The Spirit of Web 2.0

Writing about http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/groups/tlig/comms/feb08/prog.htm

I went to rather a depressing conference last Wednesday.  And it left me feeling like this <=

To cut a long story short I had not chosen wisely.  Whilst the topic seemed relevant and appropriate the audience at which it was pitched did not really include me.

The other attendees and the presenters were almost exclusively members of IT departments in universities.  They were concerned about things like being able to ‘market’ themselves to the rest of the institution and whether or not they should be allowed to use an internally-facing sub-brand.  They were also interested in proving value to customers and management stakeholders and setting up good basic internal communications.

This was interesting up to a point – since arriving at my current institution I’ve noticed a queue of people coming to me for internal ‘marketing’ advice.  They of course mean, and need, nothing of the sort – but it takes a while to persuade them of that.

But, while I was sat with half an ear on the presenters, and partly to stop myself picking a fight with an obnoxious chap sat in front (who, amongst other things, turned round to tell my colleague that the sound of his typing was irritating – hello?!  new technology conference!), I made a few notes about what I’d hoped the conference would be.

1. What do technologists need to know about communications?
2. What should communicators learn about technologies?
3. Where does editorial responsibility/content ownership lie?
4. Can communication be managed within interactive (web 2.0) channels?  If so, how?  In a top-down way or in a self-governing way?
5. How do Facebook/Bebo/blogs/social bookmarking fit into a communications mix?  (The peer-to-peer benefits are clear, the organisation to member/customer dynamic is less clear…)

Basically, what I need to work out, and what I’d hoped to have the opportunity to discuss, is what do I do with the following list of tools?  Is there a clever way of piggybacking on them or using them that I am missing?  How on earth does crisis management work in these fora?  In fact how do you manage communications through them without looking like you are donning your Nazi jackboots and behaving in a completely inappropriate way?

(Of course, I do realise that most of the point of web 2.0 is the socialist, egalitarian, utilitarian vibe and that by seeking to manage things or use these tools I am proving myself to be a potential member of Prentiss McCabe or worse still Malcom Tucker…)

• Blogs
• Facebook/Bebo/MySpace
• YouTube/ Google Video
• Flash Meetings
• Instant Messenging
• Social bookmarking
• Flickr
• E-portfolios
• VLEs/Moodle
• Podcasts/ Videocasts
• Digital mapping/ Mind Mapping etc.
• Texts/ SMS
• SecondLife
• Wikis
• Web forums
• Email – are we really using it well enough?
• PDA/ Blackberry – web for phones?  Still necessary now we have the iPhone?
• Tiny URLS/ go redirects
• RSS Feeds & Readers

I appreciate that some of these are in no way web 2.0 – but I thought I’d throw the lot into the mix.

So, that’s what’s bothering me at the moment.  How are you?

Filed under: Blogging, Blogging About Blogs, Branding, Conferences, Higher Education, IT, ITS, Internal Communications, Media, PR, Web Geekery

What do I love most this week?

I’m sure that the answer should be Himself.  But actually, right at this moment Ocado is closer to my heart!

They are delivering the ingredients for our ‘romantic’ Valentine’s meal very early tomorrow morning before work, despite my only having ordered them this morning.  Truely, for the girl without wheels, they are a saviour!  (Now I just need to work out where to get a card from….)

Not that the meal is a secret, nor will it be very spectacular as it will mostly be cheating, but I just didn’t want to create an unecessary stress around it by trying to fit in a supermarket trip.

• Kir Royal
• Duck Pate with Chutney on Toasted Brioche
• Steak au Poivre with Chunky Chips
• Apple & Almond Tart with Suaternes Custard

Olive assures me that through various underhand shortcuts I should be able to achieve it all within an hour.  I hoping that I can do that and still arrive on the other side looking like a fragrant and serene beauty and not like a harassed, sweaty, snappy and vaguely panicky mess.

So, fortunately, I’m at a conference in Coventry tomorrow which is due to finish at 15:30 thus leaving me plenty of time to turn myself and the house into an oasis of calm.

On the matter of Steak & a Blow Job Day I make no comment.

Filed under: Campaigning, Cleaning, Conferences, Cooking, Food, Himself, Shopping

Takeaway Tips

As my mother is inexplicably fond of saying, by way of a tip:

Never put a cat in the washine machine or you’ll end up with a sock in the puss.

(Don’t get me started on the mushroom and fuschia jokes….)

But here are some stolen top tips or kernels of thoughts gleaned from the CIPR Conference on Monday and published here to mull over and return to:

1. Does social networking dimish the role of leadership communications?
2. What is the difference between reinforcing and duplicating messages?
3. Does comms have a role to play in sequencing change management projects?
4. Acknowledge past mistakes because you are never starting at ground zero – especially with change projects.  In fact before starting to communicate, work out where your audience is on the change curve and adapt your communications stance accordingly.
5. In crises, broadcast messages then openly and widely solicit feedback and recast the messages after at most 24 hours – to address emergent issues.  Also listen by making random phonecalls to staff to check their understanding and by monitoring intranet blogs and chat rooms.
6. Always remember to relate change to business as usual – the two things are never separate.
7. Explain where face-to-face briefings are and give them the opportunity to travel rather than assuming that you will have to make alternative arrangements for them (although do this as well!).
8. Beware the temptation to move straight to visible activity and support building before spending time on developing a strategy for creating awareness and developing understanding.
9. The biggest mistake in crises is allowing staff to become observers not partners – need to give staff a call to action – e.g. Northern Rock staff were not adequately informed or equipped to reassure customers, so they didn’t.
10. Consider setting up a standard emergency number and publicising it widely to staff so that they know where to call to listen to a recorded message in the event of an issue or emergency.
11. Is there a way of checking who is on site at each location at a certain time?
12. Map your stakeholder dependencies – e.g. staff will affect local community opinion, business partner opinion and customer opinion.  Who talks to who and how?
13. Give people a safe internal environment to blog in so that they don’t wash their dirty linen in public.
14. Don’t ignore -ve media coverage – acknowledge it and respond to it because you can be sure that staff are aware of it.
15. Avoid the threat of an organisation taking credit for an individual’s CSR activity by publicising the individual’s efforts internally and externally.
16. Put marker questions in self-selecting intranet pulse surveys to check their credibility.
17. Write profiles for your stakeholder groups.
18. Look at the dependencies of statistics, not just the statistics themselves.
19. Every piece of advice you give should be backed by evidence – never say “I think”, say “The evidence shows that…”
20. Consider creating a Facebook group for people within the network to join and then offering them a news feed.
21. Have benchmark data before starting any comms – otherwise how do you measure the change later?
22. Always use a 5 or 7 point scale on surveys – it stands up better.
23. Make sure your sample size is statistically significant otherwise it’s too easy to sweep the results aside.
24. Informal networks can help bridge silos.
25. Consider creating a rumour hotline or Q&A board.
26. Work for management but be accountable to staff.
27. Build a relationship with the individual components of the board if the board as a body is too hard to win over.
28. Have the good grace to recognise when a non-comms practitioner has had a better idea than you!
29. Remind the Emporer that he’s not wearing any clothes – in terms of reminding managers of reality – challenge people in a constructive way.
30. Organisations try to communicate rationally whereas people see things emotionally.

Finally, to quote from Men in Black:

Jay: Why the big secret? People are smart, they can handle it.
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.

Filed under: Conferences, Family, Films, Internal Communications, Joke

Why Keep a Dog…

and then bark yourself?

Actually, a more accurate title for this entry would be “Becoming a Trusted Advisor: The Internal Communicator’s Mission” – but that’s no fun.

I remember being very taken a while ago by a presentation that I saw by Maeve Hawker from EDF Energy on the concept of proving your worth and demonstrating value – the holy grail of the professional internal communicator.

It was a full-frontal attack on the usual communicator’s whinge:

How can I get senior managers to take internal communications seriously?

And the response was, I’m paraphrasing heavily here, get off your arse and show your worth – pick an issue that’s a big deal to senior managers and make it an internal comms success.

So – off I go….

Incidentally, the occasion on which I saw Maeve was the PR Week “Engaging Intrnal Communications” Conference last April.

And I’m hoping for a similar shot in the arm in terms of inspiration and confidence from Monday’s CIPR Inside Information Conference. Sometimes a bit of perspective is all that’s needed.

Filed under: Conferences, Dogs, Engagement, Internal Communications, Work

Speed Networking Session Plan

Follow-up to Busy Morning from Casey’s Blog

DRAFT

Creating Networking Opportunities: How Meeting Colleagues Can Benefit Your Staff

Structure

(5×15 minute sessions – roughly 12 people per session)

Get the group to quickly introduce themselves

First names only / Institution/ Who you Report To / One Thing That Would Improve IC in Your Institution Overnight

Open the session with a 2 – 3 min introduction on the subject

• Getting people to make the connection between their job and the organisation’s messages
• Understanding how their job fits with others
• Knowing the best place to go for help and information
• Knowing what others are doing so that you don’t do things twice
• Lateral
  and vertical communication (i.e. not just managers and staff – but also
  people doing similar things in different departments)
• Avoiding corporate speak
• Take people away from their everyday environment – neutral territory
• Relationship building – with teams and managers (trust)
• Helping managers understand front-line issues

Contributions From the Group & Open Questions

• What timing suits different types of people?
• What kind of events might work at lunchtimes/ evenings?
• What kind of topics would merit debate in your institution?
• What are the benefits or regular vs irregular events?
• What kind of facilities do you have on campus to support different kinds of events? Rooms/ catering/ AV?
• How might this help deal with lack of communication between split sites?
• What ideas do you have for running events on a small budget?
• Big Bash Scenario – all staff, one afternoon, set budget – what do you do?
• Speed-dating – who might this suit?
• Staff conferences – what are the hot topics to cover?
• How can you encourage accidental networking opportunities?
• What kind of staff social space do you have?
• Are there particular issues for campus and non-campus institutions?
• Apart from events, are their other ways to bond the community?
• What kind of staff clubs do you have?

NB: Help participants find something in common with another participant – help them to make contact after the session.

Filed under: Conferences, Internal Communications