Archive for February 2nd, 2010

This is part of the the book BLOGTASTIC! Growing and Making a Difference Through Blogging. You can read the table of contents and follow the book on this page:

See the table of contents for the book here: BLOGTASTIC project

Previous article: Make more friends in the blogosphere fast!

BLOGTASTIC!: What you don’t know might hurt you

If you are in the blogosphere, then you have to know what is happening. It can be as simple as knowing and using all the technologies needed to take your blog to the next level.

In most cases, the information will be considered common knowledge in the blogopshere. Nobody will tell you about all these things.

Here are some questions to ponder:

• Do you know if your blog is optimized for search engines?
• Have you provided the right options (such as e-mail and RSS) for your users to subscribe to your blog?
• Have you ensured that your blog is accessible via mobile devices?
• Have you incorporated features to prevent spam in your comments?

The good part is that there are no secrets in this business. You can easily seek out the knowledge you need. Just because you do not know something does not mean it’s invaluable. Here’s a short list of things that may be interesting to you.

Squidoo: Blogging Starter Checklist

The above list is short and incomplete. Dig into the blogosphere, and never let a lack of basic knowledge hurt you.

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Blogging Tip: Invest time on being up to date on the blogosphere

The blogosphere changes at a rapid rate. As a blogger, you could focus so much on your blog that you actually ignore what is happening in the blogosphere. Just like you will need to stay current with latest hardware and software, you need to stay in tune with what blogging trends.

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Rajesh Setty is an entrepreneur, author and speaker based in Silicon Valley. He maintains another blog called Life Beyond Code and tweets as @UpbeatNow

Tagged as: BLOGTASTIC!, knowledge, measurement, Rajesh Setty, tools

Taking your organization through change requires the skills of a samurai knowing when to make changes, when to leave things as they are, and staying centered through the entire process. Do this in an ever-changing environment with moving targets!

Like a samurai you can use the principles of martial arts and Zen, combine them with complexity theory, and develop an approach to changing your organization.

The Samurai

The word “samurai” has interesting roots. It means, “to serve.” More specifically, it means to serve something or someone higher than oneself. The samurai looks at the broader picture and chooses specific actions accordingly. To aid in this they practiced many arts with some samurai being great poets and artists. They worked to understand the principles of life beyond fighting. This led to even-tempered decision-making. This approach is critical when making organizational changes, some of which may be enjoyable and others painful.

Martial Arts

Martial Arts can teach us something about technique when changing an organization. Methods vary with circumstances but evolve from solid principles. In Aikido there is a proverb that goes something like this, “When you come upon a rock; be water and flow around it. When the ground is shifting; be a tree and establish roots.” This knowing when to flex and when to hold your ground is critical. In World War II Henry Kaiser revolutionized shipbuilding by restructuring the manner in which Liberty ships were designed and assembled. He turned naval construction on its head. Once new methods (flexing) were established and integrated they were pushed to the limit (holding ground). The time to build a ship was reduced from 245 days to 45 days with some being completed in less than a week. Some of those construction methods are still in use today.

Zen

So how do you pick from all different ways to organize? What order should they be used in? There are so many methods and types of advice one can get overwhelmed. The key is establishing and keeping an eye on your goals and values and choosing the appropriate method.

Zen offers some good advice: Be immovable. Now, this doesn’t mean be stubborn. It also doesn’t mean being stuck. What it does mean is be imperturbable. Have all decisions reflect movement towards desired goals while keeping values in sight. For more on this see a previous blog, Change Management – Leadership: An Executive Map, Compass and Navigation Method.

Complexity Theory

Now you can take a tip from complexity theory on how best to organize: let the people do it themselves. With everyone understanding the goals and values do something very interesting: take the organization back-and-forth between equilibrium and disequilibrium. When things are moving well – let them be (equilibrium). When a change is needed shake things up by pointing to the challenges and let the team decide how best to organize or reorganize (disequilibrium).

Andy Grove used a two-step process at Intel.

1. He instilled the belief that change is needed and left the organization alone so the stress would build.
2. When the stress was high enough he would then lead people through “The Valley of Death” to achieve the next chip design. (Adapted from “Surfing the Edge of Chaos,” Richard Pascale, et. al.)

In the next blog we will look at some deadly misconceptions regarding technology and change and how to remedy the situation. If you are as interested as I in these topics send me an e-mail at gwmonti@mac.com or visit www.ctrchg.com.

With over 30 years experience, Gary Monti consults/teaches/mentors/speaks in change management and project management with a focus on compassion and respect in the workplace. The work is grounded in project management, chaos and complexity theories combined with Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Tagged as: active garage, business, Business Management, Business Strategy, Leadership, management, Martial Arts, possibilities, Project Management, purpose, Samurai, Strategy, Zen