Do you allow your employees to update their status on Facebook, Twitter or other social media websites at work? Are there any instances where using social media on the clock is acceptable?

You and your employees should know the answers to these questions. Everyone at your workplace should realize exactly what work-related information can be posted on social media sites and under what circumstances. A social media policy offers such assurances, as well as provides you with legal standing to enforce your standards.

Consider employees as individual representatives of your company. You can monitor their social media activity and set appropriate guidelines. These guidelines often reflect personnel policies already in effect, but more details may be needed.

While there are many social media policy templates available online to use, make sure yours includes the following items:

• A requirement that employees must display a legal disclaimer when commenting or posting content involving the company. A typical statement reads, “The views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my company.”
•  Provisions against airing material that violates the company personnel policy (e.g., equal employment opportunity, sexual harassment, work-related grievances). 

• A confidential disclosure section forbidding discussion of litigation and sensitive or proprietary information about the association and its partners and clients. 

• Prohibitions against posting commentary, content, or images that are defamatory, pornographic, proprietary, harassing, libelous, or that can create a hostile work environment.

Because social media is virtual and constantly evolving and changing, create a policy that is flexible enough to apply to new social media tools that may emerge in the future.

Penalties for violating any of the restrictions listed in the policy should be listed as well, and should include termination of employment as a possible disciplinary action. As an additional level of security, have all employees sign an acknowledgment that they have received, reviewed and understood your association’s social media policy. This will provide you with just cause for taking any necessary actions if the terms are violated.

Even with a completed policy, it always helps to remind your team members to think about the implications of what they are doing with social media. Tell them that everything they post online is likely permanent and cannot be deleted – therefore, they have to consider carefully what they reveal in social media forums.

Social media sites have become so prevalent in our society that association leaders must have policies in place at work to protect themselves legally. Create a social media policy that will dictate and reflect your company’s philosophy and image favorably, and you should have little problem adjusting to new social media options as they arrive.

Melanie Black Dubis, a partner at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, handles commercial disputes for clients in North Carolina State and federal courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and arbitration proceedings. For more information about Dubis, visit http://www.parkerpoe.com. 

I have discovered through many years in business that managers tend to be good problem solvers. Because of this fact, people migrate to these managers and ask them for help in solving their problems. In other words, problems drift “uphill,” and many managers end up working longer and longer hours trying to solve other people’s problems.

In solutions-driven organizations, however, managers shift from solving everyone’s problems to empowering their employees to solve their own problems. Employees are often closer to a problem and can come up with better solutions than their managers.

In problem solving one should ask whether what is being solved is the problem or a symptom of the problem. To find the answer, one must determine a problem’s root cause, then use a template to analyze creative alternatives to that root issue.

To help employees solve their own problems, consider using an action planning template that requires people to carefully analyze a given situation in a focused manner and write down their thoughts. A template that prompts people through a set of questions will work well to stimulate their ideas and help them to formulate solutions more thoroughly.

• “What goal do I want to achieve?” The answer must be specific and written down.
• “What will I get from achieving this goal?” The respondent must write down several benefits.
• “What obstacles could possibly interfere with achieving this goal?” These obstacles can be factors such as training needed or additional costs.
• “What are ways to remove these obstacles from my path?” The answers tend to be problem solutions in encapsulated format.

The next section of the action plan template goes on to prompt the employee for the steps that must be followed to achieve the stated goals, and a date when each goal should be met. The template ends with the question, “Is this goal worth the time, effort and money?” The employee must respond “Yes” or “No,” then take the completed form to their manager for discussion and approval.

This approach works, because it empowers employees to “own” the situation and be invested in the success of the solution and its results. People are encouraged to think for themselves, and when they do, generally they come up with excellent solutions. Morale is affected in a positive way when people feel empowered, and that leads to higher productivity and job satisfaction.

Willy E. Stewart, PE, is the managing principal of Raleigh Consulting Group, a consulting firm that works with CEOs and senior management teams across a diverse collection of industries to assist in improving efficiencies and optimizing growth while remaining focused on the company’s purpose and its people.

How do employees get help at your company? Who does the employee go to with problems? Who is there to help keep your employees involved, engaged and committed to their work and the company?

Employees who lack regular communication with a good manager can disengage with their work or eventually join another company with stronger management. Office managers and HR pros can help employees with mechanical questions such as pay and benefits, but only a manager familiar with an employee’s day-to-day tasks can grow a productive two-way relationship promoting strong work engagement.

Skilled managers provide many benefits to the workers they supervise. They are the primary goal setters and the best place to create alignment between the employee and organizational aspirations. Good managers provide frequent feedback and have a genuine interest in their employees’ professional and personal aspirations. They also serve as problem solvers to help workers when obstacles arise.

The negative effects of no management or poor management include decreased productivity, lowered morale, absenteeism and lack of trust and commitment to the company. Employees need managers for guidance, growth and recognition.

Guidance
Managers help employees understand their roles and how their actions affect business results. With proper goal setting and consistent feedback, both positive and corrective, managers help employees understand what success looks like and how to get there.

Every employee has key questions and quandaries they need answered, and managers who work with them on an ongoing basis are the most equipped to offer responses. Sufficient guidance and attention spent on employees will also help them feel essential and valued in the workplace.

Growth
People are rarely satisfied doing the same tasks for long periods of time, so failing to plan for employee challenge and growth opportunities can have dire consequences for your company—specifically, high turnover. Because good managers provide consistent feedback, they know the strengths and weaknesses of their employees. This not only helps managers assign projects, but it helps employees understand what they do well and where they can improve. Managers are also advocates for employee development opportunities, raises, promotions and recognition.

Recognition
Data and personal experience show that good employees who do not feel valued by their employer will leave.  Managers who communicate well and regularly with employees are in the best position to see and prevent unnecessary turnover.  Private recognition of good work, really listening to employee opinions, and removing hurdles in the way of job satisfaction are important tools.  Public recognition within the workplace when important milestones happen or key behaviors occur is also very powerful.

Whether your organization is large or small, the presence or absence of good one-to-one management is the best predictor of workplace health.  All the flex-time, free cappuccino and blue-jeans-days you can muster are no substitute.

Good managers who demonstrate leadership qualities are critical for keeping company morale high. Please feel free to call CAI’s Advice and Counsel at 919-878-9222 or 336-668-7746 for additional information about how to strengthen the skills of your company’s managers.

Bruce Clarke, J.D. is president and CEO of CAI, Inc., a human resource management firm with locations in Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C., that helps organizations maximize employee engagement while minimizing employer liability.  For more information, visit http://www.capital.org. 

The challenge of value in associations, however, is that it’s a floating concept. And value is in the eye of the beholder. Every person has their own ideas about what value means to them. This was the subject of a recent CEO Roundtable that brought out nearly 30 senior association staff and CEOs.

To get folks thinking, our facilitator, Wendy Scott, CAE, president of Wendy Scott & Associates, posed the question about how are associations like entrepreneurs.
The answer: we have to think about profit, have to be cutting edge, we have much more savvy consumers, have to deal with more competition and have to be risk takers.

What change can you make in your organization to better convey your association’s value, move the association forward and sustain it? Well, you have to think like an entrepreneur.

But first, it’s important to understand the value of your association? Well, you need to figure out what the ROI is or let the member’s tell you what the value is.

Some information from ASAE’s recent Decision to Join research said that the more members are engaged, the greater they valued membership. And also, retention is easier over time. You are more likely to loose members in the first 1-3 years.

How do you identify and define value? And there are two parts to value – there is the value to the member and the value to the association. You have to asses your core value you and the determined value will be defined differently by the board, membership and other key leaders. As an organization, you have to go through this process.
There are many ways to achieve this, formal surveys, town halls, focus groups, needs analysis, etc. But, don’t underestimate the power of the backroom, hallway discussions. Those are important, too.

Once you have identified, you have to be able to differentiate value by identifying your core competencies, studying your customers, turn core competencies into values and also study your competition.

Then, and only then, can you provide stakeholders with a well thought out value proposition that shows your unique position, shows your relevance to market segments, is credible, has clarity, communicates advantages and differentiates yourself from others.

To see  Scott’s PowerPoint from the day’s session, click here.

For more information about Wendy or Wendy Scott & Associates, click here.

For the associations present, challenges included:
-         Trying to keep up with all the different technologies and getting practical, measureable results from that effort
-         Devoting resources to developing virtual education
-         Balancing whether members get too much information vs. not enough
-         How to understand the ROI for new technologies
-         Keeping up with all the social media platforms
-         The amount of time and resources that are involved in providing technology tools
-         How to best communicate to members
-         Creating online certification and training
-         Trying to stay on top of the changes in technology in-order to remain relevant

Do any of these sound familiar?

The recent Roundtable focused on mobile meeting applications and also social media.

For associations, according to the recent book, Race for Relevance, it took the first association nearly three years to develop a mobile application. This is one reason many associations are challenged with being relevant. We move to slow.

One convenient way to dip your toes in the water with mobile applications is to create a mobile app for your conference. Hale Mast, executive director with the Fiduciary & Investment Risk Management Association (FIRMA), discussed a new mobile app he is going to be unveiling at his upcoming conference. The application will allow attendees to view the schedule of events, get speaker photos and bios, connect with speakers through phone and email (if the speaker allows) and it also contains links to the floor plan.

The company that developed is Global Media. And the have built the mobile application to be customizable to your event. It would also allow for interaction between attendees and provide exposure to sponsors or exhibitors.

There are now hundreds of resources for mobile applications for meetings and trade shows that one industry expert, Corbin Ball, actually wrote a blog which is an outstanding collection of resources – CLICK HERE.

The other challenge we discussed (and it was also a challenge expressed at the Roundtable) was social media.

With social media, you really have to focus on the why? There are so many reasons to delve into social media. Do you want to increase web traffic? Are you looking to target a new generation of members? Do you want to create a new avenue to communicate to members about upcoming events? Are you looking to create another format for members to network with each other? Or is it a little bit of all these things.

When AENC first got into social media, we didn’t have a strategy, we tried to do it all. That become too time intensive, so we decided to focus on FaceBook and LinkedIn and with the idea to build the network. If you want to have a network, you have to have followers. So, we just posted about events, included links to photos and just allowed it to exist. As more people became engaged in the site we began to post important news items important to the association community and also begin focusing on promoting things the association community is doing to impact lives (the focus of AENC’s new vision).

As we began to grow, we started using Twitter more and began using HootSuite to send out messages and multiple channels, and did scheduled tweets around events. In the last six months we re-designed our website to reflect our focus on social media and have bold icons on our website and email for all of our social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress (Blog), and PhotoBucket (event photos).

Now that AENC has developed a solid social media footing, we have been able to actually see some real world results. All of this activity has resulted in a higher ranking in Google. In other words, if you Google “associations and North Carolina”, AENC ranks in the top-5. In addition, we have also seen a great amount of traffic referred from our social media sites. We have seen a 400% increase in our traffic from FaceBook, a 129% increase in traffic from LinkedIn and a 292% increase in traffic through Twitter compared to just two years ago.

Now that our social media is running at full-speed, in January 2011, we started blogging regularly. We have gone from having 19 total views in January of 2011, to we have had 196 views so far this January. Not too shabby, huh.

Also, as Scott Williams from TH Management pointed out there is more to a blog than getting views. It results in what BLOG stands for – Better Listing On Google. You can also use your blog as a website, too. Take for example the Urban Land Institute of San Francisco – http://www.ulisf.org/
Other great information came out of the Roundtable, too.

-         Such as the reminder about the CAN-SPAM rules as it relates to marketing through the use of emails.
-         Using Skype for connecting with members
-         Creating Social Media Policies – for Resource, CLICK HERE.
-         And using Mashable.

Thanks to those that came out!!

As it relates to the association profession advocacy is usually done in an effort to create good economic policies. It also ensures that when key legislative decisions are made, the profession is “at the table”. And as current AENC President Paul Stone, CAE said during the recent Government Affairs Roundtable, “If you aren’t at the table, you are on the menu.” Stone is CEO of the NC Restaurant and Lodging Association and uses this statement to encourage those to get involved in government relations.

The challenge for associations is that a lot of folks don’t know the extent associations are working for the members’ issues. They think it just happens. And while association staff appreciates the fact that the members trust we will get the work done, they need the help of the members to get it done.

In addition, for many professional and trade associations, we rely on grassroots advocacy to introduce or prevent legislation. The challenge for members, and most of the general public, is they don’t understand the process and often can become frustrated at how long the process takes and can oftentimes become cynical.

So, how do you get members to react to an issue?  One simple way is when the association itself finds out its “on the menu”. This can often be a powerful way to unite members, but then the challenge comes to keep them engaged when there isn’t a reason to contact their legislator. You have to communicate effectively with members that you have to be there to take advantage of opportunities, too. For example, the question was posed – what does a firefighter do when they aren’t fighting fires? The answer is they practice what they should do when there actually is a fire. In other words, they prepare. They are always visible and ready to react by being pro-active. The same should be said for your advocacy efforts.

The idea situation for an association to be in is when a piece of legislation is introduced they get a phone call from the legislative office to ask about how this will impact their profession. For those groups that visit even when they don’t have an issue are better served. The best time for grassroots advocacy is when there isn’t an issue.

Some ideas are to promote to the legislators feel good stories about your association or even create a social responsibility report that can be provided to tell legislators what you are doing in their district to make a difference.

One thing that must be remembered when conducting lobbying/grassroots efforts is that you have to think about what the voter thinks. Joe Stewart, Vice President, NC Chamber, and roundtable facilitator mentioned an example of when he was with the Insurance Federation. You can’t go in to a legislator and say this is important to this particular business. It has to be made about the voter and particular, a voter in their district.

There are several ways to engage members in your advocacy efforts. One way is to identify key contacts for each member of the legislature. When you do this, you are not just looking for someone who is a voter but someone who has a personal relationship. Perhaps they are alumni of the same university, go to church together, have kids that go to the same school, or perhaps they do business with that member or some other degree of separation.

The kicker with a key contact or a state political coordinator or any other kind of grassroots advocacy is that you not only want to get members involved in the process, but also educate them. Some organizations are conducting webinars to educate, developing podcasts and videos and even developing training sessions to educate members about how to lobby effectively or be a key contact.

Other organizations provide opportunities for members to come to the table with issues they think are important so they can be vetted by their peers. Many times members just want to be heard and this gives them a chance to get involved, too.

Some associations have actually developed secret Facebook pages that allow key folks in association leadership to connect and share information that may be better not shared with the entire public. But what if you don’t have a private area for members to share information, then you must assume that anyone and everyone will have access to your lobbying efforts, so keep information brief and encourage folks to contact the association for more information.

There are many instances where an association has a legislative victory and it does a lot to drive excitement, but what about when you are dealt a loss? The thing with advocacy, as we said earlier, you have to keep informing and keep performing. You have to make sure you shout out from the mountain top your victories. This softens the blows on the losses. One thing that makes a loss easier to digest is that it wasn’t a surprise. You also will want to use this as a teaching moment – learn from it and figure out what to do differently next time. Also, having the support of your leadership is very important.

Other comments from the Roundtable included the use of grassroots advocacy tools like CapWiz, Voter Voice, Capital Impact and the Prosperity Project. Another topic of interest was the creation of independent electioneering, which was a result of the Citizen United case that allows corporation to contribute to elections through 527s. Expect to see some major growth in this area.

Thanks for those that came out to the Government Affairs Roundtable. Look for more GA Roundtables in the future. Check out the AENC Government Affairs Symposium on Feb 17 a the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel.

Our story begins with Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), recently widowed, trying to cope with the death of his wife and having to raise a 14-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter. In order to get a new start and escape all the sad memories, Mee decides to give his kids a new experience and purchases an old zoo.  Click here for the  trailer.

He takes many chances in this film and ultimately saves the zoo, its staff and reconciles with his son, whom he fights with throughout the movie, and gives his daughter some very special memories. It’s a movie that is quite funny, extremely emotional in several parts and teaches a very important lesson that Mee is able to demonstrate on many levels throughout the movie to the zoo employees and his children and brother.

During one of the last scenes of the movie, Mee and his son have a great heart-to-heart about love and life and he tells his son, “All you need is 20-seconds of insane courage, and I promise you, something great will come of it.”

This movie is a great example of what associations have to have sometimes to be successful. And whether its you as the CEO that feels like this or whether you inspire your staff to think like this, sometimes you have to put your shield on and have 20-seconds of insane courage to make something happen and fulfill your mission as an organization. Or, make a change to a policy or event. 20-seconds of insane courage can be something you celebrate if you just take the chance.

Where do you need 20-seconds of courage?

The number of ways you can communicate with your audience can be overwhelming. Understanding a few fundamentals can help you get prepared and move forward.

“Liking” you is not enough

“If you build it, they will come” only worked in the movie. Just setting up a Twitter account or Facebook group page as standalone presences is a regressive strategy. If your association isn’t communicating its key messages, you won’t generate a following. Worse, owning these profiles with no activity or followers just looks bad and delivers the wrong message, as well.

Actively communicate your messages

The first mistake in messaging is trying to tell everything, to everyone, all the time. As an association, you know who your members are, and you know how your work benefits people on a broad scale. But like any marketing strategy, it’s not only critical to identify specific audiences, but also to deliver specific messages on how your work is directly addresses their needs.

Identify your target goals and encourage participation

Establish a timeline around key dates and planned announcements. Be sure to include locally planned events. By using your online platforms to deliver your messages, you’re encouraging participation through “re-tweets” and other forms of sharing. Invite your members to be part of the process – it gets them engaged as active stewards of your organization’s brand and mission.

Any successful online strategy is about building a presence that rewards you with more than your “15 minutes.” Crafted carefully, it will help you earn a deep, living leadership role in today’s marketplace.

Special thanks to Guest Blogger – Evan T. Howell, an independent public relations practitioner based in Durham, N.C. http://evanthowell.com

• Virtualization (data and software hosting, document sharing, etc; mobile applications; integration of database with all activities, etc.)
• Managed services (equipment and technical support)

The second purpose, and this is so important in a membership based organization, is using technology to enhance the customer experience.
Associations today and having to really consider the following as it relates to our external technologies:

• Virtual networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, other “groups”)
• Website – is it user-friendly?  Dynamic?
• Business Development / Member Value (electronic directory; online marketplace for services/RFP postings, etc.)

As our facilitator said it best, for most associations, we need to be like the Wizard in the city of Oz. We have to be behind the curtain, appearing as we are much bigger than we really are because we have to not only compete for your attention, but try to appear like Google, Amazon or Facebook in the process.
Some tips shared –
- Look at your website – can you find contact information – phone, address, email, etc., in one-click or less? If not, you may want to consider some tweaking.
- How is your association allowing members to network with different subsets of members. Are you using social media – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn? Or are you looking at developing your own private social network through Higher Logic, Socious, or MemberFuse?
- How are you helping your affiliate members with direct business development – outside of the typical booth at the annual meeting?
- Simple things like dropping the “Annual Meeting” from the beginning of an event, instead, favored putting Technology Outlook first, then Annual Meeting. In addition, NCTA has branded url’s for events which re-direct to their site.
- Also have been co-locating meetings using technology. This way more folks can participate.
- Consider the hazards and risks associated with data breaches with virtualization.  Cyber security is increasingly important, increasingly complicated and challenging, yet expected by your customers.
- Organizations should get a better understanding of all the areas technology impacts so you can budget for it. Technology isn’t something you can just silo – its in everything we do.
- Consider using a 3-year cycle for computer replacement.
- Make sure your members have added your email address to make sure its “white listed”. This limits the amount of emails that get kicked back.
- By using technology, you really have to be in-front of your members more often. You never know when its going to hit that the member needs what you have to offer. Look at the way car dealers advertise. You have to always be visible.
- Consider exploring SMS – texting options in your communications. Many folks, especially younger folks, are getting their info that way.
- When getting members virtually, look to options like: GoToMeeting, conference calls w/ PowerPoint, or WebEx.
- Look to using virtual software – like Microsoft’s new virtual software, other hosted services (exchange, storage, back-up, voicemail, databases, etc.) or exchange services like A.nnotate.com.
Other thoughts of interest from the Roundtable, and this goes back to the customer experience, what barriers can we take away from the customer experience. At NCTA they created new express membership – created easy ways for members to join – just provide your name and contact info and even take payment over the phone to make it easy.
Many thanks again to those in attendance and to Brooks Raiford and the folks at the NC Academy of Family Physicians for hosting.