcing redundancies just months after giving staff strong reassurance to the contrary - I certainly didn't think that she was dishonest and she was clearly very upset about the fate of her colleagues.

But at what point does the IC manager stand up and say "I just won't be part of what you're doing...".  If it's not illegal should that be your acid test?  What about when the organisation is lacking in candour?  But there are always going to be times when telling the whole story is not possible or simply not a good idea.

True, there are clear-cut situations.  If you worked at Enron and discovered the truth you'd have had a bit of a tussle with your conscience and I'm not sure how long I'd be able to justify to staff an investment strategy that involved Apartheid South Africa - you can only spin the old 'working for change from within' line for so long.

However, it's a toughie.  Anyone who's read Sebastian Faulks' Charlotte Gray, will know how it goes...collaboration with the dark side begins with little, seemingly harmless decisions and ends with horrible consequences.

I had a lovely meeting this afternoon with someone who said she wanted to 'make a difference' and had left corporate life to make time to do work that contributed to society.  Not all of us have the courage to take this step - mortgages, children and the need for faster, shinier bicycles stop many of us fulfilling our desire to do good.

But once upon a time doctors took an oath which included the promise to do no harm.  Shouldn't we include something like that in our work?

Liam

For your bookshelf

I'm currently reading The Art of SpeedReading People - how to size people up and speak their language, by Paul D Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger.

It's an easy to read and accessible look at the Myers Briggs personality types. Previously I've found books about MBTI a bit dull and treacle-like, but this one takes you through what each of the four Myers Briggs elements mean and then has a section for each of the individual types, including tips for communicating with them and 'attention grabbing phrases'.

Whenever I read my profile (ISFJ) in these things I always look enviously at all the 'E' profiles and wish I was entertaining, witty and the life and soul of the party instead of quietly friendly and helpfully 'nice' (and therefore easily taken advantage of by others, says this book cheerfully - great!)

It's a good read compared to others I've come across, anyway, and Tieger & Tieger seem to have written other books on how MBTI relates to anything and everything from careers to relationships.

Sue

 

Networked out?

Regular readers will know I'm having my first taste of social networking.  Fiona recently invited me to join Facebook. That made me think I should do something with my Linked In profile. Then I started contemplating getting my mates from Friends Reunited to join Facebook so I don't have to keep hopping across.  Then someone said 'I'm on MySpace. You need to join that next.'

Now, both Ragan and Melcrum are launching networking sites for internal communicators. Which I think is a fantastic idea. I'm a confirmed Melcrum fan, so I'll be joining theirs as soon as it's launched, but in the meantime I've joined Ragan's to have a look.

What do I think of it all so far? Facebook unnerved me. I'm quite a private person and I'm wary of how much people really know about me. I'm also wary that other people might not want me to know what they're doing. And it's not how most of my friends communicate, so it's an uphill job to get them to join. So all in all, I haven't sent that many invitations.

Linked In is nice and easy and very good for pure business contact-making, although I'm not sure what I'd do with it beyond that. It looks as though Melcrum and Ragan might be going a step further and adding resources and content. I'll wait and see.

Overall, I'm feeling a bit networked out. As with any channel, the key question is 'what's the purpose?' It's tempting to sign up to everything just because everyone else is and make as many contacts as you can, and suddenly you've got 6 networking sites to look after ... and what are you going to use them for? I can understand why some people's profiles are way out of date.

I know that when whole networks of people are signed up (university years, sports clubs) Facebook and MySpace get used to organise events, parties etc. which makes sense. And if I can drag old friends from all over the place onto Facebook so we can all talk to each other, I probably will. Otherwise, I'm going to wait and see what the two comms network sites are like, and then a few weeks down the track I'm going to do some pruning. I'll come off one or two of them and be clear with myself about how I'm going to use the rest.

And then, hopefully, once it's not new to me anymore and the initial excitement and 'what the heck do I do with  it?' has worn off, I can stop spending far too long staring at my computer screen.

Sue

PS Calling the latest black belt lot. Oi! Didn't you have a task to comment on this blog? I don't remember seeing you lost for words at Cranfield!

Clicking - Faith Popcorn

  Whilst decluttering our bookshelves this weekend, I came across a copy of a book that inspired me at a time in my life when I needed direction, it was recommended to me by Jason Orange of Take That who had also used it for a personal journey . I've not looked over for sometime but think I will revisit a few of the chapters.

Clicking - 17 Trends That Drive Your Business--And Your Life - Faith Popcorn

Faith Popcorn has been called "America's most highly regarded trends forecaster" (Newsday). She first identified the concepts of Cocooning, Female Think and Icon Toppling; predicted the fall of New Coke; and has helped create and market many of America's most successful new products. Her astonishingly accurate predictions are an invaluable asset to the American business world, and Clicking, which sold over 100,000 copies in hardcover, appeared on bestseller lists ranging from the New York Times and USA Today to the Chicago Tribune and Business Week.

Now Popcorn, co-author Lys Marigold, and Popcorn's company, BrainReserve, share even more of their remarkable insights about how we will conduct our businesses and live our lives in the future. Clicking is about positioning one's business, and one's self, to be poised to take the fullest advantage of upcoming trends. Loaded with telling anecdotes and inspiring examples, packed with ideas, products and people who have successfully mastered trends, or "clicked," this up-to-the minute revised report (including a major trend not identified in the hardcover) reveals the shape of the future.

Let me know your thoughts!

All the best Sarah

If you can cope with the moody photos Hay's marketing newsletter is worth a look this month.  Some interesting thoughts on M&A's and on what earns you a place in Fortune's list of most admired companies...

Liam

A world without email...

A couple of years ago I was one of the CIPR's external examiners - which meant that at this time of year I had to review marked scripts from around the UK.  This picture shows why I don't miss the semi-voluntary role at all. So my heart goes out at this time of year to academics who have to plough through tons of paper...

And I guess many of us don't really miss the days when everything was done on paper.  Electronic communication has made life easier in so many ways.

But I just saw a posting on the Communicators Network by Kristina Galouchko of AREVA.  She was asking if anyone had any experience of email-free days.

The first response was that they don't work in the age of distance working and Blackberrys.  But I think that's no reason for not trying.

Not least, one of the best people I ever worked with, Helen Johnson (now of Telent and currently regretting her desision to go an a cruse ship in a choppy English Channel) used to regularly declare fridays email-free.  She would call you or even visit you if you emailed her on those days.  Her argument was that common courtesy meant that you had to chat to people for at least a minute or two - an essential element of building a relationship.

As a result, she knew better than anyone what was going on her part of the company.

So why wouldn't it work as a campaign idea generally?  Perhaps on a designated day you could let people send only 10 emails or maybe pay a fine to charity for every email they send?  Maybe you could set up free coffee stands around the site for people to agree to meet and run through their lists of things.  You could, as a symbolic guesture set up a boxing ring and invite 25 people to fight simultaneously over a misunderstanding - rounds last either 3 minutes or two days?

I remember BP ran a great campaign a couple of years back - they surveyed eveyone about excessive email and came up with a strap line that said "75% of people say they get too much email, but only 8% admit to sending more than they should - so who's sending it????"

Maybe if we can crack this one I can once again run focus groups without worrying that they will degenerate into moan sessions about the volume of email...

Liam

A new take on IT

My friend (and top notch IC person!) Anita Patel sent me an email explaining how the Japanese have replaced those annoying systems error messages with Haiku poetry messages. Is this true?? Whether it is or not, the messages are brilliant! Here are some examples:

Your file was so big.

It might be very useful.

But now it is gone.

Chaos reigns within.

Reflect, repent and reboot.

Order shall return.

Yesterday it worked.

Today it is not working.

Windows is like that.

A crash reduces

Your expensive computer

To a simple stone.

Three things are certain:

Death, taxes and lost data.

Guess which has occurred.

Serious error.

All shortcuts have disappeared.

Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

So, oh innovative comms colleagues with mighty writing powers, anyone fancy suggesting any more? IT or anything else IC related?

Sue

PS Apparently someone's written a 250,000 word fake of the new Harry Potter novel and posted it on line.  Now that's dedication!

Interesting blog...

Sue just told me about Lee Hopkins' blog which is pretty interesting - quite a few practical tips in there...

Liam

Paved with good intentions

I just got an email from the Continuing Professional Development co-ordinator at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.  She was reminding me that I'm three months into the first year of my participation....

So I dug out my CPD form and took a look.  And got a bit of a shock...  Although I'm roughly on target to to do what I wanted this year, there are a couple of big things that are looking a bit dodgy and quite a few small things that I'm well off with!  For example, I said I'd set aside time for reading - that's been a bit of dead loss (I'm staring at a stack of material here that I've assembled to help with the design of a course on consulting skills - which will get done when the deadline looms!).

Note to self...next year put less in the plan and find some sensible deadlines that will force me to do it..

I wonder how other people keep the discipline...

Liam

...er how many hours in the day...

I've spend much of the weekend at rugby-related events.  On Friday I drove down to Rouen to see my son and his team play in an international festival.  On Saturday night I drove him back so he could play in a rugby League event in South London....

Whilst I was away, my wife took my daughter to London for a spot of shopping and a trip to see Billy Elliot the musical.

Stand by for the weak link to the theme of this blog....

We got a call last night from one of the mum's who had been on the rugby tour who mentioned that there had been some rioting in Rouen on Sunday night - to mark the results in the French Presidential elections... In some quarters these elections have been portrayed as the clash between reforming liberals and old-fashioned statists.  The argument goes that France's economy and employment markets need structural reform if it is to remain strong.

From what little I know, the state has done well for French workers for many years; a living minimum wage, a properly enforced 35 hour week and strong employment protection.  Yet this is alledged to have the effect of stifling entrepreneurialism and making employers nervous about taking on new staff - which could explain the shockingly high levels of youth unemployment in France.

But as I tried to catch up on my email at 0700 this morning and spent ages yesterday inviting people to join me on Linked in (I'm desperate to prove how many mates I've got) and spend ages figuring out how to respond to Fiona's invitation to connect to her Face Book... it struck me that a 35 hour week wouldn't go amiss in my spare bedroom/office.

No wonder it's only young people using these things...insert a couple of teenage kids into the equation and where's your life gone???? And just in case you missed it...what is the theme of Billy Elliot?  It's set against the backdrop of the 1984/5 miners strike in the UK - the moment when Britain abandoned the idea that work was about community and your role in society and used the power of the state to enforce the notion that a person's value was measured purely in economic terms....

I love my work, but I know I'm one of the lucky few...Ok I'm a nostalgic old leftie, but am I alone in thinking that we're working too much????

Liam