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Archive for the ‘Weblogs’ Category
Blogging and more blogging
Author: Dave Crisp2 Nov
Looks like I will be doing more blogging for my own site as several organizations I work with are pressing for more blog postings from all their contributors and it seems like once you’re in the process, you just naturally see more things to comment on. Hopefully the quality doesn’t go down with volume.
Several recent developments suggest blogging is far from dying, despite those who still see it as a passing fad or as being replaced by twitter. BNet has started
up with a massive volume of email alerts you can sign up for, pointing to blogs and information from Harvard B-School and many other business sources – a true aggregator of business/management information. Is it over-kill?
Although none of us is sure we need all the stuff, it’s amazing how interesting the headlines can be. One case in point for me was yesterdays alert pointing to a blog by former HBS President Rosabeth Moss Kanter – the Top 10 Ways to Find Joy at Work – something many of us could use more of. One of the most useful things on top blogs is the comment section.
A similar approach is being taken by Fast Company with it’s formerly occasional newsletters. It will be interesting to see if daily, yes daily, newsletters will turn people off or attract more readers. Every site is looking for the magic formula. At least when it arrives every day I feel free to ditch it if I’m too busy, knowing that I’m only hours away from my next fix. Interestingly I often click because of the subject line, but find other article of more interest when I get there.
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Does Blogging About Leadership & HR Help?
Author: Dave Crisp28 Jul
Today’s Training Zone (UK) item about pros and cons of blogging (free registration) drew the main opinions – it can be good for marketing, certainly for self-reflection by the writer, but nay-sayers cite their lack of time (and a wide-spread belief that it’s a vanity thing).
The larger question is who reads blogs and do they help? Clearly most of the people writing business blogs intend them to help and most must believe at some level that they do. Vanity undoubtedly drives a lot of short term efforts to get seen on the Internet, but to stick with it year after year, disciplining yourself to write two or three or more times a week on your subject takes something more than vanity, especially if few ever read or comment on the majority of what’s out there.
Why bother? Of course some derive solid marketing benefits. I doubt that I will. I’m not great at marketing in any forum and see that a more of a by-product of the real question. For me that is… can blogging about leadership really help?
In organizations over the year, my most startling observation is there are so many people talked into leadership roles, for the money, the power, the prestige, the challenges and on and on, who have no training, no real inclination to lead or much knowledge of what its about at least when they start. In some ways perhaps that makes sense because leadership is best learned by doing. But lots of people never learn, which produces pain and misery for vast masses of employees, co-workers and organizations themselves so to speak.
The hopeful fact is that the best approach to leadership is extremely basic, human and easy to follow. Conversation about it can help. For me, I haven’t fully been able to figure out the best way to say it or develop those conversations widely. This medium may work. Only time will tell. It’s a new way to feel that I’m making the effort. As time goes on the results will enhance reflection and perhaps jointly the blogging community will ultimately identify what creates value and how. Right now it’s a bit of the wild west.
More & More Blogs on HR and Leadership
Author: admin16 Jul
The Human Capital Institute (whose Talent panel I sit on – full disclosure) has added several very interesting blogs including in my prime area of interest – leadership. The first real post raises the question of followership – what is it, how should it work, etc.? 
This is typical of the growing interest in all thing Human Resources. These are perennial questions and will continue to be asked until we develop enough people who simply understand how leadership really works in their bones. Once the principles become a core part of everything we do in management, like the financial concept that income must exceed outgo, they will puzzle each new generation.
The blog refers us to a Harvard Working Knowledge item by Professor Emeritus, Jim Heskett, that is an relevant summary of what’s newly written about Followership, but it is the comments to that make it fascinating. I especially like the fourth one by Narasimhan Gopalan, VP, i-flex solutions, who observes that leadership and followership require the same qualities (and I would add skills).
Personally I prefer to use the term “supporters” rather than “followers.” The days of blind following are grinding slowly, but surely to an end. People think for themselves and are finding ways to act on those thoughts more than in the past. “Supporters” implies a leaders needs to nurture support, that it can be withdrawn at any sign of inconsistency or personal agenda and that the entire process is very much a two-way street. Leaders need supporters and supporters need leaders.
I especially like Narasimhan’s final comment which I thnk raises the most important question that hasn’t yet been well addressed. He says, ”Also, it is interesting to observe in the corporate world, the behavioural expectations set by the boss to his followers are [often] completely at a variance of the boss’ behaviour with his boss and peers. For example, boss expects his directs to engage in collective problem solving and dispute resolution through consensus, share the resources through mutual help, etc. while he/she does not exhibit such behaviour or exhibits exactly opposite behaviour. This is a case of selfishness and hypocrisy and hence it is important for the organizations to assess not only the results achieved by teams per se but also look at how they are achieved at somebody else’s cost! Here, the tools like 360 degree feedback could come in handy.
This very much echoes the comments in my earlier post about Claudia Joyce’s work that I’ve written about elsewhere (and will post when I find time). She endorses the same rules for leaders and the use of 360s to ensure they are promoting collaborative practices. Until more companies do that the problem Narahimhan reminds us of will be only too common.
Marketing Lessons for Human Resources?
Author: admin15 Jul
Sometimes ideas seem to converge because human behavior and human expectations are pretty consistent in every area. J. Ragsdale Hendrie writing about hotel HR and performance in Hong Kong-based on-line travel publication ”4Hoteliers” points out the need for HR to be more long-term strategy oriented – and to market more in-house what they can do for their organizations.
McKinsey & Company in their latest weekly points out long term recruiting strategies are necessary in China to overcome growing shortages of managers – an external marketing challenge.
Susan Abbott who runs an excellent blog on marketing and branding points out in her newsletter today that for a group to be effective they need to keep focused in for the long term… stick to the strategy.
And finally, Sherrill Burns of Culture-Strategy Fit Inc. emphasized in a presentation this morning that a strong culture makes HR work – and that requires a long term, consistent marketing strategy focused on getting everyone step by step into the same cultural mold and keeping them there.
The message? People don’t just work superbly together by accident. There needs to be a strategy, clearly focused and consistently pursued, to make that happen. It’s simple enough, but so few organizations manage it that the ones who do win awards. Sherrill brought along the President/Founder, Pat McNamara, of one such award-wining model company, APEX, a 32-consultant PR/issues management firm with remarkably low turnover for their industry, achieved by internal marketing to their staff – which enables them to use that as a powerful selling feature with clients and thereby earn exceptional returns.
Awarded “Best agency of the year” twice in a row, Pat has also been named one of the Top 100 Women Entrepreurs. One of her comments – “it takes a lot of time – more than you ever expect – to engage every single person, but it’s absolutely worth it.” They turn business away to keep the positive culture and people’s lives and sanity intact. And make enough money to give perks like an extra five days off in an employee’s fifth year and a month paid sabbatical in the eighth. Sticking to those policies requires commitment… long term. The message – basics: long term, strategy, commitment, consistency and marketing internally as much or more than externally… if you want happy staff and great results!
Developing Leaders is Developing Everyone
Author: admin14 Jul
Sometimes you just read something and say, “Right on, brother.” David Malouf’s post today is one of those! And they say accountants don’t understand people.
Often we discount others’ abilities to understand. Many times in frustration, we get at the real truths under the every day stuff we keep hearing over and over. I particularly like his comment about being tired of “leaders” who never interact with their protegés. Although I’m one of those who promote the (in my case) “five” irrefutable laws of leadership, I like to think all I’ve done is take the simplest advice available and used it to encourage exactly that – interaction with the people you’re trying to grow and lead.
Thanks David.
Human Resources (HR) and Web 2.0 Technology
Author: admin10 Jul
Blogging, social networking and virtual worlds are going to be key tools that HR practitioners will need to understand whether they actually use them or not. They each may or may not have a place in corporate and HR strategies. Understanding typically improves with some do-it-yourself practice. In future posts I’ll cover my own halting explorations.
In the mean time tech gurus at Forrester Research have authored a great new book that gives the pros and cons of strategies and best practices – how and when to use blogging, net communities and more. It’s an easy, fast read for the uninitiated as well as many who think they know what these are all about.
Just wish the binding by Harvard Business (??) had held up longer than a week. But the information is invaluable and still readable nonetheless.
This Is It: Human Resources & Leadership Today
Author: admin9 Jul
After several weeks sorting out how to get the blog running well, I realize I have so much material about what’s effective in Human Resources (HR) and leadership I could fill a dozen books not to mention a daily blog. Time to get going! Every day brings more confirmation that people are finally understanding how powerfully these topics affect results.,, but not necessarily how to manage them most effectively.
I’m happy to say there are more new communities on these topics shaping up. Just this past week I’ve joined a couple and may report further once I assess their value and openness to being identified. Each one brings a flood of new information, though, which can be challenging. What to believe, what to focus on? We can’t pay attention to everything, but HR and leadership are ascending today.
Case in point, one of the new links’ newsletters pointed to a summary of an interesting study by Booz & 
Company who follow the world’s largest 2500 companies and report only 2.1% of CEOs among them have been fired for poor performance while average tenure has been 9.4 years over the ten year period they looked at.
Assuming the data are correct, that’s far less turnover than the widely reported 2.6 year average tenure for CEOs in general. So, do big companies really have better people? Given that stats also show most big companies (with certain distinct exceptions) fall from grace over any 20 year you want to look at, it would appear more likely that Boards simply aren’t acting on big company CEOs as often as they should.
What most research of this sort raises is the question of which stats to pay attention to and how to interpret them when they appear more or less in a vacuum, unconnected to related information that contradicts or reinforces them.
How do you judge? That’s a question we will increasingly ask ourselves as the Internet continues to deluge us with such questions. I’m interested in opinions….
Why Stay In Human Resources?
Author: admin26 Jun
Recently I found and joined a new HR Bloggers group – a Ning community (Ning.com) - that I ran into via LinkedIn. As HR takes off as a powerful force in organizations I think there are going to be a lot more of these.
These social networking sites are starting to make sense finally. As with many things, you learn if you work with a system for a while even if you aren’t sure what use if may be. It’s a relatively easy form of risk-taking that may produce results. If not, you haven’t lost much.
Anyway, if you’re reading my blog today, you’ll see a variety of odd colors as the designers I’ve contracted via Elance work on changes I’ve requested. The elance process has been another of those learning experiences. I’m not fully opening it up to the public till the changes are in place and I’ve begun again with my HR-related posing.
As a start I thought I’d post the answer I put on HR Bloggers to the question: why stay in HR? For me it goes like this:
I’m staying in HR because this is where the action is for the next few centuries. People working better together can make our organizations far more effective. Not only will everyone make more money, but they will have a fighting chance of enjoying it while solving the problems we’re creating all over the world.
We’re seeing a sea change in organizations toward understanding that people are the most important ingredient. Ours is the most complex (therefore most interesting) and impactful area of organizational work. We will begin getting the respect this work deserves… as soon as we start convincing everyone what needs to be done. Fortunately bookstore shelves are rapidly filling with proof and advice that will get CEOs thinking they need us. Now… are we up to it?
Chief Blogging Officer, Social Networking?
Author: Dave Crisp7 May
The world is getting more complex, so skills that simplify it are more valuable than ever. Small businesses must go nuts hearing data such as Workforce Management’s revelation this week that 11% of large companies now have corporate blogs, some even appointing Chief Blogging Officers. Should they try to keep up and what has to give elsewhere if they do?
This raises tons of questions. How many companies at this point even have Chief HR Officers for instance? What are the priorities – people or some poorly understood marketing or recruiting tool? More to the point, where should they do be to be successful and sustain their people through these turbulent times?
In this start-up period, while we figure out the place for Social Networking in business, we need to remember we can’t do everything. There’s a growing need to understand blogging and other Web 2.0 and 3.0 options – what can they do, what does it take and what are the best ways to use or not use this vast array. Can we have it in simple terms – and perhaps even more importantly, what do they replace or what do we drop to fit them in?
I just heard a marketing guru who successfully specializes in getting PR at every turn say, “I’ve got a blog; I have no idea why, but they say you have to have one, so I got one.” He was articulate and to the point about what other things you need to do to boost PR, but here he was clearly lost – and not even touching on newer social networking alternatives.
The best advice this past week came from VP, Susan Van Klink, of Select Minds (www.SelectMinds.com) where they specialize Social Networking tools for use within companies to get employees sharing information and networking better. She advises: avoid knee-jerk reactions and watch security.
Don’t ban employees from blogging and networking, but help them understand company rules still make sense – pay attention to confidentiality of information, the fact your words will live forever on the Internet (and may reflect badly on both you and the company) and don’t get hooked into something you haven’t thought through from a security point of view, whether individual identity or leaking company information might be the issue. In general, proceed… but watch and think first, cautiously and with small steps till you have a feel for where things are going. If you don’t have time for much, let others make the mistakes while systems and approaches shake out. Look for the simpler, single, proven uses.
Best “Better Management” Blog
Author: Dave Crisp17 Mar
John Hollon, Editor-in-Chief, of Workforce Management writes one of the best blogs you can find on management. (Free registration is required, but it’s not intrusive at all.) He comments with insight and dedication, identifying and suggesting alternatives for problem management styles. His job is watching employment news so he can always find items that make your hair stand on end.
John’s logic and common sense make you wonder how these managers get to where they are. Recent comments about Bob Nardelli, echoing others a year before his outrageous severance package, make it obvious why that outcome was inevitable – and make you wonder why Chrysler thinks he might work out there. It’s only a matter of time for guys like this. The bigger question is whether they will take down the entire company – a real possibility in this case. But, still, how do they get there to begin with? This one has to make you question the legacy of Jack Welch, Nardelli’s former CEO and a GE Board that would even let him get to the level of consideration.
One problem is the immense power we accord the role of "boss" in any organization. Thousands of bosses at every level lament they can’t fire anyone because of union rules, legal protection and other impediments to free-wheeling lashing out. They go through life frustrated, yet it’s often with these bosses specifically that somehow everyone feels punished… and not just the weak or bad ones, but almost everyone working for them.
Bad bosses create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Most of their best employees leave because they can and they hate where they are. The boss may not be able to fire the bad ones, but finds plenty of ways to force the good to leave. The remainder tend to be exactly those the boss deserves, complains about and feels justified in persecuting and ordering about. It becomes a reinforcing downward spiral into misery, minimal effort and poor results.
Only when a company builds a culture that develops good and refuses to tolerate bad behavior will we see this change. Developing positive habits in how people are treated isn’t difficult, but everyone has to make it a priority. Then the bad employees, including the bad managers, leave because they are passed over, can’t get a foothold and don’t want to be faced daily with the fact they don’t fit.
Most people don’t know they have the skills they need for great leadership and results, nor how to have a great positive impact on others. They’re not sure exactly which skills are important, how these work together or how to practice. That’s where Crisp Leadership Strategies fits. Having direct experience both leading and training high level leaders in urgent, high pressure situations we offer short cuts and short answers to doing it yourself easily. Read more…
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