Group items tagged

blog post by Chris Collison, 1.31.13, on how we have problems asking for help because it betrays our ignorance or incompetence. Excerpt: Of course, it's not exclusively a male problem, but it does seem to be the case that men suffer from this syndrome more than women. It's hard to ask for help. We have all had times when we have that nagging sense that "there might be a better way to do this", or "perhaps someone else has already figured this one out". What stops us from asking around for solutions and ideas for improvement? Sometimes it's a sense that we're supposed to know the answers. Why would I want to show everyone else that I'm incompetent? That doesn't seem like a route to promotion. However, once I've solved my problem, I'll be happy to share my solution. The truth is, the biggest challenge to organisations who want to get more from what they know, isn't that they have a knowledge sharing problem. It's that they have an asking problem.

Blog post by Chris Collison on 2.26.13, that discusses reciprocity in fostering a learning atmosphere and adoption of best practice in an organization. Excerpt: "Reciprocity is an important principle for knowledge management, and one which underpins the idea of Offers and Requests. Offers and Requests was a simple approach, introduced to make it easier for Operations Engineers at BP to ask for help, and to share good practice with their peers. The idea was for each business unit to self-assess their level of operational excellence using a maturity model, and identify their relative strengths and weaknesses. In order to overcome barriers like "tall poppy syndrome", or a reluctance to ask for help ("real men don't ask directions"), a process was put in place whereby every business unit would be asked to offer three areas which they felt proud of, and three areas which they wanted help with. The resulting marketplace for matching offers and requests was successful because: i) The principle of offering a strength at the same time as requesting help was non-threatening and reciprocal - it was implicitly fair. ii) The fact that every business unit was making their offers and requests at the same time meant that it felt like a balanced and safe process."

This article provides some wonderful tips to women in the business world who find it necessary to approach others to sell products, ideas or services. "I've always had a pretty good relationship with the idea of being a salesperson.  For some reason, even from an early age, I had it in my head that sales was simply about finding people who wanted what I had to offer. So, for instance, selling Camp Fire Girls candy in grade school held no terrors for me: I'd go around and ask people if they wanted to buy it, and if not, I'd ask the next person.  I figured there was no harm in asking, even if they didn't want it - and them not wanting it didn't have anything to do with me; maybe they didn't like candy, or were on a diet, or had already bought some from somebody else."

article by Diane Stafford at Kansas City Star, 9/20/13 on whether to use Facebook for work connections. It is not a clear progression of tips. Nor does it start from the very first thing one should do: find out about the workplace policy on using social media. 1. Let your boss ask first (?? meaning don't initiate?) 2. Check out how co-workers link (makes sense) 3. Ask first (makes sense to ask workers f2f about connecting) 4. Review your profile (looking for professionally harmful information on pages--makes sense to do regardless of Facebook friends at work) 5. Set privacy settings (yes, good practice to set privacy settings)

A group of friends in Mexico, all entrepreneurs, started talking about their failed ventures. The conversation engendered such deep learning and reflection, they created a regular meeting where they modified the Japanese Petcha-Kutcha model of presenting slides for and narrating the slides for a very brief time. The Mexico group named these f2f thriving on failure group Fuck Up night. Others around the world began to hear about the FuckUp night via social media, and soon were asking the Mexico group if they could replicate the model. Now FuckUp nights are global, and the original group only asks that the model be followed, and any slides and videos of the presentations be shared with the world on the fuckup nights website.

A group of friends in Mexico, all entrepreneurs, started talking about their failed ventures. The conversation engendered such deep learning and reflection, they created a regular meeting where they modified the Japanese Petcha-Kutcha model of presenting slides for and narrating the slides for a very brief time. The Mexico group named these f2f thriving on failure group Fuck Up night. Others around the world began to hear about the FuckUp night via social media, and soon were asking the Mexico group if they could replicate the model. Now FuckUp nights are global, and the original group only asks that the model be followed, and any slides and videos of the presentations be shared with the world on the fuckup nights website.

Good Slideshare program on questions to ask and answer to establish need for rebranding before doing so; David Brier, DBD International, Slideshare, March 13, 2013

Interesting blog post bu Elizabeth MacBride, April 5, 2013, on virtual partnerships, 5 secrets 1. must have the same agenda 2. you actually like the person 3. complementary skill sets or traits 4. open lines of communications 5. good legal underpinnings Excerpt "Our number-one rule - and the glue that holds our partnership together - is keeping the workload manageable. We don't take on too many clients, and we don't hold ourselves to unrealistic standards for production. "Our business is focused on helping people navigate a big, ongoing trend-the shift from traditional jobs to an economy built around freelance, contract and temporary work. Pulling all-nighters at the business and cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world, as we might at a venture-capital backed startup, doesn't seem like the right way for us," Pofeldt says. "Why not enjoy one of the best parts of freelancing: the freedom to have an active life outside of work without apologizing for it?" Barry "CB" Martin and Larry Gaian are food writers and marketers-for-hire who met via their common networks. "This year I started several new ventures," Martin wrote via email. "I asked him to be a sounding board. On one of the ideas, he was thinking along the same lines so we decided to combine forces." They're working together under the moniker Guys In Aprons, asking food companies to hire them to write recipe posts and interview expert chefs."

From ReferralCandy.com on the difference between social networks and social media. Examines the history of using these terms: prior to 2010, social network was more widely used. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter were just trying to connect people together. However, after 2010 both FB and Twitter started to become news and resource sources and the emphasis changed from connections to content. An example from Twitter: Used to ask - What are you doing? Now ask - what is happening?

from CIO.com by Meredith Levinson, Dec. 11, 2007. Some tips for introverts for f2f networking: smart small, don't apologize when asking for help, tap into your primal instincts as a human communal, tribal animal, be yourself, tap into your passions, ask for introductions, be generous, be prepared, follow up, get over your fear of rejection, take risks, see a shrink if you can't open up.

Blog post by Ron Carlee, October 25, 2011, on Societal Impacts of Digital Exclusion, TechSoup for Libraries. He was "asked to comment on the importance of digital technologies from the perspective of local govenrments." Great quote for connected learning value. See cost proposition below: This increased societal connectiveness and awareness, however, is only available if one is connected. If you're not connected, you're really not connected. In an earlier day, we could legitimately debate the importance of a digital divide relative to other public priorities. In its infancy, informational technology was interesting and useful, but was it truly essential for everyone all the time? This is no longer a credible question. Without digital connectivity in the 21st century, people will earn less, pay more for the things they buy, live life with fewer personal connections, and they will not be exposed to virtual worlds of vast knowledge, art, and even frivolity. If we really care about having successful communities of educated people who can compete in a global economy, who are entrepreneurial and creative, if we really want people to connect with one another, if we want our institutions to connect with the people they serve, if we want a sustainable world that improves the lives of all people, then we must ask the question: can any community afford involuntary, digital exclusion for any of its residents?

blog post by Jennifer Gilhool, 6.4.2013 "You are connected to work 24/7. You don't need your lap top to be connected. You are connected via BlackBerry, iPhone and iPad to name just a few. These devices no longer provide flexibility. Instead, they tether you to the office. They enable you to work all the time and anywhere. And, now, many companies believe that is the definition of flexibility: "'What flexibility means today is not part time,' the head of work-life at one large organization told me recently. 'What people want is the ability to work anytime, anywhere.' That's true if your target labor pool is twenty-somethings and men married to homemakers. The head of HR at another large organization asked, when I described the hours problem, 'What do you mean, how can we get women to work more hours?'" - Why Men Work So Many Hours, Joan C. Williams, May 29, 2013 Harvard Business Review Why Your Manager Doesn't Want You To Innovate Ron Ashkenas Ron Ashkenas Contributor LinkedIn: Busting 8 Damaging Myths About What It Can Do For Your Career 85 Broads 85 Broads Contributor Someone has taken the "human" out of "Human Resources" departments across America. And, this behavior is not limited to operations in America. I work for a multi-national corporation that cannot seem to wean itself from the 24 hour work day. Colleagues in China often begin their day with a 6:00 a.m. meeting and end it with a meeting that begins at 10:00 p.m. or, worse, 11:00 p.m. To combat this problem, the company leadership agreed to a global meeting policy. The policy provides that global meetings should occur only between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. and that no meetings should occur on Friday nights in Asia Pacific. Further, the policy provides a 10 hour fatigue rule. In other words, there should be 10 hours between your last meeting of the day and your first meeting on the next day. First, if you need a global meeting policy, you are in

Great infographic by Shea Bennett on December 16, 2013 on how to increase Twitter success Section on what to tweet is interesting, i.e., engagement is 200% higher for tweets with image links, 21% higher when you ask a question, 86% higher when you ask readers to retweet, and 17% higher if tweets are 100 characters or less. Another assertion: Get real followers. It's better to have 100 real followers who engage than 1000 random followers who do you no good. Real followers are more likely to buy from you, will want updates on products, will offer ideas and feedback, etc.

Interesting blog post by Jane Hart on building an enterprise learning network within an enterprise social network. Is the WLS going to be an enterprise learning network? Perhaps not in the usual sense of an organization with employees comprising a workforce. But perhaps it can use some of the same techniques advocated by Hart below: Under Part Two 1. new social approaches to training and online learning--backchannel learning, online social workshops ("participants with a lot of autonomy, so that they participate in the ways that they feel more comfortable and best suits them..." ); tiny training aka microlearning--short bursts of learning ten minutes long... 2. Innovative Learning Initiatives--social onboarding, social mentoring 3. Continuous series of learning activities and events 10 minutes a day - provide a daily link to a place where individuals can spend just 10 minutes learning something new. Note: 10 minutes a day, each weekday adds up to around 6 days of training in a year! Live chats - run regular live Twitter-like live chat sessions on different topics. They might just take place over 1 hour or be a longer all-day event that people can join in at any time. Hot seats - put one of your people (e.g. CEO or a leading expert) in the hot seat for a period of time, and encourage employees to ask them questions. Book club - organise a monthly time for conversation around a book of interest. Lunch'n'Learns - ask someone to lead a short informal session on a topic of interest to them. This might be purely conversational or involve a web meeting or face-to-face meeting, with the ELN used as a backchannel. 4 - SUPPORT OTHER PEOPLE-BASED LEARNING SERVICES Your ESN provides the opportunity to set up and support other learning activities in private group spaces. A Learning Help Desk service (aka Learning Concierge service) which provides an advice centre for ad hoc learning and performance problems. - See more at:

Harold Jarche's lament, January 12, 2015. "Salaried workers and consultants use what I give away in order to earn their livelihood. For the most part, I am fine with this, as it raises my profile and the level of engagement. But it seems we are entering a time when people expect to get whatever information they need for free and feel no obligation to support the people who create it. I am beginning to question my current business model. Last week I was twice asked to work for free. In each case the person asking me to work for 'exposure' was a salaried employee. My bank has yet to accept exposure as a form of payment." Jarche goes onto say that he is changing his business model because this isn't working.

Interesting blog post on D.o.E (depends on experience) job listings in the nonprofit sector but also includes admonition on asking for candidates' job salary history. Will share with LeanIn group

Jenny Mackness does it again: making important distinctions between curriculum led and community led learning within MOOCs; and how the balance may change based on successful formation of learning groups within the MOOC. She also asks about the difference between learning design and planning for learning. 1.14.23 on her blog.

Newsletter by Ann Mehl, a life coach, 1.26.13. Justifies Studio's raison d'etre. Excerpts: "The workplace has changed enormously in recent years. Gone are the days when some benevolent company would direct and manage your career for you, while you dozed off at the wheel. Now more than ever, it is incumbent upon every employee to proactively manage his own career. We have become in essence, a nation of free agents. A company of one. And all successful "companies" must identify and set their priorities in such a way that our goals can be achieved. In the humdrum of work, it's often easy to find yourself adrift, floating aimlessly downstream without clear intent or destination. The days blur into each other, until you have no idea where you are going, or what it was you hoped to achieve. But ask yourself this question: if you're not steering the ship, then who is?" ..."Are there any personal development classes that would make certain parts of my job easier? Should I be speaking with other industry peers in my field so that I remain current? Is there anybody I can identify who might be willing to mentor me while I navigate this tricky next phase of my career?"

Blog post by Barbra Gago, 9.14.12, on importance of individual information consumption/curation. Excerpt: "The future of knowledge management is about letting employees curate their own information consumption, empowering them to be in charge of their own learning and professional development. Conversations need to be indexed, but so do updates from processes, customer interactions, and news about related projects. External data needs to be brought in to enhance internal data, and people need to be able to act in real-time-not ask 5 different people for a file or wait until tomorrow because their manager is half-way across the world."

Blog post by Gerry Moran, 3.9.13, at Marketing Think on how to calculate your Facebook and Twitter success Excerpt for how B2B brands need to use social media: Amplify: Increase the awareness of the brand story and solutions. Engage: Drive customer and prospect engagement with related content. Convert: Provide a way for the customer to convert interest after they become aware and have consumed enough content to move to the next step in the buying journey. To help you understand if you are reaching your goal, it is important for you to understand the right questions to ask to get the right social media measurement. Marketers need to map key social metrics to strategic questions vs. just measuring and blindly reporting how a channel performs.

article by Steve Daigneault, 2.15.2013 on what the Obama campaign staff learned from their fundraising and advocacy program in 2012. Excerpt: "Facebook app made a huge difference for their mobilization efforts. The app allowed the campaign to ask supporters to contact specific people on their friend list based on geography via Facebook. Toby and Marie estimated that millions of additional people were reached this way that weren't reachable via any other channel. Best performing appeals often had the highest unsubscribe rates. Turns out, evoking passion in supporters worked both ways, but ultimately the campaign decided the positive fundraising results were worth the increased unsubscribes. Even when considering retention, the conversion stats outweighed the downside of losing people."