So many of my conversations with clients end up being about either maintaining the corporation’s managerial integrity in the face of marauding hordes of Facebook enabled staff, or protecting their brand integrity in the face of viral damage spinning out of control online when a customer decides to get their own back for a bad experience. Neither the fantasy of brand nor managerial integrity are sustainable.

Banking epitomises this. When I eventually give up with online systems – that treat me as an undifferentiated unit of a mass market, barely segmented into simplistic demographics – and trek down to my local branch where I have to sit and watch a bank teller – who is treated as an undifferentiated unit of a staff who isn”t trusted to make any decisions and are subject to the same online systems as me albeit with a different set of assumptions this time about grade and accountability.

We both face the same impersonal closed box and we have both had enough. We are starting to talk to each other.

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Interesting to read Sean Trainor’s post this morning about the Civil Service People Survey; the largest employee engagement study ever conducted in the UK, covering over half a million civil servants across 95 departments and agencies.

The bit that caught my eye was

However only

· half of staff are involved in decision making

· one third believe their opinions count

· one quarter believe change is managed well and is for the better

This would be such an opportunity to have a serious attempt to introduce social tools and reverse some of those stats but the scary thing is we are much more likely to see the blunt instrument of hacking staff numbers and more rather than less management initiatives.

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When:
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 from 5:30 PM – 10:00 PM (GMT)

Where:
The Guoman Tower Bridge Hotel
St Katharine’s Way,
London E1W 1LD
United Kingdom

The Business Scene and Economy are changing rapidly.
Corporates increasingly struggle to keep customers and staff engaged.
The Discussion will consider:

• What will the business environment look and behave like in the future?
• How can corporates and individuals grow and thrive in this brave new world?
• The Economy – Where do we go from here?
• Bonus Culture – Good, Banned or Evil?
• Interim Management and Part Time Workers – What’s next?
• The New Economy – Freeze, Flee or Fight?

The audience will also have a chance to ask their own questions on the night too.

“The global financial storm has produced a global shift in awareness, not only have the rules changed – future sustainable business will need to understand that there is a new value equation out there – value 2.0 if you wish – achieving great performance will depend on truly understanding how to deliver and support this value.” – Gary Sage February 2010

You should attend if you need to:

• Develop high-potential employees
• Grow future senior managers/leaders?
• Retain and engage key staff?
• Reduce costs yet maintain high value?
• Build critical business relationships?
• Understand where business and markets will be in 3-5 years?

Management is vitally important in a time of recession. Indeed, the recession is making the development of your business and your talented people more critical.  Staff turnover remains high in the UK, despite the contraction in the number of people out of work and the face of business is rapidly changing as the way we do business is evolving.

As part of your strategic business practice and also management, development and leadership programmes, naturally you will already be examining the ideas about ‘How to Get Great Performance’.

No doubt you have discovered, the rules have changed.  If this is the case, are you now ready to go to the next stages and learn about how to get great performance in a recession at both INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED level?

You could have a happier, more cohesive, more effective leadership team to help you exploit and grow through the recession rather than be damaged by it.  Isn’t it worth a few hours of your time to find out how?

Thought Leaders:
Rainmaker – Gary Sage of SageHagan.
Gary Sage is a ‘Super Skiller’.  He is a gifted consultant and Communications Coach whose personal clients span the globe.  Gary has coached and conducted seminars and workshops on five continents to thousands of people and successfully taken his unique methodology into organisations from as diverse a background of; international banks to luxury goods manufacturers to multinational computer companies, to sole traders.

Rainmaker – Gordon Lovell-Read of Orgmentor.
Gordon is an experienced C-level executive with an outstanding track record of leading, and delivering, change in global companies. A recognised transformation expert and leadership guru, he can often be found engaged where individuals or organizations need to intercept, or outpace, significant market trends through fundamental shifts in strategy, thinking and behaviours. Having been involved in integrating over thirty corporate acquisitions, he is particularly well versed in the challenges and opportunities around cultural diversity and the building of shared service functions to drive out synergies.

Cost: Is to cover room hire as all profit will be going to the charity: ActionAid

All prices listed above exclude VAT.

Next step – book now: Places are limited so click the button now. Additional donations gratefully received.

Registered Charity No 274467

Hosted By:
Erudyte Ltd

Erudyte Ltd is proud to bring to our clients, Rainmakers who have had hands on experience as being leaders, delivered on their goals and now share a vision to create a better world.

Our Rainmakers are driven by a deep passion towards making a measurable, significant and permanent difference in the world and are therefore people who have all made things happen – people who have brought an edge of demonstrable value into an organisational environment.

They do this by imparting their knowledge through popular methods such as speaking, consulting, training and one to ones or a seamless programme working alongside existing training schedules, consulting processes or conference events.

Rainmakers will take you and your organisation
to the edge – beyond the boundaries!

In this exclusive interview, social media expert Euan Semple breaks social media down into easy to understand terms and explains not only why every business should at least have a look at social media but also how they can make a start without the need of employing expensive agencies and IT professionals. Euan explains how most companies are starting to feel pressured to jump head first into social media because everyone is talking about it, although it would be imperative for most businesses to at least investigate social media, throwing too much at it isnt necessarily going to help. Euan also acknowledges that social media can be perceived as being a tool for the younger generation, but that generation is now starting to work within your organisation and with them they will bring the tools which theyre used to using on a day to day basis. This doesnt mean you need to ban social networking sites like Face Book and myspace in your office, it means you need to encourage these staff to use these tools in a manor that can benefit your business and you need to trust them to do this. Euan justifies this by pointing out that they may be more likely to ask their existing peers within that network if they encounter a problem rather than going through the usual time consuming channels. This example is not just limited to the more junior employees; encouraging staff to participate in social media can speed up trouble shooting and enable any solutions found to be shared. Whilst at the BBC, Euan pioneered the use of weblogs, wikis and online forums to enable staff to work more collaboratively across the organisation. Euan also worked on the bbcs award winning leadership programme, gaining experience in how to engage and inspire people with the possibilities of social computing as a business tool. He is now independent advisor on social computing for business, and a well known writer, thinker and public speaker. His unique experience enables him to provide inspiration on this wired-up world of work and strategies for how business can prepare themselves for the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies

In this exclusive interview, social media expert Euan Semple breaks social media down into easy to understand terms and explains not only why every business should at least have a look at social media but also how they can make a start without the need of employing expensive agencies and IT professionals. Euan explains how most companies are starting to feel pressured to jump head first into social media because everyone is talking about it, although it would be imperative for most businesses to at least investigate social media, throwing too much at it isnt necessarily going to help. Euan also acknowledges that social media can be perceived as being a tool for the younger generation, but that generation is now starting to work within your organisation and with them they will bring the tools which theyre used to using on a day to day basis. This doesnt mean you need to ban social networking sites like Face Book and myspace in your office, it means you need to encourage these staff to use these tools in a manor that can benefit your business and you need to trust them to do this. Euan justifies this by pointing out that they may be more likely to ask their existing peers within that network if they encounter a problem rather than going through the usual time consuming channels. This example is not just limited to the more junior employees; encouraging staff to participate in social media can speed up trouble shooting and enable any solutions found to be shared. Whilst at the BBC, Euan pioneered the use of weblogs, wikis and online forums to enable staff to work more collaboratively across the organisation. Euan also worked on the bbcs award winning leadership programme, gaining experience in how to engage and inspire people with the possibilities of social computing as a business tool. He is now independent advisor on social computing for business, and a well known writer, thinker and public speaker. His unique experience enables him to provide inspiration on this wired-up world of work and strategies for how business can prepare themselves for the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies