20 Things They Never Told Us About Going Social

 ‘Pecha Kucha’ (literally – “Chit Chat” in Japanese) is a short presentation of 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each. The 20×20 format allows the presenter to talk for six minutes and 40 seconds – no more, no less – on a personal passion, project or interest of their choice. 

I was recently asked to present the Top 20 things I’d learned about Social Media in the past year.  I could talk about this for hours. So I imposed a self-limiting Pecha Kucha. It was great fun as I struggled to keep up with the auto-timed slides.

Try it – it can turn that boring 40 minute presentation into double espresso.

The orginal slideshare is available below. But please read on and see my extended remix of the Top 20 Things They Never Told Us About Going Social.

20 – They Never Told Us It Would Be This Fast: It’s perfectly acceptable not to be able to keep up with Social Media. In fact , you can’t keep up. So stop trying to.

19 – Don’t DO social , BE Social: If it feels like an effort – you aren’t doing it right. It should be fun to keep your community engaged. If it’s not , it won’t be much fun for your community either.

18 – Don’t just follow friends , follow people you’d cross the road to avoid: Embrace diversity. Get your opinions challenged. It’s fun to exchange views with people you’d never go for a pint with. Just don’t fall out.

17 – It’s 9 parts about others , 1 part about you: Share the content of others generously rather than talk about yourself. People will love you for it. Think: Every 10th post can be about me.

16 – Social Media is just an extension of your personality: Do it badly and it reflects on only one person. You.

15 – Online is as good as offline – sometimes better: Don’t listen to the snobs who say you can’t form “real” relationships online. You can. And online meetings are just as good as offline. Just a lot cheaper.

14- Prune your followers – it’s essential to growing a tribe: Sometimes you need a trim to allow the new roots to show through. Relationships don’t have to be forever.

13 – Digital Exclusion – There are as many staff who lack digital literacy as social tenants: Line all the housing association residents in the UK up against the HA staff. See who is more internet savvy. I reckon the residents will win.

12 – Wifi is like electricity – people need it to do their jobs properly: A social business is not a desktop business. People need Wifi. No employer can expect staff to eat into their data plans for the good of the company.

11 – It can take over your life – balance it: Look , my other half is glaring at me even as I type this. We all need a break sometime.

10 – The organisations that do it well have one thing in common – TRUST: forget size, forget money, forget resources. The leaders in social media trust their people not to **** up. That is all.

9 – The longer your policy on Social Media the fewer people will ever take part: The Bromford policy is essentially “If you wouldn’t say it out loud in the Cafe area – don’t post it online”. We have hundreds of users. I know an organisation that has an 87 page policy. Only one person uses it.

8 – We all have a Social CV. The worst ones are blank: Google yourself. It’s better you do it before your next employer does. Your online footprint matters. And a digital shadow is worse than any footprint.

7 – It’s not about followers. It’s about relationships: That difficult first month on social media? 10 friends or followers? It’s not about numbers. It’s about interaction and engagement. Always.

6 – Conferences without a hashtag are no longer worth booking: It’s not just about who you meet there - It’s about who you connect with – online – while you are there. Conferences that fail to utilise social to engage the crowd will not exist within a year. It’s like the Premiership – the real money is the audience who are watching around the world – not just the people in your stadium.

5 – People make mistakes online, don’t beat them up: We are all human. We are all learning to deal with this social web. Forgive people for their mistakes. You will need forgiveness yourself someday soon.

4 – If your CEO gets it – great. If they don’t and won’t – leave: Leadership matters. If you have given your all and tried to change attitudes to being a social collaborative business and they just won’t buy it – it’s time to look elsewhere. Other people will snap you up.

3 – You can make social part of the fabric of work: The argument about not having time for it disappears when it becomes ingrained in what you do. Encourage a social workplace. Integrate it. As long as you are still “in the room” – it’s OK to  tweet in meetings

2 – Social Media is the first new leadership responsibility of the 21st Century: The question I get asked most is “how do you manage it?” It’s the first leadership skill that there isn’t a “How To” guide written for. You can’t manage social , you can only be a social leader.

1 – It never stops.

(Image via @fondalo. Pecha Kucha originally presented at #HGD13)

BYOD: The Right (Digital) Tools For The Job – and The Person

My Desk – A Pick and Mix of Company IT and BYOD

Bring your own device (BYOD) is a disruptive phenomenon where employees bring non-company IT into the organisation and demand to be connected to everything.

70% of mobile professionals will conduct their work on personal smart devices by 2018 – Gartner

The need for people to have the correct tools to do their jobs has been part of management think since before the Industrial Revolution. Yet I’ve heard three examples in the past month about employers that are not fully embracing digital as a more efficient way of working.

• An organisation supplied mobile tablets to staff but restricts them from downloading any apps from Google Play.  Social Networking is banned. So the staff (and customers) get about 10% of the benefits of this technology.
• A Care worker told me her employer will not supply or support mobile devices with an internet connection. In order to arrange for her clients dog to be looked after during a hospital stay she had to return home within work time to look for local resources online.  (As a nice conclusion to this story – she found someone on a community blog who lives just around the corner.  They offered to walk and feed the dog for free – no thanks to the employer.)
• A company who will not allow people to access work emails on a personal device. Certain staff actually do it anyway as they don’t like the company issue mobile devices.

The first example shows how we can still apply old century IT practices to new world technology. IT used be about security and setting boundaries. It’s now about facilitating and supporting connective curiosity across a range of screens and apps.
The second shows how out of touch some people are with how information is accessed.  Search is first. Phone is secondary. If you are sending people out into the community without a search facility you are essentially tying their hands behind their backs.
The third shows a total misunderstanding of the connected employee. Many of us are blurring the lines between work and play and we need connectivity that suits us – not the company. Your IT policy is not respected in the same way it was.

The days of  ”standard issue” are over. Employers have to recognise they are supporting a range of colleagues with different levels of requirements and ability

So why are some employers resistant to providing the right tools for the job?

There is still a perception that equipping people with smartphones is expensive. It’s not , it’s a relatively small investment that has a return.

And , despite BYOD creeping into the office , many employers would fail to articulate their approach. The main concerns are about data security which, just like access to social media , can be managed with a mix of policy, training and education.

Let me talk about Bromford and explain the picture at the opening of the post.  Bromford encourage BYOD but also have an IT fallback option. I believe you need both.

How do I work? I have access to a Wyse terminal which means I can sit anywhere in the company and access all my files and resources. 

 I choose to have a company supplied tablet. But I don’t like the company supplied smartphone so I choose to use my own.

You don’t need a laptop if you have a tablet but I’m fussy so I use my own Mac – as I like its functionality.

I can pick up any of my work documents on any device through Citrix Apps – including word documents if I’m working from an Apple device.

IT protocols are in place about the precautions I must take on my personal devices and as they respect me , I respect them. 

It’s the perfect pick and mix.

Latest research from Gartner suggests that by 2017, half of employers may impose a mandatory BYOD policy — requiring staff to bring their own laptop, tablet and smartphone to work. I think we are a long way from that, particularly in the non-for-profit sector where many roles are lower paid and will require an IT fallback option.

It’s time to re-evaluate every part of your business and see how mobile solutions can be deployed. And that should start with the people who are out there serving customers. They should be the most connected people in your business.

But what do you think? How is BYOD and company supplied IT working for you?

How To Keep Your Customers Loving Your Brand

Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room” - Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon

This is one of the most interesting infographics I’ve seen recently.

• The huge advocacy for Amazon is amazing.  95% of those surveyed say they “Love the Brand”.
• But TUI – the German travel company that most of us know for operating Thomson and First Choice Holidays have the opposite relationship with Generation Y. An astonishing 99.4% say  the brand “is not for me”.

What have Amazon done to get pretty much 100% of an age group as fans? 

And what on earth has TUI done to disengage an entire generation?

To help us understand – I present my experiences of the two brands over the past few years.

I’m unashamed in my love of Amazon.

Amazon , for my money , provide the best low cost customer experience in the world.

Amazon.co.uk isn’t a website – it’s a living breathing eco-system. The reason Amazon are lousy at social media is they don’t have to be good at it. It’s all contained in Amazon World.

Amazon got to know me on our first date. They discovered what I like and since then have made some really helpful recommendations.  They never let me down. When one of their suppliers has messed up they have taken full responsibility without us arguing.

They never , ever , talk about themselves. Only about me.

I have only spoken to the mythical Amazon people once. I broke my Kindle. It was my fault. But they didn’t even want to know that. All they said was – ” Mr Taylor – our priority now is to get you a new Kindle as soon as possible”. That was on a Sunday evening in a telephone call from somewhere in the US.

I had a new Kindle the following morning.

I love them and it feels like they love me too.

I love holidays. And there was a time I was in love with Thomson.  But Thomson don’t pay me much attention except when they want my money.

I used to spend a lot on them. I don’t have kids and am lucky enough to travel fairly often. I always complete their surveys on the flight back. But I’ve never once heard back from them.

I arrive home and they send me an email to say “When are you booking again?”.

Once they asked me to take part in an exercise to design a new loyalty scheme. I told them that I didn’t like their proposals but had lots of ideas I could share with them. They never got back in touch with me.

Last year I forgot to pay the balance on my holiday. By one day. It was the first time in 10 years I had ever done this.

They said they were sorry but they had resold the holiday. They had a new policy on late payments as a lot of customers were letting them down. I pointed out that I was a loyal customer with two other holidays booked with them at that time.

They said the policy applied to everyone regardless of loyalty.

They said I should speak to complaints and see if I could get my money back.

I’ve never had a bad holiday with them. But sometimes in a relationship you can get taken for granted.

It was time to call it a day whilst we were still friends.

What do these two experiences tell us?

Generation Y are no different from you or I . They like companies to engage with them and treat them like they are special. They hate companies talking about themselves – they thrive on being part of an experience. A relationship that matters.

But this post isn’t really about Amazon or TUI.

• It’s about the Charity who takes £5 out of a donors bank account every month and keeps asking them to pay a bit more.
• It’s about the Housing Association tenant who has been resident for 20 years without a thank you for paying their rent each and every month.
• It’s about mobile phone providers who don’t proactively offer you reductions in your contract before your renewal date.

It’s about organisations not listening to what people are saying about them when they are not in the room.

So listen to Jeff Bezos.

Be in the room.

The Top 50 Power Players In Housing [Klout Edition]

“The list doesn’t destroy culture; it creates it. Wherever you look in cultural history, you will find lists. In fact, there is a dizzying array. We like lists because we don’t want to die.” – Umberto Eco

We all love a good list.

You know – The top 500 movies of all time. The best albums ever recorded. The 50 funniest comedians.

The only reason we don’t like lists are if we disagree with them. Or worse – if we are not featured in them.

I had both reactions when reading The Top 50 Power Players In Housing – recently featured in 24Housing Magazine. It’s a list of the supposed great and the good within the Social Housing sector in the UK. The full list is featured here.

First of all – I’m joking. I think lists like this are a bit of fun – no more , no less. I don’t think being featured in 24Housing Magazine guarantees immortality. It’s just interesting to see who your peers rate as influential. And it would be unnatural if we didn’t get a frisson of anticipation as we wait to find out whether our colleagues have been noted for their achievements.

But my main thought on reading the list and hence the reason for writing this post was - “What would Generation Y think of this?”

And what about the new social media super-connectors who have emerged since the walls came down between sectors like housing , health, care and technology.

How many of these people would they honestly recognise? For example – 5 of the Top 10 Power Players have no meaningful social media profile. Surely that is worth some debate?

So I started thinking about what the list would look like if we ranked people according to their digital footprint. How different would the list look if it was voted for by users of social media? And what if Klout, Kred or PeerIndex had created it?

So I’ve produced an alternative. And I’ve used Klout – simply because it’s the most well known social scoring platform.

Now – we could argue all day about the methodology that Klout uses. And we could do the same over the methodology that 24Housing used as well. The point here is not to say Klout is anything more than a vanity metric – I’m just comparing two approaches to measuring perceived influence.

If you want my views on the concept of social scoring or more information about what it is – you can read it in my post The Delicate Balance of Online and Offline Influence.

So how have I approached this?

• I’ve used exactly the same process as 24Housing. So all the people on the original list were included in my sample.
• I’ve then checked the Klout scores of the people on the list and other people that I know have an online presence within Social Housing. If their Klout score was higher they replaced one of the original Power Players.
• I have also – similar to the original – added in people who don’t work directly in housing but who Klout says influence people. So for example, neither Alistair Somerville or John Popham work within the sector – but they are noted as online influencers. I have also included people who frequently share housing related information or take part in debates.

So here you go – the alternative Power Players……

[You are best viewing it in full screen mode or if you have trouble click on this Power Players link.]

So , first thoughts?

Astonishingly – only 14 of the original Power Players remain on the list. This shows divergent views of online as opposed to real world influence.

I’m also struck by the apparent democratising effect of social media. CEOs disappear almost completely and are replaced by people with less seniority – in the traditional sense at least. There is also a higher number of women. I don’t know everybody’s ages but at least 3 of the top 10 influencers are under the age of 30.

If you remove politicians and civil servants only five people remain on both lists – Nick Atkin , Julia Unwin , Matt Leach, Jules Birch and Lara Oyedale.

Is that acceptable in a world where digital presence and engagement are more important than ever? Perhaps it is.

Perhaps we are seeing the emergence of online and offline worlds with different movers and shakers. Or perhaps one represents the present and one represents the more connected and inclusive future of the sector.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

How Social Is Your CEO?

Last week I ran a workshop for a number of Chief Executives. Whilst preparing my slidedeck (which is featured above) I spoke to a friend who is the Managing Director of a medium sized business.

They have a very basic website. No media links.

When I asked why he doesn’t use social media , he answered simply:

Paul , I don’t have the time you have. My customers don’t use it. There is no reason for me to waste any time on it. I’ve asked my staff on many occasions what the business case is and all they say is - everyone else is doing it, we should too….

You know what? If I was him I would be exactly the same. If people can’t articulate a compelling reason for social why would a very busy person waste their time on it?

If your CEO isn’t using social, or doesn’t see that embedding it in your organisation is important, maybe you need to have a different conversation? Perhaps you need to make it more relevant to them as senior leaders.

These are my tips for why it makes business sense to be a Social CEO:

1: Forget social media – it’s about being a social business

If your conversation with your CEO starts with why you need a Facebook account you have probably lost them already. The real leadership benefit of using social tools is that used well they can reinforce the purpose and values of your organisation. If you are just pushing product and you don’t need to engage customers then maybe social isn’t for you.  But if you are about more than business then it can amplify your social and ethical goals.

2:  It will make you more visible, people will like you more

A CEO loves to be visible. (If they don’t I suggest you have another , more serious, problem). Internal enterprise networks , such as  Yammer , boost executive visibility. They can also democratise the organisation and destroy hierarchy. That’s a good thing by the way.

3: You are missing out on recruiting the best people

A Gen Y colleague told me the other day that they “couldn’t work for a leader who wasn’t visible on social”. It’s an increasing trend for talented people seeking work to check out the social profile of the company – but also that of the recruiting managers.  I do not believe any CEO would knowingly miss out on adding the very best talent to their organisation. If a competitor is recruiting and they are social and you are not – it’s pretty much a certainty that the better talent is going their way.

4: Customers will trust your organisation more

Leadership visibility promotes an open and transparent culture to customers and stakeholders. In the same way that an internal social presence removes hierarchy – showing your visibility to customers gives you a human face. You are no longer the person on a big salary behind the closed door in an office a long way away. You are in reach.

5:  You are missing out on vital market intelligence

A CEO who doesn’t promote a digital presence runs the risk of marginalising their organisation. New relationships and business propositions form minute by minute today. They cross sectors and they can even cross continents. Those annual conferences you go to are becoming an irrelevance. The social digital organisation is more connected, aware and adaptive.

This is the advice I would give a CEO about going social – but I’m sure there are other benefits. Please add any thoughts in the comments box they are hugely appreciated.

Why Social Recruitment Is Disrupting How We Apply For Jobs

What if your next employer spent ten minutes searching your online profile? Are you happy with everything they would find?

Last week I posted about how social media could land you your next job and the dangers of online professional invisibility. But having a badly curated profile can be even more damaging when it comes to job search.

But should recruiters be looking anyway?

In his thought provoking post “The Application Of Social Media – Using #SM in HR” – Phil Lyons raises issues of potential discrimination against job applicants, and the dangers of unfair judgements about candidate suitability. Phil recounts advice he was given rather than presenting his own views. This included the suggestion of a ban on the use of social media during an application process. Essentially a hiring manager was NOT to check someone’s online activities.

But do the people who are giving this advice really understand how SM is used in practice?

In response to the post John Popham questioned whether recruitment may be one of those areas in which the current rules have been overtaken by the pace of change. That “the concept of infringing privacy can’t apply to social media because content is, by definition, in the public sphere.”

I think he could be right.

If I were to recuit a role on my team the first place you will hear about it is on SM. And rightly or wrongly , I’m going to make an initial judgement about a candidate based upon their digital profile. I would expect that if I was applying for a job. I think we have to accept that initial opinions will be formed about you online rather than face to face.

Of course – this is problematic. It could be argued that your online presence is more real than the image you choose to present when you walk into an interview room. Generally it won’t be as polished and you are more likely to see someone’s true opinions. And – social media is all about opinions. Unless you only post pictures of kittens, it’s likely that someone may take exception to one of your posts.

Interviewing someone begins the moment you connect online.

Old recruitment went something like this:

But isn’t modern recruitment more akin to this?

OK , I exaggerate for effect. But the normal rules of recruitment are being disrupted.

Just this week we have seen another new approach. Pizza Hut stated that interviews for a new post would take place in 140 seconds. Follow up interviews will take place via a Google Hangout. Your application is being made public and crowdsourced. Of course a lot of this is about brands gaining valuable PR by using unconventional approaches – but the point is that social recruiting is happening.

So – do we need new rules? I don’t think we can expect them just yet – this is still an emerging area. Both recruiters and applicants have got to adjust to the online world and find an approach that is both ethical and fair. Jobseekers need to be sensible , curate their profile and search themselves on a regular basis.

Recruiters need to respect that people have a life. Someone who has been on that weekend in Magaluf and posted some very embarrassing photo’s has made a mistake. But is also human.

And personally I’d rather recruit someone who shows they are a real human being – flaws and all – over someone who has zero digital footprint.

What do you think? Does there need to be more control over what employers can use in an application process?

Adapt or Die: 3 Challenges To Going Digital

Yesterday was a significant day. The sector in which I work put on a huge show of newly found digital awareness. My Twitter timeline nearly melted.

As Shirley Ayres correctly observed:

This , just one year after the 2012 Northern Housing Consortium Social Media event – which was the first mainstream housing conference to promote digital.

So , with such success behind us, why am I still talking about business needing to change?

Because we can never stand still. Brian Solis describes our present as a “time when technology and society are evolving faster than the ability of many organisations to adapt.”

Despite the huge strides we have made over the past year – our pace of change is still not fast enough.

Let us use Google as an example.

Earlier in the year I was travelling abroad – which involved needing to arrange transport via ferry between a couple of islands. As I was sitting on the beach I got my new camera out. And it’s a Smart camera.

It has Google Now on it, an intelligent personal assistant for the Android operating system.

And the home screen , which I’ve never used before, is all about me. It tells me the time back in the UK. The best places to visit locally. The exchange rate. It tells me the next fixture of the football team I support. And , most significantly, it tells me the timetable of the ferry I need to catch. Even though I never searched for it.

Never used before. But it’s predicting my behaviour and offering me a solution to my problem.

Housing Associations, the Police, Social Care providers and the NHS – to name just a few – hold incredible amounts of data about people. Imagine if they used it like Google Now to solve peoples problems?

These are 3 immediate challenges I think we have to face up to in order that our organisations become “digitally social” :

1: Leadership and Skills

We still have some managers in positions of influence who don’t acknowledge digital as important. I still hear daily examples of organisations who block access to social media or don’t believe in making sure their employees have the necessary tools to do the job.

With the current pace of technological change this is about the single most destructive position you can take as a leader. Not promoting a digital work-style for your employees is to severely curtail their personal development and to put your organisation at risk of extinction.

I love the quote that Vala Afshar used to explain why his companies latest position is to be offered exclusively by social media “(We are) a social company looking to hire candidates that are customer focused and passionately engaged. (We are) looking for builders – relationship builders.”

If your company isn’t looking for those. Why not?

2: Innovation and Collaboration

The role for many public service organisations is to actively mainstream the innovation that is already out there. There are loads of innovators and entrepreneurs who just need a route to market. Some of them may already be employed by you.

This requires mind shift on behalf of organisations who think inside out. The best stuff could be going on outside your organisation not inside it – we need to get out and grab it. This has significant implications for the way Information Technology is supported and developed. IT has done a very good job for years of keeping people from accessing data – it now needs to let people in.

For housing this means delivering services around the person. Tyze is a great example of an innovative person centred community network that links neighbours, friends and professionals.

We haven’t cracked digital just because we have a Facebook page.

3: A new Customer Relationship

The biggest challenge I think we face is to reimagine the relationship with the public in the context of digital and social technology. It isn’t about just moving our services from offline to online. It’s about using the digital platform to think how the relationship could be enhanced. Thinking customers are going to flock online to pay their rent and view repairs is starting from the completely wrong position.

That’s why at Bromford – we are focussing on a completely new deal for customers, supported by digital innovations from a specialist team, partner developers and innovators.

We need to add value. Solve problems for customers – not ourselves.

Look at Google. They are trying to solve everything.

We could too.

[The content of this post was originally presented at the Chartered Institute Of Housing South East Conference 7th March 2013]

The Social CV: How Social Media Could Get You Your Next Job

I often joke with a friend of mine that if they ever lost their job they would be unemployable. Because they have a great CV but zero digital footprint. No LinkedIn , no Twitter , no Facebook. Nothing.

I ask them to imagine a future where you don’t have a CV or resume. A future where your talent and achievements are broken down into tweetable chunks. Your professional life , and a good bit of your personal too, is available online for all to see. You are scored according to your worth and the value of your followers. Your score can determine whether you get that job interview.

And they laugh at me. ‘Paul , you are such a geek.’ As if that is ever going to happen.

Except it has happened. In 2013. At least if you are applying for a job at Enterasys Networks.

As many of you will already know the web was set alight when Vala Afshar pronounced the death of the CV.   “The Web is your résumé” he said “Social networks are your mass references”.

Enterasys have just broken new ground with their latest job advertisement. The minimum requirements for which are:

• A Klout score above 60
• A Kred influence score of 725
• 1,000 active Twitter followers

This has made a lot of people start frothing at the mouth at the absurdity of it all. It’s a natural reaction when someone proposes a completely new way of doing something.

But I’m more interested in the opportunities this presents than its flaws. I think Vala is right for trying to disrupt the way companies recruit people. Why shouldn’t we start using social influence and the Social CV as part of recruitment?

Most minimum job requirements are based on what people achieved in school. If I were to apply for a job tomorrow the first thing it will ask me after my name and address is what I did 20 years ago. A time when jobs required completely different skills.

But we are still hung up about educational attainment. Even when it has no practical relevance to what we are applying for.

Don’t believe me?

A former colleague of mine recently applied for a job and was told that because a GCSE didn’t meet the required grade they were an unsuitable candidate. They came with my full endorsement – someone I’d employ again in a heartbeat.  The qualification that scuppered their job chances was 15 years old –  everything they had done since was irrelevant to the employer. And this wasn’t some blue chip city firm – it was a housing association- a business supposedly founded on the principle of giving people a second chance.

15 years of achievement and all it comes down to is what’s written on a piece of paper.

How absurd.

What I like about the idea of a Social CV is it is a genuine meritocracy. Anyone , anywhere can become influential on social media. Regardless of educational performance you can reinvent yourself online. Whatever their faults – Kred and Klout have something that educational qualifications will never have – they are bang up to date.

• Go on holiday and your Klout score declines
• People stop finding you engaging? You lose Kred.

Surely something like RebelMouse , that creates a Social front page based on your digital presence , paints a more relevant picture of you than the conventional CV?

Social Media has changed recruitment forever. HR teams and employers must change their practices to adapt to it , not expect social media to adapt to them.

I would agree that the concept of the Social CV has got a lot of maturing to do. But it will become accepted as employers realise that social media skills are becoming a necessity.

But what do you think? Could the Social CV replace the traditional approach?

Why Living In Paradise Is Bad For Business

When you live in paradise – it’s easy to get lazy.

Here is a story about what can happen when you don’t anticipate change. When you get used to things being easy for everyone. It’s a story you will have heard before but, like all the best tales , is as relevant today as when it was first told:

There was once a lucky little bird who lived on an island. It was one of the most beautiful places on earth. Not only was it beautiful – it was safe. Nobody wanted to eat the bird. Nobody tried to muscle in on the birds turf.

The fruit that the bird collected from the trees was abundant and delicious. After a while the bird stopped collecting the fruit , as left to ripen it fell off the tree on its own. Far more convenient! Why would you go chasing food if you can have it delivered direct to your table?

The bird became bigger. Eventually it couldn’t even be bothered to fly. Why would you? The island is gorgeous, the food goes down a treat, and there is zero competition for nest space. You’d have to be an idiot to screw this life up!

But one day a ship appeared on the horizon. On the ship were men and women from a country far far away. And they brought dogs with them. And cats.

Not a problem , thought the bird, I’ll just fly away – there are plenty of decent islands around here with fruit just as good.

But its wings , left idle for so long , didn’t work anymore. Damn it.

As the bird went along to introduce itself to the dogs and cats – it wished that it had never become reliant on that delicious fruit falling from the trees. Never mind, it thought – guess I’ll have to learn to fly again.

The island was Mauritius. The bird , of course , the Dodo.

Last week an article made me think of this story. It contained a quote that said an entire sector , Social Housing , could become extinct because of alterations that are being made to how it gets paid.

Many of you reading this don’t work in housing so will not understand the changes. So – let me explain in simple terms how this works :

• Quite a few people who live in social housing get benefits for their rent. To make it easy for everyone the benefits are paid – electronically – to the landlord. It’s convenient , frictionless, and the actual customer doesn’t have to worry about any of it. (OK , that sounds like business model paradise to you guys who don’t work in housing. But stick with me….)

• The Government is trying to get the benefit paid direct to the customer. The idea seems to be that people should take responsibility for budgeting and stuff. But some customers aren’t really skilled enough to sort things out for themselves. A load of them don’t even have banks. Plus – customers don’t want the hassle of having to pay rent. So , it would be easier all round to stick with the old system. (OK , stop laughing – I know business doesn’t work like that in YOUR world.)

Why did the article make me think of the Dodo?

Because things were always going to change. History teaches us that. Why are we surprised?

We know that any modern business has to habitually innovate and re-invent itself. If it doesn’t and it gets too comfortable – it will become extinct. And it will deserve to.

Whichever sector you work in you are at risk of:

• Stronger competitors
• Disruptive technology
• Demographic changes in your market
• Changes in the economy
• Changes that alter the way customers access your business
• Or changes in politics and regulations

Your business is under threat. All the time. Get used to it.

There are lots of ships on the horizon. And they all contain disruptions to the way we do things.

We better get those wings working.

5 Social Media Policies That You Can Love

I posted last week about How Your Social Media Policy Could Kill Your Culture. It was about the “control creep” that’s affecting some organisations as they try to protect themselves from a social media firestorm.

In this post I want to look at a few organisations whose policies and guidance acknowledge the risks but see far greater benefit in their colleagues being digitally active. Here are five of the approaches I like – together with a link to their policy or guidance. Hope you like them too.

1 – The Police Service

For my money no public service has embraced social media as well as the Police. If you doubt this I would recommend you subscribe to the excellent blog from Russell Webster – who frequently highlights best practice in police digital engagement Each authority has its own policy but I want to draw your attention to the superlative guide put together by Gordon Scobbie and his colleagues. Called Engage: Digital and Social Media Engagement For The Police Service it’s the very best demystification of the professional use of social media I have seen.

Best Bit:

I love the mythbusting that is incorporated into the guidance. Here’s an example:

2 – Gap

Unfortunately the Gap guidance is not available for the public – but the main points are here. The policy itself is issued to all employees in a handy iPhone-size brochure. Entitled “OMG you will never guess what happened at work today!!” it’s written in an entirely conversational style.

Even the warnings are written as you would say them:

Best Bit:

I love this bit of advice for when you realise you have posted something you shouldn’t have:

“If you !%@# up? Correct it immediately and be clear about what you’ve done to fix it.”

3 – Bromford Group

Look , I know I work for them. But even if I didn’t I would say that Bromford have one of the most enlightened approaches to social media around. Like Gap – the Bromford guidance is written in a very conversational style – and it sets out very clearly the difference between what it calls a business , sponsored and personal account.

Best Bit:

I love the fact the guidance is very visual. This is an inspired way to sum up your advice:

4 – Kirklees Council

Kirklees treat social media really seriously. So seriously their policy and guidance has it’s own website. It’s jam packed full of advice , case studies , forums and useful tips. This is an organisation who who have applied a huge amount of thought to how they are going to support colleagues and stakeholders.

Best Bit:

I love the 3 Steps to Using Social Media. I think many organisations could learn from this Listen , Participate , Transform approach to going social:

5 – Southwest Airlines

Southwest are masters in using digital to engage with customers and tell the story of their brand. I’ve never flown with them so I have no idea if the reality matches the sheer brilliance of their customer engagement. If you haven’t seen their community and , especially , their blog – you should have a look.

Their guidelines are more prescriptive than the others – but I like the way it’s just 8 points on one page in clear language.

Best Bit:

It’s straight-talking. I like this……

These are five of my favourites – but which others have you seen? I’d love to hear…..