B2E

There’s a meme going around the Internet with six-tiled images depicting what various audiences think a certain occupation does.

Not familiar with memes? Wikipedia defines it as an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. We like to think of them as catchy, popular culture trends that take the Web by storm and/or simply provide a good laugh. Mashable posted their recount of the best memes in 2011 and Ragan posted a fun meme last week about what people think PR practitioners do.

Here’s our take on what this meme means for employee communicators.

We’d love to hear your reaction in the comments below.

If your work weeks play out anything like mine, your calendar is covered with conference calls, team meetings and training seminars – sometimes half a dozen in a single day. We’ve all heard jokes that these meetings are mind numbing, and we’ve seen plenty of such portrayals in pop culture. Now, new research suggests that we may, in fact, become dumber in these settings.

Scientists at the Virginia Carillion Research Institute recently reported that small-group dynamics – such as office meetings and dinner parties – can actually lower your IQ. (Read the full report here.)

Researchers used neuroimaging and IQ testing to see how the brain processes information about social status in small groups, and how perceptions of that status affect people’s cognitive abilities. As it turns out, it has quite an impact.
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As one Harvard Business Review blogger points out: “The demand for increased connectivity and flexibility and greater use of social media will shape and change companies from the inside out.” This mix of professional/personal information sharing poses some interesting questions for managers. What do you see as realistic answers to his queries?

The term “profersonal” is protected intellectual property of Jason Seiden.

No matter what industry you work in or what your specific role is, if what you do includes some form of “communications,” you will inevitably cross paths with lawyers. “Comms” people understandably cringe at the thought of a lawyer – or anyone else – disassembling our team’s creative idea or pushing the bounds of an already tight review timeline.

Sound familiar? Well, as you know, your company hired the Legal teams to keep its best interests at heart and protect it from litigation. Ironically, that’s also part of your job as a Communications person. Therefore, it makes sense that Legal and Comms should be on the same team, no? Here are five tips that might help make Legal reviews a lot less painful.
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The book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, cites Jerry Sternin’s experience with Save the Children during the 1990s as a fascinating case study of change management.

The late Sternin, a humanitarian and educator, based a career on the power of “positive deviance” — an optimistic problem-solving approach with roots in late 1980s’ Tufts University research. The premise: Identify the “deviants” within an organization who, operating outside conventional norms, reach outcomes that reflect the desired goals or changes. Then, spotlight those individuals, and encourage replication of their methods – and ideally, their success – within the rest of the organization.
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Image from Fast Company Expert Blogger Craig Chappelow's recent post

We’ve talked a lot lately about companies’ recent efforts to promote better work/life balance, even going as far as to ban internal email. (See here and here.) But this Fast Company blogger says that work/life balance is a myth.

We’re curious. Is work/life balance an attainable goal? See what this writer recommends and tell us what you think in the comments section below.

It’s a new year, and most of us are back to work after enjoying some time out of the office. If you’re like me, getting back to work means one thing: a full email inbox (or, in fact, an inbox that has shut down due to size restrictions).

In a world where new online media – from videos and status updates to tweets and texts – have added to the inundation of personal and work-related communications that employees feel compelled to monitor, one has to wonder: WHO has the time to read all this? And how do they get any actual WORK done?

One man is asking, and answering, that question in a very public way.
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Technology may have freed us from the physical confines of the office but in many ways, it has created an invisible tether by which we can be tugged at any location, at any time.

For many workers, this 24/7/365 access further clouds the already problematic issues of work/life balance and productivity. It’s led some employers, like Volkswagen, to limit the hours during which some of its employees can receive email to the 30 minutes before and after a shift.

Other companies are going even farther, planning to phase out internal email entirely during the next few years. Instead, company leaders are advocating for phone/text, in person and social media tools as preferable internal communication methods.
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Whether it’s dusting off old resolutions or exploring new ways of doing something, a fresh year can jumpstart new thinking and generate new direction.

As 2011 was winding down, we asked our colleagues what employee communications trends they see on the horizon. Here’s what they expect to see in 2012:

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The holidays are here, which means kids and adults alike are going crazy with their wish lists for Santa. What about you? Have you made yours? And, what about your professional wish list? The one with all the professional goals and dreams and projects you hope to accomplish in your career?

If you’re anything like me, you don’t have one. At least not a written one.

It wasn’t until my FH Kansas City colleague Justin Goldsborough, along with prompts from Arik Hanson and Heather Whaling, began talking about their professional PR bucket lists that I decided to jump on this list-making bandwagon.
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