I’ve written a  post that advertises my consulting services. The language is more the “hire me” tone but the message is consistent with what I’ve being writing about this past year. Hugh MacLeod’s illustration captures my message perfectly. It’s not the tools, it’s what the user does with the tools. As a leader, you want to strengthen your organization’s capacity to fulfil its mission and meet its core business goals. Now, you have a new set of tools to help you achieve these goals: social media technologies power social learning, and radically increase organizational and staff performance.

So how should you proceed? First, you need to empower staff collaboration, creativity and learning by adopting social media programs that engage, support, and deepen relationships with your stakeholders, including volunteers, service users, supporters, members, partners, funders and the wider community.  And you need to begin this journey now. If you delay, your organization risks losing ground as others forge ahead with social learning and social media innovations.

Consider the following questions:

• Do you have organizational stories that can be used to amplify your core business and engage stakeholders?
• Are you concerned about you or your staff taking on a more public online presence in your business and sector?
• Do you need to listen more effectively to what your community, service users and supporters are saying and doing?
• Do you have valuable insights and knowledge within the organization that is not being shared or utilized?

If your organization is struggling with any of these issues, I can help you chart your course. Through my company, Social Media Tools for Work & Learning, I help businesses and non-profit organizations build social media programs that integrate with their core business goals, achieving concrete results from their social media investment.

You can learn to use online collaboration, storytelling and mapping tools to tell your stories, increase engagement capacity inside and outside the organization, and build commitment to your organization.

I offer an in-depth half or full-day workshop called “Learning & Working Smarter.” This interactive workshop will fully equip your employees to use social media effectively in the workplace.

With 20 years’ experience managing non-profit organizations, I understand this sector’s specific challenges. My company is uniquely positioned to provide the integrated social media programs and consulting services that non-profit organizations require.

Whether you need to build and manage your web site, develop an effective social media plan that maximizes the strengths of your organization, or train your staff in the latest social media technologies, Social Media Tools for Work & Learning can provide specifically tailored services and workshops to help you excel in the social media landscape.

Contact me today to start building your social media strategy and infrastructure.

Brent Uncategorized performance improve staff organization

I’m very pleased that Harold Jarche posted a video of Dave Dave Snowden explaining the Cynefin framework. I’ve been fascinated with this model for some time and having Dave Snowden, the originator of the Cynefin Framework explain how can be used was a real treat.

The Cynefin model is a sense making framework. It can be used to understand complex situations in which your organization is struggling. It is different than a categorization model where you plop data from your situation into a two by two matrix and sort out your decision based on how the matrix categorizes your data.

With complex situations (which the non profit sector is deeply mired in)  the categorization model doesn’t reveal the nuances that can jump up and bit your analysis on the backside. The Cynefin model lets the data stand on its own and the model rises to the surface through the data, enabling you to make sense of it and then you can decide on your course of action.

Read more…

Brent Uncategorized complexity cynefin network

My webinar sponsored by Edlink (Executive Directors Learning Community) went over pretty well yesterday.

There was some great questions at the end of the session. One person asked about the ROI of social media.

In answering , I chose to focus on the fact that Executive Directors are in control of the process. I reminded them that they have the experience and knowledge about the goals that drive their organization.

My view is that by focusing on organizational and program goals, they can start figuring out how to fit social media channels and tools into their goals. In this way, they are on familiar management turf with social media just one more tool that contributes to their Mission and goals.

To give participants a sense of what concrete results that could impact the organization with a social media program, I included an infographic put together by SocialCast.

This image highlights in dollars and cents the value of social media for improving 1. Sales (for non profit substitute members/supporters. 2. Staff engagement efficiencies; 3. Staff retention. The evidence is overwhelmingly conclusive that social media increases performance and financial savings across the organization.

I also discussed the new “working smarter” culture that organizations are evolving towards. I wanted them to understand how their role in this new culture will need to change to a more open leadership style.

Open leadership is becoming a critical facet of a leaders job description because social learning and collaboration is so clearly driving innovation and new solutions in the workplace. Social learning and collaboration activities activities just don’t survive or thrive in a workspace where leadership style is controlling and authoritarian.

Knowing how much attitude contributes to ones ability to make performance changes, I emphasized the importance of fostering a positive attitude when facing challenging situations. I included a paper by Harold Jarche titled Skills 2.0 (PDF) He artfully speaks about Web 2.0 giving learning professionals an aptitude adjustment.

My view is that your attitude towards change is critical determinant of a leader’s professional development as well as the organization’s progress in keeping pace with the expectations of their stakeholders including staff, volunteers, users, donors and partners.

Here is the slideshow from the webinar. You can access the video and audio recording of the webinar at the Edlink web site.

Brent Uncategorized attitude, infographic, sociallearning, socialmedia, webinar

On Thursday, March 24, I’m conducting a webinar titled “Overcoming Your Anxiety About Online Sharing”.

The purpose of the webinar is to address concerns about social media, learn from peers who are out there doing it, and gain confidence in your own online publishing skills.

I chose this topic because I think its a normal reaction to be anxious when faced with new expectations and tools.

Also, in the online learning communities that I am a part of, I noticed that when people first began participating online, there was a difficulty in adjusting their professional role so they could comfortably share personal experiences about their work.

This is my first webinar with the Edlink Online Community. My role is the Edlink Social & Tech Integration Expert. Quite a mouthful but essentially I serve as a support or guide for Executive Directors or organizational leaders interested in learning more about integrating social media within their organization.

EDLink is the global online resource and gathering place for Executive Directors (EDs) of non-profit / non-governmental organizations (NPOs/NGOs). Through EDLink, EDs have access to sharing and networking exclusively tailored to their profession.

Here is the EDLink Flyer (PDF). Please consider joining this community if you would like to access current knowledge and support related to your non profit leadership role.

Read more…

Brent Uncategorized

I’ve being busy making presentations lately and learning more about communicating the business value of implementing a social media strategy and infrastructure.  Below is my most current Call to Action flyer. Contact me today to start building your social media strategy and infrastructure.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Like many non-profit leaders, you no doubt understand that social media is important for your organization. However, you probably have questions about how best to use social media in your workplace:

• How do we use social media to innovate, collaborate, and become more efficient?
• What policies do we need for employees who are using social media for work (Facebook, smart phones, etc) to support them and protect our organization?
• How can social media help us meet our communication goals?
• How do we use social media on our web site?
• How do we develop the social media strategy that our Board of Directors and funders want when we have limited funds available?

If you are asking any of these questions, I can provide the answers.

Through my company, Social Media Tools for Work and Learning, I help organizations identify, establish, and improve their social media and communication practices. Through my seminars, I can provide your employees with the tools and understanding to implement an efficient social media strategy and infrastructure.

I can help your organization achieve:

• Improved performance and financial results;
• Stronger relationships inside and outside the organization;
• Increased innovation and collaboration;
• Dynamic community participation and commitment.

I offer free information sessions on the subject of social media for work and learning. My 45 – 60 minute presentation can take place over a lunch hour or at a staff meeting. I can also present to your Board of Directors in the evening or on the weekend.

I also offer an in-depth half- or full-day workshops called “Learning & Working Smarter.” These interactive workshops will fully equip your employees to use social media effectively in the workplace. See the Workshop Topics (PDF) for details.

Contact me today to start building your social media strategy and infrastructure.

Click on Image for Larger View

Brent Uncategorized

I learned so much from Olivier Blanchard’s writings on ROI. When I saw this contest promoted on the Zoetica site with Principle Beth Kanter giving the pitch, I had to respond. It was a pretty rushed posting as it was a contest. Here is my post.. I’m still waiting for my call. Yahoo, I got my call today. I’m a winner and will receive my book from Amazon any day now.

Here’s my winning post.

ROI will never die because people (especially those who live in tight budgets) by nature are careful with their spending. Organizations involved in social causes are often top heavy with emotional reasons for supporting their cause and reach out to donors with similar emotional appeals. This does not mean that organizations have forgotten to be prudent in their allocation of financial or human resources in pursuit of their cause.

That said, non profits are increasingly recognizing that it takes money to drive causes and enable the myriad number of solutions their charity is trying to achieve. Knowing how much money they need to stay alive or sustainable is a bottom line matter so measuring how they are going to stay alive is a matter of survival.

ROI is like an oxygen tank when your diving in deep waters. You need to feel somewhat confident that your oxygen tank (or ROI system) will keep you in the water. So it’s an integral part of an organizations operations to have an ROI system. It’s integral because they need a means to navigate (or breathe) so they can handle the many other complex factors affecting their operations.

With a well planned ROI metric system, the organization can move forward confidently in the path they have created. They can measure their progress so they can stay on their path, learn from their milestone progress or lack of progress and determine if they are achieving their non financial relationships etc.)and financial goals – that enable all the wonderful things the non profit set out to achieve.

Another loop in the ROI cycle is the value ROI plays when the non profit demonstrates its business acumen to their donors, be they government, foundations, business or private citizens. When the ROI metric system is showcased to external partners, it adds credibility and respect for role of the non profit in the community. This can result in increased donations and closer partnerships with financial resources that can further the Mission of the non profit.

So in a nutshell, ROI will never die because people and organizations have learned that ROI is the primary tool that will keep them sustainable, focussed on results and an integral pillar for the organizations success.

Brent Uncategorized books, non profit consultant, non profit consulting, nonprofit, roi

Catherine Sword, Brent, Carolyn Nordheimer (CEO)

Catherine Sword is the Coordinator of Public Services at the Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Library. She invited me to speak to staff from local library. It was great to have Carolyn Nordheimer CEO also in attendance and lending her support, Also in attendance where people from other libraries, local museums and the business sector.

My focus on social learning and working smarter was new to many in attendance. So often, the focus is on social media tools and sometimes social strategy. The tools and strategy are a core componenets of my framework, however much of my presentation focused on how social learning combined with social media is making powerful changes in worker performance and organizational impact.

Social learning and social media is fueling performance improvements on individual and organizational levels. What is playing out is a a transformation in the workplace and a radical shift in how organizations build trust and relationships with their stakeholders. These transformative trends underscore the importance of the organization developing a strategy that supports staff creativity and enhances relationships with external stakeholders.

Judging from the lively discussion that ensued after the presentation, I feel that my emphasis on social learning and working smarter reinforced the importance of collective planning of a strategy that would guide the transformation to the social web.

Brent Uncategorized

Source: Marcia Conner & Tony Bingham - The New Social Learning: Transforming Your Organizations Through Social Media

I had an interesting question put forward by a participant in one of my Social Learning & Working Smarter Through Social Media workshops. We were discussing policies to protect staff when they are communicating online with clients or partners. The question brought in the issue of posting on a personal social network sites.

The lady posing the questions received many supportive and positive responses to here announcement about a cause she was supporting. What troubled her was the numerous caustic and derogatory comments left by people who were just creeping her site with no intention of adding any value to the conversation.

She felt it was important to leave the derogatory comments in her post because it would honor her values of being open and inclusive to anyone who shared on her site. This was a major conflict for her because she saw no valid use in leaving those comments in her post. A real delimma, probably faced by many people on their social networking sites.

One of the participants shared his view. He explained that his organization had no difficulty in filtering and removing such comments from their site. He went on to say that his organization explicitly states on their site that they will remove such comments as they are not in keeping with the value positions of the organization and are not contributing to healthy discussion or putting a critical thinking approach to the issue.

I liked his explanation and thought his organization’s policy could be used to handle those offensive comments on her site. I suggested that she consider developing her own comment policy. In this way, she can be explicit about her “rules” and deal with these issues as they arise.

Her personal commenting policy will be a boundary setting message that defines the rules for what she will live by and accept in her online communications and relationships. I think it is a good thing to set boundaries and live by them, online and off. She is exerting her right to control her space.

I think this was a great example of social learning. Our ideas were shared amongst the group, we  reflected and tried to make sense out of the issue, a suggestion developed from the conversation and was put forward as a possible solution. If she adopts that suggestion, she will have incorporated a new behaviour to support her online presence.

When I made a post of  this social learning moment I am putting the episode out for others to see and add their perspective. A powerful why to extend and deepen the discussion so that others might reflect, contribute or learn from our social learning moment.

What do you think?

Brent Uncategorized

I”ve begun a round of workshop presentations to non profit organizations across the GTA. I knew that many organization leaders didn’t know what questions to ask when it came to integrating social media. I also knew that many organizations wanted to begin transforming their organization so they could utilize these powerful relationship tools but didn’t know where to start.

To that end, I’ve put together a implementation framework so that organizations can see the big picture before they blithely start setting up Facebook or Twitter accounts without any understanding of what these tools will do for them.

The title of my workshop series is rather long but for me it captures the whole shebang of my current thinking. Social Learning & Working Smarter Through Social Media – An Understanding, Learning, Doing & and Adapting Framework.

If you are interested in having me present to your Board of Directors or senior management team, please give me a shout. The invitation I sent out to my network is at the end of this post.

Marco Campana is a Communication Specialist with the Maytree Foundation. Marco has a pivotal online communications role within his organization and is a linchpin in the online community in areas of immigration, equity and social justice.

Through his work, many organizations and practitioners in the social service community are understanding the power of people learning together and working smarter through social media. Marco is fostering social learning through social media in his organizations and also in his online networks.

I’m pleased  that the key themes of my presentation resonated so well with the outstanding work being accomplished at the Maytree Foundation. In this two minute interview, Marco shares a few comments about my social media implementation framework.

An Invitation to Non Profit organizations and Associations

Greetings,

Like many non profit leaders, I think you understand the importance of social media for your organization. However, I am guessing the following issues might apply to you and be of some concern.

Your employees are using social media (Facebook, smart phones, etc) for work purposes and you have no policy or guidelines to support them or protect your organization.

Your Board of Directors and funders believe you should put more SOCIAL MEDIA on your web site but money is tight and there is no strategy for using social media to meet your communication goals.

If these situations apply to you, I may be of some assistance.

I’m offering free information sessions on the subject of social media for work and learning. My 45 – 60 minute presentation can be given over a lunch hour or at a staff meeting. I can also present to your Board of Directors in the evening or on the weekend.

If you are interested in seeing what a ½ or full day workshop might look like, I’ve attached an overview of my “Learning & Working Smarter” workshop series.

Do you have someone in your network that might be interested in my offer? If so, please forward this email and attachment along to them.

Brent Uncategorized

I’ve joined Jane Hart’s 30 Days to Use Social Media to Work and Learn Smarter online group. This was an added feature offered with purchase of her book Social Learning Handbook.

Members of the Internet Time Alliance – Strong advocates of social learning, social media and working smarter.

I’m looking forward to the month of guided learning – albit and thankfully a loosely structured – go at your own pace and interrest approach. I like that as my schedule is hectic. I learn on the fly, often missing key features of tools and months, sometimes years later someone shows me something really useful and I kick myself for not taking the time to look more closely.

I’m one of those impatient men who doesn’t like to read the instructions and pays for it in the end. Jane’s 30 day programme should cover some of the areas I need to sharpen up and most likely introduce me to new tools for the job. I’m waiting for her book from Lulu, a long wait judging by how long I it took to receive the Working Smarter Fieldbook, which I highly recommend. It’s written by Jay Cross and the other members of the Internet Time Alliance (including Jane), my go to source for “working smarter” through social media.

I hope to post on my progress if my schedule permits. The program outline is covering a lot of ground so there will be some rich benefits for my learning and I’d like to share it with those interested in social learning and working smarter through social media.

Brent Uncategorized janehart, learning, sociallearning