I have been struggling recently trying to figure out my “product”. I need to be able to describe what it is that I bring to the table for a client. I know I CAN bring value, I just couldn’t quite put it in words, that quickly and easily, conveyed that value. I guess what I have been searching for is a clear problem or need that I can apply my solution to. That age old problem of everything looking like a nail to my hammer.
All of my rhetoric and elevator pitches so far have been about how I solve problems. I have not been speaking in terms of the problem to be solved. This morning I think I have come closer to articulating the problem statement.
Communication is at the heart of any organization:
- communication between managers and employees;
- communication between functional areas;
- communication with stakeholders and customers;
- communication within project teams…
and I have yet to see the organization that has perfected the art of communication.
Enter social media and the community. By embracing a community model, any organization can take a quantum step forward in their communication effectiveness. This is where E Quint comes in. As a Community Architect, I use a structured approach to:
- assess and understand the current communications ecosystem
- develop a blueprint for improving communication structure and processes
- help implement a new infrastructure for conversation
Improving the effectiveness of organizational communication will lead to better decision-making by organizations, which of course leads to what everyone wants, a better bottom line and the ability to keep on keeping on.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Community, decision making, e quint, social media |
Inside Conversation 
Good stuff. Similar thoughts as when I published this:
“Conversations are the life blood of any organisation. The ability to effectively and safely communicate with both colleagues and customers sits at the heart of any business.
Internal conversations are what drive innovation and collaboration. Any business trying to become leaner, more effective and productive can look at how internal communications are taking place and how opportunities and knowledge are being captured or identified.
Unfortunately for many organisations internal communications have become bureaucratic, stifled and relegated to your email inbox (where many people spend their day).
By observing the culture and technologies emerging on the internet we can apply learnings to an organisation. For years the internet has enabled people from across the world to communicate, collaborate and most importantly innovate. By using online collaboration and communication tools the same benefits can be seen inside organisations.” From http://appliedtrends.com/enabling_conversation
Because my experience has straddled “communication between managers and employees” and “communication with [outside] stakeholders and customers,” I’m most interested in what gets lost in translation between them.
People 100% engaged in “inner-directed” comm often have a forest-and-trees problem, finding it hard to filter: how much of all this stuff in my email inbox would interest me as a customer, as a business partner, as an industry analyst?
People 100% engaged in the latter — whether in the organization’s outer-directed comm functions, or at ad/marcomm/PR agencies — tend to put “we know the audience[s],” and more or less generic solutions for said audiences, above the trivial [to them] specifics of this project, product or service.
As always [he said helpfully], the challenge is to find the right balance.