Company social media strategy reflects organization culture — sales

Social media is a wasted investment if the wrong numbers are valued over the right ratios. Social media is not a sales promo blitzkrieg, social media is an engagement strategy.

Culture is the way things are done. Getting something done in a culture is understanding what the culture values and how to navigate.

A relationship built on a transaction is a relationship built on perceived value; sales or otherwise. A relationship built for a sale is a relationship that starts with the end game and that end game is more transparent to the mark than you realize.

Social media strategy provides proof of involvement and the real tolerance an organization has to listen to a diverse community of voices and harness the contrarians.

3 performance review politics that always trump merit

Politics trumps those who have shown reliable, merit-based performance.

When rewards are given to those with little merit, but through a host of politics such as cronyism, parochialism, and kleptocracy engagement is sabotagued and have little hope to achieve true engagement.

Merit-based performance would focus on the employee’s behavior that exemplifies excellence or the employee’s behavior that needs attention or improvement. When cronyism, kleptocracy, and parochialism gang up meritocracy has no chance.

Stop giving advice people ignore

At work do you ever say, “let me give you some advice”? If so, do people lean forward with anticipation to hear what you have for advice?

When reviewing a draft ever heard someone tell you, “well, here’s my advice”? If so, do you take a deep breath so as not to lose your cool?

When you gave someone advice was your advice followed? The point of communication: action. Advice alludes to an option, not expected action.

Who knows? Many times not many people do

In a healthy environment, admitting what you don’t know is part of the process to come to a shared understanding.

In an unhealthy environment sticking to a point you think you know, but do not really know, drives people to defend positions from a point of weakness that can easily turn into an indefensible point of embarrassment.

The separation from noise to decision is about want to know and who you know. Here are 8 steps to go from noise to decision.

The best meeting icebreaker to break the ice

Know your audience is a constant refrain. But sometimes, as a facilitator, trainer, or consultant, you may not, always, know your audience knows each other or what they will do together.

The icebreaker’s intent? Loosen things up, meet people, set the stage for effective work. Meeting icebreakers can be as painful as a bucket of ice down your shorts. Icebreakers run the risk of turning people off before you have even started the heavy lifting on why you are there.

Here is an icebreaker I have run for a least 10 years with consistent success setting up collaboration.

An organization intervention is not an organization inquisition

An organization’s present is built upon their collected history. This history is an essential core of their organization’s being. The past set the present capabilities. Rattling an organization’s history is rattling the foundation stones of an organization’s culture.

A highlight into what people do wrong attracts attention to … what people do wrong. No one likes association to something broken. No one likes it pointed out they work within, are part of, or manage broken processes.

An intervention should not open an inquisition for blame and shame, but an inquiry into the possibility of what can be.