The HUB

The HUB of responsible business practice in Australia.

www.thehub.ethics.org.au

The National Responsible Business Practice Project is funded by the Federal Government, through Treasury, to enable St James Ethics Centre to engage Australian businesses in identifying and adopting more responsible business practices. The project aims to build a trusted HUB of international and local responsible practice initiatives for businesses of all sizes.

Funded by the Federal Government, through Treasury, this website has been designed as a consolidated space for engagement, interaction and connectivity to help build communities of responsible business practice in Australia.

Here you will discover a portal to the key global initiatives including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI) and United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) seeded through a range of local activities. Complimenting these global initiatives are a suite of resources designed to support and guide small to medium enterprise on their responsible business practice journey.

Whether you are big or small, established or new, responsible business practice is vital to business success. The HUB aims to make the way clear for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Join the HUB and promote ethical business practice!

The Power of the Coffee Bean

You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. 'Which are you?' she asked her daughter.

'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee beans? Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a break-up, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavour.

If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee beans? May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

Live your life like the coffee bean and let the ripple of your actions change the world!

Courtesy of Maganathin Marcus Veeraragaloo

Getting the Best Out of Social Media

Can Twitter can be used effectively as an internal comms tool? Somewhat unsurprisingly, 33% of contributers said there was already too much information overload and another social media tool would only add to the "noise", while 45% said they keep hearing about it but were yet to sign up.

This is just one example of the many social media discussions that have been taking place within the internal communication arena in the past few years. But is it all still a blur to you? Have you tried but failed to see the benefits of using blogs, social networks and Twitter within a corporate environment?

This week Alex Manchester, Melcrum's social media columnist and senior consultant at Step Two Consulting breaks down all the advice we've been hearing on the topic into five of the best social media tips he's heard over the years.

One of the most common misconceptions about social media is that once you make the channels available, employees will automatically start using them. Below are Alex Manchester's five best social media tips, and clear all the confusion that surrounds an area of comms that looks set to stick around for many years to come.

1. Know what social media isSocial media has come a long way in recent years, but with each new take there are new facets to learn. It's a communication professional's job to keep up to date with the latest tools available, and understand how they can be used to push the envelope of internal communication in an organization.
But you have to understand your blogs from your Twitter, and to do that takes time invested to learn. If you're not familiar with the way social media works, how can you expect to sell the benefits to your CEO? Use the tools available, experiment if necessary, but make the effort to get involved.

2. Participate. Genuinely.For every successful blog there are many more unsuccessful ones that die within a few months of their conception.
For every Barack Obama on Twitter, there are a dozen light-weight politicians whose updates are earth-shatteringly dull and devoid of any personality whatsoever.
That's the key with social media. Personality. Be yourself and engage and participate, genuinely, with the people you're trying to reach. Your personality, your likes and dislikes, will inevitably appear. If you're not prepared to do this, then don't get involved in the first place.

3. Understand that social media isn't right for every organizationIf, as point two suggests, your organization isn't ready to embrace social media, don't worry. While it's without question that employees are already out there, using social networks, perhaps blogging and Twittering (yes, even during the working day), rushing into a poorly conceived "official" effort is not advisable.

4. Encourage communicationAs discussed in recent newsletters, just making a new site live isn't enough. In a business environment, you have to be willing to encourage and nurture discussion, and guide people in terms of their own participation. As with developing an overall communications strategy, success with social media won't happen overnight and will take work to make it a success.

5. Don't position Web 2.0 as something completely newMy all-time favorite piece of social media advice was published in Melcrum's 2007 social media report, How to use Social Media to Engage Employees. Richard Dennison from BT said, "Don't position Web 2.0 as something completely new".

"People are instinctively fearful of radical change. We've altered our approach and positioned Web 2.0 is an evolutionary step: 'We've been doing this for years with emails, forums and so on'. This just makes it easier and faster to communicate and collaborate."

Coutesy of Alex Manchester, Melcrum's social media columnist

Never regret. If...

“Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience.”
Victoria Holt (1906–1993) British writer

Mobilising Boards for Change

As companies grapple with uncertainty of a magnitude that few have experienced before, their boards should begin by questioning fundamental strategic assumptions: Is our view of the market realistic? Does our financing strategy take into account the new conditions? Should we reset the incentive scheme or abandon any approach based on share prices? Can we exploit the current glut of talent? How can we take advantage of the pain our competitors are experiencing?

Unfortunately, most corporate directors are likely to assume that radical change is unnecessary and that “normal service” will soon resume. Their experiences during less severe crises—such as those in 1990, 1997, or 2001—will lull them into a false sense of complacency; few will adjust their strategies and policies sufficiently. This behavior is the result of a clinically observed human trait of being overly influenced by past experiences and judgments. Experts on decision making call it anchoring. The problem is made worse by the natural rhythms that characterize how many boards are used to working—rhythms that tend to reinforce rather than challenge anchored thinking. We therefore argue that board chairmen need to play a special role in the coming months by challenging their boards to think things through afresh.

This is not an easy task. Board procedures are anchored too. Meetings, agendas, and timetables typically follow a preset annual pattern. Advisers are scheduled to appear before audit and compensation committees. Attempts to make changes are often resisted—in part because of habit and in part because those involved have busy calendars. Even if there is energy for fresh, substantive work, the diary may defeat the best intentions. Granted, most boards have an annual offsite day when members talk strategy, but there is an understanding that major change is not expected. New ideas generated from the offsite are viewed as creative input rather than part of a fundamental review of strategy.

Mobilizing the board to tackle the economic crisis requires a fundamental overhaul of how its members interact. The only solution is to force change. The chairman needs to underline the gravity and urgency of the situation by summoning the board to extraordinary “credit crunch” meetings, “survival” meetings, “does our plan still make sense” meetings, and “how can we turn this pain into an opportunity” meetings. Without disrupting the rhythm, anchored thinking will continue to dominate.

The style of interaction can be another obstacle. Boards tend to establish patterns of behavior; for example, seating can become regularized, and some members may be expected to say little. Moreover, most boards have a default operating mode. Some place a premium on running smoothly—no disagreements, no late papers, no fluffed presentations, and no late finishes. Some are preoccupied with the formal aspects of governance: process dominates and content gets less attention. Some are financially oriented, with board members peering at their responsibilities through the numbers. But amidst all this heterogeneity lies, in our experience, one simple theme—there tends to be relatively little scope for genuine free thinking or for any fundamental reexamination of the premise of the company.

The solution is to explicitly change the way the board interacts. The chairman should insist that members articulate what they have thought but have not had the confidence to express. These conversations will often be more conceptual than rote, and participants will have to take the risk of “saying something stupid.” Chairmen will need to muster up the courage to drive relentlessly the discussions that will take most boards into deep and frightening waters. Long-cherished assumptions, existing plans, or defined ambitions may go down the drain.

Courtesy of the The McKinsey Quarterly.

Switching Jobs In A Recession

Generally speaking, deciding to switch professions in an era of spiraling unemployment is a pretty good definition of a career death wish. Even in the best of times, it’s hard to persuade a hiring manager to consider you over someone who has a record in the field. The hurdle gets ridiculously higher in a recession, when employers have their pick of overqualified applicants.

Still, if you work in a shriveling industry like asset securitisation, auto manufacturing, or print publishing, you have to ask, What’s the alternative? If doing nothing means your livelihood will go down with the ship, well, you have your answer. You have no choice.

On the upside, a few professions are having labor shortages even in this economy. But don’t kid yourself: Changing careers will be tough. In times like these, the standard advice from career coaches to patiently evaluate your skills and reposition yourself becomes something of a joke. You’re going to have to take extreme measures, so think it through!

Contribution by Chris Warren.

The Case for Facebook

Those opposed to social networking media say that collecting online friends and tweeting partners infantilises us, tethers us Matrix-like to machines and essentially dehumanizes its users.
As a manager, however, your Facebook page can have the opposite effect: it can make you appear more human.
In their recent Harvard Business Publishing blog article “What Does Your Facebook Page Say About You?” John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison argue against hiding your private self on your online profiles — even if they’re viewed by your colleagues and employees. They tout the benefits of listing your business accomplishments alongside photos from your recent family vacation. Among them:

1. You’ll be viewed as less remote.
The authors write, “Seeing a more rounded person can’t help but extend and develop professional relationships, furthering the trust that’s crucial to collaborative knowledge creation — the lifeblood of innovation.”

2. You’ll increase serendipity.
Serendipity happens when you find things you need while you’re not looking. According to the authors, “Exposing aspects of ourselves and our interests makes it possible for others to provide advice and recommendations to us.”

3. You’ll be in the “flow.”
In a world with so many sources of information available, how can you possibly keep up? One way is to create a two-way flow of knowledge between yourself and your online network. The authors explain, “Flows require reciprocity: why would you exchange a flow of knowledge without trusting me to do the same? Yet trust is difficult to build and maintain if we keep a significant part of ourselves hidden.”

These benefits aside, the article prompts a question: Is dissolving your personal and professional boundaries a good thing –or does doing so negate your authority? What do you think?

Thanks to Stacy Blackman for this Blog update.

Careers & Employment Expo

The National Careers & Employment Expo

29th - 30th May 2009

Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre

Friday 9am - 4pm + Saturday 10am - 4pm

FREE ENTRY

Visit www.eocexpo.com.au

Be seen, Be heard, Be there!

I LEAD!

Let me tell you something else about the IDEAL Change Model. Lets play with the letters.

I put the 'I' in IDEAL so that with the IDEAL Change Model...I LEAD!

Perfection is the Enemy of Progress

Always seeking certainty before taking action can severely limit productivity. In some cases, the evaluation and search for certainty is more costly than a potential failure due to action.
Worst case scenario for a wrong move is generally nothing more than an education.
Consider getting in the game a bit earlier the next time an opportunity arises... and risk the uncertainty.

Perfection is the enemy of progress!

The greater the...

“The greater the tension, the greater is the potential.”
Carl Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist

Do you ever...

Do you ever wonder about your purpose in life?
Do you sometimes ask yourself why you do what you do and how it contributes to society, to anything?
Do you question your worth?

This simple philosophy and purpose for Being may help.

Make it your purpose to lead your life as an example to others and in doing so make it your life work to to bring out the best in every person that you meet.

This is a simple change philosophy.

Be the change that you want to see in the World...that means starting with yourself.

Follow Up!

I have learned to trust people. It is important. However, I still follow 3 rules when I make a request, but first I set the expectation that my request will be ignored. That way I don't set myself up for disappointment. And my 3 rules? Rule 1: Follow Up! Rule 2: Follow Up! Rule 3: Follow Up!

When you want...

When you want or need someone to carry out a task or do something for you...what do you think is the best way to achieve it?

IDEAL Change Management

In essence there are three key change phases: preparing for change; managing change; and reinforcing change. Within each phase a number of activities are performed at various levels of granularity, from planning to elevator conversations! Change management activity is not strictly fixed to any one phase and thus the alignment and application of interventions is not a strict science. Professional experience and knowing the client are significant attributes to the transition process.

IDEAL Change Management (Copyright Pronoia Group), is a framework for implementing change and follows the attributes of a typical change process that we can call ‘Change Stages’: Influences; Decision-making; Enabling; Achieving; Leading.

The IDEAL Change Management model is available as 'The Change Facilitators Toolbox' conceived and written by David Williams, IDEAL Change Consultant (ICC).

For more information please contact through this Blog Posting.

A good plan...

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow!

Why do we...

Why do we do what we do, when we know what we know?

Honour, courage, commitment...

“Honour, courage, commitment – these are our core values.”
U.S. Marine Corps

Word-of-Mouth Hiring

For some years now companies have been cutting out the 'middle man' and setting up their own internal recruitment referral system, rewarding employees for finding their new colleagues! And it has worked, capitalising on the whole concept of networking. Now, even more, internal referral programs are gaining ground, not only to save time and maximise quality recruitment, but of course as a cost cutting exercise.

Last year at Coca-Cola Amatil, 28% of external hires were recruited from an employee referral program. Companies like Oracle Corporation have operated referral programs for years.

The message? It's not just about using social and professional networking tools, but also word-of-mouth, friends, relatives and previous colleagues. Many people are now starting to be critical of the internet networking tools. I say, don't avoid it, perfect it! Don't be silent, use word-of-mouth to help you with your career.

Gossip: The Key to Career Success?

I’ve always told my reports to discount gossip they hear around the water cooler. But according to Daisy Wademan Dowling, I’ve been dispensing very poor career advice.“You’re more likely to get the dirt on layoffs from standing around the water cooler than from scanning your email for an official announcement,” she writes on her Harvard Business Publishing blog post, The Truth About Office Rumors. “And unlike in high school, Hollywood or politics, the rumors in an organization are true most of the time. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”Tapping into the office information network, whether it’s an overheard conversation at the Xerox machine or a brief exchange in the elevator with the VP of Sales’ admin assistant, is something you need to tap into, says Dowling, “if you want to make good decisions, work more effectively, and to get ahead in your job, both in the short- and long- term.”But Dowling’s advice, I believe, comes with a big fuse attached that could easily blow up in your face. Let’s leave aside the question of whether you will be making “good decisions” based upon what Bob in shipping overheard Mary in forecasting say while on a butt break with Syd, the air conditioning guy.The bigger danger is getting a rep as a gossiper. Chances are you know who in your own organization is a little loose with the facts, too often seen chatting up co-workers in the hallway, the guy or gal who always seems to know a little bit more than they should and is happy to share.This is the same person you don’t call when you need important work done, have sensitive material to handle or a promotion to make.Daisy says the idea is not to propagate gossip but rather to employ a little honest social networking to find out about, say, that soon-to-be open job in the New York office.I’m just saying there is a steep downside for those of us who don’t play this game with skill. So my advice remains: Discount what you hear around the water cooler and act on that information at your own risk.What do you think? What actions have you taken successfully or otherwise based on cube chatter? How do you escape being labled the dreaded office gossip?

Article by Sean Silverthorne

The Power of Online Connectivity

More than ever before, the internet is a resource for accessing opportunities that drive an individual’s career development. Websites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have provided an access point for individuals to tap into the social resources that exist on the internet. The key thing to remember, though, is that it is only access to the tools being provided, not a guarantee of results. Time, effort, and attention are all required, and doing the right things for the right reason is essential if a return on the investment is going to occur.When thinking about the hidden job market it’s important to spend some time helping the job seeker focus on the contacts in their network. A majority of contacts may not have the ability to make hiring decisions, so the individual may be wary of utilizing these relationships to further their career.Remind them that these contacts also have relationships and contacts of their own that may connect them to the job-related information they seek. This is, after all, the true meaning of networking — and, in most cases, is also where the most credible job opportunities are found since the contacts are verifiable resources of information.Leveraging social media as a viable job search tool can be a powerful vehicle for job seekers. The key to utilizing social media is to find a way to get an individual’s existing connections to work for them. For example, they will want to spread the word to let people know that they are in the process of conducting a job search. That way, their contacts can keep a lookout for job opportunities on their behalf.As long as the job seeker is clear on what type of information they are seeking, the possibility of contacts coming across helpful job-related information — and actually considering it for the job seeker’s purposes — will dramatically increase.So here are four tips for helping a job seeker leverage the power of social media:Make sure they have a purpose. In other words, ensure that they are aware of why they are visiting these sites in the first place. This will help them focus their message and increases the likelihood that someone will actually be able to help.Determine how they will measure success. Are they seeking specific industry information, job leads, contacts? Once they determine what they are looking for they can easily see if the time they are spending is worth it.Figure out what they can offer. Get the job seeker to think of things that they can contribute to their network. Perhaps they bring with them information on a particular industry or have a list of contacts they can share with others. Whatever it is, it is essential they have something to offer those who are willing to help.Don’t worry about the numbers. It’s not how many friends or followers they have on the social networking websites that matters. It is much more important to focus on the quality of the individuals with whom they are connected, and on how they are able to leverage those contacts to help them. Reming them that the actual job leads are usually beyond the first or second degree of separation.Social media can be intimidating even in the best of times. But if job seekers follow the four tips presented here, they can start off on the right foot and think strategically about their approach.Remember, it takes time ­— and is often quite the juggling act — to tap into the power of online social networking websites. It is essential that job seekers develop a plan and stick to it. They’ll be surprised how powerful it can be.

Article from Flownotes International

Six Degrees of Separation: Is it the key to the hidden job market?

Article from Flowork International

In 2003, research emerging out of Columbia University finally corroborated the age-old notion of “six degrees of separation” as legitimate, suggesting we are all much more connected than we realize.In the face of increasingly negative media reports respecting the present economic situation, should we embrace this logic in seeking employment?It has been said that 80% of jobs are hidden. In other words, there may be job opportunities available with contacts (or byway of a contact’s contacts) within an individual’s network. This clearly valuable information is often missed by job seekers. After all, with the rise in popularity of “cyber” social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, the focus has been increasingly on establishing new connections. Ironically, though, as most of us focus on expanding our list of contacts, we have little awareness that our own circle of friends and family could potentially offer a veritable wealth of job-related resources.Thus, if the science supporting “six degrees of separation” is true, we must find ways to help not only job hunters, but employment agencies, government program managers, HR professionals, and recruiters alike.Flowork founder Dr. John-Paul Hatala suggests that few of us know how to truly tap into our existing social network and gain access to that elusive hidden job market. “There are several research-supported solutions,” he says, “which can arm the newly unemployed with the know-how and confidence needed to make headway in the face of an increasingly daunting job-search.”Dr. Hatala’s research and associated training programs reveal that the main challenge facing job seekers, in terms of leveraging one’s own social network, is a profoundly yet deceptively simple one: how to strategically use it.Indeed, most of us fail to think strategically about our social networks, Hatala suggests. People do not know how to approach their circle of friends and broach the topic. The good news, Hatala goes on to say, is that it is a trainable and learnable skill-set.“Strategic social networking” then, will be a key for many of us these days, in order to penetrate what seems to an otherwise elusive, “hidden” job market. After all, the unemployment rate currently is the highest it has been for some time. By learning to leverage one’s social network, however, one can avoid becoming a statistic.The answer, if the research is any indicator, may be less than six degrees away. It may be as close as your existing social network. According to Dr. Hatala, the necessary strategy and specific know-how in terms of how to leverage our social networks may thus be the distinguishing factor which determines the success of some job hunters versus others, vis-à-vis this “hidden” job market that so many of us are now facing.

Social Networking is Career Networking

Article from Flowork International

Preston Porter joined MySpace four years ago as a way to meet new people at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Galloway Township.Now a college senior, Porter is using MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking programs just to get a job.“I understand (social networking) in an organic sort of way. I’ve always participated in and enjoyed those types of things,” said Porter, 22, of Lavalette, Ocean County. “Now it’s turned into this whole industry thing where companies are using it to market themselves and to do job searches.”Rather than condemning Facebook and Twitter as a waste of time, college career counselors are touting them as useful tools when it comes to post-collegiate job search.Every little bit helps, especially in today’s job market. A recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE, reported that companies will be hiring 22 percent fewer college graduates this year than they did in 2008.Career advisors at Stockton were inspired to start hosting workshops on Facebook job searching two years ago after attend a conference hosted by the NACE. There they learned that many businesses are setting up Facebook accounts and vetting prospective clients based on their profiles.“Once we sat in on that, it was like, ‘Wow, we’ve never really thought about this,’” said Walter Tarver, director of Stockton’s career center. “We set up our own accounts to see what was going on with those sites. It was an eye-opening experience.”Now, when students show up at Stockton’s career center for counseling, they get a crash course in Social Networking 101. Today’s employers want to see everything about their future employees, from their job history to their tastes in books and music.“We make sure they have (on their Facebook profiles) their degree, when they’re graduating, what their interests are, as opposed to just the generic comments and ‘What are you doing right now?,’ updates,” Tarver said.Jennifer Gushue, an adjunct professor of marketing at Rowan University in Glassboro, Gloucester County, advises her students to use LinkedIn, a Facebook-esque site created primarily for networking and job searching.“They can look at the contacts for people in the industries they’re interested in,” Gushue said. “You can also have your resume on there, and you can have former internships to write you recommendations.”Porter, who will graduate in May with a literature degree, took it one step further and created his own Web site, called Prestopedia.com.The Web site includes Porter’s resume, contact information, blogs, short stories and links to his profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace.In his blog, Porter wrote about being inspired by media experts such as Dan Schawbel, whose new book, “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success,” promotes using social media tools in building a career.Despite his creative writing background, Porter views social networking as his best chance of landing a job after graduation. He spent the summer setting up a viral campaign for a pet store in Missouri as an internship, and he continues to study the marketing efforts of major companies to learn what works and what does not.“A lot of PR companies claim to understand how the social media market works, but unless you live on those social media sites and know what to do and not to do, it’s tough,” Porter said. “A lot of companies are missing this, and that’s where I think I can come through on the creative writing side of it.”Porter has tried pushing his friends in a similar direction, advising them to update their Facebook pages or start a blog. But he has found that some still do not believe that companies put much stock in social networking.“I think a lot of people are ignoring this fact, thinking, ‘Employers aren’t going to look at my Facebook. They’re not going to bother looking at my Twitter,’” Porter said. “But whether you want to participate in it or not, it’s important to at least realize that employers are looking at this.”In that same vein, career counselors are advising students to keep inappropriate content, especially photos, off their Facebook and MySpace pages.“Companies now realize they can track your social media footprint,” Gushue said. “If your Facebook profile is filled with illegal, inappropriate or unprofessional images or thoughts, that could hurt you.”

What's the point...

“What's the point of talking to anyone if you don't tell 'em what you think?”

Jon Krakauer (1952 – ) American writer, mountaineerPulitzer Prize finalist

There are three...

There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. We all have a choice. You can decide which type of person you want to be.

Mary Kay Ash

If you are...

“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?”
Rumi (1207–1273) Persian poet and philosopher

To be what...

"To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life."

Robert Louis Stevenson

About Pronoia Group

Pronoia is the belief that the universe is conspiring to help us in each and every endevour. The Pronoia Group is listening to you...we are here for you!
It has been said that the only constant is change. To move in a new direction, you need to step back and gain the knowledge and tools that will equip you for the challenge of embracing and leading change.
Many change initiatives fail by not adequately appreciating or understanding the role of human behaviour in organisational performance and change. The Pronoia Group virtual coaching program teaches you to do the opposite, helping you delve into the heart of the basic drivers of human behaviour and learn to identify and manage the hidden dynamics of teams and organisations.
Consulting and Coaching for Change is an intense and powerful program. It is specifically designed for those leading change directly or those advising key people in an organisation regarding change. It provides participants with a framework for understanding how individual and organisational behaviour affects change initiatives. Moreover, it significantly broadens their behavioural repertoire and understanding of individual psychological structures.
On an individual level, the insights and clarity gained from the program will greatly increase your ability to manage the people issues that affect business performance. By being able to ensure alignment between people, the organisation and corporate goals, you will make a significant contribution to developing business. In the process, by transforming yourself into a reflective and powerful agent of change, you will greatly develop yourself.

Even if you're...

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers (1879–1935)American comedian and actor

Plant the seeds...

Plant the seeds of expectation in your mind; cultivate thoughts that anticipate achievement. Believe in yourself as being capable of overcoming all obstacles and weaknesses.

Norman Vincent Peale

The power to...

“The power to change the world lies in the ability to align one’s thoughts and actions, and to resist emotions that pull one back into the familiar past. When a vision is so alive in the mind that it seems real today, the environment must change to prepare for the new experience”

Joe Dispenza

Nothing comes easy.

"Nothing comes easy. Nothing is given to you. Whatever you do, you've got to work for it and earn it. Whatever reward you get you've go to know that you've had your imput into that success. There's no substitute for hard work. And if you want to be well known or well liked, you have to put yourself out for people." Jack Charlton

The future will...

“The future will depend on what we do in the present.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), Indian activist

The last person's

The last person's advice that I trusted was the math teacher who told me that algebra would be useful to me some day!

Your attitude...

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude.”

Zig Ziglar

The will of...

"The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you"

On no account...

“On no account brood over your wrong-doing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.”
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)English writer, author of "Brave New World"

Your most unhappy...

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."

Bill Gates (1955 – )founder of Microsoft

I only want...

“I only want people around me who can do the impossible.”
Elizabeth Arden (1878–1966)Canadian businesswoman, style mogul

Health, happiness and...

"Health, happiness and success depend upon the fighting spirit of each person. The big thing is not what happens to us in life - but what we do about what happens to us."

George Allen

If you want...

"If you want to know the worth of something measure it by its difficulty"

How To Get Started With LinkedIn

by Jake Swearingen

More and more business professionals are using social networks to build relationships, meet new contacts, and market themselves. For the uninitiated, however, diving into the virtual meet-and-greet can be daunting. Where to begin? For first-time users, the answer is LinkedIn. Developed specifically for business, the site doesn’t run the risk of blurring your professional life with your private one; and with more than 25 million users, it serves virtually every industry and profession.
Joining a network like LinkedIn is simple, but turning it into a powerful networking tool takes a bit of savvy. Here's how to set up a profile, build a network, and put it all to work — without social-networking anxiety.

Create a Compelling Profile
Goal: Make it clear what you’ve done in your career — and what you want to do.
Before you connect to others, you must first set up a profile page at www.linkedin.com. While your page will detail your work history, don’t assume you can copy and paste your resume and be done with it. Your profile page should reflect your professional interests, passions, and ambitions. The site will walk you through filling in the blanks, but you’ll want to think ahead about two areas:

Defining Yourself
Directly underneath your name will be a short headline of four or five words. More than anything else in your profile, these words are how people find and define you. Are you seeking to connect mainly with others in your field and industry? Then a simple, explanatory headline like “Senior Project Manager at McDonnell-Douglas” is best. Are you seeking to branch out into other areas? “Leader of High-Performing Aeronautical Engineering Projects” alerts others quickly to the value you would bring to an organization. Regardless of how you phrase your headline, make sure to use keywords that will help others find you.

What You’ve Done, and What You Want to Do
When listing your past job experiences, use verbs as much as possible. Show what you’re passionate about, and what you’ve learned from each job. Chris Brogan, a vice president at business-technology company CrossTech Media and a frequent blogger on the topic of social networks, suggests listing “non-jobs” you’ve done, like chairing a conference or leading a panel. “People shouldn’t just think of this as a resume tool,” he says. “It can be a way to show color and breadth.”
“LinkedIn is aspirational,” says Mrinal Desai, a former LinkedIn “evangelist” and currently a vice president at desktop-sharing software company CrossLoop, Inc. He recommends including not just what you’ve done but what you want to do in the future. One place to do this is in the “About” section. “You can add an area where maybe you don’t have experience but you’re looking to gain it,” Desai says.

Checklist
Make Sure You Include:
1. A solid headline with keywords relevant to your industry.
2. A picture. “People do business with people,” Desai says.
3. How you prefer to be contacted. At the bottom of your profile, you can let people know how you want to be contacted — through LinkedIn, by e-mail, or over the phone.
4. What you want to be contacted about. At the bottom of your profile, you can select interests like reference requests, consulting offers, or career opportunities.

Make Sure You Don’t Include:
1. Any contact information you’re not comfortable having your contacts see. Your contact information will be visible only to those you are connected to, but you should decide whether you want that to include things like phone numbers or personal e-mail.
2. Anything that even begins to stray from the truth. Unlike even a resume, your profile will be seen by a lot of eyes. Did you really lead that project, or did you lead it along with several others?
3. Anything you wouldn’t want fellow colleagues — current, former, or future — to know. LinkedIn is for professional relationships, and just like at the dinner table, it’s wise to keep politics and religion politely to yourself.

Build Your Network
Goal: Connect with others who share your professional interests and can help you meet your goals.
After you’ve created your profile, it’s time to begin to connect to others. LinkedIn will allow you to search for people you know to see if they’re already members. But once you connect to someone, you can also look at the profiles of anyone they know, and in turn anyone those people know. Because of these three degrees of separation, your network can grow exponentially. Fewer than fifty direct contacts can translate to millions of business users.
Before you begin connecting, decide who you want to connect to. LinkedIn suggests in its FAQ, “Only invite those you know and trust.” As Anshu Sharma, a senior director at Force.com, put it in his blog, “If you receive an invite on LinkedIn, ask yourself if you would take a call from this person on a busy Monday morning.”
Desai sees who you connect to as a way to ensure quality control: “My network acts as a filter, and I act as a filter for my network. My network won’t send me anything that’s spam.”
Also consider your position relative to those you’re connecting to. “Does my CEO ‘friend’ our receptionist? Does he ‘friend’ his niece?” Brogan asks. “I think it depends on how much status matters for you.” A good rule of thumb is the more traditional your industry, the less you want to connect to those very far above or below you on the corporate ladder.
But what if you work at Hewlett-Packard? Should you connect with someone at rival company IBM? Yes, says Brogan: “More than likely, you’re not always going to be at the same company, and there could also be some cross-pollination of ideas there.”

How to Not Be Friends
If someone contacts you and you don’t want to form a connection with them, you don’t need to flatly reject them and worry about the attendant awkwardness. When looking at the invitation to connect, simply hit “Archive.” The other person does not receive a message saying their invitation has been rejected, and you don’t have to worry about unwanted invitations clogging up your inbox.
Likewise, if you find that an existing contact is blasting you with too much information or making overly aggressive requests for introductions and recommendations, LinkedIn will let you remove that person easily — and without the contact knowing they’re out of your network. If only it were that easy in real life.

Get the Most From Your Connections
Goal: Now that you’re connected, put all those people to use.
There are three main things your network can do for you: answer business-related questions, make recommendations and introductions, and provide company information. Make sure that you focus on helping others when you first join. “It’s the idea of bringing wine to the party,” Brogan says. “If you’re offering up helpful stuff and services, your reputation will go a lot further than if you’re just out there for yourself.”
1. Ask and answer questions.
While signed in, you can quickly see a list of open questions that have been asked by anyone in your extended network. Queries can range from advice on turning a website into a business to detailed questions about tax law. Participating in these exchanges is an easy way of gaining trust and building your reputation. Asking questions will prompt informed sources to offer their expert advice (which helps everyone in the network), while providing answers gives you a chance to show off your own expertise to others.
2. Recommend and introduce colleagues.
Recommendations work as a form of currency in a social network. Those who are happy with your work can write a brief description of their experience on your LinkedIn profile. By having a broad range of endorsements attesting to your professional expertise, you show others that you can be trusted. And make sure to recommend those you’ve had good experiences with.
Introductions are trickier but also more valuable. This is where your personal judgment needs to come into play. When someone contacts you for an introduction, be sure you understand and approve of what they want before making the handoff. Likewise, make your intentions clear when you are asking for an introduction.
3. Learn more about your professional network.
You can quickly learn a lot about a potential business partner or contact by reading their profile. Mrinal Desai uses it before almost every meeting. “It brings up a lot of things you can discuss and build a relationship on,” he says. Unlike, for example, someone’s Google results, everything you find on LinkedIn has been voluntarily placed there by your contact.
Rachna D. Jain, a psychologist and chief social marketer at MindShare Corp., a company focusing on the psychology of social networking, recommends watching to see who your contacts are becoming connected with to figure out who might be worth getting to know yourself.

Hot Tip
Staying Plugged In
LinkedIn has a number of plug-ins and add-ons that can make your social networking even more effective. Here are three you should make a part of your online life:
LinkedIn Outlook Toolbar: Build your network from those you e-mail frequently, manage your network from within Outlook, and see mini LinkedIn profiles for everyone who e-mails you.
Web Browser Toolbar (for Internet Explorer and Firefox): Quickly search LinkedIn for any name you come across while surfing. Read about an interesting person in the Journal? Click on their name and see how closely you’re connected.
LinkedIn E-mail Signature: Create a custom e-mail signature in Outlook, Outlook Express, and Mozilla Thunderbird with a brief version of your LinkedIn profile and a link to your full profile.

Manage Your Social Network
Goal: Continue to gain benefits from your social network — without making it your full-time job.
“Don’t expect that you can post something one time and get ongoing benefits,” Jain says. You’ll need to continually update and refine your profile and your network. The most obvious way to do this is to add new contacts. When Jain comes home from a conference, for example, she goes through the business cards she collected to see who’s on LinkedIn. Adding new contacts, sometimes from outside your immediate field or industry, is also a subtly persuasive way to sell yourself by letting others see how far your professional sphere extends.
Brogan advises checking up on your profile about once a month and making sure your job description is still accurate. He also recommends reaching out to contacts even when you don’t have a business concern. He tries to touch base with a few contacts every week for no other reason than to check in and see how things are going. “The thing I think people do a little wrong in social networking is they reach out only when they have an issue — when they’ve lost their job, or they need you out of the blue.”

Danger! Danger! Danger!
Five things you should never do on a social network, according to Dr. Rachna D. Jain:
1. Leave negative feedback. “It stays around for a very long time, so even if you have a change of heart, it can be very difficult to retract it.”
2. Lie. “Give a truthful account of where you’ve worked and what you’ve done. Be real. Be honest.”
3. Spam. “It’s not a push marketing strategy. Avoid drowning others in your promotional material.”
4. Gossip. “Don’t send forth news that may not be yours to share.”
5. Oversell yourself. “Stay away from arrogance or over-hyping what you do.”

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