5 ways to combat Charity fatigue in your fundraising

"He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity & enjoying life’s pleasures...breathes but does not live."-Sanskrit Proverb

Giving is the gift that gives back because it makes us feel better about ourselves.

 The opportunity to give is  presented to us through the army of fundraisers who approach us in the office, in the high street ,at the railway station....

Fund raising is about persuading folk to sponsor you in a charity appeal.

Selling as defined by sales guru Alfred Tack was ‘persuasive communication against resistance.’

A traditional 'tin' collection in
Salisbury city centre , Wiltshire , England

 The resistance encountered with charity fatigue ( resistance ) from prospective sponsors encountered is fundamentally a selling challenge .

Friday’s metro newspaper ran a Charity Special article by Keith Watson on how to beat charity fatigue.

Charity fatigue is a syndrome that has grown with the mushrooming of fund raising activities available to people trying to raise money for their chosen cause.

It is not only at the individual level where this is experienced, often charities have had to dig deeper into their collective imagination  in order to compete with the finite amount of disposable income available in times of economic hardship.

5 Crafty tips for potential fundraisers ( suggested by Metro Newspaper on 1/4/16)

1. Set a target. Sometimes you can persuade an employer / sponsor to match the money you and your colleagues raise.  There are many who will subscribe to make sure the top bods have to pay out !
2. Use social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter et al  are your Charity Friends. Once you have dreamed up an innovative way of raising cash, ensure everyone knows about it. Make the most of your network.
3. Don’t just ask for money, ask for stuff. Just handing over money nowadays is not enough – you can appeal to the eco-conscious potential sponsor by asking them to donate unwanted items that can be auctioned.
4. Benchmark Top down on your list encourages others to follow and donate.  Start the list with the boss at the top  and a benchmark is set for the others tag along.
5. Plan an activity.  Anything from an outing to a paint-balling experience for which everyone pays extra to a named charity to  £1 for every miss of  a ball of waste paper into  the waste-paper basket .

Back in 2012 The Government in response to this have backed this ‘innovation foundation’.

National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts ( Nesta)

http://www.nesta.org.uk/?gclid=CI_GiK-y78sCFSco0wod0AIFnA 

National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts ( Nesta)

http://www.nesta.org.uk/?gclid=CI_GiK-y78sCFSco0wod0AIFnA 

Nesta distil the innovation process into 7 steps.

1.      Opportunities and challenges

2.      Generating ideas

3.      Developing and testing

4.      Making the case

5.      Delivering and implementing

6.      Growing and scaling

7.      Changing systems

These  steps will be very familiar to any in selling.

Innovation can appear shambolic, unpredictable and risky, and success is never guaranteed.

 But by learning as much as we can about how innovation happens, you can be smarter in the way that you

In the prize winning grants from Nesta were Mencap with their Kids for good initiative – a scheme to

Get children involved with fund raising from an early age.

The key factor is involvement. Age UK hit on the idea in which retired workers offered expertise for free in return for and in exchange the recipient would pay the charity.

Last year’s ice bucket challenge in aid of Motor Neurone Disease Association was particularly successful on leveraging this involvement factor.  The fund raising activity was turned into a fun club, with celebrities falling over themselves to show what ‘jolly good sports’ they were.

The resultant publicity exploited this. 

“There are two ‘i’s’ in Fundraising – they should stand for inspiration & innovation, not imitation & irritation.”  

Ken Burnett fundraising specialist

Related links

What is Sponsorship ? ( detailed / long post)

What are Sponsors looking for from fundraisers?


Ale for Sale Fundraising

7 causes of Trigger Happy Social Selling #TENDb4uSEND selling lessons from Operation Bookend

Barely a day goes by when someone presses the ENTER button on their keyboard too hastily and regrets it. You and I succumb to this trigger happy instinct as much as the famous.

Such social media rashness can have all sorts of unintended consequences.

 I guess we should  have expected and possibly reassured  that the Bank of England was working hard at contingency planning for the possibility of a Brexit .

The miss-sent email copied to the Guardian newspaper has been a diplomatic embarrassment for Old lady of Threadneedle Street. The slip revealed Project Bookend.

The Financial Times reported a statement from the Bank on Sunday evening 24^th May

 “It is not sensible to talk about this work publicly in advance,” it said. “But as with work done before the Scottish referendum, we will disclose the details of such work at the appropriate time."

  7 of the commonest causes of sending-too-soon in our social media communications

Since social selling communication is a two way process, pressures to react, respond, transmit and tell in social media effects both seller and buyer.

1. Our concentration can be distracted by noise, visual distractions of screens, movement whilst texting.

2. Sometimes we are just not in the mood for calm read/receive. In our mind  we may think“ I don’t want read all that” “I am not listening to all that” and skip to hasty respond mode.

3. There are  language barriers , foreign language, technical language, jargon and even emojis to interpret. All are fine so long as both parties understand them as wells  the audience of the wider social community. Predictive text, unchecked, can also cause problems.

4.. Our will to listen/receive can also be affected by  our circadian rhythms whether we are early morning larks, afternoon folk or night owls. Tiredness similarly affects  social media communication in our 24 hour business village.

 At the end of a working day in the UK, part of the USA have just woken up and their thumbs and fingers are full of enthusiastic vim and vigour whilst on other part of the world it digit fatigue is more apparent. 

5. Speed of  delivery and response pressure   has led to poor typing and the tweeting equivalent to  mumbling this can confuse or switch off your listener/ receiver. On the receiver/ reader end careless speed reading. So the consequences of live twitter contributions to conferencing on a global scale has challenges. 

6. Misunderstandings can arise from assumptions.  ASS/U/ME 

7. People’s eyes are straining and squinting at screens of notebooks, tablets and smart phone screens more than ever before - as a consequence misreading is likely to increase. 

Most of the time we give little conscious attention to these complexities and breakdowns in communication, we just text instinctively. There can lie a danger.

More channels has not necessarily meant better communication.

In our age of social media ,not only must we 'look before we leap' but tend (in the sense of  watch over)   before we send.


Tend before you send ! #TENDb4uSEND

Related Links

Monitoring, Texting and Integrating social into your mix

3 social selling tips from the Vikings

Building Confidence in Social selling

Should scorn ever be part of social selling ?

3 key Selling levers of your business Social media #YouTube,#LinkedIn #Facebook and #email

Hannah and Jason from "Team Snappy" preparing their
 flip chart for feedback on
 'effective use of social media in selling'

 Scrabbling along  social media platforms. 

 I facilitated some sessions recently examining  how social media channels like You Tube, LinkedIn /Facebook , Twitter and email can be best integrated with the more conventional communication channels that professional selling uses.

Here are some of the conclusions of the syndicates' views who worked on these issues.

1. Depending on the experience and resources available it was thought worthwhile to adopt a GCHQ listening station style monitoring approach was a good starting point on a number of the social media platforms.

Such  listening and tracking of  client, trade group and competitors' Linked In and Facebook group discussions was worth undertaking. 

Subtle and relevant comments on You Tube clips were deemed another good entry protocol with the occasional link address. However it was thought best not to over do this type of piggy-backing. 

It was agreed that in 'speech platforms' such as in Twitter and written communication of Facebook and email are constantly changing. 

Most felt tracking client company tweets profitable but were not convinced of the merits engaging in extended discussions on twitter. Such activity was best avoided.

2. "Clucking the news" Proactive announcements and links to a corporate website as an integral part of overall sales and marketing campaigns was worthwhile.

3. Integrating Social in your sales process. Social media can contribute to most parts of a sales process the challenge is to identify which parts it is best suited and what time should be invested in such activity.

In tandem with that ,  both written and spoken English is constantly changing and it is worth paying attention to this expansion in the business communication arena.

Even in English word games like SCRABBLE new words are constantly joining the lexicon

Helen Newstead, head of language content at Collins Dictionaries, says:

 "Dictionaries have always included formal and informal English, but it used to be hard to find printed evidence of the use of slang words.

Now people use slang in social media posts, tweets, blogs, comments, text messages - you name it - so there's a host of evidence for informal varieties of English that simply didn't exist before.”


Of all the new words now accepted by Collins for Scrabble I have noticed that "facetime" is already seeping into the vernacular of selling conversations.

Facetime selling  could be the next reincarnation of selling.

In essence, communication in a business context, Selling is a two way process of transmission and reception with rapport.

A conversational tone kept in a business like conversation is in most circumstances the most powerful.

Good communication will always be at the heart of all Good Selling.  Research from the Buyer’s Views of salespeople  over the last twenty years still puts LISTENING at the top of all communication skills which buyers wish of salespeople.

We can all trot of the adage of two ears and one mouth – use them in that proportion yet the practise of such an axiom is hard work !

By the way Quinzhee on a triple word score  would earn  a respectable 84 points 

  For those who need to know some of the latest accepted words to scrabble, I have set them in a short poem.

Augh, blech, eew, grr, waah and yeesh 

Set our language off the leash 

Twerking devo  podium cakeages 

Some think cause our language breakages 

Shootie lolz  onsie  and Quinzhee 

Make our native tongue so chintzy

Obvs it’s ridic, schvitz and dench

Give our English a little wrench 

Yet facetime, hashtag, tweep, and sexting. 

Help our Scrabble play and texting 

Good Selling Good Facetime

Dot Complicated by Randi Zuckerberg #BookReview

A great stocking filler for this Christmas

Title of Book:            DOT COMPLICATED

Subtitle: How to make it through life online in one piece

Author : Randi Zuckerberg

Publisher Corgi ( Random House)

ISBN  978-0-552-17070-3

Genre:            Part autobiography, part guide to balancing our  tech with our  lives

Style: Sassy, ‘American’ and direct. + she writes with a sense of energetic fun

Contents page: Basic   

Index: No Index - Should the book go for second edition this would be handy

Flick through eye appeal: No pictures, cartoons, diagrams, and tables.

‘Time for a breather’ stops : Useful shaded chapter summaries.

Golden Nuggets:  Diamond in the rough projects, hackathons, the turducken of.. etc of American-jargon / slang at its very best, the concept of a Tech Sabbath , the importance of intimacy not always being shared with everyone else online.

Topic Summary:  “Modern life is complicated.” Zandi’s mission is to”  untangle all our wired and wonderful lives.”

War Stories: 'A plenty but of our time e.g. President Obama,   Davos World Economic Forum ..... Relationship with conventional TV etc.

Illustration: None

Quotes: “ But hey, sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?”

 Randi’s Golden Rule  “Repost unto others as you would repost unto you”

Zuk’s Law “ The amount of information we share in the world doubles every two years “

“ There are more pieces of digital content in the world today than grains of sand in every beach on earth .Wow”

Short Review

Agenda Item: Building an Online Brand
It should be a mandatory requirement for
 every board or  management team to read pages 208 -211
whatever their view on social media in their market sector.

Daily use of tech can lead us to feeling  overwhelmed and insecure. It matches with what others have describe as a world that is volatile, uncertain, confusing and ambiguous. VUCA.

 If you are a parent wanting to find out what your children are doing online; a worker concerned about your job security being superseded by a younger person who is more tech savvy; if you are looking to improve your online personal brand or someone looking  for ways to stop your partner using their I-pad in bed ! -   This is a ‘ must have ‘ book for you.

The main thrust of Randi’s mission is for us to develop a better balance between our connected lives and  our lives in the present.

In an online Public space which is also documented, our Professional , Social and Personal lives  will increasingly overlap. The Internet , social networking and mobile tech present us with new ( (additional) ways to communicate , collaborate and live.

Randi also explores the challenging grey areas we are all concerned about namely, relationships, etiquette, Identity  and sharing.  She gives some useful tips on how to unfriend, what to consider when photo tagging and how to know the importance of teaching kids (and OURSELVES) to be more tech savvy.

As someone who was directly involved in the formative years of Facebook and is now at the forefront of the tech savvy media, Randi Zuckerberg is worth learning from.

If you are looking for a stocking filler this Christmas I would definitely recommend this book for both personal and work ( career) reasons to everyone.

Selling and @FIFAWorldCup #Brazil2014 , Social Media and the shadow of 2022

"Obrigado Brasil pela recepcao calorosa", which translates as "Thank you Brazil for your warm welcome" read a banner held by the England football squad at their training centre in Rio.

 They were then serenaded with a version of 'We Are The Champions' and traditional music from a samba band from the Bola Pra Frente favela. 

Yet it was FIFA, the body responsible for the beautiful game of soccer who headed our football news last night. This story about alleged wrongdoing over the 2022 bid has emerged just as the soccer festival begins in Brazil.

The alleged bribery story was exposed by The Sunday Times.

 One of the FIFA Corporate Partners Sony has demanded an investigation into the alleged bribes.

Sony stated  "As a FiFA partner, we expect these allegations to be investigated appropriately."

"We continue to expect FIFA to adhere to its principles of integrity ethics and fair play across all aspects of its operations," it added.

Sony, Adidas ,Coca Cola. Hyundai / Kia, Emirates, Visa are the six main FIFA sponsors who collectively paid around $180m last year. Most have now followed Sony’s lead.

Their statements have stressed  “principles of integrity, ethics and fair play across all aspects of FIFA’s operation”.

Sony's sponsorship agreement expires this year, which gives it particular leverage as it negotiates a new deal.
“We expect FIFA will take the appropriate actions to respond to the report and its recommendations,” said Melissa Cassar, a spokeswoman for Foster City, California-based Visa, in an e-mail. “We will continue to monitor its internal investigation.”

Hyundai Motor Co. is “confident that FIFA is taking these allegations seriously and that the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee will conduct a thorough investigation,” the South Korean FIFA partner said in an e-mail.

“Anything that detracts from the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup is a concern to us, but we are confident that FIFA is taking these allegations very seriously and is investigating them thoroughly,” Alison Brubaker, a spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Coke, wrote in an e-mail.

Anheuser-Busch inBev NV also is monitoring the situation, Laura Vallis, a spokeswoman for the Leuven, Belgium-based company, in an e-mail. “We expect FIFA to take all necessary steps to address the issue”

The real world factors of the marketing model PESTLE will still play crucial role for the main sponsors. The world cup in Brazil and after will be affected  by factors such as politics, economics, society, technology,  legal issues and environmental which will bubble on during the tournament and beyond.

For the 2014 tournament it is expected there will be a big increase in brand promotion via social media.

Artist Paolo Ito's powerful mural - ethical/political  dilemma of the World Cup 2014

Courtesy of Paulo Ito at www.flickr.com/photos/pauloito/13998946669

A number of social media pundits suggest Digital consumption will be central to the 2014 World Cup. Paolo Ito's mural went viral.

Twitter and football go hand in hand : in the UK specifically, research from @globalwebindex shows that

•         90% of Twitter users in the UK will be watching the World Cup

•         Over two thirds of UK users use Twitter for something football related

•         43% of people on Twitter in the UK follow football clubs, with all 20

PremierLeague clubs active on Twitter

•         54% of football lovers say that news breaks fastest on Twitter

•         40% of UK users tweet when there is a goal, and 61% tweet post-match

Apparently Brazil is  Facebook's second largest market and provides YouTube with its second most unique visitors. There will a tsunami of engagement   which sponsors will no doubt be geared up to exploit.

Yet brands are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of showing the public they are aware that there is a social aspect to being a sponsor for such huge sporting extravaganzas.

Some of the Brazilian political protesters may see an advantage of pointing the finger of guilt around the World Cup costs onto the sponsors if conventional strikes and protest don't get media coverage.

The sponsors have paid anything from an estimated £8m to £120m to have their names associated with what is one of the biggest events in global sport.

Meanwhile, FIFA has  benefitted. Selling the rights

 By selling the rights for firms to be associated with the event, it is estimated to make some £850m over a four-year World Cup cycle, making up the majority of its non-TV revenues during such a period.

With the 2014 tournament just days away, it means it is not just the 32 national teams competing that are fine-tuning their plans, but also the 22 corporate sponsors. FIFA will want to kick the 2022 bid issues into the long grass...........( depending on announcements from Sepp Blatter or Mr Garcia )

Good luck to Roy Hodgson and the England team (especially 'Lamps' if he plays) on Saturday, against Italy in Manaus, Brazil. 

Let's rejoice in joy of  football and Brazil not forgetting  the  sponsors  Vauxhall, Mars, Budweiser, McDonald’s,   and William Hill, Carlsberg, Nivea for Men, Samsung, Lucozade Sport, EE, Marks and Spencer for the team England!!!!.

Good selling ,Good Samba, Good Football

Better get some cachaca for those Caipirinhas folks ! 

Selling Biscuit occasions through Biscuits Re-branding

How often do you engage in a biscuit occasion ?

warmth, comfort, sociability, sharing  - occasions and childhood memories

United Biscuits - who own brands such as Jacobs and McVitie's - is in the midst of spending  £12m in a re-branding the business.

Chief executive Martin Glenn said  the campaign came about after a year of research that found biscuits evoked childhood memories, "images of warmth, comfort, sociability, sharing".

"The challenge we've got at McVitie's is that, whilst we're the biggest in the UK, we're facing a lot more foreign competition... so we need to up our game."

 

Fruits of Success' Little Bogdan
was an audition hopeful for
 the Advertising campaign (not)

Fluffy kittens, corgi puppies and orange-eyed tarsiers are being used to help sell more Digestives and Jaffa cakes by United Biscuits ahead of a likely sale this year by its private equity owners.

Biscuit Heritage 

The 160-year-old McVitie’s brand  relaunched with a £12m advertising campaign, focused on “sweet” animals that Martin Glenn, chief executive, said was aimed at “supporting our efforts to drive growth for the category”.

He has embarked on what the group said would be a record level of capital investment this year, of more than £50m, compared with £38m last year.

The private equity companies bought United Biscuits for £1.6bn eight years ago – an investment horizon that is longer than the norm in their industry. They sold the KP snacks unit last year for an undisclosed price, thought to have been £400m.

Money in Biscuits

Jeff van der Eems, chief executive of the international division, said: “The sale of KP Snacks in 2012 has allowed us to focus on our core businesses of McVitie’s and Jacobs, and to expand our international operations which we hope to account for 20 % of sales in three years.”

Mr Glenn has since regrouped the group’s products into two divisions – sweet products under the McVitie’s label; and savoury biscuits, such as Mini Cheddars and Carr’s, under the Jacob’s brand of crackers.

United Biscuits is the second-largest biscuits group in the €12bn industry, with a 7 % market share, which is less than half that of industry leader, Mondelez. The maker of Oreo and TUC biscuits has 17 %, according to Euromonitor.

In the UK, where 90 % of households buy its products, United Biscuits has a 40 % market share.

But it has had a tough recession in the face of “difficult market conditions” for at least the past three years as consumers focused on “value”, the company said.

Broken Biscuits

The market is fragmented, highly competitive and is having to address consumers’ increasing health concerns.

Marc Kennis, analyst at Rabobank, which recently issued a report into the sector, said biscuit makers faced volatile wheat and sugar prices and hard bargaining retailers.

“This creates substantial uncertainty in the variable cost base for manufacturers, who have limited room to pass on any price increase to customers due to intense competition and the sheer size of food retailers. Biscuit companies are caught between a rock and a hard place,” he said.

What have fluffy kittens or a tarsier got that
a baby meerkat has not ?

The quirky campaign, the biscuit makers’ biggest investment in media, highlights the occasions in the day when its biscuits are eaten and the feeling people get from eating them.

One Grey London created spot for Digestives shows a family settling down to relax with a biscuit before a Corgi puppy emerges when the packet is unwrapped.

 Another for Chocolate Digestives sees a group of nurses settling down for a tea break and being confronted by kittens when they reach for the biscuits,

A third for Jaffa Cakes shows a young man confronted with a Tarsier when opening a pack (see ads below).

The Biscuit Mix for Marketing

The TV campaign is supported by GreyPossible created digital activity, including the launch of a new McVitie’s website, social media and press. The campaign will also see an extensive in-store campaign created by Dialogue London. 

The McVitie’s logo features prominently in all 'executions' and all packaging has been redesigned to give the name more prominence.

Brands including Club and Penguin will be brought under McVitie’s later this year.

It is hoped the ‘family of brands’ strategy will create a halo effect and boost sales across the portfolio.

United Biscuits wants the campaign to help it achieve its ambitious target of claiming a 30 % of the sweet biscuit market for McVitie’s, up from the 21% it enjoys at the moment by capturing more of the 7 billion “biscuit occasions” it says take place in the UK every year.

At an event in London to mark the launch of the campaign, Glenn said the relaunch of McVitie’s is an example of how the company is “re-energising” to “take our place on the world stage”.

The firm plans to employ the same master brand strategy to Jacob’s later this year , with savoury brands such as Cheddars and Mini Cheddars joining the likes of Cream Crackers under the Jacob’s

Back in the day... 

In my childhood I remember the Lincoln Cream biscuit . The Lincoln cream had a  pattern of dots on the top in concentric circles. The McVitie's version had the word 'Lincoln' embossed on to the biscuit at the centre. I wonder whether its return is in the United Biscuits re-branding plan. Little Bogdan will be up for acting in any advert for Lincoln Creams !

Related "Tea and Biscuits" selling skills links

Tea time personality matrix

sweeet ™ campaign videos You tube - United Biscuits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOmIDhBDoww

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/video-mcvities-puppies-kittens-biscuits-3131269

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BCieS2Opco

Social media in sales work is it worth it ? What difference does it make to work ? CIPD research findings 2014

Most of us are familiar with bottom down hierarchical management communication - a control or push style of direction. - Command and Control

Yet the way social media works best in the world of work is from the bottom up.

 All that can sound rather abstract and management speak. To some leaders this may seem even counter intuitive.

If you beat them join them!

Here's a nifty way that explains what is happening by way of analogy. 

Do you see the well trodden path beyond the fence in the photo?

 The Command and Control authority  (the parks department ) which has an asphalt control mind-set '  wanted pedestrians (the lower orders in the hierarchy of  modern day travel) to go a certain way. 

Quite possibly this is for sensible reasons like safety.

 But crowds of pedestrians think and act otherwise.

 They circumvent the fencing and go round it and carry on going where they want to go. 

The fence does not work as an effective control of behaviour. So it is with social media at work.

Jonny Gifford uses these photos from Spitalfields-life to summarise an important conclusion from the recent CIPD survey in the use of social in the workplace,

Jonny Gifford CIPD Research Associate at #cipdLDshow 2014

Park designers apparently are having a rethink in design. Rather than imposing their pathways they sow the grass seed and then see how users cut their path and then they design the paths round those evidenced  by the well worn paths.

To the packed audience and standing observers beyond the lecture area confines , Jonny took a straw poll on three statements. 

Why not read the questions and consider your answers to them before continuing with this post.

1. Social media is generally a waste of time   Y/N

2. I discuss new aspects of my work through social media    Y/N

3. Social media gives me meaningful connections with new people  Y/N

Jonny  recorded the votes in the hall  and recorded them on Flipchart.

How do you compare ?

 From this he then shared some very interesting data from the CIPD's latest 2014 research. 

Firstly 3/4 of respondents use social media in their personal space but only a quarter sue social media in work.

85% use Facebook , 37% use twitter ,  32%Youtube and 27% LinkedIn. These four were the most popular social media platforms.

The equipment people own more often than not is more modern and more powerful than that offered at work. 

Are you permitted to use social media at work? 

Employers in the survey allow employees access in the following ways

32% without restriction

18% but with restrictions

37% No, not at all

14% Don't Know

So far as employees using social media in their jobs their use and attitude to use varies. For some it is what makes them effective, for others  social plays an important part in their work but many are still unsure how to make use of it in work.

Unfortunately the key was obscured by the flipchart
but I think it was dark blue disagree and light blue agree
 I will check with Jonny and amend if necessary

For 24 years and under social is the norm !

The following photos I took of the slide presentation had to be taken quickly as time was against Jonny . There is a lot of good data his survey has covered.

Jonny argues for the Why not use social vote

For those in the survey who use social media in work  their use was as follows:-

for News 48%, Learning and Development 32%,17% looking for jobs, 38% for networking, 25% for promoting own organisation and 12% for generating revenue ( =Selling to readers of this blog)

AS far as the benefits they saw in using social media in work Collaboration outside the organisation and connecting with new people came out tops.

Interesting dichotomy here. We need to use social media better. Mind you it took thousands of years to get letter writing right!

Jonny finished off his session stressing the gains from a corporate perspective rendered from a series of case studies that are to be published in the summer.

Knowledge maybe power but its access is open to many more through social media.

 Business now lives in a 'shallow clever' knowledge or permanently partially stupid environment. Use of social will enable businesses to relate to the core purpose of their organisations more grounded in reality than the view from the boardroom offers alone. 

Modern business is taking on the trend of first emergent  change then second - driven change.

Clearly businesses need to control the dangers of 'dirty laundry being aired' on facebook but honest interchange on  the likes of Yammer should be encouraged.

 Corporate leadership should use social because that is where many employees want to be nowadays.

 "If you cant beat them join them LEAD them within social."

 Social provides updates and quick response and  swift resolution.

In the field of Learning and Development social offers a platform to discuss, engage and embed learning. It can be use as a source for content and sharing.

So drop the asphalt mindset - look for the short cuts in the park grass. They will show you the way!