Sourcing Seattle
LinkedIn Launches Targeted Partner Messaging
Seattle startup, Qworky, offers a web app for better meetings
My wife sent over a clipping from TechFlash’s article about the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum, which included Qworky, a Seattle based startup looking to “develop software and advanced technologies to help individuals and organizations design a better workday, beginning with better meeting.” She knows how much I despise meetings.
I am always intrigued with companies using technology to improve processes so I decided to take a deeper look at Qworky’s website to see if they had a demo or more information about how they actually plan on help me have better meetings. Here’s what I found out…
Beware of the Glowing LinkedIn Recommendations
I ran across a great article from The National Law Journal on the legal implications that LinkedIn recommendations might have on employment lawsuits. It is a definite read.
“Management-side lawyers are warning employers about the hidden dangers of LinkedIn, the popular business networking site that posts recommendations for job candidates. Specifically, attorneys are advising employers to be wary of giving glowing remarks about employees on the site because the employers risk having the recommendations used against them in a discrimination or harassment suit. ”
Thug Management
Thug management AKA coercive management is where the manager tells their subordinates what to do, usually with threats of punishment or adverse actions. We have all seen or heard about them. I, for one, had a thug manager when I was in the military.
I don’t use the word hate lightly, hate is one of those strong words like love too lightly used. Hate in this instance entailed a strong aversion coupled with desire that evil should befall Thug Manager. All of Thug Manager’s subordinates wished evil upon him.
An example of his thuglike nature was how he would interact with groups of subordinates. First, the military has a very hierarchical rank system, one that is extremely transparent as rank is worn on the uniform. You know immediately if the person you are talking to you is higher, of equal, or lower ranking than you. There are rules of conduct for how to stand, talk, greet, and address people of different ranks. These rules of conduct are punishable by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which interesting enough in a combat zone include punishments up to death for most infractions, insubordination being one of these.
Now, I never felt compelled in the military to remind a subordinate of my rank or position, that is readily apparent. If you are in charge, you are in charge and act like it. I never raised my voice or demeaned a subordinate, it was unecessary for the reasons listed above. I was secure enough as a leader, unlike Thug Manager.
Thug Manager would enter a room, single out a subordinate, invade their personal space, put them at the position of attention (imagine standing in one place with your hands at your side), and start a series of retorical questions that included:
“What rank am I?”
“Do you understand English”
“What part of what I am saying don’t you understand?”
“What have you done wrong that you aren’t telling me?”
“Are you stupid or just insubordinate?” ( I always liked that one myself)
This would include forcing all subordinates to do push-ups all the while his face turning deeper shades of purple with vein popping and spittle included.
The problem with Thug Management besides the extremely dehumanizing and demoralizing behavior is that high performing subordinates with any sense of self esteem rebel. Not an outright rebellion but a rebellion none the less. They push back. They do only what was specifically told and nothing more. They do whatever it takes to shut Thug Manager up or make them go away. They create their own priorities of work to procrastinate. They wish Thug Manager dead and spent a lot of time fantasizing about such acts.
I used to walk around our office with five excuses for everything I was doing, not doing, or was worried about doing or not doing. I learned quickly to not divulge any extra information but to answer as succinctly as possible. No one volunteered for anything. Subordinates would band together and provide alibis for each other. There were many times where I would purposefully set the Thug Manager off, knowing it would send him into an apoplectic fit. That was the only method of fighting back I had.
Threats of punishment? Nope, threats get old after awhile. Once you are threatened and there is no follow through, it becomes an idle threat.
Threat of firing me? Please, I am begging you to fire me.
Unfortuntely, I couldn’t quit, it being the military and all. If I was in an at-will employment position, I would have quit after about two weeks. That’s the problem, high performers know they are exactly that and usually are quite marketable. Once all the people with self esteem are gone, what are you left with?
The only thing that a Thug Manager has is being a thug. Subordinates quickly learn that their behavior and performance has no impact on how they will be treated in the present or future.
The worst part about the whole situation was that Thug Manager’s boss knew he was a thug and allowed the behavior to continue because our team met our performance goals.
Dan Hall
Editing a Post Using the WordPress iPhone App
A reader mentioned some issues with the WordPress iPhone App stripping HTML tags, quotations, and ampersands after editing a post wit the App. So I am testing this out for myself.
“This is a test & only a test”
Everything IS easier on the iPhone except…
Making phone calls. Keeping up with Twitter using Tweetdeck? Easy. Managing comments on my blog? Easy. Deleting spam email in Yahoo? Easy. Checking current weather conditions? Easy. Finding a new place to eat with Urbanspoon? Easy. Advocating my favorite service providers and sharing them with my trusted social network? Easy. Develop carpal tunnel? Easy.
Social Media Policies in Government Organizations
In my new positions, I am charged with implementing Social Media practices for a large directorate within a government organization. It is surprising (although not really since we are talking about a government organization), that many still don’t get Social Media. The image below is a perfect example of some of the challenges I face:
From Twitter New User to Blogging about Twitter (with a Little Bit in Between)
Peter Hall has a funny but largely true post regarding the life cycle of a new Twitter user. There has been a flurry of news activity about Twitter with Ashton Kutcher pwn’ing CNN on who can reach 1 million followers first. Twitter has officially become mainstream. Oprah Winfrey now has 280,000 followers. I would imagine a good number of them are first time users.
Dean Graziano, Co-Founder, leaving Visible Technologies
On Friday, April 3rd, it was announced that Dean Graziano, one of the co-founders of the company, was leaving Visible Technologies.
Dean was always pushing the company forward; he is amazingly passionate and loved VT. Many of our biggest deals started with Dean “hunting elephants.” In my opinion, he was the heart of Visible Technologies.
My Interview on SEO Boy Regarding Online Reputation Management
I had the honor of sharing my thoughts on managing your online reputation with SEO Boy. I believe that is increasingly important for business professionals to have a basic understanding of personal branding, search engine optimization, and managing your reputation (both in the traditional sense and online). There is more and more data about you on the Web, plain and simple. You can either influence and shape that data or you can let it influence your personal brand and your career.
Dan Hall
I am a producer of data and so are you …
One of the more interesting revelations that came to mind as I was leaving my previous job as a Seattle Human Resources Manager at Visible Technologies was just how much data I had produced. When it was all said and done, I created from scratch over 3.3 gigabytes of new information in 15 months. This data did not exist prior to my existence at Visible. A vast majority of this data was flung out in cyberspace in forms of emails, posts, presentations, and so forth.
Creating Efficiency – Rypple and ActiveWords
I had the pleasure of interviewing the co-CEO, Daniel Debow, of a Toronto based startup, Rypple. He reached out to me after I had posted my initial thoughts about them in a previous blog post, Making Rypples in Performance Management. He took 45 minutes talking to me about Rypple, what they are doing and where they are going with their Company. I got chills. The full write up of that conversation is forthcoming.
Making Rypples in Performance Management
I read a good article in The Economist about a company called Rypple, that undoubtedly will be making some splashes about how Companies think about Performance Management.
Reinforcing Leadership (Yes, Leadership)
All good things and all bad things must come from the employee’s first line supervisor. This is called leadership, to do anything else is shirking responsibility and undermining the supervisor’s authority. Oh yeah, and don’t make HR do it.
Dan Hall
Seattle Human Resources Manager
Solicitations and Contractors
With the downturn in the economy, I have noticed a distinct increase in recruiting solitications as well as the number of hardcore contractors looking for work. About six months ago, I would receive one maybe two calls at most from a recruiting agency (I have my calls screened and don’t call back). Now, the same recruiter is calling half a dozen times, the total number of different agencies cold calling are increasing as well.
