I had the privilege of presenting at the recent ARK Group Australia Library 2.0 event where I was asked to share my experiences from CPA Australia for obtaining buy in to do 2.0 and social media type initiatives. In my role there, in the Knowledge Exchange team, this meant buy in internally from staff and also externally from our members. Whilst preparing the session I realised that the principles for getting buy in for these kinds of initiatives were not so far removed from getting buy in for any other kind of project – apart from the additional (and often significant) component of education.

Here is the summation of my 5 buy in principles (minus my stories – sorry had to be there!)

#1 know what you are doing and why

Sounds simple and it is. Buy in is really difficult when you can’t articulate what you are doing and why. Be really clear about what your initiatives are, why you want to do them and the benefits and value they offer. If you are clear, succinct and articulate you will be more confident and convincing in your proposal and achieve a greater result. Bottom line is if you cannot articulate what it is you are trying to achieve, how can you expect others to share in that vision and be excited and confident in what you are pursuing?

#2 where does your evidence LIE? (literature | industry | experience)

At some point you will no doubt need to form a case to get your project across the line. You know what you want to do and why – now you just need the justification for it. Depending on your organisation (in particular it’s commercial tendencies, risk profile and culture) you will need evidence in literature, industry examples (especially from your competitors) or experience (either your own or the organisation’s through other initiatives, pilots or stealth projects). Gathering the right evidence is of course crucial here – there is no point finding 10 journal articles on why you need a blog if the only thing your CEO cares about is that all your competitors have blogs and you don’t. It’s also important to realise that different people (particularly at different levels) may require different evidence. This is about understanding your audience and their needs as much as the actual evidence.

#3 pitch to each audience

We often think we only need one elevator pitch and that if we repeat it enough people will eventually get on board. What we forget is that people care about different things – this is especially true in organisations where people are working in disparate areas and a variety of hierarchical levels. So it’s really important to have messages for audiences – to know your audiences and what will be meaningful to each of them and then to craft messages for each of them. This means we need more than one pitch!

In the slide pack you will see reference to Elliot Jaques Stratified Systems Theory, often called levels of work. Jaques discovered that the level of responsibility in any organizational role can be measured in terms of the target completion time of the longest task assigned to that role.  Jaques found that tasks fall into categories characterized by the maximum amount of time the person is expected to carry on without direct supervision (the task’s time span) and the degree to which the task requires the person to process a variety of information and come to conclusions about it (the task’s complexity). I’ve found this quite helpful in understanding what is meaningful to various levels in order to be able to pitch appropriately to each (which means check it out!)

#4 respect the channels of your organisation

We all know how frustrating, political, bureaucratic organisational processes can be – particularly when you are trying to work in this space of being flexible, agile and adaptable. All the processes just seem to drag and slow you down. But if going through the appropriate communication, heirarchical, project channels and processes can help you get buy in and understanding you need to do it. If your organisation (as CPA Australia does) use PRINCE2 project management methodology then use this to your advantage. If this is something the organisation understands and is comfortable with for its rigour and structure then use this for your education as well as to get buy in. Through using the official channels of the organisation you are often able to get more buy in more quickly and a higher level of understanding for what you are doing (particularly if the environment is conservative, risk averse or very new to the social online space). This may also result in your being given the budget to do it.

#5 buy in is not a one off event

Buy in is an ongoing relationship that should be mutually beneficial – it is not a one off transaction. With 2.0 or social media initiatives it is particularly important to continue to be available and responsive to give ongoing support, training, and education. It is not a one off handover of ‘there’s your online community – good luck!’ This assists in minimising risk also – you continue to be able to monitor the outcome, commitment and participation to ensure it is not just a one month fad and then the initiative is left by the wayside for the next project.

I further refine this down to clarity + conversation + care.  What are your stories and principles of buy in?

But what of all these lists? What lists should we be keeping? What is their purpose? What actually sticks and is helpful? To do, done, stop doing, mistakes or none? These are just a few different lists I have passed, promptly indicated and cut off in the past few weeks.

The Classic: To Do List
We all know about To Do lists. It’s even been turned into a work life management system with a cult following by Dave Allen in Getting Things Done. The problem with To Do lists is that we often do them wrong – they’re most effective when it lists the next actionable task rather than ‘projects’. For example ‘Getting the car fixed’ is a project – the next actionable task is ‘Book an appointment with the mechanic’. I am a fan of To Do lists – it enables me to get all the bits and pieces floating around in my head and put them on paper so then I can focus on the actual task at hand.

From To Do to Ta Da: The Done List
The Done List is new on my radar but is certainly not a new idea. The purpose of the done list, as suggested by Joanne Spain, is to keep an ongoing growing list of the accomplishments you have achieved throughout the year. This is a great idea – I am an advocate for reflective practice and a Done List is an easy way to do this through capturing achievements and documenting completed work. You will be amazed at how quickly your portfolio grows!

For the Overloaded: The Stop Doing List
The stop doing list’s claim to fame is thanks to Jim Collins and his book Good to Great . He says:

A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit…

The premise is clear – what do you need to stop doing in order to free up time for the things that really matter? Habit, sentiment, posterity are often not reason enough to keep doing. This one seems to be becoming particularly popular within organisations since the global financial crisis.

The Odd but Effective: Mistakes List
I was intrigued by Jason Cohen’s recent post on the personal productivity checklist which is to commit to a ‘Week of Pain’ and keep a list of every single mistake you make for a week. Jason states:

The point is that you make mistakes all the time, and you make the same kind of mistakes over and over again

The purpose is then to use this evidence you have gathered to over time fix all the problems you have identified and improve your productivity and performance. Painful yes, and useful most likely but effect on personal morale? unsure, and it could potentially be putting too much emphasis on detail rather than the more important bigger picture (but it depends on what context you operate in!)

So which one?
These lists are often approached as ‘either’ ‘or’ options however each have quite different purposes, with varying time commitments and outcomes. The primary problem is that you could get so caught up in keeping lists that you never actually get anything done except for list management! So how to decide? These are my three tips:

1. Purpose: What do you want your list to do for you? There is no point in creating and making lists if all you do is create them and don’t use them.
2. What works for you?: If it is not something that is easy for you to think about, maintain and integrate into your work/life patterns it is not the right list/s. Try again.
3. Find the right tool: Once you know what lists you want to keep and why find the right tools to help you with your list management. For me – I keep a notebook, old school pen and paper style, there are plenty of iPhone apps and web tools available too.

So in between eating ice cream or sipping pina coladas what lists do you keep? What do they do for you?

Courtesy of Ronn Ashore on Flickr

June 30 has passed….most of us have or are about to be subject to mid year reviews whether that be organisations tracking against KPI’s, performance reviews, even financial reviews ready for tax time but what about a personal reflection, how are you tracking on your goals and aspirations for the year, or for your life and career as a whole?

As Ross Hill stated on Twitter:

In addition its soon approaching time to commence thinking about and planning for 2010…how do you balance the never ending struggle between action and planning?

I recently had a friend move overseas, in a discussion about his decision to move he explained that 2009 was his ‘Year For Exploration’. Two things struck me, the first was I wasn’t the only person who named their year! The second was the call to action within his statement…I had always termed my year, ‘Year of…’ which implies being passive and something happening to me whereas his ‘Year for…’ is a plan, a call to action, assertive and in control in determining and fulfilling his goals for the year.

It is too easy to get lost in the planning and to not take action. Both aspects are important as planning provides structure and direction to action however it is easy mistake planning for action as well. I was challenged by Derek Sivers blog post Shut up! Announcing your plans make you less motivated to accomplish them. It focuses around the idea that research conducted in 1933 indicated that people who spoke about their intentions are less likely to make them happen…and that for some merely announcing their goals and intentions satisfied the brain enough to no longer need to actually take action and achieve them.

As Sivers states:

Once you’ve told people of your intentions, it gives you a “premature sense of completeness.”

Wray Herbert also wrote an article on this http://www.newsweek.com/id/197006 Again he discussed a study where law students who had publicly announced their intention to read more law journals had an inflated sense of their legal capabilities. He states:

That is, simply stating a strategy for becoming a good lawyer made them feel like they were real lawyers, and this inflated self-image paradoxically made them less hard working. They had become legends in their own minds, and legends don’t have to get down and dirty.

I have to admit that I fall victim to this often…there are so many things I want to do and achieve that I manage to make myself feel better by stating my intentions to complete them and then not follow through (this is not intentional but reinforces the studies above). This seems to be particularly true when its finances that keep me from doing exactly what I want for example the University course I would like to study next (there is always at least one bubbling over in my mind) but the exorbitant cost (and the insane balance of my HECS debt to date!) prevent me from pursuing it seriously. I have also been ‘planning’ to visit Japan for at least the last 3 years however…and yes there is always a however…annual leave and finances have constrained that also. Anyone that knows me knows that I am an ambitious and quite determined person and that I will find a way to make these things happen if I really want them. So perhaps the power of ‘planning’ is in the dreaming?

There are some tools available to help track your goals and keep habits.
1. Don’t Break the Chain! is a visual motivation technique where you mark the days off a calendar that you work toward a particular goal.
2. I am also a firm believer in the overlooked aspect of reflective practice and Lifehacker provides a series around the weekly review habit to assist in getting things done.
3. I also like Satisfying things I wanna do this week dammit! to establish a work/ life weekly balance and holistic view to week by week planning and action.

So as we are now mid year through 2009, take this opportunity to reflect on where you are at this year, in your career, and life as a whole and review how you tracking in your planning vs action. Are you a planner? Are you an action taker? Or are you one of the few who manages to balance both?

Take off or bust courtesy of sgs_1019 on Flickr