The likelihood of outstanding business success is greater with great teamwork. I'd say that was an obvious and uncontroversial thing to say!
For the Friday Roundup, I'd condense the management texts I've read and the experiences I've had to date into five teamwork must-haves:
- a shared and clearly articulated vision;
- mutuality (individual success is team success, and vice versa);
- honesty;
- clearly defined roles and responsibilities; and
- a self-sustaining determination and hunger for success.
These qualities are being put to the most extreme of tests in current times. The economic climate today requires great teams to tend to these must-haves like never before, to keep them resilient and vibrant. But the ultimate test is for those teams that observers within or without rate as sub-par today.
Survival for these teams now depends on them getting their act together, and quickly. Team members need the wherewithall to recognise that now is the time to step up to the mark, to realise that trivial disputes and petty politics are no longer quite so trivial but actually make the difference between great and just good enough, and therefore impact the chances of survival. The team must identify how to get great in days not months, aggressively weeding out staff that cannot or will not make the effort or the grade.
Looking on the bright side, the teams that do make it through this recession, that do manage to instil these must-haves for great teamwork, will be fitter and more successful in the longer-term too. And being a member of such teams is considerably more satisfying.
Hard times can be good times.
Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team (a great team btw!)
New Zealand All Blacks: Experimenting with social media to reach global fans
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
Early today I had an opportunity to visit the Wellington headquarters of the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), at the invitation of David Barton-Ginger who serves as the online manager. The New Zealand Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby in New Zealand, administering all parts of the game in NZ from grass roots, Air New Zealand Cup, Rebel Sport Super 14 and the All Blacks (the national team).
David has a challenge and he would like your help.
While he has gotten started with social media (see below for details), David is in the middle of a process to convince the managers of NZRU to "lose control" More...
Marketing lessons from the [Grateful] Dead
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
Alert readers of this blog and my books will recall that I discuss the Grateful Dead as an example of an organization with great marketing. I'm a fan, having listened to the music since the first live show I went to as a teenager in 1979. I've managed to slip a Grateful Dead reference into each of my five books and usually manage a mention in my speeches.
Counter-culture marketing
The band is a big case study in contrarian marketing. Each of the band's many marketing innovations seems to be based on doing the opposite of what other bands (and record labels) are doing at the time. More...
So Ya Wanna Make a Viral Video? Good Luck With That!
by Trevor Young PR Warrior of Parkyoung
I tend to roll my eyes when companies and brands - generally through their advertising or digital agencies - proudly proclaim they're producing a 'viral video' and expect it's going to be watched by millions. Now, there's nothing wrong with producing cool videos (or games) for the internet. Often it can be a good tactic (BMW did it successfully years ago - remember 'The Hire'?). But the number of times I've seen companies waste money on videos that quite frankly are pretty self-indulgent, well, let's just say it doesn't make sense. More...
PR: Probably Receding, or Potentially Revitalised?
by Stephen Waddington of Speed Communications
I can’t make the nmk debate tonight but the debate about the future of the PR industry as it modernises is likely to be highly engaging. There’s a reason for this - some people are leading the way, others are crawling slug-like under stones. At Speed we’ve been tracking the size of the market and the emergence of digital for more than 18 months. Outside the public groups, commentary on the industry is hard to come by even from the trade associations. Probably because no-one has had the balls to do it and reveal their own weakspots. More...
Online Reputation and Brand Management Starts with Identity
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
As I've written over the years, in the era of the Social Web, we are all brand managers. While I spend a significant portion of my time sharing the importance of listening and observing to noteworthy conversations and the enveloping cultures that define relevant online communities. When it comes to participation and engagement however, identity is often an afterthought by most companies.
Knowem is a new service that help businesses take a proactive step to securing their brand and product identities across the Conversation Prism a.k.a. More...
Meltwater, visualising influence and a big sphere that might not fit conveniently in your office
by Philip Sheldrake of Racepoint Group UK
The Meltwater Social Web Analytics team came round today to tell me about their plans for their service. They are starting out with the confidence and aggression that typified Meltwater's entry into the 'traditional' media monitoring six years back... and they've done pretty darn well in that regard.
For speed to market, they are currently white labelling Techrigy's rather nifty SM2 service (shout out to @aaronnewman), and I understand this will form a 'base' or a foundation for their endeavours going forward. More...
Why Celebrity Endorsements Can Give Your Brand the X Factor
by David Knowles of
Your advertising has to compete with a lot of noise these days. With so many channels competing for attention, creating advertising that gets you noticed can be tricky. Not only do you need to engage the interest of ad weary consumers. But your ads also need to have the ‘wow’ factor that makes people sit up and think ‘I want one of those’.
Working out how to create ads that jump out and pull people in is a tricky puzzle. This is why so many brands are waving their cheque books at celebrities and signing them up to give their ads the ‘X’ More...
Stop what you are doing and get or update your Google Profile now
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
What happens when you enter your name into Google? Do you come up number one? If not, are you on the first page? And if you do appear, is it something valuable? Or is the listing a photo of you as attending your ten-year high school graduation party (or worse)?
You need to be found on Google. Personal branding is essential in today's world.
1) If you're looking for a job, potential employers will search your name.
2) If you're a lawyer, consultant, or real estate broker, your clients will search your name. More...
BBC in web IPTV service first
by Stephen Waddington of Speed Communications
The BBC has started broadcasting live feeds from is major terrestrial channels (BBC1 and BBC2). The service is currently in beta.
The BBC also quietly unveiled a web IPTV application around a TV programme last night. Viewers of the Apprentice were able to watch the programme via the web, predict which candidate would be fired, and participate in a live discussion.
It’s a shame that the Apprentice chat widget wasn’t a live Twitter feed using the #apprentice hash tag but then a moderated channel hosted by the BBC is probably a lot safer than an open Twitter channel. More...
B2B Marketing Entrepreneur?
by Scot McKee of Birddog Ltd.
I’ve always been deeply suspicious of anyone introducing themselves as an ‘Entrepreneur’. It’s one of those wank words I find impossible to say out loud. Women don’t seem to like the word ‘moist’, but for me, it’s ‘entrepreneur’. Eww. I’m less disturbed when the term’s used to describe someone else. It’s strictly the self-use of the word that bugs me. So, “Richard Branson is an entrepreneur”, is wholly acceptable. More...
Twitter Flutters into Mainstream Culture: The New Competition for Attention Starts with You
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
Source
Following the solo media vs. traditional media race that led Twitter into both relevance and irrelevance, the result is that the carefully guarded community and its unique culture are now permanently altered – for better or for worse.
According to estimates sourced by Engadget Editor-in-Chief Ryan Block, Twitter grew by 1.2 million users simply as a result of the “Oprah-effect.”
TechCrunch's MG Siegler also explored the process for estimating Twitter’s path into the mainstream. More...
Get people talking about you - a surefire way to online success
by Graham Jones of Internet Psychology
Word of mouth marketing is so important there is even an association for it. You certainly want people talking about you and your business - but only if it is positive. Yet many online businesses struggle with getting people to mention them in the first place. If you don't get people talking about your internet business, you are going to find it very difficult to survive. Get people talking about your business Oscar Wilde said: "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." More...
