Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Building Culture in a Digital World

Quick quiz: true or false?

1. You don’t know anyone who works at your company.
2. You try not to involve yourself with your company’s digital networks.
3. When it comes to certain office protocols, you have no idea what is and isn’t acceptable.

If you answered ‘True’ to these statements, you’re part of the 20 percent of global employees who work on virtual teams, and your organization’s culture is a total mystery to you.

This is a problem, because even as we strive to enhance our cultures so our employees will stick around, our strategies mostly shut out employees who don’t come into our offices. If we want to encourage collaboration and track productivity, we have dozens of effective digital tools from which to choose. But when it comes to tools meant to inform and reinforce culture, there’s not much.

In a recent article for Fast Company, Austin Carr reported on a few new technologies that are a step in the right direction. Yammer, which is an enterprise social network that Microsoft acquired for $1.2 billion, acts like a Facebook for internal business use. It enables employees to exchange messages, media and status updates—integrating the option to “Like” a coworker’s post or give him or her “Praise” badges.

Taking it a step further is emotional intelligence company Kanjoya, which has a product called Crane that taps into an organization’s Yammer network and analyzes data to measure how employees are feeling at any given moment or on any given topic. Crane can tell, for instance if your employees are irritated by a new policy or don’t like the way management is handling a current issue. Although it’s not always clear what leaders should do with Crane’s data from a big picture perspective, the program at least allows them to address small details that might otherwise go unnoticed and fester.

For tips on how to effectively build culture in a digital world, check out my full post on the AMEX Open Forum.

Should You Get Rid of Classroom-Based Training?

My colleagues Bruce Tulgan and Jeff Coombs at Rainmaker Thinking have trained thousands of managers in their 20+ year careers as generational management experts.  In that time, they’ve identified five problems with the typical classroom-model of training.

Training is short-lived and event-based

When training occurs on one or two days every once in a while, it creates short-lived excitement and short-lived skill uptake and on-the-job application.

Training is in a bubble

Classroom training tends to be removed from the day to day work experience of the participants, both in terms of time and real world application.

Training is now or never

When an employee misses a training class due to other obligations or due to starting employment after the class, he/she is left behind until there is another opportunity to take the class and by that point the class may be “history” to the rest of the group.

For more issues with classroom-based training and alternative solutions you might consider, have a look at my full post at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

 

Could You Work From Anywhere?

Many of us are growing increasingly accustomed to doing our work from anywhere, anytime.  It’s a skill we will certainly need in the years to come.  But since I am working in London as we speak, I’ve been researching what it means to be truly location independent.  To that end, blogger Sean Ogle has provided some excellent suggestions for being as safe and productive as you can while working overseas.

Suggestion 1: Reliable VPN

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and the primary purpose is to allow you to allow you to securely connect to a network remotely.  A VPN can allow you to hide your actual identity or location.  Many countries block certain sites completely, so the only way to access them is when connected to a VPN.  A VPN can also make you look like you’re in the country, which can come in handy if you need location-specific search results, for instance.  Sean recommends Express VPN.

For more recommendations, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

How to Identify the Next Hot Trend in 2013

There’s no better way to ensure your value  than to identify a trend and capitalize on it before your competitors get to the table.  But how do you do this without a crystal ball or a time machine?  Here are some suggestions for honing your sense of what’s coming next in your field.

Notice Systems That Are Broken

If a broken process or system affects enough people, they will start to complain – and loudly.  When the noise gets too deafening, someone enterprising (hopefully you) will inevitably step in to fix the problem.  A current example is online plagiarism.  Right now, we can’t seem to stop people from copying the work of others and posting it on their own websites without attribution.  Writers are getting pretty ticked off, and I think it’s reasonable to expect that within the next five years, a solution will be developed to prevent this type of fraud.

More advice on finding the next big thing in 2013 is available at the Fast Track blog.

5 Never-Heard Networking Tips

When my friend Ben Casnocha sent me a copy of his new book, The Start-Up of You, I knew that I was going to read something innovative about networking.  After all, Ben wrote it with Reid Hoffman, the cofounder and chairman of LinkedIn, and if anything has changed the game of networking in the twenty-first century, it’s LinkedIn.

I was not disappointed.  And so I decided to write a Fast Track post with 5 networking tips from Ben and Reid that you haven’t heard before.  That article turned out to be my most frequently shared post this whole year. 

I hope you'll check it out and let me know what you think of the ideas, and if you would actually use them.

How to Be Happier at Home (and Work)

Gretchen Rubin has been a friend of mine since the early days of our blogs.  Her first book, The Happiness Project, became an international bestseller, and I was excited to read her latest effort, Happier at Home.  The new book focuses on ways we can make our homes places of greater simplicity, comfort, and love.

Since I specialize in careers and work, I naturally zeroed in on the part of the book that focuses on work/life balance.  Managing your time well is critical, because, as Gretchen points out, it only passes faster as we get older.  She cites poet Robert Southy, who explained:

“Live as long as you may, the first twenty years are the longest half of your life.  They appear so while they are passing, they seem to have been so when we look back on them, and they take up more room in our memory than all the years that succeed them.”

Since we don’t “notice” life as much once we’re in our twenties, thirties, and beyond, it’s especially important that we make an effort to be mentally present in each moment.  Happier at Home has dozens of recommendations to this effect, but here are a few that directly apply to the subject of work:

• Do you have kids?  Even though taking care of them can sometimes be boring, resist the urge to check your phone in their presence.  In fact, put the phone away, as it’s admittedly hard to resist.

 

• Don’t check e-mail at bedtime.  The stimulation of reading certain messages will energize you and you’ll have trouble falling asleep.

 

• Don’t type away on your smartphone when traveling from one place to another.  Instead of forcing yourself to use this time productively, leave yourself open to new thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

 

• Do understand when you are most efficient at doing different tasks, and work around that.  I, for example, get better quality writing done if I respect that my mental focus is sharpest in the late afternoon.

 

IBM CEO Study Shows Big Leadership Changes

A recent IBM study of more than 1,700 chief executive officers from 64 countries and 18 industries worldwide has some intriguing implications for organizational culture.

Although I’ve spoken with several HR leaders over the last few months about the necessity of transforming the way we work, I’ve always felt this uneasiness that CEOs weren’t on the same page. The IBM study assures me that this is not the case. Leaders clearly see that command and control is outdated and ineffective.

According to the research, companies that outperform their peers are 30 percent more likely to identify openness as a key influence. Using social media mainly, CEOs are encouraging their employees to create new workstreams that tap the collective intelligence of the firm and allow employees to connect with and learn from one another.

For more results on the IBM study and what they mean for you, head over to the full piece at the AMEX Open Forum.

Should You Gamble on the Next Business Fad?

Corporate America as fun and games?  Maybe, now that gamification has come on the scene.

Gamification is defined as the use of game design techniques to engage audiences. Gamification encourages players to engage in desirable behavior by dangling the carrot otherwise known as “winning.”

The reason we like online gambling so much is that apparently, human beings have a psychological predisposition to gaming. And many organizations are jumping on the gamification bandwagon in order to motivate employees and combat disengagement. 

What's gamification all about?  Find out what I uncovered over at the AMEX OPEN Forum.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Virtual Teams

A virtual team is a group of people who work toward a common goal and are connected by technology though physically separated. Virtual teams scare a lot of people, who have visions of spending their time on all-night conference calls and not being able to trust team members they can’t see.

Nevertheless, the trend is coming at us like a full-speed train. A Google search of “virtual teams” revealed some interesting 2011 research published in Hypergrid Business, a magazine devoted to virtual teaming.

The study, “Virtual Work Environments in a Post-Recession Era,” conducted on behalf of Brandman University by Forrester Consulting, revealed strong adoption of virtual teams. Forty percent of survey respondents said that 40 percent or more of their company’s employees work in virtual teams today, and more than half expect virtual teaming to increase in the next one to three years.

Managerial concerns associated with virtual teaming are many. 57 percent cited earning trust, 49 percent cited communicating effectively, 43 percent cited managing projects and deadlines successfully and 43 percent cited creating consensus during decision making as among the top concerns.

Considering that virtual teams are so pervasive and so many managers are losing sleep over them, my Culture Beat column over at the AMEX OPEN Forum includes some virtual teaming best practices.  Hope you'll check them out!

How to Avoid Trouble Online

By now, you’ve probably heard of Crystal Cox, the blogger who was sued for libel by Obsidian Financial Group after Cox wrote that some of their business practices were illegal. Cox is now required to pay $2.5 million because a judge ruled she was not a journalist and therefore not entitled to protect anonymous sources.

This is a scary story because one definitely gets the sense that Cox thought she was doing the right thing and had no intention of getting into hot water over it.  And I suspect that millions of casual social media consumers are in a similar boat right this minute.

Self-Censorship is Key

My rule of thumb for staying out of trouble online is not to post anything – anywhere – that you wouldn’t be comfortable seeing on the home page of Google, or that you wouldn’t want read by your grandmother or religious officiant.  This (usually) means no posts or images involving sex, drugs, or radical politics.

It’s Not Always Obvious

When you are employed with an organization, what you can and cannot post online takes on a whole new dimension.  In general, you should always think before you post, because there are the obvious no nos (such as not writing that you hate your company or that you are looking for a new job) and the not-so-obvious no nos (such as posting a company announcement on Facebook or giving a colleague a reference on LinkedIn).

Privacy Controls Are Not Everything

You are not excused from careful consideration if you make use of privacy controls on your social media networks, or if you don’t think you are “friends” with anyone who could disapprove.  This approach is by no means full proof.  As an example, a young professional I know in Chicago got fired after she called in sick but sent a live tweet to her friends from a Cubs game the same day.  One of her friends re-tweeted the remark, which eventually found its way back to the young professional’s boss.

Know the Rules

It is also critical that you understand that company’s policy when it comes to social media.  Hopefully, this is written down somewhere.  If you can’t find it, ask a contact in HR.  Otherwise, you could end up posting something that will cost you your job.  Even if you were completely in the dark and your intentions were totally innocent, at-will employment laws in most states mean that an organization doesn’t need a serious reason or in depth process to let you go.  And worse, if word gets around why you were fired, it may be difficult to secure another position because other organizations will be leery of your lack of discretion.

Thou Shall Not Resume Blast or Defame

Staying out of trouble online involves more than just social media too.  When you’re job hunting, be aware that when you post your resume in a public place, you risk your boss or HR department discovering it while sourcing candidates.  And, in light of the example at the top of this post, please do not defame anyone on a website.  It may seem like a good way to let off some steam, but your comments could come back to haunt you – if not legally, then personally or professionally.

If you’re a bit freaked out by this advice, that’s good, because it means you will be more vigilant. Remember: if in doubt about a piece of information, keep it to yourself.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.