The Past Has Passed

The phase seems easy enough to grasp. No matter how much effort we exert, money we possess, or expertise we apply, there is nothing we can change that has already happened. Yet many of us get stuck on events or behavior from the past.

What should have been? What could I have done?

It’s all irrelevant now, but for some reason we spend far too much of our consciousness on what happened and what may happen.

Individual Teamwork

You see this in organizations as well. It’s the way we do things around here, we can’t do that at this company, and all the while, we create memes that drive us or worse, stall us. We put up walls because of things in the past, false barriers to stop us from moving forward and progressing.

If you look at an organization, there is a chart mapping all departments and functions. Within those subsections, subject matter experts focus on their areas of proficiency. The sales department create new client relationships, the design team perfect the new line of products, the management team ensure the strategic plan is adhered, etc.

Learn and Move

But how much of our time is spent creating today through our beliefs from yesterday? How often do we break out of the comfort zone – which often doesn't feel very comfortable – and take a leap?

The past can teach us not make the same mistakes twice. But often if we focus on those mistakes, the very behavior we are trying to avoid repeats itself.

I'm often reminded by friends and colleagues that the past simply doesn't matter. The only thing that counts is what we do right now, this minute. Our next one is not guaranteed and our last one is gone.

If we lose the past we can begin to grow.
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

david macdonald

Communication Breakdown

com•mu•ni•cate: To convey information about. To reveal clearly. To express oneself in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood.

In order to survive, companies need to look long and hard at job descriptions. Communications can no longer fall on the shoulders of a few people in some department.

If you live on your smartphone, perhaps your customers do too. If close to half of the almost two billion worldwide online users have a social networking profile on a website, perhaps the desire to connect along various channels is catching on. If you are in communications or marketing or public relations or social media or media relations, you know it can be an uphill battle to get buy-in from management.

Ignoring it Doesn't Make it Go Away

Often some view that part of their job is to protect the status quo and rest on past procedures. This does not stem from a lack of vision but we often stay with the monster we know rather than taking on the monster we don’t know. You may feel that they are blocking you from trying to integrate all these communication channels and you are not entirely correct.

Both Sides Now

It’s not enough to comprehend that the two-way conversation is occurring, it is imperative to embrace your ability to contribute to it – whatever that means to you. We are in the world’s largest cocktail party and it’s still the part of the evening filled with small talk. We are skimming the surface, finding our way, deciding what we want out of it but there is not just one way to participate. Some individuals and companies are doing great things and improving business but there are many who are still trying to figure it out. You may be one of them.

I don’t try and convince people that they can improve their business through online connections, I know they can but only if they will commit the work. You can say that eating better and exercising is good for you but empty words won’t get you the six-pack. This is not a lottery ticket. This is about changing some of your daily routine and having time to find out who’s out there.

They Said You Said

Despite our collective impatience, our job is to be patient with those who aren't convinced and are not ready for the river of information. It is up to us to educate the fearful and remind them that a Facebook group will not save a bad business idea and optimizing the website for a search engine can only happen if they know what people are searching for in the first place.

Branding is not achieved through a few tweets, your clients and customers decide on that. And the Internet will not magically save your business on its own but it can improve the bottom line if you open your mind and let it in. But it does not replace business acumen.

Let’s get back to work!

Kneale Mann

image credit: carbbon
original post: Oct 2010

Your Digital Potluck

Plenty for Everyone

When I was a kid, Mrs. Johnson always loved to have potluck dinners. The families would gather at her house with their item to add to the bounty. I was a kid, I was happy there were always hotdogs. But Mrs. Johnson would always ensure each family would know what to bring. She issued assignment orders. There was no guesswork. After some deliberation, tasks were assigned, and the potlucks went off without a hitch.

Years later I was invited to a potluck and all guests were asked to bring a food item. We ended up with 80 burgers, five Caesar salads, enough potato salad to feed a small nation and no plates. Each person had good intentions but there was no plan.

Creating Your Organization's Buffet

Digital discussions still may be in their infancy and that is not a reference to the length of time a company may have been on Facebook or thought through the reason they have a mobile app but rather a reflection of acceptance throughout the organization.

Here’s where the decision makers start to get nervous when they can no longer measure it in relation to driving business. The digital purists are defending the conversation, the advocates are pointing out the benefits of finding like minded people to connect with the offering but the people holding the wallets are wondering if all this stuff is going to pay off. After all, we can't reside in "it takes a while" land forever.

Same Agenda - Different Language 

Communication can be the single biggest way for companies to improve or fail. Building a social business is not easy. Departments are necessary to chunk up the work and align strengths but the challenges reside in both knowledge levels and acceptance of the digital opportunities.

The purists say now is the time to move, the advocates remind others the past is not where the future lies while the people accountable to the money haven’t quite added it all up. There are a lot of choices and opinions. Some cost money while others start disagreements. The evolution will not be swift. It would be cool to see a day when the early adopters can appreciate the necessity of the bottom line while the ones with the wallets continue to let believers assess value.

Do you have a plan for your digital potluck?

Kneale Mann

image credit: thepinktruffle

Do You Feel Like An Alien?

We don't have time.

I was in a client’s office this week and they gave me a tour of the place and introduced me to the rest of the team. Nice, warm, friendly people all made me feel at home. I was introduced as the guy “here to help with the social media stuff”. It’s not all I do but in this case it was a workshop to explain tools, examine what they’re doing, find ways to better integrate all their efforts and most importantly ensure internal communication improves. That work continues.

I felt a bit like an alien, a strange being that was coming in with stuff that was foreign to most. My direct contact is doing a great job and it was as if she had found another from her planet to help explain it to the rest of the team. Love this client, love her team. They want to understand what they don’t understand. Perfect!

Does this sound familiar?

You seem to be the only one jumping up and down to embrace the power of the digital channels yet some look at you with confusion, claim there is no time for all this stuff and think Facebook is just a way to keep in touch with their college friends?

Everyone seems to have an opinion of the social web yet the organization has yet to embrace the full power of an integrated solution to improve communication and drive revenue. If you spend too much time on Twitter or Quora you are left with the impression that “everyone” gets this stuff. They do not. We are still in the early stages.

We're way behind!

You can read spaces such as Mashable, Wired, Gigaom or Business Insider and it appears you are in the dark ages if your organization is not completely firing on all social networking channels. Don’t worry, global companies are still working on it and there is no one answer.

If we take a campaign approach tied to return on investment of one YouTube video or a single blog post as the metric to social media success, we still have a lot of work to do.

What’s your story?

knealemann | email | How can I help?

image credit: wikimedia

Your Business Goes Social

Where perception meets reality.

The social web can be an insulated world full of seemingly sound theories. However the chatter can overwhelm you. The naysayers of spaces such as FourSquare, Twitter or the much debated newbie Quora often say it’s a big waste of time. And it can be.

Many claim bots and abandoned profiles proves it's all smoke and mirrors. While others can show documented evidence that the sustained activity has positively affected their business and bottom line. I am of the second group but that's up to you to decide.

But what are social media?

I can soundly defend that it is whenever two human beings are connected. That may be through email, phone, in person, on a website, in a discussion group, attending a conference, sharing a workshop, commenting on blogs, listening to podcasts, contributing to wikis, sharing a cup of coffee, the list goes on.

It is all media and all social and Facebook is along for the ride.

Going social.

There was an interesting discussion on Quora yesterday about when to take your business social and I had to remember that my reality may not be their perception. My stance is that your business needs to be social now - not some day.

In my recent discussions with larger organizations where it is much more difficult to navigate procedures, never mind become more social, it is clear that not every business on earth is holding hands and grasping the social web for all that it can be.

Many who are trying and still unsure where to go with it. That's okay, us too. But I think the ultimate reason why some companies give it lip service but aren't sure where to go next is because we are still taking a departmental approach.

That’s not my job.

To most organizations, social is a department, a role, a part of a larger role which drives that portion of the organization that is responsible for all that human stuff. Not everyone wants to share and collaborate. The majority do not want to be transparent and available.

Some companies continue to think it is profitable to keep headset laden employees tied to a cubicle for eight hours. Many would argue that industries such as law enforcement, factory work, garbage collection or politics cannot be collaborative social environments.

I disagree. What’s your take?

knealemann | email

image credit: usvigers

The Anatomy of Communication

com·mu·ni·cate: To convey information about. To reveal clearly. To express oneself in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood.

This week, the brilliant Mitch Joel wrote a post entitled The Agency of the Future. As a man who has been in the trenches for more than two decades, he knows of what he writes and walks the walk every day. You should visit his space daily as you will gain insight from a guy who is leading the charge of change and truly excited about it.

Mitch discussed the anatomy of the agency world but I think it goes far beyond one particular industry. In order to survive, companies need to look long and hard at job descriptions. Communications can no longer fall on the shoulders of a few people in some department.

We need to embrace our daily behavior within our organizations.

If you live on your smartphone, perhaps your customers do too. If close to half of the almost two billion worldwide online users have a social networking profile on a website, perhaps the desire to connect along various channels is catching on.

If you are in communications or marketing or public relations or social media or media relations, you know it can be an uphill battle to get buy-in from management.

Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away

Often some view that part of their job is to protect the status quo and rest on past procedures. This does not stem from a lack of vision but we often stay with the monster we know rather than taking on the monster we don’t know. You may feel that they are blocking you from trying to integrate all these communication channels and you are not entirely correct.

It’s not enough to comprehend that the two-way conversation is occurring, it is imperative to embrace your ability to contribute to it – whatever that means to you. We are in the world’s largest cocktail party and it’s still the part of the evening filled with small talk. We are skimming the surface, finding our way, deciding what we want out of it but there is not just one way to participate. Some individuals and companies are doing great things and improving business but there are many who are still trying to figure it out. You may be one of them.

This is not communications of the future, this is about now.

I don’t try and convince people that they can improve their business through online connections, I know they can but only if they will commit the work. You can say that eating better and exercising is good for you but empty words won’t get you the six-pack. This is not a lottery ticket. This is about changing some of your daily routine and having time to find out who’s out there.

This is not about letting the intern take care of your brand with a few tweets.

But then again, if you’re reading this, you already know that. So it is our job to be patient with those who aren’t convinced and aren’t ready for the river of information. It is up to us to educate the fearful and remind them that a Facebook group will not save a bad business idea and optimizing the website for a search engine can only happen if they know what people are searching for in the first place.

The Internet will not magically save your business on its own but it can improve the bottom line if you open your mind and let it in. But it does not replace business acumen.

There’s much work to be done. Are you ready?

knealemann
work with me: contact

image credit: calsncsu