It is not innovation that matters, it is agreement. And we might need innovation to reach agreement.
5 years ago, flaming was common on the internet. Now the internet is one of the politest places to hang out.
If you are a social media user, you will recognize the 10 Social Graces of the Networked World. But, bookmark them anyway for those courses and advice for noobes.
If you are aren’t sure of yourself on the internet, read them and make them your own.
This rule looks innocuous. After all, how hard can it be to write one short message of 100 or so characters that sums up what you want to say and why it is important?
The original example was provided by Umair Haque when he wrote his rules for 5G warfare in the current healthcare debate in the States. Often we start rebutting another version of reality when we should be stressing what is important.
We get a sense of what is important or not in the way a message is framed. Framing a message tells us which facts are important. Once we see which facts take us where we want to be, we can ignore the noise.
One of my favorite examples of lousy “feed forward” is the progress map that passengers are shown on a long haul flight. Bad, bad idea. We do not want to be reminded that we have 10 more hours in a sardine can. Personally, I don’t want to be reminded that I have no control. So I switch off and don’t look.
But if the message were overlaid with colours that related to “lights dimmed for sleeping” followed by another colour for “lights brightened & breakfast” and another for “seat belts fastened and preparation for descent” and another “descent and landing”, then we would have a sense that of what happens when and even a sense of urgency about curling up and having snooze while we get the chance.
Then I would look. Then I would experience as sense of comfort and relief.
It is the framing of the message that digs deep into professional expertise.
Novices are famous for noticing superficial detail A medical student remembers what you wore. The consultant remembers what they diagnosed and prescribed (they don’t even remember your symptoms!)
An expert chunks; relevantly.
What we are going to do is supply our expertise in a chunk that is intelligible to our fans – and yet adds tremendous value because it is the right chunk.
What are the chunks that matter? Make sure you know. Then you can package them easily.
And this is what you, as the expert about your product and service, knows best.
The social media component comes with framing those chunks in language your clients can understand in re-tweetable messages of 100 characters including a link back to resources for your fans to dig deep.
Make our messages as small as possible.
Once again, this rule is intimidating at first, but we can be assured that if pundits are telling us to do something, then they already know how to do it. So for an example, have a look at the link to BNET that I posted yesterday morning to a handy resource for Prospect Qualification.
Note well how they have worked out a simple decision tree and each step is small enough to do.
This is not a new idea at all. We often break complex jobs into small steps.
We are not, however, making information chunks small for the sake of it. If we do, we are in danger of disemboding information and rendering it unintelligible.
But feed forward and feedback must come in ‘glanceable’ amounts – like the speedometer on our car. The information must arrive at exactly the point that we need it (not at exactly the point Head Office feels like sending it!)
To think in networked terms, I want to reach everyone one of my fans and I want to reach potential fans – the friends of my friends.
So I have to think like Twitter. Not only do I keep my messages under 140 chars, I allow for the RT and keep them even shorter! After all, they are 5 times more likely to be read when they come from a close friend.
The technicalities can be learned quickly enough. What is harder to work out is when and where people need information.
Hairdressers are often very good at txting reminders for appointments.
What we need too are messages that will go to the “end of the line.” What are we likely to retweet because we want other people to know that information too?
My local deli for example, could tweet its specials to customers who have requested tweets. That makes it easy for me to retweet and invite someone to lunch.
For each customer group that we have identified in 1a and judged to be a qualified prospect in 1b, we can ask:
Isn’t that why we love resources so much? They become a lego block in a project of our own.
So we need to go back to the scenarios for defining our fans in 1a and think again. Do we know what our potential customer is trying to achieve?
When we do, communicating is ever so easy.
(And it is so hard, when we try to jump steps. Find time this weekend to work on your scenarios! You can do them in the shower, in a walk in the woods, while waiting for your daughter to finish ballet class!).
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I am currently writing about 10 Sun Tzu rules for the networked world and I stopped to consider the specific issues faced by startups – defining their fans & customers.
HR are another group who face special problems. HR are last to the party and we often feel that there is little we can do about the structure and climate we inherit.
Well there is.
Full press. Positive psychology is the biggest favor we can do for our organization.
And to develop an infectiously positive outlook, we personally will take more vacations, play more golf, laugh more, and have fun! It begins with us.
Originally written by Umair Haque to defend networks under attack, the rules provide a framework for an organizational structure that will work in today’s fast moving world.
Our structures will be a little different to the ones we have now.
In the ‘corporate’ office, our task is to develop the collective properties of an organization that the people out in the field need to compete effectively.
We, for example, work on discounts that make it easier to get good rents in the shopping malls. But we don’t sign exclusive deals that block the initiative of the people in the front line.
We conceptualize the meaning of the collective. But ot in terms of return on our funder’s capital. Interest on capital is incidental to our business. So are we, actually.
We conceptualize why the field units are better off working under one umbrella and we work out which aspects of the organization must be coordinated and which do not have to be.
That’s what we went to university to learn and that’s how we contribute significant, inimicable value that exceeds the cost of our salaries.
And then we execute those aspects of coordination in as light weight form as we can.
If capital is needed, so be it. But we don’t become prats and hand-over the business lock-stock-and-barrel. We let the funders have their % return. That is all.
And we step-up! This is the age of sweat equity. We are in the age of organizing ourselves around our talent and around our relationships with customers.
1. Conceptualize the organizational structures that add value to the business.
2. Organize the corporate office to add that value.
3. Help talent make the transition from solo operator to team player and from talented employee to customer-oriented professional.
That’s what we do now. We are the entrepreneurs of the 21st century!
Start learning.
Indeed, if they are inclined to say no, that is all the more reason why you must activate positive psychology, for the sake of your own mental health.
If you don’t understand that argument, contact me, and I will explain.
All works parties, sports teams and fund raising can be managed with social media.
Begin, so your skills are up-to-speed when you need them.
1. Positive psychology
2. Social media
1. We want to find the organizational structure that brings value to business.
2. We want to organize the corporate office to execute the structure to add that value.
3. We want to help each and every person in the organization go from being solo-performer with talent to a customer-oriented professional who is supported by a team and supports a team in turn.
I have my mission. I hope I have helped you find yours.
Yesterday morning, I posted 10 Sun Tzu rules for the networked world. These are 10 questions to guide our social media strategy – beginning with describing our fans and ending, with issues which confuse the fans and which we need to address.
Start-ups struggle, or rather panic on the first question. Who is my fan? I know who speaks to me now, and I have a vague idea about who I want to speak to – and there is a biiiiiiiiig gap.
Pupils dilate. Heart pounds.
All is not lost. We have a hack.
Last night, I posted a really simple way to imagine speaking to that customer that we haven’t met yet.
It’s a really good technqiue for describing fans and customers we hope to have but don’t have yet.
Try it. Get rid of that anxious feeling !
You’ll be surprised at how quickly you can imagine the scenarios.
Once you can imagine your customers, the next important step is to figure out who is ready to buy. And if they are ready to buy, do they have the money and when will they have the money?
For those of us not from a sales background, approaching customers is seriously intimidating and meeting with dead-ends is disheartening.
BNET came timeously to the rescue yesterday. Here is their step-by-step “prospect qualification” system.
It breaks these larger 4 questions into baby steps.
It’s a very good idea to take one of the fans you described and step through these questions.
The questions seem to loop into each other towards the end so just revert to the pages 1-17 and click throught to the end!
Is this coming together for you? It should be. Do let me know!
Earlier today, I posted a reworded version of Umair Haque’s 10 Sun Tzu Rules in the Networked World
The first rule gives new startups a lot of trouble. “Who are our fans?”
People going into their first job or making a career switch have the same trouble. How can we say who we work for when we know so little about them? When we are asked too abruptly to describe our future customers, we feel very anxious and tend to freeze.
Freezing falls into a common ‘class of problem’ that positive career psychologists can sort out for you. This is how we think about your predicament.
We are on the edge of canyon staring at a frayed rope bridge, and our eyes are naturally drawn to the long drop down. It is sickening.
But we have all heard the advice – don’t look down – and it is good advice.
What we have to do is to take our eyes off the long drop down, and take stock. Take your eyes off that drop now, and look at your pockets.
What resources do you have? What is in your pockets? Do you have a map? And so on.
Feel better?
A tricks of the trade will help.
I found this version of an elevator pitch that will do the trick.
Hello, ____________(their name). I’m ___________ (my name).
I heard/read in _______________ (source) that________________________________(event/issue).
Perhaps, ______________(co name) should consider__________________________(my brilliant idea.)
As _____________(informal/formal position), I __________________________(achievement/activity).
And ________________(result).
So what do you think?
Thank you. I would like to continue this conversation. Here is my card.
I am sure your potential customers can swimming into your imagination quite vividly. In fact, you are probably surprised (and impressed) by the clarity and detail that you imagine!
Oh, and do jot down a few scenarios down before you lose the pictures. Then you can see if your social media strategy falls into place easily.
On Saturday, Umair Haque published the ‘Sun Tzu’ rules for the networked world. It is an important list. I am sure people who need to defend themselves against networked attacks will study the rules closely.
I wondered, if the rules could also tell us something about social media strategy in non-crisis situations.
So I’ve re-written the rules for normal engagement.
What do you think?
The rules are in very straightforward language – I hope. I say this to alert you that in each rule is a critical point that must not be lost. In the first, for example, the issue is speed. If you can reach every one faster by sending out runners, then do that. Don’t use social media for the sake of seeming modern!
1 Who and where are our fans? How quickly can we reach our most remote “fan”? Could we reach them faster through Facebook, Twitter or any other social media channel?
2 What is the smallest chunk of information that makes sense? Can we break up our information into sensible small chunks preferably less 140 characters of a text message?
3 How can we send one message about what is happening and why it is important to the fans?
4 How can we break up our communication into cells so that if anyone part goes down, other parts are unaffected?
(Test: is there any one break that would crash the whole communication system?)
5 Can our fans quickly access resources and tools for them to respond to any meaningful scenario without referring back to us?
6 How do we monitor trending topics and join in relevant conversations?
7 What do we think are the appropriate ways for us to behave online and do we explain to our fans why we choose to behave as we do?
8 How do we help off-line groups and what resources do give them to help them organize themselves?
9 How do our fans remix our resources creatively and which formats help them do this?
10 What confuses our fans and where does confusing information emanate from? How can we counter the confusion at the source?
My first attempt to use the rules tells me that startups feel stressed on the first point. Startups understand too well the gap between their actual customers and the customers they desire.
The solution I will try is to help them draw their graph. I am going to write out a scenario for them (write out not just imagine) describing an existing customer or prospect.
I will keep it concrete to avoid panic. Write, write, write will be my plan because activity relieves anxiety.
Have you been able to use the list? I’d be be interested in your experience.
I love a good protocol. Today (Saturday), Harvard Blog published 5 ways social media will challenge your business. I’ve rewritten the list as the opportunities we should be look out for.
The list will work as a job description for your Chief Social Officer. Or, a checklist for your Social Media Consultant. Or, to focus the minds of employees who are dead keen to use Social Media in your business.
And if you cannot answer these questions, pick out a clutch of bright Gen Y in your company and ask them to answer them for you.
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Quite recently, we got a TESCO’s, a little one. We have a Co-op tucked away in a side court. But we don’t have a Boots or WHSmith.
This is a little town and we don’t have a Timpson’s either. I had never heard of them until I heard one its owners talking on Radio 4. They are an odd jobbing kind of firm that do your shoes, your keys, and so on, and have branches right across the UK.
Well what is this to do with you?
What are your rules?
I’ve this minute discovered Norwegian blog Human Resources and Social Media, where Vegard Iglebaek asks today – are there any collaborative organizations out there?
I spent much of my career consulting to a variety of multinationals in a regional hub, a career which allowed me to get a sense of how management styles differ by nationality.
Norwegian firms are highly collaborative but also very disciplined. You aren’t allowed to bypass the collaborative process. Nor can you act as a loose cannon. That can be a shock to people from more ill disciplined cultures or cultures where position allows personal license.
I think Vegard is asking a more general question. What are the opportunities in social media? I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this too and these are my conclusions.
I have rubric for aggregating #So.ME skills in an organization and slowly assimilating #So.ME expertise in a pragmatic way, if you are interested.
Many of these young organizations need some basic help in putting in management systems. We should take care though to adapt our systems to the nature of their organization. We shouldn’t just copy procedures from old organizations.
I am impressed the US military is using social media quite assertively. For the most part though, it is not enough to tack social media onto the end of an organization as an afterthought.
The correct thinking is to sketch out the value added chain for the whole industry and to ask where #So.ME will be the game changer. Then leap frog to that position creating a vigorous viable organization that is competitive right here, right now.
While these three prongs are clear, trying to service all three groups at once can split our attention.
I would love to form a consortium of HR people who use #So.ME so we could each specialize in one area and bring in our colleagues specializing in the other prongs on a project-by-project basis to add depth.
It seems to me though that HR people in #So.ME don’t have confidence in the new zeitgeist. Does it seem like that to you?
We need to put our money where our mouth is. We need to be seen to be working collaboratively (and in as disciplined way as any conventionally collaborative Norwegian organisation). The our clients will readily believe what we say.
Contact me if you are interested!