WorkPuzzle

Why Every Manager and Business Owner Should Dream of Sushi

Very few movies come along that impact me as powerfully as the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

How can an 85 year old man, with a restaurant seating 10 people, receive the highest possible rating from Michelin, charge $365 a meal, and serve nothing but sushi? That's right, no appetizers, no desert, no side dishes, just sushi.

Sushi is all you’re getting.. and sushi is all you'll want.

Jiro has been deemed by experts to be the best sushi chef in the world. How good? A 3 star rating from Michelin is reserved for restaurants where the food is so good that it is, “Worth traveling to the country just to eat there.”

 

But that is only part of what makes Jiro Dreams of Sushi an interesting story.

How this man developed a reputation for the best sushi in the world is where this story gets very interesting.

Early in his difficult life, Jiro threw himself into becoming the very best sushi chef he could possibly be. He never set out to become the best in the world, or become rich. However, those extraneous things happened as a result of doing his very best every single day. Hence the title of the documentary; desiring to improve his skills every day led him to, "Dream about sushi."

Here are some quotes from the chef himself and one from his son:

“ Once you decide on your occupation… you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret of success… and is the key to being regarded honorably.”-Jiro Ono

“I've never once hated this job. I fell in love with my work and gave my life to it. Even though I'm eighty five years old, I don't feel like retiring. That's how I feel.”-Jiro Ono

“Always look ahead and above yourself. Always try to improve on yourself. Always strive to elevate your craft. That's what he taught me."- Yoshikazu Ono

"I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit. There is always a yearning to achieve more. I'll continue to climb, trying to reach the top, but no one knows where the top is."-Jiro Ono

Now, to be fair, you'll see that this kind of intense striving can lead to some poor fathering. He admits that he was not a good father. However, despite this fact, both of his sons have taken up their old man's craft, and pursue it with similar enthusiasm.

Do you know anyone with a similar dedication to their craft? I do. My wife is a dental hygienist and an instructor at a college, training dental hygiene students. While she never dedicated so much time that she came close to putting her craft above her duties as a mother, she was always improving, always wanting to be better, and wanting to stay abreast of the latest research and techniques. I love this about her. I don't get it, (why someone would be so interested in teeth and the mouth with that kind of dedication)... but I love it.

Many years ago, I figured out that most of the people who turn out to be interesting are usually those who are interested in excelling at something. What do you excel at? Do your customers and coworkers perceive you to be dedicated to excellence?

Whether they do or don't, know this: It is never too late to become seriously dedicating to doing something every day, improve what you offer, what you know, or how you serve.

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Join the WorkPuzzle Discussion at the Tidemark Online Community (TMOC)

Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

What is Crock Pot Recruiting?

Everyone has heard the saying "If it were easy, everyone would do it." A couple of years ago, Ben wrote a great piece on the difference between microwave and crock pot recruiting that closely follows this principle.

Every tool and philosophy we espouse at Tidemark is built upon this central principle. It is not surprising that 95% of our clients hold to this principle as well. They have an underlying conviction that in order to see results tomorrow, they must consistently engage in systematic and seamless steps today. It's understood that "microwave" recruiting will only obtain low hanging fruit that competitors are also vying for. Conversely, "crock pot" recruiting may take more time and discipline, but, over time, yields the higher caliber and supplemental fruit that companies need in order to beat the competition.

The differences in the conversations of a microwave recruiter and the conversations of a crock pot recruiter resemble two entirely different languages. A microwave recruiter typically offers anecdotal excuses, usually with no statistics, regarding why they aren’t achieving their goals. When asked a statistical question, the microwave recruiter will usually give you an anecdotal answer. When asked how many candidates it takes to get ten interviews...or how many interviews it takes to get each hire, a microwave recruiter is usually unable to provide numbers. What do they provide instead? More excuses. Why? Because a microwave recruiter does not track methods or results.

What isn't measured cannot be managed, predicted, or improved upon. However, recording and tracking results doesn’t come naturally to most people. I often fall into the common trap of not measuring what I do, or how I spend my time. And guess what? That’s invariably when I’m not accomplishing much.

Now, don't get me wrong...there are always factors that change percentages and numbers from one cycle to the next. There is a time and place to dissect reasons and interpret the changes in percentages, however, making excuses with no grounding in metrics is typically used as an attempt to avoid accountability.

Discipline is the key to tracking and keeping records. Disciplined people and organizations rarely offer excuses. They implement systems to drive, track, and improve performance.

Discipline is defined as:

1. Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior.

2. Controlled behavior resulting from training.

3. A set of rules or methods.

4. Activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill.

5. Behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control.

6. A set or system of rules and regulations.

Two years ago, I wrote a four-part piece on an expert recruiter (Andy Nazaroff) who clearly exercises discipline (1,2,3,4). He provides specifics regarding calls, interviews, information, timing, conduct, etc... all of these methods amount to consistent and impressive success.

For him and others like him, a belief system is at the core of their success. They believe that discipline drives results, and increases responsibility -- two characteristics of every successful company.

Let me know your thoughts and your own methods for assuring your own discipline.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Tidemark Online Community: Dipping Your Toe Into a Private Social Network

Over the last few weeks, we’ve focused significant time and dialog on the topic of social media. In the process, we’ve attempted to give you insight concerning an up and coming business trend—the widespread use of private social networks for business applications.

If you’re new to the conversation, you may want to read a few of the previous posts on this topic.  Visit WorkPuzzle and scroll back through the discussions over the last month or so. It won’t take long to catch up.

In my personal conversations with readers over the last few weeks, I've noticed there still seems to be a little confusion and concern about how all this “private social network stuff" works. If you are confused, don’t feel discouraged.  Emerging technologies will always feel awkward and intimidating at first, but will later seem less frightening and even routine (you probably don’t get concerned about opening up your email, right?).    

How do you get over the initial awkwardness of new technology? One way is to join a private social network as a user before running a network (a virtual office) by yourself.

 And that is exactly what we are offering you today. 

I'd like to personally invite each of you to join the Tidemark Online Community as a way of “dipping your toe” into the concept of a private social network.

I promise you, joining is relatively painless (it takes about 3 minutes to create your profile) and you can control your involvement and privacy. By joining our online community you’ll experience a little bit of how we do business at Tidemark.

Now keep in mind—Tidemark is not a real estate company. Some of the issues that we work on in the virtual office do not directly translate to the ideal real estate virtual office. However, by joining and participating in our private social network, you’ll start to see how becoming a community manager of a virtual real estate office could work for you.

To get started, click on the link below. We look forward to seeing  you on the virtual side of Tidemark.

Join the Tidemark Online Community

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

RecruitingSocial: 4 Reasons You Need a Virtual Office

Over the last month, we have built a very strong foundation to support the fact that social media is here to stay and have described how our clients can best utilize this trend to increase market share.  In the last two editions (1, 2), Ben announced our new solution, why we chose to invest in it, and how we believe it will help you recruit, manage, and lead the real estate industry in this new direction.    

There was a day when your brick and mortar office was your complete identity.  It was your castle...your fort.  It was the only place that your troops gathered for strategy and inspiration, as well as the place they assembled to perform the majority of their work.  This is slowly becoming less and less the case.  People, especially young professionals, are increasingly mobile and have more access to the things they need outside the office.  They are also quite tied to their social media platforms, in general.  The internet has changed the game, and within the most innovative companies, social media has changed marketing, communication, collaboration, and recruiting. 

While many smaller companies are trying to find a way to capture the benefits of this trend with Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, they continue to be frustrated with the results of these endeavors.  Why?  

Ben described it well in his last article... You as a manager, won't benefit from the above platforms unless you have a way for everything to point back to not only you personally, and not only your company, but to your individual office and the people within it.  

First, imagine that you have your own online office where much of the collaboration, inspiration, problem solving, daily tips, and success stories could be communicated.  Now, imagine that outside agents, vendors, customers, and clients were able not only to see inside some of the collaboration of your office, but they could join in on some of it as well.  THIS is what the bigger companies are doing, and we're betting this is how the younger generation will strive to go about their work.  

Don't get me wrong, brick and mortar offices will always be necessary for a variety of reasons...but your online representation of your office and all of its communication and collaboration will be a key ingredient to attracting, retaining, and collaborating with the best and the brightest.  

So, here are four reasons why you need to seriously consider an online social media office:  

1. You need your own online TURF.  As Ben mentioned in the last edition -- Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social networking sites should be used solely as your outposts and embassies, all pointing back to your turf...your office. 

2. To build new channels for collaboration.  Imagine your agents pitching in (in real time) to help someone with an urgent question or problem. 

3. To create value.  Imagine developing a network of customers, vendors, and perhaps outside agents that you've been trying to recruit, and leveraging their collective brainpower to explore and develop new ideas.   

4. To Recruit.  Agents want to get a glimpse of your culture.  They want to have conversations with agents, look around, and perhaps even develop some ongoing dialogue in order to see the dynamics of your office and how you and your agents think before signing on.  This is one powerful way of accomplishing that.  

Karl Moore, of Forbes summarizes this trend well: 

"The benefits of collaboration networks are limitless.  These networks breed co-creation, shared value, and cultures of collaboration that can be leveraged beyond the network.  The new generation of Millennials and Generation C (connected, computerized, and community-oriented) have fully adopted the collaborative mindset as their own.  They are educated, interactive, and collaborative, and have grown up using social networks as a tool for brainstorming and problem solving.  This reflects a broad shift in generational thinking that is taking place.  The broadcast generation from the industrial age is being met by a collaborative generation from the new knowledge age.  The old ways of staying within the four walls to solve problems, guarding company information, and developing products, services, and solutions in isolation are gone.

Companies that can create or participate in a collaborative network and organize themselves to best leverage the benefits will enjoy a competitive advantage.  Companies of all sizes can start by setting up a network of internal experts, suppliers, partners and customers." 

And now you can too. If you haven't done so already, scroll back to the last two editions (1, 2) and learn about the conception of what we now call "RecruitingSocial."

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

RecruitingSocial: The Need for a Private Social Network

As mentioned in the last post, Tidemark is in the process of pre-launching RecruitingSocial—the new social media recruiting tool that has been under development for the past few months. 

As we constructed this tool, one of the business trends that we chose to take advantage of was the introduction (and now aggressive growth) of private social networks for business applications.  

As you may know, there has been a “land grab” for technologies that equip businesses to build and maintain private social networks.  In June, I wrote a detailed blog on this topic.  If you don’t remember this discussion, you may want to re-read it  before digesting the rest of this article. 

In the private social networking arena, there are more than 50 companies that are all competing for attention in this (now) crowded business demographic.  As you might imagine, each company tries to differentiate itself with a unique approach and focus, but the over-arching theme is arming businesses to harness the promise of social networking technology. 

The alternative to focusing on a private social network approach, is to attempt to build tools that help managers make sense of and navigate the major public social networks, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  There are some outstanding companies that have consultancies focused on this model.  One such company is Social Media Examiner.  It is amazing the number of good ideas this company generates in the area of marketing businesses on public social networks.  There is much to learn. 

In developing RecruitingSocial, one of the early decisions we had to make was whether to put our emphasis on a private social network approach, or on public social network methodologies.  Both concepts have advantages and disadvantages, and both methodologies have compelling examples of success. 

We ended up choosing the private network approach because we believe this gives the individual real estate manager a way of building a platform that he/she can optimize for recruiting success.

So where does that leave public social networks in this process?  We believe that these environments are best used as support mechanisms for a manager’s private social network.  

Although we didn’t realize it at the time we conceptualized this model, there were other thought leaders who were heading down the same path.  One of the individuals who does a great job of articulating this philosophy is Michael Hyatt in his best-selling book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World:

“A good social media strategy has three components: 

1. A Homebase.  This is a digital property you own and control.  It is where your loyal fans gather.  It can be as simple as a blog or as complex as a self-hosted community.  Regardless, it is where you direct all internet traffic.  Why?  Because this is the place where you can best sell your ideas or products.  You control the borders and determine who has access. 

2.  Embassies.  These are places you don’t own, but where you have a registered profile.  In other words, you have a regular presence on someone else’s property.  You engage in conversations with those who congregate there.  Examples would include Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, or even other blogs you follow.  You generally need a “Passport” (verified credentials) granted by the site owner to maintain residency or participate in conversations. 

3.  Outposts.  These are places you don’t own nor have a regular presence.  Instead, you simply listen into conversations about you, your brand, your company, or topics that interest you.  For example, I have search columns in HootSuite that monitor mentions of both my name and my company.  I also have Google Alerts that monitor the same information wherever it may occur on the Web. 

The bottom line is that all the social media tools available fit into one of these three buckets.  If you are just involved in social media for the sake of entertainment, you may not need a homebase.  But if you are serious about building a platform, that’s precisely where you need to start.  From there you can set up embassies and outposts.” 

RecruitingSocial has been designed to be the “Homebase” for the real estate manager who wants to develop a social media platform for engaging competitive agents (candidates) in their local market.  

Sound overwhelming?  It would be if you had to conceptualize and build everything yourself.  That’s why RecruitingSocial was built—to simplify the process of building and maintaining a social media platform for your office. 

In the upcoming blogs, we’ll discuss the details of how all this works. 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

RecruitingSocial: Pre-Launch for WorkPuzzle Subscribers

As you know, we’ve spent the month of September exploring the impact that social media is having on the real estate industry.  Most of our thoughts have been pointed at recruiting and the potential that exists for those who become proficient inside this new paradigm.

During these discussions, we’ve hinted that Tidemark was in the process of developing some new tools to help our clients and other leaders in the real estate industry make an impact in the world of social media.

Today, we’re proud to announce the pre-launch of “RecruitingSocial.”  Like HiringCenter and TalentPipeline (the other products Tidemark offers), RecruitingSocial has been designed specifically for the real estate industry and will focus on helping managers become proficient in the use of social media for recruiting and other business purposes.

At this point, our intentions are only being revealed to WorkPuzzle readers.  The public launch of RecruitingSocial will not occur until later this month.

We’re offering a pre-launch among WorkPuzzle readers because many of you have had a hand is shaping this product.  I won’t go into detail, but we’ve been in numerous meetings and online conversations where we hear things like, “Can you guys help us with social media?” or “Why don’t you guys develop something that is in alignment with social media.” or “We like what HiringCenter does, but aren’t we missing a big part of where candidates spend their time?” etc...  We can’t promise that we’ve addressed every issue that has been brought up, but we have listened to much of your input.

So, first of all, thank you for urging us to go down this path and trusting us with your thoughts and insights.  In return for your efforts, we’d like to spend the next couple of weeks discussing what we’ve created and how RecruitingSocial can have an impact on your organization.  Also, we have some fun in store for you along the way.

More to come in upcoming WorkPuzzle discussions…

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

How are Other Small Businesses Using Social Media?

As Dave mentioned in his last post, we have made a concerted effort to focus on social media over the last month.  As you might suspect, much of what we write in WorkPuzzle is based on the questions and concerns that we have heard our clients express.  

But occasionally, we focus on topics that are probably of more interest to us than some of individuals who regularly read WorkPuzzle.  If you’re in that second group, thank you for indulging us for the last few weeks as we’ve explored social media topics.

Of course, this begs the question—if you’re not interested in social media topics, should you be more concerned about these issues?  More specifically, are you putting your business at risk by failing to understand and engage this new technology?

Until recently, the argument could be made that social media was primarily a personal issue.  Not using social media was similar to not knowing who the finalists were in this season’s American Idol.  People may have looked at you a little strange, but it didn’t hurt your business.

At the same time, the only businesses that were taking advantage of social media seemed to be large companies with prominent consumer facing brands.  It was appropriate to rationalize that your business was not Budweiser—you don’t run Super Bowl ads and you don’t participate in business-related social media.  It only made sense to focus marketing effort and budget elsewhere.

Is it reasonable to stay this course, or (as we’ve argued in the past few weeks) are there some fundamental changes taking place around this technology that could start to affect your business?

To find an answer to the question, it may be helpful to look beyond the real estate industry and consider what’s going on among a broader group of small and medium size businesses. 

If you think about it, the typical real estate office operates as a small business.  In turn, many of the marketing techniques that make a local small business service-provider successful would be applicable in a real estate office as well.

Hollis Thomases, a columnist for Inc. Magazine, just reported on several recent research projects involving small businesses and social media.  I think the findings will surprise you:

"It was only about a year ago that a Hiscox study found only 12% of small business owners 'described social media promotion as a must and nearly 50% weren't using social media at all.'

Oh, how times change.

A newly released study by Vocus now finds that for 77% of small and medium-size businesses (or SMBs), social media accounts for 25% or more of total marketing efforts.”

Let those percentages soak in a little bit.  The study highlights a significant turn of events.  

Here are some more data points:

“The Vocus study also found that 84% of SMBs plan to increase their spend on social media, mainly because 78% said social media 'has helped a great deal.'

In addition to investing more in social media, future plans include using more social media sites, sharing more, engaging more, hiring more help and spending more time on and in social media.”

When things change this quickly (remember these two studies were only one year apart), it is difficult to know how to react.  As I mentioned before, don't beat yourself up for not being on top of this six months ago!

But on the other hand, it would be a mistake to ignore this type of quickly mounting research data.  It may be time for you to develop and implement a social media strategy of your own.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Collaborating, Generation Y, and Social Media

I learn most by watching and listening to my children.  And it just so happens that my kids fit nicely into the Gen Y demographic, which sooner or later will be, not only your predominant workforce, but your primary customer.  (More on my kids later...)  Gen Y's are those born between 1976 and 1991.  If you haven't noticed, most products and advertisers are pitching to them.  Are you?  

We all realize that when it comes to managing an office of all ages, there has to be a delicate balance between meeting the needs of the current workforce (and customers), while also building for the future.  Neither can be neglected.  

But what does this newer generation need?  What are they looking for?  

In a thoughtful article written by Bill Paterson of Microsoft, published by Forbes magazine, Bill states: 

"The workforce dynamics are always changing – but none more so than the influx of Gen-Y talent that will make-up the majority staffing over the next few years.  Sure we’ve been hit with new paradigms before:  open-cubicle design, virtual offices, and yes– even the latest craze of Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) IT policies, but this next shift promises to bring some of the biggest shake-up over last decade.  Why might you ask?  Allow me to explain.  

Generation-Y represent a new class of employee:  one shaped with a deep appreciation of technology combined with a desire to work collaboratively as teams versus seeking advancement solely on the basis of individual contribution.  Interestingly, studies have shown that this new generation of employee not only thrives in highly collaborative workplaces, but is now making this a key requirement in selecting where to work.  And it is in this area – becoming a highly collaborative workplace– which many organizations have their work cut out for them."

Given the above research, one begins to understand why Oracle bought Involver, Microsoft bought Yammers, and Sales Force bought Buddy Media; They are building the groundwork for collaboration to occur...All are platforms designed to meet the following needs: collaboration, cooperation, and a sense of belonging. These companies believe that this kind of platform is important enough to the future of their business to invest billions of dollars in them.  

So, back to my kids... They each work for highly collaborative environments in completely different industries.  Why?  Because they are drawn to such environments, and have actually left companies that were not highly collaborative.  Everything that I am reading about this topic resonates with what I am seeing right under my own nose. 

You might be wondering why we have been writing so much about social media, without clear direction on how to use it.  I can answer that by saying two things:  (1) We are studying and writing about it as a way to learn more, and (2) We are simultaneously developing a product to provide an answer to all we are proposing...  

More on this soon... In the meantime, please share your thoughts.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Is Your Social Media Content Up to Snuff?

I am writing this blog on the heels of Ben’s series (1, 2, 3) regarding Fear in Social Media.  Assuming you are open-minded to the concepts Ben discussed, and are possibly teetering on jumping into the wonderful world of the social web…let’s discuss content.

In my previous blog, I discussed the importance of engagement in social media strategies.  It is important to know your audience and engage them where they are, without imposing your brand, but rather share intriguing content that is meaningful to them.

Part of the engagement process is to ensure that what you are communicating has value to those with whom you are sharing.  Pay attention to your target audience, “listen” to their conversations, and then participate.  If something you share is interesting to one person, it will likely be interesting to others.  The goal is to get people interested in YOU by demonstrating the value that you bring to them.  The nature of social media allows for your message to be broadcast to a large spectrum, so let’s make sure what you choose to share has the effect you desire. 

So, how do you know if what you are saying is good?  By making sure it isn’t bad.  In a recent Inc. magazine article, Minda Zetlin, a business technology writer, speaker and author; suggests that you ask yourself these three questions…and be honest with your answers!

“1. Would I spend time on a Sunday afternoon reading or viewing this (blog post/Facebook update/tweet/video, etc.) if I didn't know the creator?  If the answer is no, your content probably sucks.

2. Will people reading or viewing this information learn something that will either help them solve a problem or engage their emotions?  And that useful information had better not be about your new product or feature, at least not most of the time.  If all your content is a product or feature announcement, it officially sucks.

3. Is the content intended to benefit the reader/viewer or someone else?  Thank yous, acknowledgements, featuring someone in your blog because you owe them a favor, asking people to vote for your pet project... all these things qualify as sucky content.  They have relationship-building value too, so I'm not saying you should never do any of these things.  But be very selective when you do.  And make sure you're also providing a lot of quality content that will reward your reader/viewers for their attention.

What can you do if you want to improve the quality of your content?  One simple way is to start paying attention to other people's content.  Retweeting a great tweet takes about a second, or maybe 30 seconds if you want to add a comment of your own.  Posting a link to a fascinating article or photo or video that someone else uploaded doesn't take much longer.  Actually creating quality content from scratch is certainly more of an investment, but if you do it in the spirit of generosity to your audience, that audience will reward your effort and your business will benefit.  Try it.  You'll see.”

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Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Overcoming the Fear of Social Media—Part 2

In our last discussion, I told you about an exchange I had with a Costco executive about ten years ago, while my business partner and I were pitching the idea of using a social network to retain employees. 

While it may sound crazy now, this executive (at the time) was still unsure of the wisdom of giving employees free and easy access to email while on the job.  I’m sure that most of you could not even imagine imposing such a restriction on email today because it has evolved into a much needed and beneficial tool for business communication.  But, that was the lens executives were looking through at the time. 

So, here’s an important question for you:  Do you feel that social media is on the same trajectory that email was on a decade ago?  Or, more specifically, do you believe that social media will become a much needed and beneficial business tool as well? 

Before you start to beat yourself up for being “old school,” let me assure you that many of your peers are also struggling with this same issue.  Harvard Business Review recently highlighted the work of Anthony J. Bradley (Group Vice President, Gartner Research) and Mark P. McDonald (Group Vice President and Gartner Fellow, Gartner Executive Programs) on this topic.  The Gartner research was designed to capture a snapshot of how business leaders feel about the future of social media.  Here are some of the researchers’ thoughts: 

“In just a few years, social media has come to dominate many of our personal communications.  We collaborate daily, sometimes productively, sometimes not.  Most organizations, however, still view social media as a threat to productivity, intellectual capital, security, privacy, management authority, or regulatory compliance.  In fact, this is the most common attitude among the more than 250 organizations in the study.” 

The research shows that most companies have yet to embrace a positive attitude toward using social media for true business value.  But, the results are not as out-of-balance as you might imagine: 

“Overall, respondents were split 50/50 between a positive and challenged attitude towards social media with many indicating that they recognize the potential for social media to address strategic needs and generate durable change.” 

Among the challenged attitudes (this is consultant speak for negative) about social media, the most common emotion documented, by quite a large margin, is fearfulness.  In essence, many business leaders are worried when they consider this topic because it is difficult to predict how the technology will impact their companies and industries. 

While some caution is always appropriate when new things come along, maintaining a fearful attitude can be stifling to an organization. 

“The trouble with a fearful attitude is that an organization often doesn't take a specific stance: it discourages and even prohibits the use of social media.  While this approach reduces the potential for undesirable behavior — that's the reason for restriction — it also stifles any business value that might be derived from grassroots use of social media.”

Let’s zero in on the real estate industry to finish up this discussion.  I’ve not noticed much discouraging or prohibiting of social media among in the real estate industry.  With independent contractors as agents, most owners find it difficult to prohibit much of anything. 

However, I don’t see much strategic sponsoring of social media strategies by real estate companies either.  Instead, there is an ad hoc “do it your own way and let the leadership team know how it goes” attitude.  In the background, there is a lot of cringing and even some hand-wringing that goes on as managers watch the messiness of social media play out in front of them.  Most of the messiness relates to the inappropriate combining of personal and professional social circles. 

Why is there no strategic plan for social media in most real estate companies?  Because there is fear and uncertainty about the impact this technology will have on the real estate business in the future. 

In our next discussion, we’ll learn how organizations in other industries are dealing with this fear and uncertainty and how you can start to set a strategic direction for your organization.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.