Cultural Resolution

Ever had what you think is a brilliant idea for something new, then found out someone else had the same idea?  Maybe it’s a psychic connection, or just a coincidence, or maybe it’s a sign that it really is a brilliant idea.

Anyway, Suzanne Deatherage, an IABC member at Texas A&M University, and I recently discovered we’d both had the same idea.  We’d never met before, but within a couple minutes of meeting, we were excitedly discussing our shared vision for something that we think could be an amazing IABC member benefit, capitalizing on our organization’s global network.  Best of all, it’s something we think could be completely member-driven, doesn’t require a lot of work or budget.

Our  idea (which is not fully developed, and could use lots of input) is to foster an exchange program that would give IABC members the opportunity to gain experience in different countries, industries or markets.  Something like a foreign exchange student or internship, but perhaps more along the lines of peer-to-peer job shadowing.

For me, the idea was born out of my own experiences staying as a guest in the homes of IABC members when I’ve visited chapters in the past year, because I find that the experience is always much richer that way than staying in hotels.  And everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve wished I could stay a bit longer, really get to know the market and the people, learn more about the cultural differences, maybe even learn the language.  In fact, the other influencer on my thinking about this was Julie Freeman‘s experience last summer participating in a Spanish immersion program that involved living with a local family in Guatemala.  What if, I thought, IABC members could do something like that, where members around the world opened their homes to fellow members.  Could there be potential benefit on both sides?  Could it be a professional development opportunity?  Could a company benefit by having a senior-level “intern” who comes in and works on a project or provides free consulting in exchange for the experience and a place to stay?  Could a communication professional who is between jobs use this kind of experience to expand their skills, gain knowledge of another industry or develop their resume?

Suzanne actually had the opportunity to participate in a formal program offered by CNN a few years ago, so she brings lots of great ideas from a different perspective, and she’s researched and found other organizations that have done similar things.

We’re thinking that a good next step would be to start an eXchange site and get more ideas and feedback, possibly attract a few folks willing to participate in some pilot exchanges, and go from there.  While Suzanne is getting that site set up, I’ll start the ball rolling by asking for comments here, and see if there are others who would like to help shape and drive the idea forward.

Let us know what you think.

UPDATE:  Suzanne has launched an eXchange site to continue this discussion and develop the idea further.  Anyone interested in working on it, please go to http://proexchange.x.iabc.com/.

They say that public speaking ranks first among all the things people fear, which is a little hard to believe when you put it up against death, monsters-under-the-bed, spiders and mud (ok, I know I’m probably the only one afraid of mud).  But still, I understand the fear of speaking in public.

I conquered my own fear years ago, quite deliberately, because I realised that to not do so would limit my career success.  My cure included a combination of Toastmasters and IABC.  I joined a local Toastmasters club for a few months, just long enough to learn the basics of public speaking, then I honed my newfound skills speaking at IABC chapter events — first my own, then other chapters.  I had one speech (on networking skills, which I still give) and I gave it again and again, gaining confidence and improving each time.  Now, some 18 years later, I’m comfortable in front of crowds of any size, and although it’s not my primary focus, I’m sometimes asked by clients to provide presentation coaching for senior executives.  Even more frequently, I’m asked by more junior professionals for resources that will help them develop basic skills for even in-house presentations .  So when IABC Tucson member Marilyn Pincus sent me her latest book, Boost Your Presentation IQ: Proven Techniques for Winning Presentations and Speeches, I was eager to read it.

The book is divided into two sections.  Part One takes you through a Presentation IQ Test.  What’s great about this section is it deals with all types of presentations, from presenting a proposal in a departmental meeting to giving a keynote address.  The test format, giving the answers as you go along, is a quick, easy read.

But I have to confess, it’s the second part of the book that I like best, because it’s full of solid information you can put to use immediately — from tips on preparing your presentation, to “20 Strategies for Combatting Stage Fright.” There’s a last-minute checklist, and a robust section on getting feedback.  The whole 48-page Part Two is organized into bite-size pieces that can be used as cheat-sheets to come back to again and again.  So it’s ideal for those who have limited time for reading, and those who want quick results to help with that presentation next Tuesday.

I was really pleased to get the chance to meet Marilyn on my recent visit to Tucson.  She’s a long-time IABC member, an accomplished author and ghost-writer for other authors.  And she makes a fabulous breakfast!  Boost Your Presentation IQ, published by McGraw Hill, is available from the IABC Knowledge Centre (with a discount for members), as well as on Amazon (and it’s even available for Kindle).  By the way, Marilyn is on Twitter as @MPwitter, so you can follow her there.

With just under six weeks to go until the IABC World Conference kicks off in San Francisco, some people may still be trying to convince their bosses to find the budget, or looking at their own bank balance to see if they can swing it.  As someone who hasn’t missed a conference in many years, and paid for most of them out of my own pocket, I know that I’ve always gotten enough value to more than pay for the cost of attending. So I thought I’d share some of the ways you can make the conference pay for itself:

1.  Get material for a year’s worth of in-house professional development sessions for your whole team.  Go through the conference program in advance and select sessions that meet your department’s training needs.  Attend the sessions, take copious notes, download the slides, and then share what you’ve learned with members of your team in a series of free in-house sessions.

2.  Gain knowledge you’d otherwise have to pay a consultant for.   A day or two of consulting time would more than cover your conference costs.  So what expertise does your company need that you could gain by attending?  Never written a crisis communication plan? There are at least a half-dozen sessions that would help you build that expertise. Need to develop a social media strategy for your organization, and know how to sell it to your executive team? You could walk away from this conference with not only the knowledge, but also personal contacts with top experts.

3.  Research best practices.  With 1500 communicators from all over the world attending, you have some of the best minds in our industry, representing many of the top companies.  With a notepad or tape recorder and a list of questions, you could easily conduct research to find out how others have solved problems you’re facing.  In fact, why not offer to do this for another department and get them to help fund your trip from their research budget? Wouldn’t your HR directer like to know how Sony, IBM and Cisco improve productivity via internal communication programs?

4.   Expand your global network & knowledge.  Is your company trying to do business in China and encountering barriers? Looking for market intelligence in India? Or finding its internal culture isn’t consistent outside its home country?  You can learn from experts in cross-cultural communication, and meet professionals leading communication for top companies around the globe.  As anyone doing business across borders knows, in most parts of the world, it takes personal relationships to create business opportunities.

5.  Find a new job.  If you’re between positions at the moment, this might be the best investment you could ever make in yourself.  Not only because of the incredible networking opportunity, but also because you’ll come away energized and full of confidence, something that job-hunting tends to beat out of you.  Forget sitting at home sending out hundreds of resumes or answering classified ads, the best jobs are usually found through networking.  And I know for a fact that there are always a few headhunters in attendance (smart people, since they know that IABC conferences attract top talent).  Here’s a personal offer of support:  if you’re job hunting and attending this year’s conference, let me know in advance and I’ll help with introductions.

I could go on, but the truth is, for me it’s usually one small thing –one kernel of an idea sparked by surrounding myself with so many great minds — that ends up making me leave the conference sure that it’s more than paid for itself.   That’s why I’ve always found a way to get there, whether it meant sharing a room with three other people (actually, that year was really fun), or scrimping on something else for the next six months.  There aren’t that many things in my life that have consistently returned so much value for money, but I wouldn’t miss an IABC conference.

Almost daily I see an article or list ranking or measuring “influence” of individuals in social media (usually based on metrics that can’t possibly measure real influence), and I often stop and think about the people who influence me.  Of the thousands of people I’m connected with via social media, there are probably only a handful who actually have the capacity or power to produce effects on my actions, behaviour or opinions.  It takes more than a blog or tweet to influence most people. 

When I reflect back on the people who have influenced me most over the years, I think I’d have to say they were those who mentored me, who gave freely of their time, advice, guidance and expertise.  Especially in the early years of my career, those individuals who mentored me had a profound influence on me, shaping my thinking and way of working, inspiring me to aspire to communication excellence, encouraging me to take on challenges and achieve my best.  They were all fellow IABC members, and my guess is that their willingness to mentor me had more to do with their commitment to the association and the profession than to me personally.  They probably don’t know how much they impacted both, or how their influence lives on in me.

I’ve tried to carry on their legacy, mentoring others when I get the chance.  I think I’d rather influence the world one person at a time than show up on a top-50 list based on having loose connections with thousands of strangers. 

If you’re interested in reading more about mentoring, there are some great articles in the January issue of IABC’s CW Bulletin.

This month’s podcast is all about Accreditation.  Anybody else ready to take the Accreditation Challenge? 

I’m a member of a number of organizations, some of which are, by definition, networking groups, existing for the sole purpose of helping their members make business contacts and advance their professional objectives.  But I’ve never belonged to any group whose members were as willing to help as IABC members are.

I’ve found that saying I’m a fellow IABC member is as good as a secret handshake.  Total strangers will stop what they’re doing, take my call, provide advice, share information, whatever.  I know I’ve done it for others many times too.  As a US-to-UK immigrant, I frequently hear from US members thinking of moving to London, asking for advice or contacts or information about how to get a work permit.  If they were just random queries, from people I don’t have any special affinity to, I probably wouldn’t take the time.  But because they’re a part of a network I believe in, I find the time, no matter how busy I am.   

And that’s what I’ve found when I have needed to tap into the network, no matter where in the world.  Again and again. 

The latest was just this week, and I was tapping into the network to provide value to a client.  The client is a major global corporation, with plenty of resources of it’s own.  But what it needed was local market knowledge in a country where it has none.  They’ve just acquired a company in Hungary, so the communications team needs to quickly learn the market, make contacts, find local resources (like PR agencies, translators, photographers), and understand cultural differences.  The client asked me if I had any contacts there.  So I did a quick search of the online member directory and found a member in Budapest.  I fired off a quick email to ask for help, and within hours, I’d heard back.  This member not only was willing to meet with my client when he visits in 10 days, but also offered to help open doors, and even recommended places to stay.  My client, who is a relatively new IABC member himself, is amazed.  It’s his first glimpse of the power of the IABC secret handshake. 

I still remember the very first time I experienced it.  I was working in a job I hated and I wanted to make a move.  I was young and still new in the market I’d moved to — where competition for every comms position was stiff, and most of the best jobs were never advertised.  It was clear that in this town, it was all about “who you know.”  While I didn’t yet fully understand networking, I’d recently joined IABC, so I went to a local chapter event, hoping that might help.  I remember sitting around a table with seven total strangers, and as we went around the table with introductions, I decided to ask for help.  When it was my turn, I said I wanted to find a new job.  Then and there, two people told me of positions they’d heard about, and offered to make calls to their contacts to get me in the door.  Within a week I had interviewed for both,  and by the end of the month I had a new job. 

I could go on and on with my own examples, but I’d love to hear from others with stories of how you’ve received value from the IABC network, whether personally, or for your employer or client. 

As the new year begins for IABC boards and committees, there will be lots of calls for volunteers.  This is, after all, an association that is largely run by volunteers.  It has to be.  There’s no possible way to do all that we do around the world with only 30 or so staff members.  So at every level of the association, we send out emails imploring members to fill the need.   But why would anyone give up their scarce free time to meet the needs of an association that they already give money to?

It’s not as if we’re finding a cure for cancer or saving disaster victims.  If it were about selfless giving, there are loads of other places we could be volunteering.  This is a professional association.  We’re members for professional reasons.  We want to advance our careers, be successful, whatever that means at whatever stage we are. 

And the secret is that volunteering is one of the most effective ways of achieving your own professional objectives.

So instead of approaching volunteer recruitment from the perspective of IABC’s need, I try to start with the question, “What do you want out of your IABC involvement?” 

Are you just starting out and need to develop skills and knowledge?  Want a new job, so need to expand your network?  Need to gain some management experience in order to make the leap to your first management-level job?  Already very senior, but looking to raise your visibility within the profession?  Or a freelancer looking for potential clients? 

All these have applied to me at different stages of my career, and there’s been a volunteer role that met my needs every time.  I have said many times that I owe my career to IABC — but not in a passive way that the association just dumped success in my lap.  It took work.  In fact, it was the work itself that created the opportunities. 

My first IABC volunteer role was on the Bronze Quill Awards Committee for the Central Florida chapter.  I was just a pup, serving on a committee with people with far more professional experience.  I learned event planning and organizational skills that I later used on the job and in my own consulting business.  I met someone who I later recruited to work for me (who also became one of my best-ever friends).  I gained a mentor who helped me over the next several years every time I needed support as I climbed the career ladder.  The benefits far outweighed the number of hours I put in as a volunteer.  And over the nearly 20 years since then, I’ve probably put in thousands of hours.  I never bothered to count, but there were even times when IABC work was more than a full-time job.  If I added it all up and gave it a financial value, it still could never come close to what I’ve gotten back.  Jobs, clients, salary increases, promotions.  And that doesn’t even take into account the fun times and great friends I’ve made. 

So what do you want from IABC?  There’s a volunteer role that will help you achieve your objectives.  If you want to get involved and need help figuring out how or where to focus, get in touch with me.

And if you’re already one of the serial volunteers, please chime in and share your stories of why you do it and what you’ve gotten from your involvement.