June Topic: Building Social Capital

Whether you like it or not, as an entrepreneur, your success depends a great deal on how other people perceive you. From investors to clients to those who are simply browsing, the more positively they view your personally, the more positively they will view your work.

All endeavors require 3 types of capital in varying proportions. They are financial, intellectual and social. Most business people focus on the first two and never bother to develop the third, believing it to be a natural or intrinsic ability. This misunderstanding is why many entrepreneurs with great ideas never get off the ground.

All things being equal, people do business with people they like. Rare is the case where one proposal is far and away better than any other. When a person has to make a choice, he is undeniably swayed by his personal feelings. Learn how to tilt the scale in your favor!

You can reserve your spot here.

Looking forward to it!

Option One - Green Building Tour. This was a one-time event that had a lot going for it:

1. He would explicitly learn details of what a LEED certified building looks like (LEED is a green-building certification program)
2. The number of people at this event would likely be more than Option Two
3. It sounded more interesting than Option Two

Option Two - Monthly Planning Meeting for an Upcoming Conference. (At first glance, you might not consider this a networking event. Keep reading, and at the end, see if you still feel that way).

My brother has been working after hours with a small group of people to plan a conference that’s coming up. It’s not the most exciting thing to do, compared to the tour, and it would be easy to justify skipping this planning meeting for a few reasons:

1. He already knows these people
2. He can connect with them one-on-one before and after the planning meeting
3. He can complete conference-planning tasks offline, throughout the month
4. He’s going to be at other planning meetings in the future

What would you do?

In the end, it came down to keeping his commitment.

After explaining the situation to me, he came up with his answer. He decided to go to the less exciting Option Two. It came down to one main reason: he made a commitment to these people that he would be there to help plan the conference. He wasn’t going to back out of that commitment lightly. Sure, he could accomplish tasks on his own between meetings, and that would be a valuable contribution, but there’s something about being there elbow-to-elbow with others that you can’t put a price on. There’s a special camaraderie created by being in the trenches with your comrades that you can’t build over email.

Relationships are more important than contacts.

I’m sharing this example because when you look at it this way, it’s so clear. It’s not about the number of people you meet. It’s about the strength of the relationships you build. By working with these other people to make a conference happen, Charles is creating deeper and more meaningful relationships than he ever could at the green-building tour.

Working towards a common goal is a golden opportunity to showcase who you are.

When you already work with someone at a company, it’s easy to know what kind of person they are. You see it every day! That’s why Charles’ decision was so smart: by working with these people towards a common goal — planning the conference — he’s able to showcase the kind of person he is even though they don’t “work” together. Not only can he show his enthusiasm for green building in concrete ways, he can also show how he communicates, problem solves, deals with challenges, and supports others.

Thanks for the example, Charles.

…we are moving increasingly toward a new model of engagement for businesses, that is, (you guessed it!) social. We have many years of refining a model of management that centers on routinization of work and highly constrained communications flow. We have extracted as much productivity as we are likely to get from these command-and-control techniques, and we have squelched enough employee value in the process.

This article is very much about the rise of social media, such as Twitter, but to his great credit, Mr. Ross knows it’s not the technology that’s inherently interesting. Sure, I like keeping up on the latest technologies, iPhone apps, and other ways of relating online. But that’s going to keep changing. Next year, there will be something new (who knows, maybe foursquare will be all the rage…).

Human beings are innately social

It’s about connecting with people - which is nothing new. Ross says it well here:

Human beings are innately social. We are designed to share and connect with others. Period. What’s more, we are born into cultures that provide a blueprint for how to communicate and organize. We know how to join a conversation at a party, meet new people and make decisions and organize in a social setting (with varying degrees of competence).

“Varying degrees of competence” indeed. I agree that we all learn, to some degree, how to have conversations and be social; how to make decisions and organize in a social setting. Where this generous picture falls apart for many people is when they mix business and social. Lots of people don’t know how to organize themselves socially in a business context. That’s why we started writing here at Social Capital Mentor.

The Internet is just another platform for being social

The Internet gives us a different level of scale, but it’s still just another tool to help us do what we’re already prone to do – be social.

Because we can, our innate desire and capacity to socialize is migrating to a platform (the Internet) that has breathtaking scale. The observation that these activities are meaningless, time-wasting or trivial misses the point entirely. Much of our day is dedicated to these activities already (tipping your hat to the neighbor, sharing a small experience with a coworker, sharing pictures of your kids with the receptionist). If you are wondering why people spend their time poking their friends on Facebook–stop. You are just seeing previously confined social activity being exposed to a larger audience.

Up above, I said that connecting with people is nothing new. But, maybe we are seeing something new; at least in business. Maybe the “old way” of doing business was more about control and more rigid efficiency:

If the last 100 years was about gaining efficiency and innovation through scale and tight control of resources and communications, the next 100 will be about finding more fluid, open models of collaboration and cooperation. Playing on this new field has different rules. It requires shifting our concept of business from a legalistic model to a social one. Social contracts are very different from the business contracts that dominated the 20th century corporate mentality. In the business contract, the organizing metaphor is the binding, legal document, and the motivator that constrains bad behavior is the lawsuit.

Check it out. It’s worth a read.

There’s a student competition every year for undergrads and grads from around the globe. This year’s focus was on sustainability. You could read about TreasureHunter: A System to Increase the Reuse of Local Used Goods and eXtend: Reducing E-Waste Through Redistribution of Local IT Resources, to name a couple.

One of the organizers of the competition went around and gave feedback on the posters. One thing that seemed to make an impression on the students that I was sitting with — and what spurred this blog post — was that the organizer paid significant attention the graphic design of the posters.

Hmmm. Isn’t graphic design about how the posters look, not the ideas? Isn’t that about how flashy or “dressed up” they are? Isn’t that superficial? You might even be thinking, “That’s BS. He shouldn’t be caught up in the visual design. It should be about the ideas and the concepts, not how pretty they are!”

But that’s unrealistic and it denies how humans perceive information. Here’s part of wikipedia’s entry on “graphic design” - my emphasis added:

The term graphic design can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focus on visual communication and presentation. Various methods are used to create and combine symbols, images and/or words to create a visual representation of ideas and messages.

If you have better graphic design, your ideas and messages are going to be represented better. It’s just that simple. I could give countless examples of great graphic design that helps people make decisions, get their jobs done, and sell more products, but I think you get the point. Of course your ideas matter. They matter a lot. But if you’re not getting them across effectively, you’re missing out. And others are missing out, too.

People fall into the same trap with Social Capital. When told that the way you present yourself makes a significant difference, they say, “That’s BS. My prospective employer shouldn’t be caught up with my attire or who pays for lunch. It should be about my resume, experience, and intelligence, not the clothes I wear or the restaurant I pick!”

Please don’t be this silly or stubborn. It’s simply not the way the world works.

You’ve got great ideas, skills, and things to offer. All we’re saying is let’s get them across to people in the best way possible.

It’s better for everyone.

———————————————————-

Check out Jean Chatzky’s post “Surviving a Crisis” to see the video.

As you watch the clip, notice how the conversation is about being prepared. It’s about looking at the big picture. Building up savings to cover six to nine months of living expenses doesn’t happen overnight. You have to make a plan and approach it as a long-term effort.

It’s the same fundamental position as our approach to developing social capital. Developing Social Capital cannot be done in one week. It’s not something that you take care of the day before an interview. It’s a different way of looking at your business relationships over the long haul.

Here’s some mildly good news about our digital tools:

A recent MIT study found that in one organization the employees with the most extensive personal digital networks were 7% more productive then their colleagues—so wikis and Web 2.0 tools may indeed improve productivity.

Sometimes I wonder if all the online tools are more of a hindrance than a benefit, so that’s good to hear. But it gets more interesting - much more. Here’s the part that follows (with my emphasis added).

In the same organization, however, the employees with the most cohesive face-to-face networks were 30% more productive. Electronic tools may well be suited to information discovery, but face-to-face communication, an oft-neglected part of the management process, best supports information integration…

Employees with the most cohesive face-to-face networks
were 30% more productive

Thirty percent - that’s huge.

Facebook is great. LinkedIn is great. Twitter, blogging, email, wikis… great, great, great. But remember, face-to-face communication is a critical part of business.

I was in Jared’s talk (Jared Spool), and Kristi was right – it was great. He had a story, overarching themes, main points, compelling examples and well-designed slides. He kept it simple and well paced; easy to take it in. He was animated, funny and entertaining.

It’s easy to walk out of a session like that and say, “Wow. Great presentation. So entertaining and interesting - he’s a natural.”

It’s not natural - it’s work

Right after his session, Jared and I talked about his presentation, which turned into a conversation about what worked well and how he prepared. He didn’t just get up there and turn on his charm. He worked at it. He planned. He prepped. And I’m not talking about just a few hours or a couple days. Some of his examples had been milling about in his mind for months.

Even the seasoned pros have to work at it

Jared is an experienced presenter. I first saw him present years ago at a BayChi meeting at the Palo Alto Research Center. He was great then, too. He’s been presenting for years. So, even though he’s been doing this for years he still has to work at it. He still has to prep.

Developing Social Capital is just like developing a great presentation

Did all that prep make Jared look less natural? No way. Just the opposite – he looked calm, in the moment, and comfortable. It’s the same with developing Social Capital. For example, when you prep for a business lunch you’re more calm, in the moment, and comfortable. The same applies for other classic Social Capital-developing situations: networking events, golf, job interviews, etc.

Jared was having a good time. At least that’s what it looked like. He smiled, laughed, cracked jokes, and got excited about his topic. It’s the same when you prep well for a business lunch. You’ve checked out the location. You know what to do. You’ve anticipated a number of issues that could come up. And so on. Having these things in order before you arrive to the restaurant allows you to relax and have a good time.

Thanks to Jared, we—his audience—had a good time. You probably get where I’m going with this; at a business lunch, when you’re prepared it’s much easier for your guests to have a good time. It’s that simple. It’s like hosting a party - the more prepared you are, the more likely your guests will have a good time.

Jared gave us the sense that he can take care of things; that he’s competent. Next time you’re taking a prospective employer out to lunch, you’ve got an opportunity to do the same thing – it’s an opportunity show him or her that you can take of things; that you’re competent.

That can only help.

I’m going to Memphis for the IA Summit, as part of my Awasu Design work. Richard Anderson and I are running a working session: Strategies for Enabling UX to Play a More Strategic Role: What Will Work Where You Work?

Can’t wait to hit Beale Street. I’m a first-timer. Should be fun.

Human beings are social creatures

Alexandra Levit says it quite well in today’s article in Forbes.com:

Finally, don’t allow these useful services to overshadow your in-person relationships. You don’t need to have Webinar training for the team downstairs, and you should avoid the temptation to play constant rounds of e-mail tennis with your manager instead of occasionally sitting down in her office. Human beings are social creatures at heart, and simply talking to a colleague or client is sometimes the best way to communicate a clear message.

Last night Richard and I met with someone who said “You guys aren’t about online social media like LinkedIn and Facebook, are you? Isn’t your Social Capital work more about in-person, real human connections?”

Our focus will never be on the latest tool of the day

The short answer is that Social Capital today involves both (offline and online), but our focus will never be about certain media or tools. It’s about your mindset, habits, and approach.

Take our 8-Step Networking Process. You do your homework (steps 1 & 2). You arrive and depart effectively (steps 3 & 4). You take notes right afterward (steps 5 & 6). Then you follow up and start the lunch process (steps 7 & 8).

Can Twitter help? Sure. Do a search on Twitter to see if anyone is talking about your networking event. See what they’re saying—I mean “tweeting”—about the event and if they’re attending (step 1).

What about LinkedIn? Yep. After you find out who’s going to attend the networking event, head to LinkedIn to find out more detail about them (step 2).

(There are other ways that LinkedIn can help you develop Social Capital, which I wrote about here.)

The important thing to remember is that these are just tools. Impressive and promising tools, but just tools. It’s the same way that Salesforce or Hirise are tools for keeping track of your contacts after a networking event (step 7). Just tools.

Tools change. Fundamentals persist.

Today we’re in 2009 and Twitter is huge. Facebook is adding more features and functionality to support business needs. LinkedIn is building more apps. But next year will be 2010 and who knows which website, tool, or feature will be in the spotlight. Regardless of the tool of the day, in the end, business is done face-to-face.

Tweet that.

Developing Social Capital with the patients

This article, A Head with a Heart, in the Boston Globe, gives us a great example of how Social Capital is being developed every day from the caring, personable actions of hospital staff as they interact with patients.

Social Capital boils down to making people feel cared for

Paul Levy, the CEO of BIDMC, understands the power of Social Capital. He recently wandered the hallways of the hospital taking notice of things he did not usually paid attention to.

He stood at the nurses’ stations, watching the transporters, the people who push the patients around in wheelchairs. He saw them talk to the patients, put them at ease, make them laugh. He saw that the people who push the wheelchairs were practicing medicine.

He noticed the same when he poked his head into the rooms and watched as the people who deliver the food chatted up the patients and their families.

He watched the people who polish the corridors, who strip the sheets, who empty the trash cans, and he realized that a lot of them are immigrants, many of them had second jobs, most of them were just scraping by.

What Levy discovered was that the people who performed all of the hospital’s thankless tasks, like food service, janitorial work and transportation were really in the business of taking care of people. Through their good humor and friendly banter, they calmed fears and lowered anxiety, providing a very real benefit to the people who need it most – the patients. They were not only in the janitorial or food service fields; they were in the medical field.

Asking for sacrifice

Recently, Levy addressed the higher-paid workers of the hospital (nurses, technicians, therapists). He planted a flag for ethical management in that auditorium that day when he asked them what they would be willing to sacrifice so he could keep the lower-paid employees working.

“I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I’d like to get your reaction to it,” Levy began. “I’d like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners - the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don’t want to put an additional burden on them.

“Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice,” he continued. “It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits.”

He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause.

It is to Levy’s credit that he recognized what every patient of any hospital knows. Feeling cared for is a big part of being comfortable in the hospital. Regardless of the actual medical treatment, the patient’s impression of his stay has more to do with how he felt than how he was technically treated by the hospital staff.

When staff members are friendly and personable, they are developing Social Capital with the patient; the patient feels cared for.

Now these janitors, cooks and transporters may not be consciously engaging in Social Capital. They may just be naturally caring, sensitive people. But the fact remains that their combined actions—in regards to developing Social Capital with the patients—saved their jobs. It’s what made Levy recognize their worth and work to save their jobs rather than just letting them go in service of the bottom line.

Sure, this is a testament to Levy, but far more than that, it’s a testament to the efforts of all the folks who are making the guests of Beth Israel feel cared for.

Social Capital can do more than just help you help yourself. In some cases, it can save a whole group of people from the unemployment lines. Still don’t see the value of Social Capital? The folks at Beth Israel do.