How to use social media more effectively in 10 minutes, one month, or a lifetime

Does social media sometimes make as much sense to your work life as this pavement did to me when I walked by it - it looks all very exciting but you don’t have an idea about to apply/use the information at your disposal?

Even Einstein would need help in this game of hop skotch

Well here are three suggestions to make you a better informed HR/L and D professional when it comes to using social media that take either ten minutes, a month or a life time. Happy learning and remember - like the booklet below says, just because it is social does not have to make it casual.

(NB Got better suggestions? I would love to hear from you so we can spread the wealth! Please feel free to email/comment at the bottom of this post)


In 10 minutes

Order and then read ‘The Little Book of The Future – A Guide to Collaborative Learning’ from Reed. It is very small and really should take no longer than 15 minutes to read if you get distracted – though with this little book of tips and suggestions I cannot imagine that hap- oh check out that pretty butterfly…

Anyways, where was I? It is a little booklet of tips and suggestions of using different elements of social media, from using Twitter to the top 10 online learning tools. I should mention that some people who provide suggestions are pushing their own agenda (did not want you to get a shock when you realised the column on the benefits of Linkedin was written by their PR Manager) but I don’t let this put you off – it’s a great freebie that is small enough to be digestible without being lightweight.

In one month

I have banged on about this book in a variety of different contexts on posts on here but when ever I feel flush out of ideas for this site or feel I am losing interest in the possibilities of social media I reach for Gary Veynerchuk’s ‘Crush It’.

I won’t bore you with a potted history of Gary V, Winelibrary and his other ventures, you can find him everywhere online. Needless to say he is not in the field of L and D or HR but I think you can take inspiration from his ideas and apply them to most areas of your work to come up with new approaches and solutions. He can be a little rough around the edges for some (i.e. he swears now and again) but I find his authenticity and honesty appealing (i.e. I have been known to swear now and again) and his enthusiasm is very contagious.

In short, a fun read that can help give you some new ideas and it is pretty short at 142 pages, so a month might even be stretching it – Go on, I can feel your curiosity getting the better of you already!

(Looking for something with less of a social media focus? Perhaps Seth Godin’s ‘Lychpin’ or ‘Rework’ by Jason Fried and David Hansson – more about, you guessed it, how you work and what you do. Some social media stuff but that’s not their focus necessarily)

In a lifetime

Learning never stops and social media can be a great platform to make sure this is the case. So here are some suggestions for great sites that I use in my spare time for either professional or personal development:

- TED
‘Ideas Worth Spreading’.With a tag line like that does it even need any further introduction?! Listen/watch podcasts = you feeling smarter and better informed: http://www.ted.com/

- Open Culture
Just discovered this recently, seems to have crazy potential as a personal learning tool given the quality of some of the lectures and resources they have on here in the form of podcasts, ebooks, free courses etc. Have a look and see what catches your eye: http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

- Stumbleupon
I found this a few weeks ago and tweeted that it was ‘the social media equivalent of cave man discovering fire’. This requires some input on your part so it has an idea of what is to your taste but once it does it provides a world of sites, blogs, videos, podcasts on whatever you are interested in. I view it as my psychic Google – it finds stuff relevant to what I do before I realise it mighty be of interest.

Overblown? Maybe – check it out for yourself to decide: http://www.stumbleupon.com/

(Don’t fancy this? There are other similar sites - try alltop.com for a start)

Be funny about HR/L&D = you winning cake. That simple.



I tried convincing myself there is one of my five a day in here. It worked.



I over indulged at the weekend – I hammered through everything in the photo above (with a little help but not as much I would have liked!) and needless to say felt all the worse afterwards.



To try and avoid the temptation of such gluttony again I am going to use this image as motivation but need a suitable phrase/set of words to make it memorable.


If anyone can come up with a caption related to HR, Learning and Development, mentoring or personal development that is witty and relevant to this photo please post a comment or email with your suggestion. Best entry wins – yep, you guessed it – the cake/savoury snack of your choice from the photo delivered to your place of work.


(NB To avoid people meeting the same fate as myself the winning entry will only be allowed one of the three on display – trust me you will not feel better afterwards if you eat anything more than that)


Closing date for entries is 16.00 (GMT) on Wednesday 4th May. Look forward to some sweet entries!


A pun too far? Now that’s blogging gluttony in action for you

Safe at Home - Part 2!

I talked on my last post (check out 'Safe at Home') about the value of making an effort to communicate more readily with the customers/client groups you are meant to be serving and thought this was a great example I saw at Canada Water recently.

Add caption

This was a ‘Meet the Manager’ day on the platform, with the station manager promoting the extensions that are due to take place in the London Overground when it moves to its full ‘orbital’ capacity.


Being on the platform rather than by the barriers where people are coming and going helped I think encourage people to take time to fire a question at the manager – if you have nothing better to do than read the Evening Standard why not? (or alternatively like me you could take photos of people. This is not some voyeuristic notion I make a habit of I should add!)

Some might also argue it is the only place to grab the staff to ask them questions about service, good or otherwise – no snow to report in the area this day, so the queries were not too pressing I think.


In saying this the lady in the photo was being run through how the new extension of the London Overground will work to take in the ‘Orbital’ format which will then take on areas such as Clapham Junction to the same lines as Honor Oak Park, Highbury and Islington, Whitechapel and beyond.


In the conversation I overheard (in a non-voyeuristic sort of way of course!) the manager ran her through the time lines for the extension, how the route works, possible journey times etc. A lot of is was broached with a lot of language such as ‘expected’ and ‘approximately’ (especially with the train times) but it was all pretty informative stuff for the passenger, who was able to get a vision of what their route would look like in the future.


It showed a willingness to engage, communicate and reassure the customer about the changes that are afoot. It also showed that this manager was taking a bit of pride in the info they were giving - though they might have been asked to do it, they were not giving a performance which made it seem forced.


The point is that it shows a little bit of pride in promoting the message and preparing people for changes ahead – sound familiar to anyone HR/L and D professionals out there?


‘That’s great – but it was only one person’ I hear the cynics at the back cry.


True - but it does show a mindset that is a bit more on the front foot in terms of promoting their message, not just to the passenger concerned in this instance but also to the others on the platform. You never know – one of those passengers might be motivated to write a blog post about it. Suddenly you find a third party is promoting the merits of the scheme for you.


As if that would happen – wait hang on…

Safe at Home

 My latest post is a little different this week in that the subject matter has been inspired by the Carnival of HR that some of you might be aware of by the sterling work that Evil HR Lady and her HR Minion do on behalf of it.



For the current carnival HR bloggers were given a suggested post title and were then asked to come up with something, the title this time being ‘Safe at Home’. Below is what came to mind for me – hope you enjoy!


(NB Want to find more details out about the Carnival of HR, Evil HR Lady and HR Minion? Find them on Twitter for more useful HR debate, insight and just all round good stuff: @HR_Minion @realevilhrlady)

The post title immediately made me think of a Question of Sport. For those not in the UK it is a long running quiz show with the following format: two teams of sports (retired, current or otherwise) personalities (“personalities”) compete answering a variety of questions , guessing who the mystery star is in one round, working out anagrams of other athletes names, and so on.


One segment of the show allows for the contestants to answer questions that are dubbed either ‘Home’ or ‘Away’ – Home being the sport that they compete in, Away of one which they did not with their being double points on offer for those who answered the later correctly.


I think there is sometimes a danger as HR professionals that we play it ‘Safe at Home’ in a variety of ways. One in particular (which I have been guilty of) is when we might not be on site with our client groups/departments, so just fall back on emails rather than a phone call or visiting – the irony being although it allows for quick communication it can arguably be misinterpreted more easily by the person receiving it.


This is staying at home, playing it safe. Ever wonder if you are doing enough playing away and doubling up on your points with your contacts from a professional relationship prospective?


How about trying this next time you know you might have to deal with an awkward customer or client – rather than emailing, phone to say ‘Hey I thought about emailing but thought it might be great to catch up – whats going on with you guys? Is there a time you would be free to meet?’


Some might get edgy at first – if there was no reason to meet, the first question might be what have I done for you to want to meet? This might lead to a legion of unprompted confessions such as ‘is it related to the stapler and post its I took home last Tuesday? You gotta believe me when I say that was an accident and I will return it damn it!”


Ok, maybe not that but you will probably be asked why. Explain you want to build bridges and get to know their needs better – you never know, you might pre-empt some sort of problem they had been storing up but could not think of the correct opportunity to approach you with it.


Alternatively nothing of interest might come up - but what you have you got to lose from making the first move and building up a connection


So next time you are about to send out an email, stop and think could I call or arrange to meet this person - you might find you double up on points for playing away and not sticking to the safe bet at home.

Related articles

• What HR People Won't Tell You About the Job Interview (choosework.typepad.com)
• 22 HR Secrets amended. (50000orbust.com)
• Are You Pushing Your Employees Too Much? (hrincommon.com)




PANIC!

I love this sub heading.

I dunno - is it?

I was reading this in the Sunday Times Presentations Skills book recently and it just sprang out at me as something we all wish we could say to someone we are arguing with at least once a day - is this really necessary? Is all this aggravation really going to improve any thing?

 

The booklet comes up with a nice little abbreviation to remember when preparing your presentations but perhaps it might be of use to you over the course of the coming weeks who is (depressingly) convinced of the benefit of their action and cannot understand your intervention.

When in circumstances like this, I suggest your PANIC:

P - Purpose. What brought all parties to this situation in the first place? More to the point, what do you need to do and by when to move on from the stalemate you are currently in?

A - Audience. Well they are right in front of you, not listening, sounding off at what they see as tiresome HR with all their rules - I know what jokers us HR lot are. In instances like this perhaps bear in mind the opportunity you might have to build a relationship with a tricky customer and how beneficial it could be moving forward. Hard at the moment but if you are able  to illuminate the purpose driving your conversation with them this might give you move legitimacy in their eyes and suddenly it is less of an uphill battle.

N - Need. When does this need to be resolved by? Who needs to approve it? If you are not discussing it with the person who can then why not? Otherwise you are wasting energy talking to some sort of gate keeper who evidently does not see the value in what you are trying to achieve.

I - Information. If you can sense a battle coming make sure you have your information ready and at hand to justify what you want to say. No would listen to the answers Les Dennis gave on Family Fortunes if he was not able to justify them by saying 'our survey says'. Be thorough in your preparation when you can to  negate this problem.

C - Collate. Pull it together - you have motivation, a sense of purpose and the relevant third party information to back it up. Bring it together so you know what you need to present when you make  your case.

So next time you have an awkward conversation just go ahead and PANIC - I am sure you will feel a lot better when you do and those you are working with will respect you more for it. 

Well perhaps not always the second part but we can but dream.