I’m not one ever to be short on words, but today is definitely an exception. All I can say is WOW! Instead of trying to put my thoughts into words I reverted to technology to express my gratitude.
I’ll post a thorough update on everything later in the week. Until then, just know that we are […]
Yet another thread on a Management Listserv discussing what collaborative tool options should be considered for folks still living in a listserv world. Sadly, the feedback continues to devolve into upgrading listserv software or standalone discussion boards.
Collaboration Requires A Proper Infrastructure
Is anyone looking for proof that life exists outside your member’s email […]
I’m considering shutting down my forums temporarily… given the tumbleweeds blowing through them and the wind whistling in the canyons.
I think I have too many, for a start. I have five Members’ only forums, including a Bulletin Board, several discussion forums, and a Newsletter discussion forum. Then I have six public forums, including a “Referral Service”, Help, Current Affairs, Scientific Meetings discussion forum, and Social Media forum (this last contains lots of examples that I found of field-related blog posts, wikis, videos, etc.).
I always had a bit of a problem working out whether these forums would be for members only, also given their predilection to worry about discussing clinical material, or also for the public to see what fascinating things they were discussing and want to join the association. The problem is obvious here. Everyone is discussing things… just not in the forums. They are hanging out on the listserve! They are posting referral requests on the listserve. They are posting office suites for rent on the listserve. They are posting comments about just-attended scientific meetings on the listserve! See where I’m going with this?
One forum in particular, the Current Affairs one, was meant to be somewhere that I or anyone else could post articles we come across which are relevant to the field. It would be great if some discussion ensued from some of the articles, but as it happens, I am the only one who posts them. And it’s a big old hassle to post an article in there, when I could much more easily cut and paste from my various Google alerts into a nice simple email, and send it to the listserve.
So you’re thinking, well, what have you done to drive people to the forums? Do you remind them that they are there? The answer is yes - I tell people all the time - every time I post something new, I send an email to the listserve to tell them to go check it out. But talking to myself is only entertaining for, oh, 15 seconds.
I always thought there was a fatal flaw to forums, where our members have to actually go to the forum to participate - which adds a major hurdle. My members are not people who are sitting at a computer all day long. They check their emails at lunchtime, and in the evening. Some even check between patients during the work day - just like they only answer messages just before each hour mark.
So, as a little experiment, I’m going to close some of the forums down, and see if anyone notices. I won’t delete them, of course, but I can make them accessible to “admin only” temporarily, and see what happens. In the meantime, I’m going to talk to a few people and see if I can reduce them down to a much smaller number. Maybe get rid of the public forums altogether (make them private to start with). Then reduce the total number to just the most important ones. And we’ll see what’s what.
For all the criticisms we have of “always done it that way” thinking, we should probably point out that there are some strong psychological forces that push us in that direction. This quote is from an article by Donald Sull in the MIT Sloan Management Review:
Psychologists have documented a depressingly long list of factors that […]
Other posts on the Gartner CRM Summit 2007 can be found here.
One of the Gartner presenters identified three areas where CRM implementations face the most "pain":
Employee Turnover
Metrics
Processes
I think associations face these problems, as well, but to varying degrees.
Employee turnover: Because AMS implementations can take so long (sometimes more than a year), employee turnover is somewhat […]
We took the one less traveled.
This weekend we celebrated James’s birthday by going out to dinner at a nice restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor.
Sure, there was a home football game for UM and the place was packed - but James picked it as his favorite place to go - so who was I to disagree?
We turned […]
My pal Judith Lindenau benefited from a personal coach, and then became one … so for all who have never taken that step, or are thinking about it … I asked for this …
Judith’s 4 reasons to hire a personal coach:
1. You’re feeling ‘stuck’ in your life. It’s not a full blown “is this all there is?” angst, just a boredom and nagging sluggishness, a ‘today is just another yesterday’. Good coach helps identify, articulate, and plan. Rekindles the fire, excites you about personal goals.
2. You’re facing a life-changing experience. Whether or not your experience is frightening or fun, a personal coach can help put everything in perspective. In my case, being paycheck-free and with discretionary time for myself was a scary thought. Needed someone to help address the larger-than-life issues.
3. You need a third-party voice in your life. Let’s face it, your mother isn’t disinterested third party: she had dreams and hopes for you, and values she thought would work for you. A coach, however, starts from YOUR dreams, and YOUR values, and helps you find the way to bring those dreams/values into your life.
4. You just have a problem. Could be new one, or one of those ‘evergreen’ ones (like weight, or frustration with a relationship). A coach can help: she/he steps back and looks at the issue with fresh vision and helps you discover new perspectives and potential solutions.
When you need to get un-stuck, over a hump, or re-energized about your life - you need a voice on the phone, or face-to-face meeting with a compassionate, understanding third party who cares and can help you find answers to some tough questions. Even more importantly, as you careen through your busy life, you need some time to stop, reflect and re-direct yourself. A good personal coach will help you do that …
I just posted an article to my site on how to improve the placement of your content in natural search engine results. I focus on how to improve your own content and management practices in this article: 10 Search Engine Optimization Tips.
Read & discuss at david@highcontext.com (C. David Gammel)'s blog.
Other posts on the Cartner CRM Summit 2007 can be found here.
A prediction from the Gartner conference: Up to 25% of CRM implementations in 2008 will be postponed due to human resource shortages. Simply put, there are not enough "CRM experts" available to meet the demand. The result will be not only delayed implementations, but […]
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