Tom Keefe

Spirited Communication

Category: lessons learned (Page 3 of 4)

Commakazi was taught to prepare employees before launching a new business tool. But is social media different? Does it offer a 'new way' to roll out social media tools?

Who Needs Training on Social Media, Anyway? (Part 2)

March 29, 2015 /
Commakazi was taught to prepare employees before launching a new business tool. But is social media different? Does it offer a 'new way' to roll out social media tools?

Commakazi was taught to prepare employees before launching a new business tool. But is social media different? Does it offer a ‘new way’ to roll out social media tools?

In Part 1 of this two-part post, I posed the question of whether the success of a social media implementation requires training and a formal introduction within an organization. I provided the context for a discussion that I had with a colleague from the company IT Department after a pilot implementation of the social media tool, Yammer, grew exponentially for a period of time, then stalled.

When I noticed that employees weren’t engaging on the Yammer site, I asked my IT colleague whether he had put together a plan to train employees on how to use Yammer. His response was to state that if an employee needs training on any social media tool, it is not intuitive enough to be successful in the long term.

Here are snippets of our email conversation.

 Do you think that people received training on Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media sites?  If a user needs training and the interface is not intuitive, it will ultimately fail.  It is the responsibility of the provider (in this case Yammer or Microsoft), that has the responsibility to make sure that the user can utilize the site without significant training. — My IT colleague

My response:

Points that you are not considering are:

A large portion of our non-I.T. employee base do not have the interest in technology that someone in I.T. has—and may struggle to find software “intuitive.”

We are all time-crunched, and simply WILL NOT spend time “reading the online manual.” That boils down to: “If I cannot quickly understand the value of this tool, and feel confident in using it in a productive way, I will put it aside.”

The “training” that we should provide goes beyond what you describe. Most people understand Facebook, but I have heard several comments from employees who do not understand the business use of Yammer and Lync. THAT, along with frustration over the limitations of this free Yammer version, is what ultimately will limit uptake of the tool.

I was amazed that the IT colleague thought that NO ONE receives training on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites. A quick Google search returned millions of results for courses, webinars and other training just on Yammer!

As of the end of March 2015, only a handful of employees remain active on the company Yammer site. One area of the company regularly collaborates on the site, sharing questions, ideas and information. That is the only exception, save for a couple of people who regularly regurgitate company and product news that originates on other sites.

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?

  1. Should employees receive training and introductory information prior to the launch of social media tools within a company?
  2. What has YOUR experience been with learning new social media tools?
Do employees need training and/or an initial orientation when social media tools are introduced into the workplace? Commakazi and an IT colleague disagreed when Yammer was piloted in the company.

Who Needs Training on Social Media, Anyway? (Part 1)

March 28, 2015 /

New Skills Concept.While cleaning out old emails from my work inbox, I reread an exchange with an IT colleague from a couple of years ago. I had purposely left the email unanswered at the time because I wanted to take a fresh look at what the IT colleague had said regarding the introduction of social media within the company.

Quite frankly, his response had floored me, and at the time, I didn’t want my incredibility at his response to cause me to write a harsh reply.

About two years later, my thoughts are the same, so here is what I hope becomes the start of a discussion with you regarding whether the success of a social media implementation requires training and a formal introduction within an organization.

Yammer LogoThe background is that some mid-level members of the company’s IT network area decided to make Yammer available to all employees by unblocking it on the company firewall. Not everyone is familiar with Yammer, so I’ll describe it here as “Facebook for companies.” Only people whose emails end with the company domain name (e.g., ju**********@us********.com) can register to that company’s Yammer site. Once someone registers, the site offers similar features to Facebook:

  • The option to post articles, links, photos and videos that other members of the Yammer group can like, share and use as the starting point of discussions.
  • Capability to see which group members are logged into Yammer at the same time, and the option to send a message just to a single member, in the spirit of instant messaging.
  • The option to save and share files.
  • The option to invite other people from within the company to join the Yammer group.

That last feature caused an unexpected (to IT) situation that led to me “talking” with the IT colleague via email.

The IT colleague decided, without input from me, marketing or company leadership outside of IT, to invite a few people into the company Yammer Group as a “pilot group.” To his credit, the IT colleague thought to include me, the communication guy, at that point.

However, the “pilot” quickly grew out of control, because Yammer wouild send a notice to the newly added group member with the names of several other employees, whom Yammer suggested inviting as well. What began as a small pilot group of 5 to 7 people soon ballooned to more than two hundred—and the number of new members continued to grow. That’s because people would ask their coworkers whether they had seen the new Yammer application. Not wanting to be left out, the coworkers would ask to be invited, and they, in turn, sent invitations to everyone they knew within the company.

Here’s the rub, and the point of my discussion with my IT colleague: The Yammer “pilot” was launched before anyone had discussed or developed:

  • Introductory communications that would ease concerns of employees regarding whether they were “allowed” to use Yammer at work
  • Basic user instructions regarding how to get the most from Yammer
  • Feedback and measurement mechanisms that would allow the Yammer “owners” to evaluate the effectiveness and value of Yammer within the company
  • A plan to promote and encourage Yammer usage throughout the organization and to align it with other communication vehicles already in-place
  • Contact information for employees who needed technical or administrative support

When I saw hundreds of employees who blindly joined the Yammer group without understanding what it was, and who mostly stalled after inviting their coworkers and making a single post of “Hi, I am on Yammer,” I reached out to the IT colleague.

Our interesting “discussion” is the subject of my next post.

‘Me, Myself and I’—The Correct Ways to Write About Yourself

December 15, 2014 /

Me Myself IMost of us want to make a good impression when we write and speak. The sad fact is that too many people have fallen into a grammatical quagmire by incorrectly using “me,” “myself,” and “I.”

Each of those three words has a specific, non-overlapping purpose.

“Me” is a singular personal pronoun used as an object in a sentence. For example:
“He gave additional work to me.” “Penny asked me to finish the assignment.”

“Myself” is a reflexive pronoun used in conjunction with “I” when describing something about yourself. For example, “I, myself, had to retake the test several times.” “I’m going to push myself to complete the run by 3 p.m.”

“I” is a first-person singular pronoun used as a subject within a sentence. For example:
“I completed the task.” “You, Elizabeth and I scored the highest.”

Here are some recent examples that I’ve seen, followed by a suggested correct construction. To avoid embarrassing anyone, I’ve changed names and other identifying nouns.

WRONG: “Please email myself, Mary and Carol a profile picture of yourself to help us promote you and the program.”
CORRECTION: “Please email me, Mary and Carol a profile picture….” It helps to read the sentence without the other names. It wouldn’t sound correct to write, “Please email myself a profile picture.”

WRONG: “Myself and our former editor could not see the little twerp succeeding in the NFL.”
CORRECTION: “I and our former editor could not see the little twerp….”

WRONG: “Between you and I, that last call was terrible!”
CORRECTION: “Between you and me, that last call was terrible!”

WRONG: “She sent the email to Sue and myself.”
CORRECTION: “She sent the email to Sue and me.”

This Aerialist Learned Early Never to Say ‘Can’t’

September 19, 2014 /

Perhaps the most inspirational and surprising speaker today at Craig Duswalt’s Rockstar Marketing Bootcamp was aerialist Jennifer Bricker.

Born without legs, Jennifer was adopted by an Illinois couple who stressed to her that a forbidden four-letter word for her and the family was the word, “can’t”–as in, “I can’t do it.”

Jennifer Bricker, aerialist

Jennifer Bricker shares inspirational thoughts with Craig Duswalt and hundreds of attendees at Duswalt’s Rockstar Marketing Bootcamp.

Raised in a family that instilled confidence, self-worth and compassion, Jennifer developed an interest in tumbling and gymnastics that eventually would lead her to earning recognition as the top high school gymnast in Illinois.

But wait…as marketers say…there’s more!

It turned out that Jennifer had a biological sister that she had never met: Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu!

Watch this clip from “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel for information on how Jennifer, even without legs, became a power tumbler, volleyball player, and aerial performer.

During a Q&A session with the Rockstar Marketing Workshop attendees, Jennifer shared what she does when faced with a tough challenge. “I pray, pray pray,” she said. “God is bigger than any problem.”

Prepare, Participate and Pass It On

June 5, 2014 /

Last night, I shared three keys for success and fulfillment in the communication field, and how IABC/Chicago can benefit its members.

In coming days, I’ll expand on each of the three keys: Prepare, Participate and Pass It On. To better set the stage, here are the brief remarks that I delivered upon accepting the 2014 Karen Utterback Volunteer Award from IABC/Chicago.

———————————————————————————-

Fellow IABC-Chicago members, award winners and honored guests:

What a privilege to be selected as the 2014 recipient of the Karen Utterback Volunteer Award.

Whoever came up with this award had a great idea…just to be clear, that wasn’t me. I’m not patting myself on the back.

It’s a great idea because it honors someone who epitomized the concept of a servant leader. Karen gave tirelessly of her time and energy, and was a terrific IABC volunteer and leader.

This is also a great award because it puts focus on volunteerism—which is the lifeblood of a not-for-profit organization like IABC.

As I accept this award, I want to briefly share three keys to continued growth and value for IABC-Chicago and its members.

  1. Prepare. Anyone in the communication field who wishes to be successful and fulfilled needs to develop communication and leadership skills.IABC/Chicago supports that preparation through its professional development and networking events, and through opportunities to serve on the IABC/Chicago Board of Directors.
  2. Participate. Whenever I hear someone say that they are quitting some pursuit or organization because they “aren’t getting anything out of it,” I usually wonder, “What did you put into it?” Much of the value of your IABC/Chicago membership comes when you participate in the group’s events, and volunteer to be part of group activities.I began to participate on the IABC/Chicago Board of Directors the year that Karen Utterback died. Because that was Karen’s second consecutive term as president, we didn’t have an immediate past-president, and no one had yet stepped up to be president-elect.That’s when long-time IABC members like Mary Hills, Peg Wander, Julie Bjorkman, Joanne Kitsos and Julie Baron stepped up to reestablish order and restore leadership. They participated big-time!

    Their example made it easier for me to accept the president-elect role later that year, and to serve as chapter president the following year.

  3. Pass It On. Healthy organizations have a seamless transition from one leadership team to the next. One of my primary objectives as chapter president was to work with chapter board members to ensure that our finances, technology, processes and volunteers would be ready to turn over to our successors.I felt that the biggest gift I could give Ken Groh, as he succeeded me as chapter president, was a seamless transition—followed by a gracious exit to the shadows. While I stayed active on the board as director of sponsorships, I knew that I needed to pass the leadership gavel to Ken—and not to try to grab it back. That is the tricky balancing act for a leader—being available to offer support and advice, while not sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.

Prepare. Participate. Pass it on.

As I prepare to pass the microphone back, I’d like each of us to raise a glass to the memory of Karen Utterback, chapter president, chapter advocate, friend to many here.

TO KAREN!

Honored to Receive the 2014 Karen Utterback Volunteer Award from IABC/Chicago

June 4, 2014 /

Tonight, I’ll receive the 2014 Karen Utterback Volunteer Award from IABC/Chicago.

The IABC/Chicago website states, “This award, which began in 2012, recognizes a veteran IABC/Chicago member who exemplifies communications excellence and stewardship. The recipients demonstrate unyielding dedication to the betterment of the communications field, serve as mentors to professionals and embody the essence of IABC/Chicago. They truly represent the best of our organization.”

I’m rarely at a loss for words, but I can’t adequately express my appreciation to those IABC/Chicago board members who nominated and voted for me. I’m like most people; I don’t volunteer for personal glory, I volunteer because I like to share my experience and knowledge with others.

Tonight, I’ll share three keys to continued success for IABC/Chicago leaders and members. The three keys are: Prepare, Participate, and Pass It On. Later this week, I’ll expand on each of those keys in separate posts.

To end this post, I’ll refer back to the information regarding Karen Utterback that appears on the IABC/Chicago website. I might have won the award named in her honor, but I doubt that I ever will be able to fill her shoes—particularly the ones she wore during marathons!

Karen Utterback, ABC

Karen Utterback, ABC

“The award memorializes two-term IABC/Chicago chapter president, Karen Utterback, ABC, who unexpectedly passed away in 2009. Utterback had served as IABC/Chicago’s president since June 2008 and as its director of finance from 2005-2008. She actively encouraged and mentored communicators to pursue the Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) designation, since earning her own designation in 2005. In addition to her IABC work, Utterback was a board member of the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Foundation, a volunteer for the Taproot Foundation and the Chicago 2016 campaign. She raced sailboats, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2008, and had run more than 19 marathons, including races in Antarctica and on the Great Wall of China.”

What a privilege to have served with Karen, and to now be associated with the award honoring her memory.

If Your Communications Just Blow, Here’s How to Make Them Really Suck

May 22, 2013 /
Keep reading to get to the sucky part!

Communication channels and methods continue to evolve, but the organizations where I have worked continue to rely heavily on the “blow” process, where information is pushed out to audiences. However, this cascade method is ineffective for several reasons:

  1. Lack of Engagement: Like a lecture from a parent, push communications tend to be one-sided. The audience receives information but has no opportunity to interact or provide feedback. The audience too often quickly becomes disinterested and ignores the message.
  2. Relevance: Information pushed to large groups can’t usually be tailored to individual preferences or needs. This shotgun approach hinders the message from resonating with every recipient.
  3. Information Overload: Please stop listening for a moment to the pings, chimes and assorted alert noises that are coming from your phone, laptop, smart watch and Alexa to acknowledge that people are bombarded with information. Push communications contribute to information overload, making your message just one more noisy nuisance.

That’s why push communications just blow!

Pull communications, on the other hand, can revolutionize the way we interact with audiences, particularly through social media, messaging and collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack. Here’s how:

  1. Engagement: Pull communications “suck them in” to your messages. By attracting attention through compelling content, individuals actively choose to engage. This two-way dialogue flows through comments, likes, retweets and shares, creating a more engaged audience.
  2. Relevance and Personalization: Pull methods rely on providing content that is relevant to the audience’s interests. Individuals seek out your messages because they find value in the information being shared. Algorithms on social media platforms can tailor content to their preferences and increase the relevance and impact of your message.
  3. Virality and Reach: Who doesn’t want to be an influencer of some sort? Engaging content that sparks interaction goes viral. When people share your posts, your reach extends beyond the initial audience. Effective pull communications leverage the network effect and the results can be exponentially strong.
  4. Feedback and Adaptation: Pull communications allow for instant feedback. By monitoring how audiences interact with your content, you can adapt your strategies in real-time to better meet their needs and preferences. This iterative process keeps your communication dynamic and responsive.

Done correctly, your communications will pull an audience magnetically!

How to Pull It Off

  1. Create Compelling Content: Your content needs to capture attention right from the headline. My headline was intentionally startling. It got you to read this post, didn’t it? Of course once you were sucked in, the actual message needed to deliver to keep you engaged. Do that through the use of interesting hooks, visuals and storytelling.
  2. Encourage Interaction: Make it easy for your audience to engage with your content. Ask questions, invite comments and encourage shares.
  3. Use Multiple Platforms: Reach your audience where they are. Experiment by posting to various social media platforms and collaboration sites, tailoring your content to fit the context of each platform.
  4. Monitor and Adapt: Keep track of engagement metrics and be willing to pivot your strategy based on the feedback and interaction you receive.

The Role of Creativity

No matter how you choose to communicate, creativity is key. A boring message is going to be boring unless delivered with a creative touch. Communication is part art and part science. You can take lessons on how to paint beautiful word pictures, but you may be better off hiring a creative communication professional with proven success in turning dreck into verbal pearls.

Reach out to me or leave a comment if you would like to discuss this further—especially if you are ready to leave behind communications that just blow.

Six Principles of Crisis Communications from the CDC

May 17, 2013 /

The Center for Disease Control is no stranger to crisis communications. At a workshop on May 17 organized by the PR Council of Lake County, Barbara J.Reynolds, CDC Crisis Communication Specialist, ticked off the list of issues and emergencies that she has dealt with over the past 20 years, among them: pandemic influenza (H1N1), vaccine safety, emerging disease outbreaks (SARS) and bioterrorism.

Barbara J. Reynolds, Center for Disease Control Crisis Communications Director, shares information remotely from Atlanta to attendees of the PR Council of Lake County social media workshop on May 17.

Barbara J. Reynolds, Center for Disease Control Crisis Communications Specialist, shares information remotely from Atlanta with attendees of the PR Council of Lake County social media workshop on May 17.

The CDC built its crisis communications around six principles from its “Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication” (CERC) training program. The training program draws from lessons learned during public health emergencies, and incorporates best practices from the fields of risk and crisis communication.

The six principles are:

  1. Be First: If the information is yours to provide by organizational authority, do so as soon as possible. If you can’t, then explain how you are working to get it.
  2. Be Right: Give facts in increments. Tell people what you know when you know it. Tell them what you don’t know. Tell them if you will know relevant information later.
  3. Be Credible: Tell the truth. Do not withhold information to avoid embarrassment or the possible “panic” that seldom happens. Uncertainty is worse than not knowing. Rumors are more damaging than hard truths.
  4. Show Compassion and Empathy: This lets people know that you care, that you recognize the pain they’re going through. It is not sympathy, which implies that you know what the person is going through. Chances are, you haven’t experienced what they have.
  5. Promote Action: These are recommended actions for people to do; e.g., check on neighbors, hold a memorial service, consider preventative vaccinations. The actions move people from simply sitting, thinking and worrying. It helps them psychologically and it helps the community return to a “new normal,” after any kind of crisis.
  6. Show Respect:  People have different beliefs, whether they be cultural, familial, religious or based on a perspective related to the person’s age. By being respectful in  your messaging, you improve the chances that those various audiences will believe in what you are doing. That hopefully will lead to changed behavior and compliance with whatever actions or decisions your want them to support.

Reynolds then showed examples of the CDC’s social media sites, and how they responded to comments from the public. As a governmental organization, the CDC only removes comments from the public that are obviously obscene or that threaten someone, she said.

The results of the CDC’s social media practices and policies indicate that they are on the right track, Reynolds said. People who comment or otherwise access CDC through social media:

  • Have higher satisfaction ratings (84 out of 100) than those who do not use CDC social media tools (79 out of 100)
  • Are more likely to return and recommend the site to others than those who do not use CDC social media tools
  • Rate CDC as more trustworthy than those who do not use CDC’s social media tools

Here is another slide from Reynolds’ presentation that shows the CDC scoring higher than its federal agency peers in the areas of perceived collaboration and trust. The 12-point difference in collaboration correlates to a belief that people who use social media do so because they feel it is important to be a participant in their spheres of influence and daily lives.

Trust, Transparency and Participation in Goverment

MediaMiser Tracks Bad Cruise Karma Over Time

April 26, 2013 /

MediaMiser has created an interesting infographic to chart the choppy waves of public discontent at Carnival Cruise Lines’ service and reliability earlier this year.

The graphic notes how the cruise company was just recovering from one PR nightmare, only to have a second incident further mar its reputation.

Infographics are a nice visual way of sharing otherwise dry statistical information. Consider creating one for your internal communications, such as for quarterly townhall meetings and/or year-in-review presentations. 

A Sea of Troubles: PR Impact of Bad Carnival Cruise NewsA Sea of Troubles: PR Impact of Bad Carnival Cruise News by MediaMiser

Bigstock image of businessman presentation

Presenting Results That Tell a Sad Tale About Presentation Skills

March 7, 2013 /

Businessman giving presentation at podiumThis afternoon, I returned to my desk after delivering a speech during an open house organized by my company’s Toastmaster’s club, and spotted an email about presentation skills.

The email was from Distinction Communication Inc., announcing publication of results from Distinction’s 2013 Presentation Impact Survey. Although the survey sample was small (150 people), it provided some data that lends credence to the notion that companies and their employees (including leaders) need help to develop their presentation skills.

Even after decades of experience as a communications professional, I saw the need a few years ago to ramp up my speaking and leadership skills through Toastmasters. The support and guidance provided by Toastmasters and companies such as Distinction is worth the investment of time and money.

Here are results of the Distinction 2013 Presentation Impact Survey. I think they track well with what I see within my company.

1) What best represents your role in the organization?

11% Senior Management
42% Sales or Marketing
17% Training & Development
3% Corporate Communications
5% Operations or Finance
22% Other (Education, mid-level management, directors etc)

2) How would you rank the importance of personal presentation skills on your career and income?

89% Communicating with clarity/directly impacts my career and income (Up 3% from 2012)
10% Presentation skills are helpful but only impact my job somewhat
1% Good presentation skills probably don’t impact my job at all

3) What is the mix of face-to-face presentations vs. web-based presentations you deliver?

33% I only deliver face-to-face presentations.
37% Most of my presentations are face-to-face with a few that are web-based.
16% An even mix of face-to-face and web-based presentations.
14% More than half of my presentations are web-based. *(Doubled from 2012 results)

4) Which best reflects your ability to get honest and constructive feedback on the presentations you deliver?

39% I get regular, constructive and helpful feedback on how well I’m presenting.
36% The feedback I receive is very infrequent and not always helpful.
25% I rarely or never receive direct input on my presentation skills.

5) Do you believe you are a good presenter?

49% Yes, I believe I’m a pretty good presenter
41% I think I’m a somewhat average presenter
10% My presentation skills are not as strong as I would like

6) What best describes the PowerPoint (or equivalent) presentations you or your team deliver? (Be as objective as you can)

12% Very simple- sometimes bordering on too elementary
16% Overly complicated – way too much information on a slide
50% Average visuals- no better or worse than others I see
22% Awesome- high caliber and well-designed presentation visuals

7) Rank these presenter behaviors from most to least irritating or distracting, 1 being the worst (listed below from most irritating average score to least)

#1 – Reading directly from notes or off the screen
#2 – The use of umm’s and uhhh’s (filler words)
#3 – Pacing or nervous movement
#4 – Eyes wander and won’t make eye contact with the audience
#5 – Presenter wants to stay behind a podium or lectern

8) On a 1-10 scale, rank the average presenter you see in your organization every week.

5.6

9) Does your company provide meaningful and ongoing resources and tools to help you become a more effective communicator and presenter?

31% Yes- my company supports the ongoing development of these skills in a number of ways
55% Limited- my company provides only occasional or limited resources or tools
14% No- my company does not offer any resources for presentation skills development

10) When asked to deliver an important presentation, your gut feeling is…

35% No sweat… I really love giving presentations
64% I would be anxious but I always make it work out
1% I’d rather have a root canal at the dentist’s office

11) When it comes to creating the underlying message for my presentations…

37% I don’t have a consistent plan for shaping important presentation messages
8% Someone else usually creates the messages for my presentations
55% I have a very specific messaging game plan that I use

*Survey respondents January 2013= 150

This annual survey is conducted by Distinction Communication Inc., a Portland, OR–based presentation services company that provides delivery skills coaching, messaging and advanced design support to clients around North America and the world.

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