On June 5, 2010, I was welcomed into the  Women of HR community as a contributor.

I can almost hear it all the way from Minnesota.  Polite, yet insistent, it’s Women of HR’s Editor-in-Chief Lisa Rosendahl tapping her foot, waiting.  Jennifer, when will your first Women of HR blog post be ready?

It’s an honor to be a contributor to the newly formed Women of HR site.  So what’s the hold-up? I want the first post to be good. No, I want it to be great, so that it speaks to the nascent readership and inspires them to come back for more. The only “inspiration” I can seem to summon at the moment is writer’s block, so the project goes unfinished, for yet another day.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

Finally—inspiration hits. So I draft up a blog post and let it sit for a few days.  I tweak it, add a photo and submit it to the Women of HR site. As I write this, it’s awaiting approval.  Will the article be well-received?  Will it be deemed “great”? Time will tell.

This process has revealed something of a surprise to me: I’ve been looking for an outlet that honors my status as a woman.  In general, I don’t blog about gender issues; it’s not really my “thing”. Yet, when presented with an opportunity to weigh in on women’s issues, it became really important that I produce a quality product. Hence, the foot-dragging around publishing my first post.  So I guess that Being a Woman matters to me. Huh. Go figure.

I want to thank Women of HR founders Lisa Rosendahl, Trish McFarlane and Shauna Moerke for affording me the opportunity to help me find yet another voice. . .that of Jennifer V. Miller, a woman of HR.

I just returned from a quarterly management meeting being hosted by a client.  It’s a two-day meeting being held offsite for 30 mid- to senior-level managers of a business unit.  During the meeting, Pete, head of a 1200-person business unit, unveiled his brand-new blog.  I really admire Pete. He’s been taking risks and encouraging his staff to do the same.  When he revealed the blog today, his group gave him some good natured ribbing– “So, can employees ‘write on your wall?’ ” and “Yeah, SURE they can post anonymously.”  And: “What? Are you going to go on Twitter now too?!” Pete openly admits that this experiment may not work.  In general, efforts to use social media have not taken hold in his company.  However, Pete remains undeterred. He wants to fully explore the opportunities that a social media platform can bring to his workforce.

Now, I’m not a social media expert.  I’m not specifically advising Pete on his social media use.  But if I can help him somehow figure it out, then I’ve helped him in his larger goal, which is to communicate with his employee base.  And he did hire me to do that. 

So, I’m doing a bit of informal research on Pete’s behalf.

First, I posted this tweet before I left the meeting:

I chose to do so discreetly, as nobody in the room is on Twitter.

So far, I’ve had this suggestion from colleague MaryJo Asmus:

I’m also going to check in with my LinkedIn and Facebook networks to see what they have to say.

Are you a part of a large corporation that’s incorporating social media into its business practices?  In particular, are any executives or senior managers doing an internal blog?  If so, what advice would you offer to Pete so he can make this endeavor a success?

Build on existing blogs for your success

We’re closing in on nearly a year of blogging here at The People Equation. It’s been a fantastic journey, one that Alexia Petrakos (aka The WPChick) recently chronicled in a case study. (Thanks, Alexia, for helping launch the blog!) Blogging has opened up my professional horizons and increased my visibility within the online community. It’s led to some great opportunities, including  a stint as an Office Politics Advisor and a feature article on Forbes.com last month. Still, when talking with my non-blogging work colleagues, I shy away from mentioning that I write a blog.  Why?  I’m not sure, but somewhere in my mind, there’s a stubborn perception: “Blogging isn’t real work.”

Tonight, at the inaugural meeting of the West Michigan Inforum Social Media Affinity Group, I’ll have a chance to break out of that mindset once and for all.  I’m honored to have been asked to participate in a panel discussion along with four social media and corporate communication professionals: Laura Bergells, Nemo Chu,  Cindy  Droog, and Bob Taylor.  Event organizer Penny Rosema asked me to discuss how blogging has helped build my professional brand.

Here’s an expanded version of what I shared with the audience:

Blogging can provide any business professional with a key competitive advantage: expert status.  Whether you are marketing your small business, building your portfolio in a corporation, or even job seeking, it’s beneficial to be seen as an expert in your chosen field.  In my mind, the correlation looks like this:

Expert Status –>Leads to –> Increased Opportunity

Here’s the great thing about blogs.  You don’t have to expend the effort to create your own blog; you can leverage someone else’s blog. If you become aware of influential bloggers in your area of expertise, you can then invest just 30 minutes a week making comments on those blogs to build your credibility and your visibility. You benefit by gaining visibility and the blog owner benefits from your expertise.

Yes, I did say “post comments”.  In order for this to work, you must participate.  The purpose of most blogs is to invite conversation, which requires that you join in. Being “visible” is part and parcel of being a member of the online community.  When I say be “visible” I don’t mean “let it all hang out”. Rather, I mean be confident in your ability to share your well-considered and diplomatic business-related content with the world.  If you read a post and have additional information or an opinion to share, then by all means, do so! A word of warning: “selling” of any sort, rants and general “TMI” sharing does nothing to help you build your status as an expert.

Not sure where to start? Here are a few tips to get you going:

• Find relevant blogs: Google “Top blogs + [fill in your industry key words]”
• Put 4-5 blogs you like into your Google Reader
• Set up a few Google Alerts regarding your specific keywords
• Invest 30 minutes per week reading scanning blog posts. Write 2-3 comments per week.
• If you enjoy writing, you can take it a step further: some blogs have a “guest post” tab or sidebar. If you have relevant content to contribute, don’t hesitate to ask to submit a guest blog post. Most blogs have reasonable editorial standards; it’s not as difficult as you might think.
• Not a big fan of writing? Ask to feature a blogger’s article for your newsletter, or some other source of written media.  Bloggers are typically receptive to having their content shared, as long as you get permission and don’t alter their content or bylines.
• Are you a member of a LinkedIn group, Facebook or Twitter? Share business-related content from blogs that you found helpful with those groups. Go one step further and reach out to the blogger to let him/her know that you shared the content. Building relationships with bloggers is a great way to learn about other opportunities.

If you like to write (even just a little bit) and can overcome any shyness you might have about making public comments, using blogs can be an effective business tool to help you gain visibility and learn about developments in your field of business. I wish you great success!

Photo credit: istockphoto.com © Vaide Seskauskiene

Sometimes a 140 character limit just won’t cut it, so today I’m trying something new with the Twitter’s Follow Friday. Here’s my #FF for this week, in alphabetical order and sans the 140 constraint.

Roy Atkinson, known for his witty Twitter “Groaner” puns, is as funny in real life as he is in the digital world.  A former musician, he is now an IT supervisor in Maine near Acadia National Park. He’s committed to exploring character-based leadership and does so with a buoyant energy that’s contagious.

The Lead Change Group connected me to Dave Brand. He’s a scientist by trade who now works in 3M’s leadership development department. Dave’s a talented researcher; I can always count on him to have an extensive list of best practices for any leadership-related topic.

For a truly go-give HR person, follow Steve Browne.  What I appreciate about Steve is that he’s constantly looking for ways to connect people for business purposes. Steve sends out a fantastic newsletter, the HR Net, which is also an online discussion board. Steve works as an HR director for a company that “gets” social media and fully endorses his online networking.

Franke James and I met via Twitter just a few short months ago. She’s the editor of the Office Politics website and author of Dear Office Politics: The Game Everyone Plays. She’s a wonderful collaborator and I’ve enjoyed getting to know her while we’ve worked on a few projects.

There are many reasons I follow Dan McCarthy. One is his excellent leadership blog Great Leadership. A second reason is that he’s in the trenches every day as a developer of leaders and I appreciate his “real world” take on our profession. Thirdly, even though he has a full time day job, he’s always willing to give advice and share ideas. Oh, another thing—he laughs at my jokes.

Anne Perschel is a business psychologist who recently wrote Fixing the Hole in the Corporate Soul which spurred her to start the Corporate Soul Movement on her blog.  Some people get a bit freaked out by folks with a PhD in psychology, but with Anne, you needn’t worry. She’s funny, smart and always willing to engage.

I follow Erin Schreyer because she’s enthusiastic and gets things done.  As a leadership consultant in the Cincinnati area, she’s worked to unite the leadership community by organizing some great networking events. She just finished up a certification in Marcus Buckingham’s Simply Strengths program, so if you’re in the market for that type of leadership development, give Erin a holler.

During my presentation to the Grand Rapids Entrepreneur’s Club today, I compared social media options for the small business owner to stepping up to an all-you-can-eat buffet.  There are a slew of choices—how do you choose those that are most healthy for your business? Following that analogy, I offer you, the small business owner, a “diner’s guide” to getting the most out of your social media fare.

[Disclaimer: The recommendations below are a result of my personal experiences as a small business owner.   I make no claim to be a social media “expert” but I am a consistent user of several platforms. The list below is not complete. The links below were active when I published this post.  Also, I receive no compensation from mentioning the people/blogs below. These are simply resources that I find helpful and hope that you will too.]

Appetizers: Social Media Starters

Two bloggers that I’ve followed closely that have some great general information about social media are Trish McFarlane, a Human Resource professional who blogs at The HR Ringleader and Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers.  Their posts on social media are helpful because they come at it from an “every day user” viewpoint rather than as a highly technical blogger or social media guru.

Check out Trish’s blog on how to get started in social media and Mike’s blog category of social media.

Mashable.com. Mashable is one of the most widely read social media blogs. It can be quite technical, but there are still posts that are helpful to the average user.  Keep in mind: when you use the site, the most current blog posts are the ones that are most technically accurate.  Older posts were correct at the time of publishing but may have since been replaced with new information. There’s a tab called “How To” at top of Mashable home page. Check this out for useful social media tips, including the How To Connect with Other Entrepreneurs post.

Salad Course: Facebook

Just like any salad, you need to know how to choose the healthy Facebook items (Fan Pages) and stay away from the fat-laden ones (Farmville). Facebook started out as a site focusing on connecting friends and family, providing an easy way to post photos and find long-lost friends.

As Facebook’s popularity has grown, the business community has latched on with applications allowing business friends to stay connected.  Facebook may or may not work with your social media diet; you need to decide how many social media platforms your company can maintain.  These days, several of the platforms are linked, making it easier to post to multiple accounts at one time, but it still can be time-consuming. Keep in mind that many of your business colleagues may want to keep their personal lives and business lives separate, so they may not want to “friend” you on Facebook  for business purposes.

If you do decide to give Facebook a try, start with Mashable’s guidebook.

Concerned about privacy on Facebook? Fellow HR blogger Lance Haun shared this site with me for Facebook privacy tips.

Main Entre: Linked In

If you only choose one social media platform, start with LinkedIn.  Some social media pundits are signaling the decline of LinkedIn, due to Facebook’s rising popularity with business users, but I don’t think that’s coming anytime soon. Last fall, LinkedIn wisely collaborated with Twitter to make it easy to share updates across the two platforms. At a minimum, small business owners should:

• Have a complete personal profile
• Create a company profile for their business

Another blogger friend of mine, Sharlyn Lauby who blogs at The HR Bartender was featured on Mashable with a very popular post called  7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn.

New more advanced LinkedIn tips? Two social media bloggers, Neal Schaffer at Windmill Networking and Scott Allen at Linked Intelligence have generously agreed to have their excellent summary posts on LinkedIn featured here on The People Equation.  See Neals’s 25 Most Useful Linked In Blog Posts and Scott’s 1o0+ Smart Ways to Use Linked In.

Dessert: Twitter

Most of us love a little “sumpin’ sumpin’ after dinner, even if it’s not strictly good for us. Hey, I say “everything in moderation” and that’s how it is for me with Twitter.  Twitter can quickly become like those gooey chocolates that you can’t stop eating– highly addictive with very little nutritional value. However, using Twitter wisely and in moderation can be a positive addition to your social media regimen if you are displined enough to do so.

Brand new? See Mashable’s Twitter Guidebook .  

In addition to the Mashable guidebook, I recommend the just-released TweetThis! For Business, written by Jessica Miller-Merrell.  Jessica and I met via Twitter. For the past year, she has carefully tracked and documented how to gain leverage for your small business using Twitter. See my book review on TweetThis! here.

So, are you ready to jump in to social media?  Feel free to connect with me in any of the following ways:

Facebook: Jennifer Miller’s profile

Facebook: SkillSource Fan Page

Twitter: Jennifer Miller’s profile

Twitter: SkillSource Twitter page

Whenever I attend a business networking event and mention Twitter, I invariably get a group of people flocking to me wanting to know more about the social media micro-blogging site. They want to know “How do I get started?” “Is it really a viable business marketing tool?” and “Twitter seems so frivolous—does anybody really care about what I had for breakfast?”

Happily, I now have a useful book to recommend: Tweet This! by Jessica Miller-Merrell. (No relation to me). The answers to these questions and many more are in this handy, easy-to-read Twitter reference manual. In about 90 minutes, you can have a clear map for how to get started with Twitter, suggestions for additional tools to increase Twitter’s functionality (called third-party applications) and even an excellent list of Twitter users (called Tweeps) for you to follow.

What’s unique about this book is that it’s targeted specifically for small business owners, entrepreneurs and consultants. All of Ms. Miller-Merrell’s suggestions are framed in that context, including some great worksheets to help business owners construct a Twitter account that pays attention to their company’s marketing plan and branding strategy. She also includes a few stories and case studies that vividly portray the do’s and dont’s of using Twitter effectively.

Brand new to Twitter? Consider this book as your starting point before you even set up an account.  It provides a great roadmap for business people to consider prior to “jumping in” to Twitter. Worth noting: the one thing this book doesn’t do is explain all the mechanics for how to navigate Twitter or the third-party applications. That’s not the book’s intent. You’ll still need to check various social media blog sites and the Twitter help section to learn the nitty gritty.  However, Miller-Merrell has you covered on that as well—her book points out several well-respected social media sites you can peruse to get up-to-the-minute technical information.

My recommendation: Read Tweet This! if you are a small business owner who’s brand new to Twitter, or if you have a Twitter account that’s been laying dormant because you have no idea how to use it for business purposes.

You can purchase the book at  Jessica Miller-Merrell’s website or on Amazon.com.

[Disclosure: I received a free e-book copy of Tweet This! in order to review this book.]

Today I attended a networking luncheon for the newly formed Grand Rapids Entrepreneur’s Club.  This fledgling organization was started by my colleague Cyndi Sullivan.  Years ago, Cyndi and I were on the founding committee for a different networking group; I’ve come to admire her work ethic and positive, pay-it-forward approach to networking. The Grand Rapids chapter is part of a national organization called The Entrepreneur’s Club of America. What’s unique about the format is the guest speaker is a fellow entrepreneur who shares his/her experiences about what it’s like to run a small business.

The featured speaker was Rob Geer, Managing Partner at Management Business Solutions.  Rob was a dynamic speaker. I took notes as he spoke and he gave me permission to share them with my readers.  Many of his ideas were useful to me personally as an entrepreneur. Because this blog is about workplace dynamics, I want to highlight a specific comment that he made about the social media site Linked In. His comments have implications for how knowledge workers are perceived by their peers.

Rob mentioned that a Linked In profile has become a mainstay in American business and I agree.  It’s almost as if the profile has become standard business issue. Would you try to do business without a phone or an email address?  I believe that a LinkedIn profile is fast moving into that category.  Rob says  that before he goes to meet with a new client, he checks out their website and their Linked In profile.  Google indexes LinkedIn, so it’s very easy to find someone either via Google or on the site itself.

Believe it or not, I still have colleagues who don’t use Linked In.  And they are doing their professional credibility a disservice.  If you know of colleague who isn’t on Linked In yet (or who has 2 connections and a sparse profile) please encourage him or her to do so.  It only takes a few minutes and it will do wonders for their public “face”.

Wow, the online HR community has been active lately with lists featuring influential people in the HR Community. Sites like HR Examiner’s Top 25 Digital HR Influencers and Monster’s  Top 10 Employment Bloggers lists have set the blogging community afire with cheers, jeers and comments aplenty.  Seems everyone loves to hate these lists. . .or is it they hate to love these lists? 

I won’t pretend to know who’s influential in the digital HR world, but I can tell you who’s influential on The People Equation. I’m taking a page from Ben Eubanks of UpstartHR  by trolling my WordPress stats for some interesting scoop about my blog readers; in particular, those who regularly comment on the site. These folks are consistent contributors to my blog and the larger social media world as well.  They’ve influenced me to think bigger, give back, and keep going.  Give them a look; maybe they’ll do the same for you.

So here they are, the awards for the 2009 People Equation Influencers:

Best Sense of Humor: Mike Krupa. I met Mike via Twitter and immediately took to his witty tweets. He’s a Technical Director for HR Systems of a large company and my go-to guy for finding out the latest and greatest in the tech world. Most of my conversations with Mike occur behind the private shroud of Twitter’s Direct Message feature, so you may not see his stealthy, wicked humor like I do.  But when he does show up on The People Equation, his comments are smart, relevant, and yes, funny.

Biggest Thinker: Mike Henry. Mike formed the Lead Change group on Linked In earlier this year, and boy, has it taken flight.  Last time I checked, there were over 500 members and growing.  The group’s purpose is to support those wanting to promote character-driven leadership.  Mike has attracted an amazingly diverse group of followers, all committed to leadership in some way. Mike also writes the blog The Lead Change Group, full of insightful posts about leadership.

Biggest Heart: Deirdre Honner. As an Associate Director of HR at a college, Dee is a great source of up-to-date HR information, which she shares openly and willingly.  Case in point: this past fall, she hosted several gratis job-search workshops and she’s a volunteer with JobAngels.  She also blogs at The HR Maven, sharing nuggets of wisdom and showcasing her no-nonsense style served up with a good dose of humor. Dee has been steadfast in her participation on the People Equation, providing supportive comments througout the blog’s young life.

Introverted Influencer: Lisa Rosendahl. Lisa was named on the Top 25 Influencers mentioned above, but you won’t hear it from her.  A self-described “introvert”, she’s uncomfortable with accolades.  She’s a practicing HR professional with tons of “in the trenches” experience. We collaborated on a companion blog post on mentoring, a project which was thoroughly enjoyable. Lisa’s also shared her time and talents on helping me get up to speed with the blogging process.

Most Encouraging: Thomas Waterhouse. Thomas’ Twitter handle is the very aptly named @Encouraging.  As a practicing psychologist, his daily work is about encouragement. He models it very well by his kind, positive and specific comments posted on the blog.

Most Thoughtful: Jane Anderson. Jane was an early contributor to The People Equation, for which I’m very grateful. Jane’s a gifted writer, a talent she applies daily at her job as an Education Specialist for a financial services company. Her insightful, carefully crafted comments motivate me to keep writing. 

The Enhancer: Susan Mazza. A leadership consultant and host of the Random Acts of Leadership blog, Susan can be counted on to offer additional insights to my blog posts.  She has a unique talent for seeing the nuances of issues and bringing them to light. Her comments enhance the ideas posted on The People Equation. Susan has also become a sort of MasterMind Group of One for me too.  She’s got a keen business mind and is always willing to help me “noodle” over an issue.

The Instigator: Barbara Giamanco. Barb is the founder of Talent Builders, a consultancy that helps organizations integrate social media into their sales processes. Barb is the one who started it all for me in early 2009. She coached me on the basics of social media and provided the very first comment on the blog in May of 2009, back when it was JenniferVMiller.com. Thanks, Barb!

To those mentioned above, thank you so much for sharing your insights, offering your suggestions and helping grow the People Equation. There are many others who have commented too, but I don’t want this awards ceremony to drag on to long   

As the year draws to a close, I thank everyone who has stopped by the People Equation. Whether you just browsed a bit, or stayed awhile to write a comment, I know the blog is better for your having been here.

Wishing you all the best for 2010!

Thanks to a Twitter post by Mike Myatt, look at the fantastic treasure I just unearthed from Seth Godin: his “What Matters Now” e-book featuring a diverse group of  seventy “thinkers” sharing one simple thought per page of the book.  The e-book is a free download.  Click here to go to the link. It has all sorts of great thought-starters to get us going for 2010.

Thanks, Seth for pulling this compilation together!

I recently gave a presentation on networking to members of the GRAPE organization (Grand Rapids Area Professionals for Excellence.)  Several of my colleagues indicated interest in attending, but could not, so here’s a summary, divided into three parts. This post is Part I, “What Savvy Networkers Know”. It  outlines my “nuggets” gleaned from years of building a strong business network. Part II, “What’s Your Networking Style?” is about how people’s networking “styles” vary and how to look for the clues to help you build rapport. Part III is a list of additional networking resources.

My definition of networking is: “the purpose of networking is to connect people who have a mutual interest in developing a business relationship or assisting one another”. So with that framework in mind, I invite you to consider the following ideas, which I’ve playfully named “Miller’s Maxims”.

Maxim #1
When it comes to networking, people are the common denominator. 
The speed and ease with which people can create connections has expanded exponentially.  The speed and ease with which human beings accept one another has not kept pace.  Just because technology allows you to  snatch 30 business cards from the networking table at a Chamber event, go back to the office and issue 30 Linked In invitations within 20 minutes doesn’t mean that you should do it. Doing this cuts the “people” element right out of the equation. Human beings need time to build rapport and trust with one another. Which leads me to my second maxim. . .

Maxim #2
The surest way to short-circuit your networking success is to take short cuts in the people process.
Savvy networkers know that creating lasting, meaningful business relationships takes time.  Networking is not a get-rich quick scheme.  Similarly, smart networkers don’t confuse networking with prospecting for new customers.  Networking can be a means to gaining access to new customers, but it is not the sole purpose. I find that sales professionals get discouraged with networking events because “I didn’t get a single sales lead”.  Nope, you didn’t, because that’s not what networking’s about. Networking is about finding business contacts who have a mutual interest in helping one another. That narrows the field significantly, doesn’t it?  Speaking of narrowing the field. . .

Maxim #3
Make sure your network is a lake, not a river: vast and deep, not wide and shallow.
Creating a healthy, productive network takes time and energy.  It’s one thing to have 500 connections in your Outlook Contacts list, but how many of those people would return your phone call. . . or more importantly, could be a positive advocate for your business or your skills?  It’s not always about numbers.  Yes, lots of contacts give you potential access to lots of people—but will they be interested in helping you? And equally important, are these people you have an interest in helping in some way?  The best networkers I know are genuine in their attempts to help people. They work to connect their contacts to others, and they offer assistance with no expectation of anything in return.  Technology makes is super-simple to stockpile “connections”, but be honest with yourself—is this a fun numbers game, or does your network provide true value, both to yourself and to others.

Sometimes, in the push to get things done, or drive more sales, it’s easy to lose sight of networking’s purpose. So when attending networking events or working to build my contact list, I revisit these nuggets each and every time.

What are your networking nuggets?