conference – Page 7 – The Consulting Artist

Better Communication

Later on today I’m heading to Birmingham to take part in the Institute of Internal Communication’s annual conference, the theme of which is Building Peak Performance. I’ll be doing my usual thing of wandering about finding interesting people and trying to learn something new and fun. Tomorrow afternoon I’m facilitating a conversation among the 100 or so guests. We’ve generously been given two and a half hours to have some useful fun together. What are we going to talk about? I’m not sure yet, but as a way of getting me thinking I posed a question on Facebook and Twitter yesterday. The question was:

‘You’ve been given the job of Director of Internal Communications. What things would you change to help make work better?’

I thought I’d share the responses and invite you to add your own.

Via Twitter velotester kicked us off with, ‘Tell the CEO to walk the floor and just talk to people.’

Which led to humapuk suggesting, ‘Send one email to say no-one to send emails to anyone that day and all mobiles off. Invite everyone to lunch together.’

Next up was Chutzpah84, ‘ I actually think I’d turn off email you know…..’

Julsbo said, ‘Give people a space to have ideas that are heard outside hierarchical management lines.’ I replied, ‘online? offline? both? Culture issues would be interesting to watch :)’ which in turn led to, ‘Both! Face to face is to be encouraged, but is not the only way. Ambient idea chatter has value for speakers & listeners.’

mirgray added, ‘Set a max limit of 200 words per internal email blast. If that teaser doesn’t inspire there is little point blathering on.’

The Twitter stuff was fed into the Facebook conversation so I’ll share the whole thing for completeness (with apologies for duplication).

Congratulations, you got the job! Now what would you do differently?

photo credit

Friday Fury – Sweet Nothings

It’s no secret I’ve been out and about a lot this week. The Employee Engagement Taskforce Conference, the L&D Connect Unconference and the CIPD HRD Conference have all had to put up with me. I survived, and I hope that all the people I met, smiled at, and talked with did too.

Whilst at the L&D Connect event I heard lots of talk of how L&D practitioners dislike the idea of training being dished out ‘like Smarties‘. The implication was that organisations could hand out training and learning like brightly coloured little sugary treats. People were saying stuff like ‘There’s more to training and development than that’. And I’m inclined to agree.

The following day as I wander round the Olympia exhibition hall at the CIPD event I hear the same thing being discussed and at the same time I find myself almost overwhelmed with brightly coloured sugary treats. In disbelief I took stacks of pictures of the offending sweeties. They were everywhere, here are just a few of them (and to avoid embarrassment I’ve left all the promotional branded ones out).

Are you feeling sick yet? No – OK here’s more:

Enough already! Is the L&D product market place really so uninspiring that you need to lure someone to your stand with the promise of sweeties? It strikes me that L&D professionals and suppliers might want to get together and talk about this because from where I’m sitting – the Smarties conversation didn’t sit well among all the……Smarties (other sugary treats are available).

Changes

Reputations are important. Good ones seem somehow fragile. Bad ones, much less so. And they are also affected by how long your relationship with them is. I want to stop a while and reflect on how people perceive the CIPD.

Compared to a lot of people in and around HR, my relationship with the CIPD is still young, and thus far I’ve found it very progressive. And yet I meet a lot of people, some members, some ex-members, some not yet members, many of whom think the CIPD is a pretty poor show. And typically their perceptions are based on stories from the past.

I’d like to share with you my views on the CIPD – based on my experiences in 2011. Three things that stand out for me this year are the CIPD Annual conference, the CIPD Social Media in HR conference and the CIPD’s presence on Twitter.

CIPD Annual Conference

I attended this year’s CIPD conference (my first time) as a member of the press. Well, as a guest blogger at least. I had a cool pass that said ‘Doug Shaw – Blogger Blogger’. When I say I had a pass, I confess, I’ve kept it. Nerdy huh?

I had a really good time. I rushed about listening to some interesting folks, and I wrote about these experiences. I put together five blog posts over two days which may not sound much but trust me, I was knackered! The CIPD provided the technical facilities for me to upload my scribblings, and not a hint of editorial control was requested. And the CIPD staff were super helpful. A fun, useful, mutually beneficial experience.

Social Media in HR Conference

I was one of the speakers at this year’s Social Media in HR conference, organised by the CIPD. I was among a raft of established HR practitioners, and the CIPD asked me to talk about enhancing engagement and participation using social tools. I’m sure they could have found another practitioner to cover this slot, and they chose me. The CIPD provided everything I needed to deliver my talk and not a hint of editorial control was requested. Guess what, yep – the CIPD staff were super helpful. I overcame my nerves and did a good job. The day was a fun, useful, mutually beneficial experience.

Twitter

My year on Twitter has been fantastic, and made so by many people. People including Natalia, Robert, Bingleby, Natalie, Katy, Anna and Johanna, all from the CIPD. We exchange useful stuff, and conversational fun stuff too. The human side of the organisation shines through.

Declaration of Interests

I’m not a member of the CIPD. I’m not paid by the CIPD. I’m not controlled by the CIPD and they’re certainly not controlled by me! The CIPD didn’t ask me to write this, they will find out about it the same time as you. And they’re not perfect by any means. For example I wonder how much more buzz might have been created at the recent social media conference had they been bolder and set a more affordable ticket price?

Based on my experience, the CIPD are trying hard to change, to evolve and to be more receptive. I think I’m living proof of their efforts. If your perception of the CIPD is based on the distant past, why not catch up with a more recent version?