Leap Frog

I wrote a few days ago about a lesson that was so obvious that, naturally, had to hit me in the face before I realized it. Well in the same vain, here’s another “duh” moment that struck me that I think everyone can share in.

There’s certainly something to be said for being an individual and coming up with your own ideas. Sure, it’s great to be the point person on something and come back and say, “Yep, I took care of it all by myself!” But sometimes, you could use more than just what you’ve got in your head. You can branch out beyond your ideas.

I’m fortunate to have mentors that are excited to hear my ideas and to bounce ideas off of me. The Pro and I sit back to back and spend plenty talking about ways to improve things and make our company and better place to work. One of us may have an idea and the other responds with more thoughts and feedback. It’s a great system to get our HR practices bigger and better. And I’m fortunate to have 100percentoverhead as to push our social media efforts forward.

Here’s an example that happened today. We’re going to be speaking on a panel in a few weeks for the local social media club breakfast (more on that soon) and in talking about our plan of attack, 100% OH suggested that we share our story and then somehow make it more interactive. I responded and suggested that we give our two cents and start a conversation by asking questions that are on our minds that we know others have too. He elaborated on that with some ideas for questions. I responded to that and suggested contacting folks in advance to get members thinking about answers so we could generate buzz that would benefit everyone. And so on and so forth. When we catch up with our third fabulous friend and panelist and get her thoughts, it’s going to spiral in an even greater way. I love it.

So what’s the lesson here? It’s leap frog – you just keep hopping along, using each other for support to push you forward. I’m sure I would’ve gotten to the point I’m at now eventually, but I can attribute the rapid nature of it to the fact that I reach out to others and talk to them to see what’s going on outside my own little bubble. You can really learn a lot (and teach a lot to others too!) when you look beyond what goes on in your day to day. Sure, it’s a little after school special…but I’m OK with that. Try it sometime – you’ll be surprised.

Who do you bounce ideas off of? Does anyone come to you for this stuff?

All you gotta do is ask

Sometimes, the simplest lesson is the one that’s least obvious.

Lately I’ve been on a search to find out what it means to “manage” social media. When you settle down to it, if you’re heading up a campaign, what exactly are you doing? In an effort to find that out, I’ve been using social media to reach out to folks and find out what they have in place on their ends. It’s been a pretty neat project.

The best part is, when I’ve reached out to folks, they’ve all said yes. No coercion, no nagging, just “Yes, of course, I’d love to help!” How cool is that? And it’s been really cool hearing all of these people’s stories and talking social media shop with them.

The thing is, I thought it would be significantly more challenging to find people and get anywhere with this research. But I realized that I had built myself a network that lends itself incredibly well to this kind of conversation. So when I stood up and asked to hear from them through an actual conversation, either in phone or in person, they were all thrilled at the prospect. It makes perfect sense, but I’m hitting myself for not realizing it sooner.

Lesson learned: speak up. Ask questions. Find out who people are. This doesn’t work if you shout about yourself and your awesomeness in a corner, because no one cares about that. Instead, inquire about others, and tap your resources so you can get to the bottom of the things. Seriously – just ask. You’re not bugging them, you’re actually just sharing interests and trading knowledge. That’s not social media – that’s life.

When’s the last time you did something like that?