Mmm, Mmm, Good!

Douglas Conant, president and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, wrote “Secrets of Positive Feedback” on the HBR Blog earlier this month.  He shares three simple rules to build appreciation: 1) make a personal connection; 2) look for opportunities to celebrate; and 3) get our your pen.

I know in my gut that gold stars and thank you notes can play important roles in organizations. And I’ve watched (and helped) the Chief make those same sorts of connections over the years with great success. But I joined his universe at the very end of his commercial career so I didn’t have hard numbers to undergird my pitch that part of my consulting service would include helping leaders map their stakeholders and determine how/when to communicate with them to strengthen relationships.

“How Employee Engagement Turned Around Campbell's” describes how Conant took “a beleaguered old brand” to “extraordinary” in eight years. Yes, cost-cutting, smart innovations, and increased marketing were vital, but Conant says, “...of all the measurable elements related to culture building, engagement correlates closest to shareholder returns.”

He doesn’t just mouth platitudes. In the Forbes Q&A, he said he sends 20 notes a day to staffers and the blog post mentions spending 30 to 60 minutes daily (with his assistants) scanning for news to celebrate.

There aren’t many people who wouldn’t say this is the “right” thing to do and some of them would quickly add, “I just don’t have the cycles” or “My handwriting is terrible.” Strengthening relationships is more than just the “right” thing; it’s your opportunity to increase your impact and promote your organization’s values (and value).

I’m not as adamant as Conant about using a pen so I’d love to help you figure it out. Mmmm, mmmm, good!

Entertainment Tonight

…an occasional series about new-fangled gizmos and how geezers like me use them.

TV? Check.

Wireless access point (WAP)? Check.

Gaming system? Check, rarely used Wii.

Netflix account? Check.

Lots of movies/TV series missed in the past couple of years? Check.

I got my gear girl on this week when I hooked up my big honkin’ TV to stream Netflix. I was initially intimidated by the number of steps, but it’s really pretty easy. My rule of thumb for easy? If I can do it, you can, too.

To save you some manual-reading (because I know most of you think that’s unnecessary), here’s what I did without requiring a hole in the wall or an onsite technician:

·          Connect the Wii to your wireless network (this assumes that your Wii is already hooked to your TV). There are articles out there to read, but you navigate to Wii options/settings (second menu screen)/Internet/open connection. Then choose wireless access, let it search for a WAP and then choose yours.

Important caveat: Make sure you know the name of your WAP (mine is an obtuse set of letters/numbers) AND that you have the security code or password handy.  Don’t have your WAP locked down? You really oughta, but that’s another post and, please, Mr. Neighbor, don’t lock yours…you’re my go-to desperation connection.

·          Go to the Wii Shop Channel and download the Netflix app. I put the download on the system itself since I’m not a gamer. You’ll have the option to put it on an SD card, but if you have one of those, chances are that you don’t need this post or this article.

Mine upgraded the Wii firmware so yours may, too. Be patient; this could take a few minutes.

·          Next, I took a 24-hour break. It was past my bedtime…this geezer needs her sleep.

·          If you have more stamina than I, then open the Netflix app on your Wii. The first time you’ll see an activation code so go to your Netflix account via your computer and enter that code at http://www.netflix.com/Activate.

·          Go back to your TV (see why a laptop is nice?) and you should be ready to browse your queue or the Netflix selection of movies and shows.

·          Start streaming. The Wii remote serves as your Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind. It’s a bit klugy since you have to point at the screen and click on the icons but you’ll get the hang fairly quickly. For the $7.99/month option, you don’t get DVDs by mail and the selection of first-run movies seems pretty limited, but I’m hoping that competition from other providers will remedy that OR that RedBox will come out with its own app. In the meantime, there are movies/shows that I need to watch! Thus far, I haven’t had herky-jerky streaming but I can’t promise that won’t happen….I DO love me some Verizon FIOS!

If my TV viewing encroaches on the rest of my world, I’ll unplug it, but I’m claiming that I did it for your entertainment tonight.

Consistency: Let It Go, Louie

I’ve been fretting about consistency for the past few days, triggered by a pot of polenta: Stir until smooth consistency is reached.

I try hard to be consistent in just about every area of my life. I show up on time (usually early). I do what I say when I say I’ll do it (and love others, especially vendors, who do the same thing). On the surface at least, I’m fairly unflappable EXCEPT when I’m dealing with change. My new heroine Rosabeth Moss Kanter assures me that my penchant for wallowing in dread when change is imminent is actually a good thing…see why I love her?

So, what’s the source of my latest angst? Finding the time to post to this blog! I’ve read all the suggestions (of course, I have; I learn by reading) about building an audience through regular posting, the etiquette of commenting on others’ posts and responding to the kind people who take the time to comment on your blog. I know the strategies and tactics of building community—I’ve watched and learned from masters!

But, another primary goal of this blog is to help me find my voice so I want this to be an enjoyable process, not drudgery. I’ve got to find a happy place where I write with satisfaction within a timeframe that works. If once a week is what I can do vs. my initial goal of twice a week, then that’s ok…it’s not like my audience is clamoring for more! J

Help me brainstorm good ideas for building audience and writing with satisfaction with limited time. Is it a standing weekly piece like my buddy APB does with his “Sunday feeling” post?  Is it a quick link to an article I find interesting even though my interests range from well-written sports stories to philanthropy to mommy blogs? Is it something else entirely?

A Facebook friend posted, “The perfect is the enemy of the good,” as her status. She didn’t know it would be a powerful reminder: Let it go, Louie.

Rockin' Robin

…an occasional series about new-fangled gizmos and how geezers like me use them.

@Biz, @Ev, & @Jack sent me an email about getting the most out of Twitter in 2011. So in the spirit of flattery (by “borrowing” their points), here’s my take on their suggestions.

Full disclosure: Right now, I’m probably best described as an “active lurker” on Twitter which means I look/listen much more than I tweet. I fall in the active category because I often share what I’m seeing through other channels. Sooner or later, I’ll start tweeting more but I’m still searching for my niche (and maybe it’s not really a niche but a broad-based survey of what I find intriguing).

Anyway, here are some ways to dip your toes in the Twitterstream.

Follow your interests. This is a big “duh” in my book but I’m not the one worth a gazillion dollars because I invented Twitter so it’s probably worth repeating. You may think you should only follow folks who are part of your professional world, but, hey, lighten up. You’ll check Twitter more often if you’re following one of your passions. Don’t feel bad about following @Paula_Deen or @BigMama and I won’t tell if you decide to follow @aplusk even if I don’t (six million others follow Ashton Kutcher, why shouldn’t you?).

This also gives you the opportunity to hear what folks that you don’t have direct access to are thinking. I don’t run in the same circles as @SteveCase, @RickWarren or @BillGates but I can follow them. I’m not sucking up when I say that Steve Case is probably the best Tweeter I’ve seen so you should check him out. I can also unfollow folks without guilt if I think they’re tweeting too much (like every eight seconds but I’m not naming names) or too self-promoting (again, no names). They don’t care whether I’m there or not and it’s not as personal as deciding to unfriend on Facebook.

Get specific. Sure, look for people and orgs that you know or who are experts in your space(s). I follow @vppartners, @DonorsChoose and @ShareStrength along with a bunch more because of my work with nonprofits, but I also follow @mashable and @appstore for my gear girl/tech side, @GrammarGirl for cranky old English teacher tips, and @WestWingReport to know what’s going on at the White House without the wonkiness.

Use the lists feature if your interests, like mine, are all over the map. I’ve set up lists for education and medical tweets and I probably should slice and dice my followers even further but the serendipity of the timeline appeals to me so that’s the way I’m scanning most often.

Don't panic. I find myself checking Twitter instead of other sources (both traditional and online) when I want to know about snowstorms or world events or breaking news. @capitalweather has been my go-to source for all things weather in the Greater Washington Region this winter and their forecasts are much more measured than the weather guys on TV—the right approach for this snow weenie. When Representative Giffords was shot in Arizona, I followed it on Twitter, not TV. My church @SouthviewChurch tweets schedules and resource info (although I need to encourage more of my community of faith to start following!).

Return to Twitter. Well, this doesn’t exactly translate for my purposes since Ev, Biz and Jack are obviously building their company. But it is a nice reminder if it’s been a while since you looked at your account or you’ve never had one in the first place. It took me longer to “get” Twitter than it did Facebook so you’re not alone if you tried it and didn’t like it on your first go-round.

Chime in to tell me the folks you think are great at Twitter and leave them in the comments. I’m always looking for other interesting people. Oh, yeah, speaking of self-promotion, find me @cecollins.

PS – If you’re of a certain age, the title of this post will now play on an endless loop. A lesser known fact is that my middle name is Robin….yours in over-sharing, c