Archives: December, 2008

I’ve got a number of friends who work for big corporates (consulting firms, major retailers, banks, big 4, etc.) and many of them didn’t have holiday parties this year. Ya, ya, I know, the economy and all that. Hey, at dynamIt we bootstrapped. I’m very aware of costs and we’re doing our own hunkering-down considering the climate, but the LAST thing I’m cutting is a holiday dinner, or any company culture/motivation pieces for that matter.

Now, more than ever, people (clients/customers) are looking for value Value VALUE. Your people are the ones creating and delivering it. Yes, I’m sure they are happy they still have a job, considering the alternative, and that immediately makes/keeps them happy and doing their best every day, right? Cmon.

My point: Everything has a cost. Know the difference between a spend and a spendvestment. Keep your people happy and motivated. Invest in them, their morale, their personal interests and development. Invest in your culture (read: have holiday parties); find other fat to trim and save. Spending money on the pieces of your machine that have the ability to make a difference and be dynamic in a time when clients are looking for PODs beyond lavish conference rooms and peripheral fluff is a smart play. Something like a holiday party shows that you care about your people outside of their cubicles and their deliverables. It shows that you’re interested in their social needs and allows you to say Thank You. Plus, it’s probably tradition. Start cutting traditions and people start losing core organizational characteristics to root themselves in.

[Pics from dynamIt Holiday Dinner and also our Advisory Board Dinner will be up in the first week of the new year. Ya, that's right, we're spending on people who create value. We've found tremendous returns so far...]

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11.18.2009 UPDATE

Great piece on extrinsic versus intrinsic motivators which I consider relevant:

[Originally Posted on the dynamIt Blog 3, October, 2008]

Is there a Social Media Dress Code? Should there be? Is it situational? Does it matter? Should it?

I say no. If I’m heading down to a big law firm, a big company or walking into a half-century-old PR firm who buttons up, ya, I pull on the suit and rope on the tie. While I do dress according to my day, I can’t wait to stop. I understand that traditional business is suited up, dressed to the 9s and perhaps a bit more conservative and structured. However, Social Media is about channels of connection, it’s about brand championing, it’s about reaction-engagement-participation. Social Media is about common language communication and time and space shift*.

I contend that dressing Social Media in a suit actually inhibits it. Think about it like this - are you more apt to give a real answer in a focus group observation room with 1 way mirrors and a camera or in a cafe, at your home or somewhere you feel comfortable? Is your conversation and thought process more natural when you’ve ironed your shirt and lint-brushed your trousers or when you’ve pulled on the sweats and are sitting in a more ergonomic chair not worrying about wrinkles and dog hair? The point is, for Social Media to be effective [read: gain valuable insight, true connection, trust and reliance] it needs to be second nature, unobtrusive and comfortable.

To that end, were I heading a large company/department looking to at least explore and hopefully implement a Social Media campaign, I would actually feel more comfortable talking with someone “dressed down”. 1. Social Media is trendy - I expect domain experts and thought leaders to reflect this 2. Successful Social Media implementation is not a toe in the water, it is commitment. As described above, someone consulting on this and coaching my people toward a positive result and experience should fully embrace the realm and “personality”. I’m pretty sure clients/customers would rather be talking to someone “like them” horizontally than a suit from above. As Cone points out, 93% of Americans expect companies to have a Social Media presence. 93% of Americans (all of us consumers of something and clients of someone) do not wear suits.

Again to the time and space shift* - Social Media pieces aren’t used in a conference room or in a board meeting (well, some are getting tweeted out!) but on breaks, on the run, on the road, after hours. Social Media is used/produced around life. If that life happens to be a business professional meeting, then by all means rock the double-breasted. However, just because you’re used to seeing a suit doesn’t mean that your clients and customers want to talk to you in it = your SM campaign doesn’t need to wear one = the thought leaders, domain experts consultants and participants in the field probably won’t be wearing them… at least not all the time.

*(time and space shift is Dave Berkus language)

What do you think? Should big corporate get used to seeing backwards hats, jeans and sneaks when they’re learning about the world of Social Media and how it can and will connect them more intimately with their clients, industry and (the way things are heading) the world?

A quality I really appreciate in people is the ability to get sh*t done. Talk and ideas are great (I do a lot of both), but without execution and action, they don’t do much beyond provide mental stimulation, or make noise.

Thus, I was in a very appreciative mood a few weekends ago at Startup Weekend Indianapolis. Though I’m part of the technical/entrepreneurial/innovation community in the Midwest, I’m quick to out my region for what it is - the conservative Midwest. We talk about coastal mentalities, we yearn for a culture of innovation, we are quick to latch onto and promote success stories, but in the end it’s pocketed and systematic. Until curiosity, innovation and un-dictated action become part of our DNA (they might be already, but the genes aren’t fully active), we’ll stay on the sidelines watching the studs play and go home after the games, look in the mirror and imagine glory.

I digress… The reason I was in a very appreciative mood at Startup Weekend Indy was because people GOT SH*T DONE! (and they did it on their own) We went with an organic grouping effort - no voting - everyone pitched their ideas and naturally gravitated to their pick. No one asked for direction, no one needed structured learning. Honestly, we had trouble pulling people together for check-ins. It was a weekend of GO GO GO [IUPUI police actually kicked everyone out one night at 1:30am as people were still working]. Things happened naturally and fluidly. Groups formed, groups split, and ideas kept moving. Individuals were resourceful, from code-bases to available skill-sets, and they weren’t looking to anyone but themselves for procurement.

It was refreshing to see. It was empowering to be around. Watching people who understood things were going to be iterative, that grooming until perfection wasn’t an option, was invigorating. In the end, businesses were born. Good ideas were fleshed out, and the bad ones killed quickly. The weekend and the approach is about productivity and problem solving. It’s not about lots of talk and speculation. It’s about getting sh*t done. There’s room for this mentality, this workflow, this passionate and sometimes crazed process in all types of business these days. Of course, it needs to be honed for each situation, but the conservative Midwest will do well to take note.

*I was in Indianapolis earlier this month facilitating Startup Weekend Indy. My company dynamIt

sponsored Startup Weekend Columbus this past summer and I participated in one of the groups there as well. For those of you not familiar with Startup Weekend - it is a 54 hour (weekend) marathon where people come together and, quite simply, try to start a business.

*This post has been reposted on StartupWeekend.com