There are plenty of people who are still struggling with the social media world, wondering should they jump in, how does it work etc.  I thought it might be timely to give an update on my progress since I wrote about it back in July 2009.

I have been blogging since January 2006, almost five and a half years … which clearly doesn’t mean I’m any good at it, just that I have a lot to say!  I also maintain an online presence in LinkedIn which is my primary tool for business social networking, and Twitter which I use to find and share useful articles/information and I have a Facebook account which I use almost exclusively for personal use.  In fact lately I have been deleting more “friends” than I have been adding, not that I don’t like those people they just are not in my inner circle of friends that I share more personal “stuff” with.

Over these five years I have built up an understanding of what works for me, and what I expect fom these various tools and the people that use them.  Here are some thoughts:

1.  Social media tools are here to stay, and the sooner you get comfortable with them the better.  Of course there were many holdouts when email was introduced and when mobile phones came along etc.  so I expect the “holdouts” will continue for some time yet!
2. People will tell you that you should develop a strategy for using social media based upon what you want from it … I would say you need to try it out before you decide what you want!
3. As mentioned above I try to separate my personal use from the business use .
4. I use the personal tool (Facebook) to keep up on news, pictures and interesting links from family and good friends around the world.  It is amazing to see baby pictures from England, a friend’s new car in Australia or a new pet in Florida … all within a short space of time of the event.
5. I use LinkedIn as a business networking tool, and generally I will connect with most people that request it … as long as their intent is to use it as a networking tool also. Part of the networking experience is the LinkedIn groups.  These have some value, and I try to contribute to discussions every now and then … the results have been generally positive.
6. Twitter is still a work in progress for me.  I know I could be more efficient with it and will take some time out to learn a little more about available tools.  Having said that, I am following some very interesting people who share their thoughts/articles/quotes etc. that bring me value.  Hopefully I contribute as much as I get!

A few “dos and don’ts” to consider:

1. Learn from your experiences … don’t just do it because everyone else is doing it.
2. If you start to blog make sure it happens frequently enough … a “stagnant” blog that gets updated every blue moon is not a good message.
3. Don’t mix work and pleasure … I really get confused when I see great business articles from somebody one minute and virtual world character play acting the next.
4. Be thoughtful about your contributions … your words are “out there”, don’t say anything you are going to regret (or should regret … some people have trouble understand that they should be regretful).
5. Start slowly and build up … watch and learn from others.
6. Don’t just regurgitate “the party line” … the social media world is inhabited by real people with opinions and while you should never do anything to hurt your employer you should be yourself online.
7. Consider that there is a time commitment to this stuff.  It can consume you if you let it, but if managed well it is great way to create and nurture a lot of contacts, to share valuable information and to keep up on trends/news in your industry/in general/and personally!
8. Many senior people have other people “ghost write” blog entries for them … it’s a means of getting an online presence.  I have never done it, occassionally I have had guest bloggers but if someone is writing for you I think it is important that you understand what is being said and how … and are comfortable with it.
9. You don’t have to recreate stuff yourself all the time, just pulling together a few things to share can bring a lot of value … for instance an industry association could find blog entries and articles around the world of interest to their members and share them on the industry association blog.  That is a value add to the members.
10. Remember that if you ask for, or get, feedback you should treat it as such.  If you don’t agree with it that’s fine, but (as per #4 above) you don’t want to get drawn into name calling or an argument over opinions.
11. Bottom line … your online presence is a big part of your personal brand.  So what do you want YOUR personal brand to be?

PS.  The dude on the computer is not me … despite what my close facebook friends might say!________________________________________________________________
Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Subscribe to News from the Nest for updates about job market trends, industry news, and more.
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John drags himself to work each day … he “isn’t challenged”, “doesn’t like his boss”, spends as much of each day checking out the news, sports updates, plans for a next vacation … anything but work.  He has a sign in his cubicle that says, “Hard work never hurt anyone … but why take a chance!”

Mary puts on a brave face to her bosses, but complains to her friends and family about the co-workers, her job, her commute, her uncomfortable chair and the fact that John makes more money than her … even though he doesn’t have seniority.

Bill gets in to work 15 minutes earlier than he needs to, and leaves a little later than he needs to as well.  He knows if he need some time off his boss will cut him some slack, trusting he’ll make it up.  His job can be a little boring sometimes, but he challenges himself to learn something new each week and tries to get involved in other projects when it makes sense.  He is on the social committee and has a secret plan to make everyone in his area smile at least once every day!

Jen is a serious athlete, she puts in extra hours in her job so that her boss will be flexible in accommodating her training schedule.  Her life is the triathlon, and the serious training that goes with it.  She appreciates that it her job that allows her to pursue her passion and so she tries to demonstrate her appreciation through the quality of her work and her attitude.

We all meet John, Mary, Bill and Jen (and people just like them) in the course of our work life.

Personally I try to avoid John and Mary … they drag me down.  They are a negative influence on everyone in their lives, and they are never really happy!  Jen and Bill on the other hand bring a positive spin to life and energise those around them … consequently they are content in their lives.  I want to hang out with Jen and Bill!

Do you find that strange?  The people avoiding work, doing the bare minimum to get by are also the unhappy ones … look around, maybe even look in the mirror, and you will see it!

I could probably write a book about this stuff … but in a very few words:

• YOU decide whether you are a positive person or a negative person.;
• It is not the people around you;
• It is not your job;
• It is not your set of circumstances;
• It is ALL YOU!!!
• It is an incredibly POWERFUL thing … yet so many people CHOOSE to be miserable.

Go figure!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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Taking your management team out of the day to day business for a strategic planning session is somewhat expensive … but absolutely necessary.  If you are NOT doing this, then here are 10 reasons why you need to start having strategy sessions on a regular basis: 

1.         When you are in the throes of the daily “grind” you are dealing with tactical details … you need time away to look at the business from 30,00 feet and think strategically.

2.         If you get a few people together (your management team, investors, partners) you will get the power of many minds addressing your business problems.

3.         You get to REALLY look at the strengths of your company .. and your weaknesses … and develop strategies to address them!

4.         You get to discuss potential opportunities that you might not see while focused on the tactical issues day in day out.

5.         You can identify threats… internal and external, that you might not see coming if you didn’t look at the business from a higher level.

6.         Getting your management team together like this is a great training opportunity for them.

7.         You get to reinforce the company culture with the company’s leaders.

8.         You can bring in external ‘experts” occasionally, to give different perspectives on your business.

9.         You can develop a framework of tasks that you can execute on when back in tactical mode … moving towards a goal instead of just reacting to daily pressures.

10.       Just one BIG idea from these sessions can transform a company, but even without the big idea you deal with the many issues that don’t get addressed otherwise!

Some thoughts and recommendations: 

• These meetings should happen NOT less than once a year, and depending upon your business you may want to have them more often.  My company has these sessions quarterly.
• They don’t need to be in an expensive location!  You will be in a meeting room all day, and possibly a restaurant/bar in the evening … those places look the same in your local city as they do in some exotic location!
• You should have a clear agenda and expected outcomes.
• You should NOT do the same thing every time … mix it up, focus on different areas of the business.
• If you are not used to running these sessions get someone to run the first one for you.
• Recognise that good ideas can come from any participant so foster an environment where input is welcomed … even if the boss has different ideas!
• Make sure you finish with action items, assigned to individuals … reinforced by meeting minutes sent out after the meeting.  (Have a way to track those action items).

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)

Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?

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One of the classic management mistakes is to implement changes/new rules in reaction to an event or situation.

What do I mean by that?

Example 1:  Someone in the company gets caught surfing questionable content on the internet at work.  The company reacts by removing internet priveleges for the whole company.

Example 2:  Someone in the company is caught abusing expenses so the company implements a whole raft of new expenses policies that everyone needs to abide by.

Example 3:  Someone gets drunk at a company event and causes some upset, so the company stops allowing drinks at company events.

It is very often a “knee jerk” reaction to a bad situation.  What management needs to understand before implementing a bunch of change is (a) whether the issue is systemic, or just the individual involved; (b) is it a result of poor education/bad judgement from one person or is there a wider issue; (c) Can management address the issue through education and communication or are a new set of rules needed.

The problem with rules is that they change your culture … and the more rules you have the more you have to police them, and the more it polarises us and them.  If at all possible it is far better to be able to treat people as adults and set the right expectations rather than treat them like kids who need to be told what to do.

Yes, rules are needed and sometimes its the only way … BUT rules carry a cost and it is important to weigh up the impact of new rules before leaping to introduce them.

PS.  This applies to GOVERNMENTS too!!! 

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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It is never OK to live by the old axiom … Do As I Say, Not As I Do!

Whatever leadership role you have … parent, supervisor, manager, executive, CEO or King/Queen … people will look at your actions and be influenced.

Today’s Kit Grant newsletter was on this topic and he starts with a quote from Einstein … “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.”

Kit goes on to say …  People do more of what they see than what they are told. You cannot underestimate the influence that management staff have on employee behavior.  Front-line staff do NOT invent behavior, they copy their boss. If the boss is enthusiastic, it significantly increases the likelihood staff will show a similar response. If the boss doesn’t really care, staff will copy that behavior too.

NOTE!! They do not assess which behavior is “better”, they just copy what they see! Pretty scary, isn’t it? What model are you exhibiting on a daily basis? Hope it’s good!!

As a parent do you ever find yourself exasperated and telling your child to “Do it … BECAUSE I said so!”   How effective do you think that is?

As a manager when we don’t support the company culture, or we goof off early, or we take some office supplies home for our kid we are telling our staff that its OK to act that way.

When you roll your eyes because you don’t really agree with “that particular’ company policy you are undermining ALL of the company policies, telling people they can use their own judgement about what THEY think is reasonable.

You get on your computer and check the hockey (soccer/football) pool, set up your weekend plans and maybe have a quick game of solitaire … but no-one knows right?  Wrong!  Everyone knows, and they get the message loud and clear; if its OK for you then it must be OK for them too.

Everyone knows that the private calendar entry is so you can go to the dentist during work hours, or meet up with a buddy for golf on a Friday afternoon! 

The ONLY way to manage is with a set of principles that you apply equally to yourself as well as the people that work for you.  You do not want to be in a position where you are forced to “punish” people for things you do yourself … because you set the bad example! 

Leaders must LEAD by example … do you?

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
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Some deep thoughts on a Friday to ponder this weekend …

It is easy to do what you think others want you to do.

It is easy to try to be popular.

It is easy to coast.

It is easy to be one of the crowd.

It is easy to shirk responsibility.

It is easy to feel pressured to be someone you are not!

BUT …

If you want to feel good about your life then you need to figure out who you want be … and strive to impress yourself, not others!  They will be impressed as a bye-product!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)

Subscribe to News from the Nest for updates about job market trends, industry news, and more.

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General Observations:

Overall employment for Canada in the month of March was basically unchanged however Canada did add 91,000 full time jobs at the cost of 92,000 part time jobs. The employment rate was 7.7%, which was an improvement of 0.1% over February. 

A recent report shows that bankruptcies in Canada year over year (2009 to 2010) fell by 13%, with a month over month (November to December) drop of 14%.  The implication being that these improved numbers reflect an improved economy, and hence better job prospects.  The Conference Board however is concerned that following a stellar performance through the recession we are now starting to slip against our peers, as other countries outperform us.  Canada is expected to rank #9 among 17 peer countries this year as opposed to #6 in both 2008 and 2009.  

The Canadian Dollar remains very strong, still close to parity and as we speak it is trading at 96c U.S. The TSX is up slightly but essentially unchanged, with a reading of 13,837 as opposed to 13,718 in last month’s market update.  World events have however conspired to send the price of oil skyrocketing, currently sitting at $107 a barrel and expected to hit $125 a barrel.  This is a boon for the Western oil based economies and is certainly reflected in the increased job opportunities. 

For Eagle, March had a high number of potential workdays, which typically means the number of hours billed will be high … it is also a month where many people take their March Break vacation.  The other impact in March is it represents a high number of natural contract end dates, based primarily on the government cycle which has March 31^st as a year end.  It was interesting that the number of new orders received was about the same as February however the number of new candidates applying was up 10%, the hours billed this month was however up significantly over February.  A one month comparison doesn’t mean much, but my impression is that the economic recovery continues to be slow, steady and cautious. 

More Specifically:

The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is the largest economic centre in Canada, has the most “head offices” and therefore can be expected to be a big demand market for people.  In March we saw the demand continue to be strong across the board, with clients of all types looking for resources in the technology space in addition to Finance and Accounting professionals.  There is no change in where the biggest demand is coming from … the financial sector and the telecom sector continuing to invest in people. 

In Western Canada, as previously mentioned, the price of oil being well over $100/barrel means that many Calgary based companies have money to invest in their systems.  This creates demand throughout the “systems” of suppliers, and ancillary companies supporting that economy.  So Calgary is booming and Edmonton is busy, but expecting to get busier as a part of the booming oil economy. 

Eagle’s Eastern Canada region is mostly Ottawa and Montreal, although we are seeing some demand from the Maritimes.  The announcement of a Federal election will once again cause government demand to dry up as people wait to see what their new political masters will want to focus on.  It would be nice to see some political stability … it’s been a long time!  Montreal remains quite busy, and it is still largely driven by the financial services and telecommunications clients. 

The following are some facts/indicators we are watching as of time of writing:

> The price of oil skyrocketed with the middle east disruption, and is currently at $107.80 a barrel, with a one year forecast of $125.
> At 13,837 the TSX is about the same as last month, when it was 13,718.
> The Canadian dollar continues to be strong and remains north of 96 cents US.
> Prime remains at 3% however there continues to be talk about when this will go up again!
> Canada’s employment numbers were about the same as last month however we added 91,000 full time jobs and lost 92,000 part time jobs.  The unemployment rate improved very slightly from7.8% to 7.7%.
> Eagle experienced growth again in March, in hours billed and in the number of candidates applying, however the number of new orders was about the same as February.

 Summary:

World events have affected economies everywhere, with Japan’s tsunami likely to affect the availability of electronic components and the Middle East unrest causing disruptions in oil supply.  Canada remains one of the world’s healthier economies but as pointed out by the Conference Board we are falling behind as other countries accelerate out of their recessions and grow faster than us.

Demand for people is on the rise everywhere as companies gain confidence and start to reinvest in their growth and catch up on projects that had been put on hold.  In the hottest markets (Toronto and Calgary) there is definitely a shift where the top candidates are in great demand, have multiple job offers and picking and choosing.  Skills shortages are here and even the top 7 accounting firms cited the skills shortage as their number one concern, with an immediate problem attracting people into the accounting profession.  Emerging markets such driven by the smart metering world in utilities (see Itrons recent win at BC Hydro) will only exacerbate demand for skilled resources.

The demand across all markets is generally up and we continue the move from an “employer driven” market to an “employee driven’ market.  Hence my “standing advice” to ANY company needing people  (a) Start the process now with a strong PLANNING phase; (b) develop very clean processes to find, screen, choose, hire and onboard these new resources; and (c) know that you will have a lot of competition and therefore speed in decision making will be critical!

That was my monthly look at the Canadian job market and some of its influences. 

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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As a business owner I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to stay on top of the “next great idea” from various well meaning levels of government trying to make our world a better place.

This effort does not include the already existing multitude of bureaucracies involved for anyone trying to just run a business.

As the election gets closer, inevitably the politicians will be asking how they can help “the engine of growth” Canada’s small businesses?  At the same time they will be listening to the various lobby groups trying to get their “next great idea” on the list of things to be implemented.

My unsolicited advice to politicians … stop tinkering!

What we need right now … and probably for the next 12 to 18 months is a period of stability where we business owners can focus on running our businesses and not have to worry about impending legislation that is going to hurt us.  If I could focus on my business and not have to be involved in lobbying efforts and rearguard survival against well meaning politicians I (and the thousands of small business owners across Canada) can grow my business, add jobs and create a tax base that provide stability for the future. 

Enough said …

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)

Subscribe to News from the Nest for updates about job market trends, industry news, and more.

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As a manager I probably have two different types of expectations …

(1)   Expectations tied to position/income. 

This is the cost/reward expectation that says if I am paying you a lot of money I expect a good return for that. 

(2)  Expectations based on potential. 

This is more like the parent/child relationship, where I see potential in people and expect them, to succeed … and sometimes my expectation is met, sometimes not!

I think it is important to differentiate between these two types of expectation for lots of reasons.  Most importantly because our expectations based on potential are really subjective and success sometimes just takes a little longer.  Expectations of senior people based upon existing position and income have a more severe consequence when expectations are not met.

So, how can we manage our expectations in a way that reasonable … maybe if we looked at management as being a lot like parenting it might help.

> We try to get the best out of our staff. > We take pride in their successes and we “punish” their failures. > We coach them and give them incentives to do better. > We reward them when they do good work. > Sometimes we push them a little hard, but sometimes we are a little too easy on them. > In a healthy relationship there is good communication, and an understanding that we are all pulling in the same direction. > The employee should feel that the manager has their best interest at heart and vice-versa.  The manager should want their employee to succeed, and the employee should want their manager to be successful too. > It is OK to have different expectations of different employees (just like your kids).

Like a parent/child relationship there are lots of pitfalls … but the biggest chance of success comes with LOTS of communication.  I will be more tolerant of an employee on their way up the ladder, and less tolerant of a senior employee.  In fact the scale ramps up as people move up the reward chain … so my “tolerance” chart might look this:

> Business Partner (10) > Executive (9) > Manager (8) > Supervisor (7) > Senior (6) > Intermediate (5) > Junior (4)

Obviously the more senior a person the more expectations there should be, but sometimes we fall into the trap of expecting too much from people for other reasons.  That junior person who somehow always delivers … we expect them to always deliver, but do we move them up the chain?

That child of ours who does not understand their place in the world yet … do we give them the room they need and the advice that helps them understand better.  Or do we try to put our own expectations on them?

So … are you reasonable in your expectations?  How do you measure and control them?  Do your employees understand your expectations?

Having reasonable expectations is probably good for your blood pressure

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)

Subscribe to News from the Nest for updates about job market trends, industry news, and more.

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Maybe its just me … but one of the few things that is in ready supply and comes free is advice!  Perhaps that is exactly the value proposition that should explain why it is generally worth exactly what you pay for it!

So if you are looking for advisors or mentors I think you need to understand what you really want.

I gave some thought to the kind of advice I get, and the “relative” usefulness of it … and came out with a “home grown” formula to find the kind of advisor that you need, and a means to measure the relative worth of the advice you get on a regular basis.  The following thought process relates to me in my world, but I think the end result is applicable to anyone.

1. First I thought maybe I valued “grey hair” … the people who had lived a life, seen lots of things and could bring a perspective based on real life experience.  Seems like a good start, but I came to realise that it’s not the whole story, in fact if their experience was in a wholly different environment than mine then what use was their advice?

2. Then I thought that experience in my industry would be a good thing … a knowledge of the “nuances” of our world, and what really works.  Again, I came to the conclusion that wasn’t the whole story.

3. So I got to thinking about people in a similar situation to mine … CEOs running companies.  I have good experience with this, but again not the whole story, a CEO of a global publicly traded company will have a very different reality than the CEO of a small private company.

4. At the root of any problem requiring advice is a situation.  It is the details of the situation that count and therefore the relevance of the advisor’s knowledge in that situation is what really counts.

What does this all mean?

1.  If you have a tough situation and want some advice, the best advisor will be someone who has “been there done that, got the t-shirt”.  If it is an issue specific to your specific industry then likely they should have relevant experience there, in addition to experience in a similar role to you.

2.  If you want generic advice about business, strategy, operations etc. then you will likely want access to a group that can provide a multitude of inputs … BUT based on “been there done that, got the t-shirt”.  Its always good to get a variety of inputs … but all need to bring “real” value.

3.   When measuring the value of “advice” … use Kevin’s ”been there, done that got the t-shirt” test.  It should measure against:
> Real world experience;
> Similar level or role; and
> knowledge of your industry.

4.  Beware the theorists who read a lot and think they know the answers … they don’t wear good t-shirts!!! 

PS.  The astute amongst you will of course recognize this as advice … and of course you paid nothing for it

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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