Guest Blogger: Advocates- Who are yours?

Today's Guest Blogger is Gina Flaig. These Ladies Have "IT" met Gina through the WOMEN UNLIMITED LEAD program that brought the four of us together.  Gina was our external mentor through the program and made an impact on our leadership style. Mid-program, Gina challenged each of us to identify our advocates during the program.  She was met with blank stares as we each thought about the question and racked our brains for who we could identify as our advocates. Clearly we had work to do in this area.  We asked Gina to share with each of you today her position on advocates.  She wants this to be interactive, so please respond via the comments section with your responses to her questions. 

Think back to when someone spoke highly of you in the workplace when you weren’t there to do it yourself.  What that person did for you is called advocating.  Advocates are like the wind beneath our proverbial wings.

What I have learned is that many decisions in organizations are made quickly and with much less conversation than most people would expect.  Say there was an opening due to a promotion.  There are often short meetings or concise emails that bring up a name ie “It’s time for Jaime; let’s move her into a role.”  And then, poof, the decision is made and Jaime is in.  And some are left wondering, “Why wasn’t it me?”

Sometimes we think that our hard work should speak for itself. And while hard work and results are important, they often are not enough to provide momentum when it comes to your career trajectory.  Your skills and performance coupled with others’ familiarity of you and their belief in you is how people make decisions about your future in the workplace.  Others need to believe and be willing to stake a claim on your future success to be an advocate.  If it was a betting game, they’d need to be placing bets on you.  

If you are not sure about the web of advocacy you have spun in your workplace, think about a recent organizational decision, and learn about how the decision was made.  When/if the next decision gets made that could benefit you; do the people making the decisions know enough about you? Do they know what they need to know about you?  Are they familiar enough with you? Do you have advocates whom can directly or indirectly influence the decision? ASK.

Even a more basic question is identifying who your advocates are or could be.  Think about who in your organization knows about you and has praised or complimented you; those who know your value.  Spot people whom have organizational “clout” or influence.  You might need to do some work here and create opportunities to work with and/or get appropriately noticed by these people.  Again, think through your web and get connected.   Find a trusted colleague to help you navigate through this process.

Talk with your advocates.  Get clear on how they speak of you and with whom.  Stay in contact and ask them to be barometers if your workplace currency is ever unstable.  If an opportunity comes up and you know your name is in play, ask one or two key advocates to lean in and actively support you.  Advocating is not a spectator sport.  In the spirit of paying it forward, examine your own ability and willingness to advocate for others.  

Please take a few minutes to respond to this blog by sharing one of two experiences: 1) share when you have successfully worked with your advocates to achieve a desired outcome; how did it/has it heightened your workplace “currency” and/or 2) looking back, when did you miss an opportunity to engage with an advocate(s).  Share your reflections and how you can reset your connections going forwards.   Please share!  Can’t wait to hear.  
Guest Blogger,

Gina Flaig

Social Networking and your Leadership Style - How to make them work together

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Klout. I’m sure everyone is familiar with at least a couple of these names. Are you familiar with all of them? How many of them do you use regularly? Ever wondered how to integrate these into your leadership style in an effective and efficient manner?

YOUR LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
In order to determine if social networking could or should play a part in your leadership style, ask yourself the following question. "What is my Leadership Philosophy and do I exhibit and share it with others?" Without the answer to this question, it is difficult to know where to begin integrating social networking tools into your leadership style.

For example, your leadership philosophy might be:
"I believe in providing challenging and rewarding work in a flexible and engaging environment." (this happens to be mine) Or
"I will be a responsible, intelligent leader who is known for achieving excellence, making a difference, and always exhibiting integrity" (this belongs to Cherlyn Foster, Alcoa)

Your Leadership Philosophy is an important part of your leadership style. It is the compass by which your leadership decisions are given direction. It should help define and shape your brand image for your customers (employees) just as a company’s brand slogan ("Nothing Runs Like a Deere", "Think Different", "Just Do It") does for its products. This is not an easy task to accomplish and requires some thought into how you want to be perceived by others as well as what you feel strongly about. Sit back and think about some of the great supervisors, managers and leaders you’ve worked with and for over the years. What traits stand out strongly for you that you admire and want to emulate? How will these traits benefit your company and your leadership style? Frame a brief statement around these traits that informs others about your style. Be sure this is something you can (or already do) have in your style naturally. This should be a statement that genuinely reflects your authentic style. If it isn’t quite ready for "public consumption" find a mentor to help you round out the rough edges.

Now that we’ve covered your Leadership Philosophy, whom have you shared it with? Who knows what you stand for? Just like with a product in the market for sale, if it isn’t advertised appropriately, no one is going to buy it – or at least not many people will buy it. So, if you don’t make your leadership philosophy known, you likely won’t have many followers. And what is a leader without followers? Share this with your boss, your peers, your direct reports and other colleagues. Sharing it includes reflecting your words in your everyday interactions. Be sure your behavior is intentional and authentic. Now it’s time to put your philosophy into action to get the word out. Here is where some social networking tools can help. But, where to start?

WHAT CAN SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS DO TO HELP YOU SPREAD THE WORD? I found it was easiest to start small. I set myself up with a Twitter account. This would allow me to be able to share articles, insights and websites that reflect my leadership style. I found articles on websites like CNN.com, HBR.com, WSJ.com, and Inc.com. These sites have a handy button to click and post to Twitter. The articles I choose to share reflect my passion around my Leadership Philosophy. Rather than just quickly sharing the article, I ask probing questions that encourage my followers to read the article and share it with others. My following was (is?) small, but it grows a little each week. Twitter gives you suggestions for people to follow based on your interests and others that you follow. Begin following several people and they may follow you back.  If you find you don’t have the time to peruse websites regularly to hunt down articles that resonate with you, I recommend subscribing to their RSS Feeds. What is an RSS Feed (Really Simple Syndication)? It is a method of directing website updates directly to your Outlook Inbox, Google Reader account, or other RSS reader.

Have a LinkedIn account? LinkedIn is a professional networking site. My connections on LinkedIn are strictly those people I know through professional interactions. To reach a broader audience, connect your LinkedIn account to Twitter. Then when you share via LinkedIn you can post to Twitter simultaneously. For an additional way to reach more, connect Facebook to your Twitter account and all three are updated with one post. The path I follow most often is LinkedIn to Twitter to Facebook.

To make these connections, the following links will provide instructions:
http://learn.linkedin.com/twitter/
https://support.twitter.com/articles/31113-how-to-use-twitter-with-facebook

Finally, I need to mention one of the newer players in the social networking sphere, Pinterest. Initially, this site was accepting members by invitation only. This lent itself a certain mystery and elite feel that increased its popularity quickly. It started out with a largely female membership as a way to share photos, craft ideas, and recipes. You get the idea. But then, something shifted. I recall an article that intrigued me regarding how leaders can use Pinterest. After reading the article I created a few boards on my Pinterest profile where I can pin articles that I enjoyed or want to read later. My Pinterest account is connected to Facebook and Twitter, so I’m able to update Twitter with my Leadership pins on Pinterest. Now Pinterest is growing even faster – as of June 2012 it was the third largest social networking site. A recent article in Forbes gives steps to use Pinterest as a way to promote your business. These same steps can be applied to promoting your leadership philosophy.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IT’S WORKING FOR YOU? So now you have your philosophy, you’re matching your actions to your philosophy and using tools to share it quickly with others via social and professional networking sites. How will you know it’s working for you? How do you know others are picking up the messages you’re putting out there? There are some ways to measure your impact.
As any leader knows, you can’t be a leader without followers. You can gauge your reach by monitoring the growth of your followers on most of these sites. Most social networking sites have the option to post comments to items others post. Facebook includes a Share option where others can share what you have posted. Twitter has a similar feature called Re-Tweeting. All of these sites send notifications when others re-tweet, share or comment on your posts and tweets. These can help you get a feel for whether or not your message is coming across. Even better, there is a site that gathers this information on your social and professional networking activity and calculates a score that measures your influence, Klout.com . Your score is updated daily, so you can easily see the impact recent activity will have on your overall influence score.

SO NOW WHAT? There is a lot to consider when it comes to social networking and your leadership style. Bottom line – know what you want to communicate to others, know your audience, and be intentional about your actions. Let the websites do the heavy lifting by connecting your accounts together to reach a broader audience and enjoy the results as you watch your influence grow! Happy Tweeting!


Your Guest Blogger,
Liz Meeks
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