DR1665

TWICs XXX

DR1665 — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:00:48 +0000

The Week In Comments, 30th Edition.

The Week In Comments (TWICs): Creating raving fans, ways B2B can use gamification, & the most engaging reasons to embrace social now.

HBR: How to Create Raving Fans
(04.25.12)

The difference between a participant and a fan is belief. The participant will lay a few bricks, but the fan wants to build that cathedral. Get them thinking about what they want relative what you’re offering. If you’ve got systems in place to empower them, light the fuse and get out of the way.

Social Media B2B: 6 Ways B2B Companies Can Use Social Media Gamification
(04.24.12)

Perhaps the most powerful – yet most frequently overlooked – component to social media growth is also very simple. It’s recognition. The simple, high level ideas above present solid ways of driving engagement.

Inclined to Design: 12 Most Engaging Reasons Why Brands Need to Embrace Social Media Now
(05.03.12)

Community is continually evolving. There’s a clear life cycle in place where missions change over time. Today, brands are in a unique position to have simple tools readily available which would help them build relationships with their customers as equals. I think they could save a ridiculous amount of time and money if they’d stop trying to own and control the conversation and just joined us where we already are as equals.

Want to see more TWICs posts?

Thank you for inspiring me this week. Keep going fast with class, pressing on regardless, and doing it yourself (or doing what you can).

In the glovebox:

Onboarding & US Rail Fail

DR1665 — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:47:25 +0000

ALL ABOARD! (HAHAHAHA)

WHAT IS ONBOARDING?
Onboarding is a buzzword used to convey the process of integrating a person or persons into an organization or idea. You hear it quite a bit in human resources circles, particularly in training departments.

In case you didn’t know it yet, I work in knowledge management within the learning and professional development arm of Apollo Group – meaning I hear it all the time and fully associate it with getting newly hired staff introduced to our culture, policies, and processes.

I can’t tell you how hard it was for me just now to explain onboarding without using the word onboarding in the explanation, but I can tell you that, as soon as you mention gamification, a lot of people simply tune out. In fact, until a couple months ago, I’d be one of those people.

Thing is, when you think about how pervasive and successful the (video) gaming industry has been in recent years, only a fool would turn a blind eye to lessons learned – and proven – by this industry, gamification chief among them

OK, BUT “US RAIL FAIL”?
Admittedly, it’s a stretch, and something of a challenge. Until I had a couple conversations with Joey Strawn on the subject (gamification – not rail travel), I was one of those people who tuned out when gamification was mentioned. It seemed the only time I heard it mentioned was in regard to Foursquare checkins or GetGlue stickers, in short – meaningless, bullshit that interrupted my social streams.

If that’s gamification, I want nothing to do with it.

Joey explained things differently, though. He explained why gamificaton is so much more than another made-up social media buzzword our spellcheckers don’t like. He illustrated how consistently increasing peoples’ status, access, power, and stuff (SAPS) taps into intrinsic, fundamentally human motivators, inspiring people to consistently perform at their best.

ONBOARDING. GETTING ONBOARD.
What sort of things do we board? We board airplanes. We board ships. (I’m on a boat!) But how often do we – in the United States – board the train? I thought, why couldn’t a new hire trainer play the role of conductor – All aboard!

Maybe because he wouldn’t even think about rail as a form of transportation. I commented there’s gotta be a metaphor in there somewhere; onboarding, gamification, a comparison between rail travel in the US and Europe. And so, here we are.

4 ONBOARDING CHALLENGES

Slowly Reveal the Nature and Complexities of Your Organization/Movement
The last thing you want to do when onboarding new team members is drone on and on about the intricacies of steam locomotion. They neither need to know nor care about the miles of small, copper tubes carrying steam pressure through all the valves on the engine. Simply tell them coal is burned to heat water which turns into the steam which powers the engine.

Reinforce Positive Experiences for the Users
From the moment new staff walks through the door, make them feel like a million dollars. Ensure ticket collection and passport verification are quick and painless – have everything ready to go before they even arrive at the station. It should be easy for them to find their seats, which should be window or aisle as agreed upon in advance. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Remove the Chance for Failure
It’s only natural for people to feel a bit uncomfortable in new situations. Despite knowing they’re about to travel by rail and maybe having an idea how a steam locomotive works, there’s still a long line of cars behind the engine they know nothing about. Make sure everyone knows where the essentials like restrooms, break rooms, and whatnot are located on day one, but also make sure everything else is arranged in such a way as to be intuitive so they can figure it out on their own if need be. On that first day, we want everyone to be a winner.

Gather Gamer Data
Finally, use that first day to get to know each other. The application and interview process leading up to this day was very formal, but now is the time to welcome new team members as equals. Ask them about why they chose rail travel, about their hobbies and interests, let them know how much the company is looking forward to their use of past experiences to help us all make this organization a great place to work. In short, show an interest in them and make it easy for everyone to share.

Stuck at a train crossing
Here in the US, most of us only know trains as slow-moving, mile-long road blocks which make a lot of noise and don’t go very fast. The train has developed such a dowdy reputation, we’ve all but forgotten about it. For many people, the large corporation has developed a similar reputation. So, onboarding and US rail fail. It was an attempt at metaphor which may or may not come across. What do you think?

In the glovebox:

Social Workplace V: Storming

DR1665 — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:23:44 +0000

Rock the boat. (Don’t rock the boat.)

STORMING
It can seem an eternity passes between the day we launch our new community and the day we know it’s clearly growing without our constant intervention and support. And then, almost overnight, we enter the storming stage. Differing opinions butt heads and tensions rise, making it feel like the whole thing is on the verge of falling apart.

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
It’s important to know this is perfectly normal. Community done right means people begin to feel empowered to play leadership roles. Like minds connect, self-organize, and come up with different opinions on which course to plot. It could be as simple as deciding whether to sail to Cannes or Nice, France, but it could also be a disagreement over whether to sail the Caribbean or head north to Alaska.

As the community begins to pick up steam, there will be disagreements as to how best to proceed. Our most active members, inspired by collaboration and efficiency, will begin to have differing ideas of which direction the community should now go. If we do not proactively address these perspectives, we will lose many of the members we worked so hard to attract in the forming stage.

Our natural instinct in situations like this is to shut the splitters down, but we don’t want to let cognitive dissonance get the better of us. As uncomfortable as the storming phase might be, planning for it in advance can mean the difference between a thrilling afternoon thunderstorm and a Category 5 hurricane.

HOW DO WE MITIGATE THESE RISKS?
We start with a brief introduction to cognitive dissonance. Wikipedia introduces cognitive dissonance as a “discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions (e.g., ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions) simultaneously.” That is, when we expect one thing and experience something else, we feel uncomfortable, tense, and even angry. It can be as simple as our dinner not being what we expected based on the description in the menu, or as incensing as discovering the new job isn’t all that it was cracked up to be in the interviews.

If we did our initial marketing right, we sold our new community on possibilities; a place where those who care about something can feel the wind in their sails, propelling them forward. It’s only natural that different people will see – and want to pursue – different possibilities. How do we make everyone happy all the time?

PLAN TO SUPPORT THE SPLITTERS.
Think back to all those questions we worked through in the warming stage and how we established a vision of our community performing at its best in the future. Looking back, they seem pretty intuitive, right? We must remain flexible to handle the growing pains associated with the storming phase. This includes working with those whose view of the community differs from our own. We support (and potentially disarm) splitters by facilitating the warming stage for them.

“WARM THE SPLITTERS”

Discuss things in front of everyone.

Ask them why they want to go the other direction.

Ask them who, among them, is willing to take the lead.

Ask them how the two communities will support one another.

Transparency builds trust. Discussing things out in the open shows potential splitters we are receptive to their criticism and feedback. It shows we take this collaborative, community-thing seriously. We are making efforts to fully understand their position. If we ask enough whys, we may discover a simple change we can make to keep everyone happy where they are, but we need to be prepared to support the splitters in their initial efforts so as not to have animosity hold us all back.

This is the difference between that invigorating thunderstorm (building allies) and destructive hurricane (building enemies). Splitters might present a threat to the longevity of our new community, but by extending them our trust and support, we support them in their risk-taking, earn their support in the process, and stand the best chances of success together. Many hands make light work.

“SPITE SITES”
Over the years, I’ve seen a number of communities started out of animosity. Active, passionate members who felt their opinions weren’t valued – even stepped on by the established site team – went out and started their own communities. Careless leadership (myself included) treated these folks like mutinous troublemakers, showing them to the plank.

We might as well have drilled a hole in the bottom of our boats. Where things could have been handled with professional courtesy – you go that way, we’ll go this way, and we’ll meet up on the other side to compare notes – now there were multiple communities competing for the same resources (members), some even actively pursuing each other’s downfall.

So much for progress. Many of these hastily-launched “spite sites” end up wrecked on beaches. They might not sink their competitors before they do, but know this: keelhauling the splitters will only result in your ship taking on water for some time to come.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
How do you deal with differing opinions in a new community? Or in an established one dealing with serious growing pains? (These skills come into play consistently from here-on out to beyond the norming and performing stages.)

In the glovebox:

TWICs XXIX

DR1665 — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:00:06 +0000

The Week In Comments, 29th Edition.

The Week In Comments (TWICs): Consumer or citizen, actions and words, lessons in creativity.

Fearless Revolution: Consumer or Citizen?
(04.20.12)

The path of consumption only leads to emptiness, fear, and regret, while citizenship – even if only to the extent of being present in the moment – brings purpose, joy, and inspiration.

Kommein: Community Management Responsibilities Outside the Brand
(04.24.12)

On the one hand, I don’t think we should have to filter ourselves. We are what we do and, more to the point, we are what we do *when nobody’s watching us.* The hyper-transparency afforded by social media is smothered in old school marketing mentality subconsciously pushing a words-over-actions vibe. The line between being respectful and being disingenuous is a slippery slope.

Conversation Agent: Lesson in Creativity from Hitchcock
(04.26.12)

Where creativity and customer-centricity are fundamentally woven into the fabric of the organization, compelling, valuable, and entertaining experiences come more naturally and frequently. This, to me, is a more comprehensive picture of “virality.”

Want to see more TWICs posts?

Thank you for inspiring me this week. Keep going fast with class, pressing on regardless, and doing it yourself (or doing what you can).

In the glovebox:

TWICs XXVIII

DR1665 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:00:41 +0000

The Week In Comments, 28th Edition.

Last Week In Comments (TWICs): Priorities, passion for learning, following through.

This European Life: The Life I Have Chosen!
(04.10.12)

Your last paragraph sums it up perfectly. We should not wake each day with a feeling of dread, but rather excitement at the opportunities ahead of us. “Wherever there is any doubt, there is no doubt.” I think about what I’m looking for when I reach for my phone in the morning. Seems that’s what I should be doing with my life.

Better Mess: Finding Your Passion for Learning
(04.12.12)

The name of the game is relevance. And assembly line, rote memorization of exercises bereft of context or meaning commoditizes the joy of personal discovery and learning.

Craig McBreen: Become a Pro at Follow-Through
(04.01.12)

One empathizes with a fellow visionary. The big pictures are so inspiring, but zooming in and considering all the individual brush strokes required to paint them tend to take the wind right out of our sails.

Taylor Davidson: “Let me not be so vain to think that I’m the sole author of my victories and a victim of my defeats.”
(04.12.12)

http://youtu.be/RYlCVwxoL_g

Want to see more TWICs posts?

Thank you for inspiring me this week. Keep going fast with class, pressing on regardless, and doing it yourself (or doing what you can).