POWER THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: E-Volunteering to Build Powerful Networks, Part 4

Power Thought of the Week with Patricia Parham, Ph.D.

E-Volunteering: Communicating Leads to Knowledge of Core Issues
Writing emails, e-zines and press releases, proofreading information to be posted, setting up chat rooms, on-line forums, blogs and other internet activities gives knowledge of the client and how they interface with the public and stakeholders. It exposes the strengths of the relationships and areas needing improvement. Use this information to tailor e-mentoring, e-coaching, or professional services to help solve legal, financial, managerial or administrative problems and to maximize strengths and opportunities.

Patricia A. Parham
Parham Enterprises
www.parhament.com

For more information, please visit Patricia's TNNW Bio.


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POWER THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: E-Volunteering to Build Powerful Networks, Part 4

The First Impression Factor, Part VIII

JetNetting with Heshie Segal

In Part VII of The First Impression Factor, you had the opportunity to assess your ability to make that all important positive first impression. How did you do? Have you recognized and implemented change in any area? If so, you will have surely seen some differences in “who you are being”. If not, and you are dubious about how to address specific challenges, you will, in the next part of this series, be given hints on making the most of each of the action items from the prior assessment. While it may take some practice, you will hone those skills until your actions become second nature.

In the next articles, we will focus on the part of the communication section dealing with the smile and eye contact. For a complete outline of all the communication skills, refer back to The First Impression Factor, Part VII. You will notice several of these categories being combined in future articles.

Before you even say a word, you already communicate with your body language...a smile, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and your posture. It’s all non-verbal, and to the surprise of some, it speaks louder than your words.

The Smile

The smile has its own universal language. It is the most powerful non-verbal tool we possess. It costs us nothing and it could cost us everything. It conveys a myriad of emotions without our uttering a word. It cheers the discouraged. It fosters good will in business. It makes us wealthy when we give or receive it and makes us impoverished when we withhold it or do not bestow it.

Smiling is a powerful cue that conveys warmth and friendliness. As a communication tool, it tells people you feel secure and have high self-esteem. If you smile frequently, you will be perceived as more likeable, warm, approachable, confident and non-threatening. True smiles are the result of something or someone pleasing you. They say, “I like it or I like you. Because smiles are infectious, they make people feel good and that tends to make them be more receptive to listening to you.

If the smile is inappropriate, continuous or if it is used simply to please someone else, it will certainly appear as just that . . insincere, you will not be taken seriously and will lose credibility. Avoid compulsive smiling. It is overkill and negative. Smirk and you take the risk of being perceived as sarcastic and negative.

True smiles are not usually very prolonged. In fact, the Long Smile might frequently be faked or forced. It can be distracting and invariably arouse a negative feeling...unless of course the situation is one that makes you genuinely happy.

How and when you smile has meaning:

Our smiles come in many sizes, shapes, widths, and with and without teeth showing, each used for a reason.

1. The Simple Smile shows no teeth. It is used in passing another person or simply when you think of something pleasant; like smiling to yourself. When it is forced, it tends to indicate insincerity.
2. The Upper Smile exposes the upper teeth. This smile is often used when greeting someone. Eye contact normally accompanies this type of smile.
3. With the Broad Smile, both upper and lower teeth are visible. This smile is an indication of genuine interplay of good humor, jest, and belly laughter. No eye contact needs to accompany this laugh.
4. Oblong Smiles, where the lips are drawn back fully, have no depth and are usually a forced indication of politeness.
5. The Lip-In Smile is similar to the upper smile. In this case, the lower lip is pulled in between the teeth. It sometimes signals a feeling of subordination.

Your smile may be so big, so genuine, so loud when you laugh, there may not even be a need to make eye contact. And still remember, you must return to the eye contact because it is here that the real connection begins.

In Part IX, we will focus on that connection...the eye contact that can establish the trust and deepens rapport.

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The First Impression Factor, Part VIII

Are Social Media Jobs In Demand?

Strategy: What Say You? with Jay Deragon

Businesses are increasingly looking for people who fit the titles of social media manager, social media strategist and social media contributors. Justin Williams writes: I have included a graph that shows from 2005 to current, Social Media Jobs have increased by 325%, this is astounding! More and more employers are seeking positions to be filled with their company.

Upon reviewing a handful of the job posting for social media positions one may conclude they are all the same, at least the job descriptions appear to be very similar. Most of the job descriptions appear to focus on candidates who know how to use a listing of social technology with little if any emphasis on relationship or communication skills. Now consider the irony of a business manager, who has little or no experience with social media, telling the HR Department to find us people with social media experience. The natural reaction by the HR people is to define the job responsibilities, skill sets and compensation. One must wonder where does the HR Department go for information concerning “social media jobs”? Most likely they look for previous job postings for social media positions created by other companies and simply copy the descriptions.

Does Business Know What To Ask For?

All this “social stuff” has little definition that can fit neatly into a job description. When you look at the landscape of practices one can see a variety of tools and techniques used by those who have large audiences of followers. Most of the dominant people who garner a massive audience follow a simply rule of sharing insights or passing along insights from others. However the dominant trait of these current “social leaders” is that they relate to the “audience” in a very human way. In other words they are either gifted with communications skills or have learned the art and science of human interaction using social tools. I am not talking about all those sites and people who push out massive marketing messages claiming to have the most current tools or the best advertising schemes. Rather I am talking about those people who simple engage people into dialog, share profound knowledge about the dynamics of human interaction with technology and do so in a very human way.

Finding people who truly understand the value of social media for businesses isn’t as easy as buying an IPhone. The IPhone has set records in sales and became a hit largely because of its design (art) and functionality (technology). When you hire a person to help your business maximize the potential of social media you need to focus on those who understand the art of human relations along with the science of using the technology to accomplish specific aims. The irony is that the art of human relations built on technological interaction is more about knowing how to continuously learn to create and satisfy human experiences. The experiences are centric to attention, attraction, affinity and audience preferences which we discussed here.

As most organizations know, hiring the wrong people for the wrong job can be extremely costly. It is even more costly if you assume everyone knows how to leverage social media for your business purposes and with your audience of suppliers, employees and customers. Be careful what you ask for.

What say you?

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Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free RSS feed, go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com.
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Are Social Media Jobs In Demand?