The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks – A Research Study by SNCR

I am pleased to announce the launch of a research study by the Society of New Communication Research (SNCR) called 'The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks.’ Don Bulmer, VP, Global Communications Industry and Influencer Relations SAP (@dbulmer) and I are leading this research as part of our 2009 Fellowship with SNCR.

This seminal research study will look at the impact of social media on professional networks with the intent to understand how business leaders use online communities and peer networks to support their decisions.

A great deal of attention and research has been devoted to evangelizing social media as a new form of customer-centric relationship building. Build a network or use social media to deepen customer intimacy has become the mantra of today. However, what is often overlooked is the impact of social media to change behaviors, and the potential to leverage social media to impact professionals' decision-making processes. While everyone is endeavoring to capture the mindshare of the buyer, few understand what success truly looks like.

This study will examine the role that social media has on decision-making among enterprise users. Specifically this study will explore the following questions:

* Is social media typically regarded as a trustworthy source of information for professionals?
* Does social media offer effective tools to access information, advice and engage in professional collaboration? How do they compare to traditional off-line networking?
* What are the tools and sources of social media that professionals rely on to make decisions?
* Will social media change the business and practice of enterprise-level operations?


The results of this study will offer a set of best practice models for effective social media programs to support enterprise decision-making activities, identify opportunities for social media programs to deepen their effectiveness and for professionals to leverage social media efforts to support their practice.

The survey is open to all users and members of professional networks. We will promote the survey extensively through the use of social media and communities. You can access the survey through our research site at http://www.newsymbiosis.com/.

All participants who participate in the survey will receive a copy of the study results in late summer. Thanks so much for participating and helping further the understanding of social media's impact!

Maintaining Your Professional Profile: Be Fresh, Be Relevant

I got to talk about using social media for career development and job search on Paul R. Bruno's CareerCzar web radio show two weeks ago. We found ourselves discussing a key aspect of using social media: the importance of keeping a personal profile fresh and relevant.

Be Fresh

Keeping a profile fresh is pretty straightforward. This means updating, changing or refreshing the content in your profile to add value and a sense of immediacy. Posting a link to something of interest, a "what I'm doing now" item, a comment, a new photo or some other content element are all ways to keep your profile fresh and catch the eye of a visitor.

Why is this important? Most social media sites that offer a personal profile feature indicate -- directly or indirectly -- how recently your profile was last updated. Visitors to your profile can detect almost immediately if your profile contains fresh information or if it's been sitting there getting stale for days, weeks or even months.

Like a loaf of bread on a supermarket shelf, your profile should appear fresh to a visitor -- especially if you are interested in making a business, professional or career connection with someone visiting your profile. Who'd want to connect with someone who doesn't seem to be "at home" or have something new and interesting to offer?

Be Relevant

Equally important is relevance. It's a simple concept: tailor the content of your profile to the needs and interests of the members and visitors who will see it. This means giving due consideration to the purpose and context of the network or community on which the profile is presented. To be relevant means keeping audience expectations in mind regarding both the content and frequency of updates.

A friend of mine notes that multiple daily updates about phone calls, coffee breaks and lunch destinations quickly become boring, tiresome and annoying. Too-frequent updates may drive serious, time-pressured professionals away from your profile. They don't have time to wade through the trivial to find the valuable. For profiles on professional or career-oriented sites, favor relevance over extreme frequency.

This same friend pointed out an excellent example of a relevant "what am I doing" update: an announcement that someone "will be attending such-and-such event on dates xx - yy in location z and hopes to meet other attendees. Link, email, text or phone here." (That sample is 136 characters, by the way.)

Consider all the ways this update offers relevant information. It announces your interest in a particular event, which a profile visitor might not know about. It indicates a level of commitment and involvement with a professional, industry or avocational organization or activity. It's an opportunity to exchange information about the event, and an invitation to extend the connection into a face-to-face encounter. It shows you are pro-active about connecting and engaging with other people of similar interests.

Four More Professional Profile To-Be's

Be selective. Consider which communities and networks offer the best match to your professional interests and goals, then make a special effort to create and maintain a fresh, relevant profile and an active presence on those sites.

Be involved. Don't just post your resume and leave it at that. Participate in forum discussions, comment on blogs, rate content, answer surveys, add links, photos and other content -- all of which will lead people back to your profile.

Be real. Establish a reputation for trust and transparency while staying within the bounds of appropriate behavior for a professional community.

Be generous. Don't wait to be asked. Invite and welcome others into your community or network. Offer to collaborate on a virtual project. Answer questions -- if you know the answers -- or take the plunge and ask important questions to bring out the expertise in others. Point people in the right direction.

Two final items:

• When building your profile and online presence, keep in mind how hiring managers and recruiters use social media. It's not as simple as you might think.
• For an over-the-top approach to using social media for a job search, check out Keith Ferrazzi on the Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent PR event

Reverse Mentoring Programs For Social Media

Leadership can come in many different forms - and sometimes from unexpected places. Most companies employ troops of Millennials - young people who are learning the ropes of business. You know, those jean-clad 20 something people who support executives, do entry-level tasks and are being groomed for the future of business. While their business acumen will be fine tuned over time, they know a little something about social media. Meanwhile, today's executives are often seasoned veterans of business typically are what David Weinberger calls "digital immigrants" - new to the digital world and still learning the culture and the skill sets of digital participation.

At Leader Networks, we often work with organizations to help integrate social leadership into the fabric of a company - we go into an organization and study how technology is being used internally for knowledge share, competitive intelligence, sales efforts, recruiting and collaboration. We make changes based on best practice and tailor programs to help a company achieve their goals.

One of the most common finding we encounter is a lack of digital leadership sends the wrong signals to staff - when executives don't use social media strategically or simply don't use it at all, the organization learns by example that social leadership is not a priority. This is an unintentional outcome. While leaders are saying social leadership is important, when they don't act accordingly, the message is diffused and therefore rarely embraced.

The most common reason for lack of social leadership is unfamiliarity with the tools and best practice of social media. This is a problem that is (somewhat) easily solved. On a number of occasions we have put in place "reverse Mentoring" programs to pair leaders with Mellennials to help educate and to support change. Once senior leaders become familiar, skilled and "enculturated" into social media usage, they are then able to speak - and lead - by example.

Reverse mentoring program

There is an opportunity to create a reverse mentoring program that uses the talents and social media experience of “Millennials” to educate and support more senior members of staff. Such a program could serve organizations in many ways by bringing together different groups of people who would not typically be collaborative due to seniority structure of their roles. Moreover, senior staff are typically comfortable with Mellennials as they are often the age group of their children. So, within a private setting, senior leaders and Mellennials can surf, Tweet, create LinkedIn accounts etc. and also grow relationships and bonds that can be beneficial to both participants - and to the organization at large.

The design of a Reverse Mentoring Program (RMP) needs to fit into the culture of the organization in order to be most effective.

The basic elements of a Reverse Mentoring Program could include the following:

1. Issue a formal call to action to build the Millennial Mentoring Corps and make it a big deal internally. It helps build morale and organizational value.Clearly define the duties of the RMP including time commitment, feedback cycle and rewards system.
2. Offer standardized training to all RMP volunteers (Make sure each volunteer RMP member gains their supervisors OK for them to participate).
   
3. Create a recognition program to help RMP volunteers self-identify (ie.“I am a RMP”) and gain internal support for their efforts. Including participation on quarterly MBOs is also a good idea.
   
4. Clearly define the RMP activities so that recipients of the RMP corps know what to expect when they are partnered with a RMP volunteer.
5. Match up RMP and senior staffs are accordingly, facilitate introductions and timing for first meeting through an organizing team (HR or Diversity Group).

The RMP Program should be flexible to allow for different levels of support. Some senior staff may want 2-3 sessions of short duration (30 minutes each) in a clustered time-frame, while others may want 1 hour every 4-6 weeks. Ask senior staff and accommodate their needs. Be sure to gather feedback from senior staff about interaction and training usefulness and make adjustments to partnerships and continue to grow the RMP program over time - it shouldn't be a one-time deal. Instead, continue to add to the RMP volunteer group and continue to invite senior staff to participate over the course of the year. And, be sure to gather 360 degree feedback so you can grow the program over time and assess its efficacy.

This is a great way for an organization to begin their journey into Social Leadership and support a collaborative culture where all members of the community are valued and rewarded for what they bring to the table of learning.