Wanted: One Top Web Developer

76design76design, our Web design and development firm, has been booming. And we really need to bolster our team of developers – quickly.

So, if you are a great developer who is looking for a chance to do interesting and challenging work in an environment that provides growth opportunities, click over to 76design’s Web Developer Wanted post and let us know that you’d be interested in joining us.

FlackLife and The Client Side join Our Community

Michael SeatonIf you take a look at “Our Community” in ProPR’s sidebar, you’ll see two new additions: FlackLife and The Client Side. We’ve added these blogs because their authors, Bob LeDrew and Michael Seaton, have joined us at Thornley Fallis.

That’s pretty exciting for us. Not only do we gain two new work colleagues, but they also bring two blogs to us with two very different perspectives.

Bob LeDrewBob LeDrew has been sharing his perspective on the public relations industry and issues since April 2003. Michael Seaton writes and podcasts from the perspective of a digital marketer who was until he joined us on the Client Side as Director of Digital Marketing at one of Canada’s major banks.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve been able to include some very smart people in our community who write about social media, communications, marketing and design. Our community currently includes: Michael O’Connor Clarke, Terry Fallis, John Sobol, the Web designers and developers at 76design, the PRGirlz (although they’ve posted sparingly lately), and the PR team in Canada’s capital. And although they’ve left the firm, we still think of David Jones, Chris Clarke and John Wiseman as members of our extended social media family.

Our approach to blogging is that we want people with their own blogs to bring them to our community. We encourage them to write as frequently as they want. And we always acknowledge that if they leave us, they can take their blogs with them. We will retain the value of what we learned and shared while they were with us, but their blogs are theirs.

While they are with us, we ask only that they observe our blogging policy – which is simple. It has only two provisions: “Blog Smart” and “Cause no harm to any person.”

I’m a longtime reader of both Bob’s and Michael’s blogs. They’re smart and always interesting.

So, if you haven’t discovered these two writers yet, I hope that you’ll subscribe to the feeds of both FlackLife and The Client Side and see for yourself why I’m excited to have them as part of the Thornley Fallis Community.

Student PR's Chris Clarke on getting a job in public relations

Chris Clarke joined Thornley Fallis straight out of school. He was the first person we hired primarily because of his experience in blogging. He’d begun his Student PR blog while studying public relations at London’s Fanshawe College. I subscribed to Chris’ blog and read his posts. Over time, I thought that Chris demonstrated passion for PR and a distinctive perspective and voice that would mesh well with Thornley Fallis’ exploration of social media.

Well, today is Chris’ last day at Thornley Fallis before he leaves us to join another firm that recruited him away from us. We sat down to chat about the highlights of his first PR work experience, what he learned and what advice he would offer to students who are thinking about a career in public relations. Some of Chris’ observations:

  • On the job discovery: PR is a small community. Everyone in the business know one another. If you want to build a career in PR, get out from behind your desk and network. “It’s a nice, small tight-knit community, so the sooner you get to know people, the better off you’re going to be… Networking is one of those things that I picked up early on and hung on to because it’s so important to advance yourself professionally.”
  • On the job lessons: “You’ve got to listen. Always listen. Write things down. Try to take on as much as you can. … you try a little bit of everything and you learn a lot.”
  • Advice for students hoping to break into PR: “Start blogging. Get out there and get involved in the social media community and blog as much as you can.”

You can watch a five minute video of my interview with Chris Clarke here.

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A time to say goodbye

This is a week of change for Thornley Fallis and our family of bloggers.

Chris ClarkeStudent PR’s Chris Clarke is leaving us to see what another organization has to teach him.

When Chris joined us in May 2006, we were still relatively new to blogging and social media. Thornley Fallis had just over a year of experience with Wikis and blogs. Pro PR was still less than a year old. And Chris had been posting for about three months at Student PR.

During his time with us, Chris was one of the founding organizers of Third Tuesday Toronto. He also took up the task of producing Inside PR. And he shared his learning experiences through his blog. His posts were often provocative, sometimes controversial, but always worth reading.

Of course, even if his day job will be on the other side of town, Chris will never be more than a click away from us here at Thornley Fallis. Chris’ Student PR blog will move from Our Community to TF Alumni on the ProPR and Thornley Fallis sidebar. I know I’ll continue to subscribe to his blog and comment on it. And I’m counting on Chris to continue as one of the founding organizers of Third Tuesday Toronto.

I was proud to have Chris Clarke as a member of the Thornley Fallis team. And while he’s leaving us for another day job, he’ll continue to be part of our social media community. And a friend.

So, here’s wishing good luck to you, Chris. It’s been a great experience. I’ve learned a lot by working alongside you. And I’ve enjoyed it from beginning to end. May the future bring you only success and happiness.

UPDATE: Chris has posted about his plans post-Thornley Fallis.

Skype and the Enterprise

The final morning session at Enterprise 2.0 that I attended focused on Skype and the issues its adoption raises within the Enterprise. Irwin Lazar moderated a panel of Rebecca Cavagnari, VP of Convenos, Lou Guercia, President of WebDialogs and Michael Jackson from Skype.

Skype has become the most popular communications application, with 9.2 million users logged in at any time and hundreds of millions of downloads.

The virtual workplace is here. Nemertes Research reports that 83% of enterprises reported in 2006 that they have incorporated virtual workplaces.

Skype is the first unified messaging application. And it has taken off with individuals and small businesses.
Individual employees have introduced Skype into the enterprise. Skype has developed a Skype for Business product geared to the Enterprise environment. However, adoption by the enterprise has lagged behind individual user adoption.

Nemertes researched the views of enterprises about Skype. Almost half (46%) of their respondents have a policy to block it. (Note that the policy is not universally applied.) About one in ten – mostly nonprofit organizations – actively use it. Overall, there is not a great deal of acceptance by the highest levels in the enterprise, but there is broad usage by individuals.

Corporate concerns include control of usage and security.

Lou Guercia feels that the only element missing from Skype as a unified communications platform is data sharing. His company, WebDialogs, offers a Skype web conferencing plug in under the Unyte brand name.
Skype’s Michael Jackson says that one third of Skype’s users claim that they use it in the workplace.

Rebecca Cavagnari indicated that Convenos also provides a Skype web conferencing plug in.

How do they address the challenge of acceptance by enterprises?

Michael Jackson indicated that Skype is paying attention to the concerns and issues raised by the enterprise market. As they refine the product, they are making changes to take these into account.

Rebecca Cavagnari indicated that Convenos users include a large representation of people who are based outside of the United States. And they use Skype to establish presence and communicate prior to the beginning of the web conference.

Lou Guercia indicated that the conferences that are routed through WebDialog’s Skype plugin tend to be smaller than through its other products.

Skype’s Michael Jackson points out that Skype is never positioned as a replacement for phone service. Instead, they point to the greater capabilities, including video, that Skype enables. Skype uses its own internal uasge of Skype as a testbed.

Lou Guercia feels that the biggest challenge for a consumer-based company like Skype faces is scale. As a B-to-C company, Skype does not have the support system that B-to-B customers demand. He expects that this will encourage Skype to continue to focus on individual users while peacefully co-existing with the enterprise.

Cavagnari agrees that companies that partner with Skype should not expect Skype to change its focus to the Enterprise. Consequently, the partners must rely on their own efforts to ensure that their products that use Skype meet the needs of business users.

Bottom line for Guercia, Skype partners, not Skype, will have to meet the needs of business partners.

Skype’s Michael Jackson tackled the question of interoperability. He suggested that this has not been an issue for Skype’s end users, but more of an issue for analysts.

Skype has ventured into social applications with its Skypecast initiative. This is still very much in its formative stages. The company will wait for the community to develop applications rather than, with its limited size, try to itself push into the edge applications.

Why did Convenos and WebDialog integrate Skype into their products? Cavagnari indicated that Skype presented a superior substitute for the Codec that was in their product. Gueros indicated that they incorporated Skype for branding purposes. Skype gave them a brand awareness that they could not otherwise have achieved. Since December, they have done business in 47 countries – with no sales force and just an eCommerce site.

An interesting session for me. However, there seemed to be a lack of audience engagement. In fact, I had the impression that this session was trying to answer a question that nobody had asked.

Creating a positive culture and a winning team

I’m a big fan of David Maister’s approach to creating a successful professional services company. Effective leadership is an essential ingredient to his approach.

Real leadership is earned, not bestowed as an byproduct of one’s position in an organization. Many managers have discovered that the technical skills that have propelled them into management are not the skills they need to be successful as leaders.  People vote with their feet every day, especially in an organization that is staffed by knowledge workers with highly valuable expertise and skills. If these people don’t have confidence in the leadership of the company they work at, if they don’t trust them or like them, they can easily take their talent elsewhere.

That’s why today is a happy day for me. Today I was able to recognize one of those true leaders people choose to follow, who inspires loyalty and encourages people to excel.

As I try to walk the talk myself, I thought I’d share with you the email that I sent out earlier today announcing the promotion of one of my colleagues, Keelan Green. I hope that it conveys the right signals to the people with whom I work about what is important and what is valued in our organization.

You’ve probably noticed that the Ottawa office has been on a real roll during the past year. We’ve added some great new consultants (you know who you are!!!), done great work for clients who not only continued to place their trust in us but also provided positive referrals to other clients, and won additional business through straight-ahead competitions. Equally important, the sound of laughter and the sight of smiles is a regular part of the work day.

Every person working in Ottawa has made a real contribution to this success. And I thank you for this.

Today, I want to recognize the particular contribution of Keelan Green. Keelan has been our leader in many ways for the past two years. He leads us literally in being the first person in the office most days. He leads us in showing how to use our work time effectively to get results for clients. As a colleague, I know that Keelan can always be counted on to pitch in when I or someone else needs help. And when the chips are down, he won’t give up until we’ve achieved what we set out to do.

Keelan can also be counted on to show us how to maintain a good balance in our lives (because it’s not only about work.) He taught us that summer Thursdays are for golf. And beware the person who tries to cut into that time!

But most important, we know that Keelan always cares. He cares about our company, the people who work here and making sure that together we are successful. Because if we are successful we can all realize our dreams.

So, I am absolutely delighted to recognize Keelan’s achievements and place in our company by promoting him to General Manager of our Ottawa office. (sound of applause, whistling, foot stomping)

This is not an end, but the beginning of an even more exciting year that lies ahead. In the coming days, Keelan will be working with both the Thornley Fallis Communications and 76design teams to lay out plans to continue to excel in each of our practice areas while also exploring the potential synergies that can be realized by combining our different areas of expertise. I know that he’ll be talking to each of us about the opportunities for us individually to grow and contribute to our collective success.

Congratulations Keelan! It’s your time.

* Thanks to Hugh McLeod for the great drawing. Always a source of inspiration.

We're looking for senior people to join our team

Thornley FallisA short plug for Thornley Fallis: We’re searching for senior people in our Toronto office.

December was a great month for our health care team. They retained a major account and won an assignment from another new client. But this means more work for us now. So, we are looking for a senior communicator who can help us to deliver outstanding work for these clients.

Michael O’Connor Clarke also is searching for an Account Director who will help us to continue to grow during the coming year. Account Directors are our top tier practitioners. So, this is a great opportunity for someone who has already demonstrated success and now wants to take a leadership position with a growing consulting firm.

If you know of someone who might be interested in either of these positions, please ask them to look at the job descriptions on our website. We’ll work hard to make this a smart career move for the right person.

A session I'd like to see at Mesh 07 – Social media, Corporate Brand and Personal Brand: The Employer's Dilemma

Mesh 06 was a seminal event for Canada’s social media community. Happily, Mark, Mathew, Mike, Rob and Stuart, have decided that one good event deserves another. And that means there will be a Mesh 2007.

Mesh ConferenceHere’s one session I hope the organizers include in this year’s program: “Social media, Corporate Brand and Personal Brand: The Employer’s Dilemma.”

In the past year, we have seen several prominent bloggers and podcasters leave their old companies for newer pastures. Some examples: PR uber blogger Steve Rubel left CooperKatz to join Edelman. Podtech made Microsoft’s prize blogger Robert Scoble an offer he didn’t want to refuse. Blogging reporter Mark Evans decamped the National Post for the excitement of new media startup, b5media. And close to (my) home, Fleishman Hillard recruited David Jones from my company, Thornley Fallis.

In each case, these bloggers had been encouraged (or permitted, in Mark’s case) to blog by their original employers. In each case, they built up their own personal brand. And in each case, their personal brand and their employer’s brand were closely linked.

Then they left. And their now former employers were challenged by this departure. What did it say about the company that they had chosen to leave? What did it do to the company’s brand? Did it diminish it? How did each company react?

I think a discussion on this topic could yield some valuable insight into how employers should approach the challenge of encouraging blogging employees while recognizing that their success makes it more likely that they will be more mobile than other employees. What attitude should they take to employee bloggers? Can companies develop enduring brand equity through the activities of these bloggers or will their equity and good will depart with them? Do traditional approaches to Intellectual Property apply or do we need a new set of rules?

I hear these questions from many of the business executives who discuss blogging with me. I think that a good panel of employers and bloggers who have already experienced this social media effect would provide insight that others can apply in future.

What do you think? Would you attend a session like this? How about panelists? Who would you like to hear discussing this topic?

IABC International Conference – Pat McNamara

Apex PRPat McNamara’s session was titled Fuel your business: Strategies from one of Canada’s fastest growing companies. She did not disappoint as she delivered a fast-paced presentation chock full of wisdom and practical tips.

Highlights of her presentation:

One of the secrets of success is to get awards. And we have applied for almost all the awards we won.

The ‘Not so secret” ingredients of a successful, profitable PR business are

  • The right people
  • The right clients
  • The right business

To be successful, you must have a passion both for PR and running a business. If you don’t have that passion, people will not want to work with you.

Pat is a fan of David Maister and she has put much of his advice into practice.

Getting hired is about earning and deserving trust. You need to earn trust. Be generous with your time and help. Show a good understanding of the situation.

The absolute number one key to success is having the right people and the right culture. Unfortunately, PR firms tend not to do a good job of communicating with their employees.

Culture must be consciously created.

  • Reputation is key.
  • Trust and empower your employees.
  • Build a strong, talented management team.
  • Ensure you have a leadership, not boss mentality.
  • Have fun.

At Apex, Pat believes that “The company becomes strong one employee at a time.” Think of employees as individuals. Figure out what each one is good at and figure out how to make those strengths fit into your success formula. Constantly reward success and achievement – in ways that are meaningful to them. And surprise them. The unanticipated can delight.

Always do an employee survey. You cannot pay too much attention to what your employees are thinking.

“People leave managers, not companies.”

If you can keep your employee turnover low, your business will have a firm foundation for growth. Clients stay with businesses that have stable teams.

HumanResources.com has a list of the top 10 reasons people stay at a workplace. 46% is related to people. 18% is related to the job. 12% is pay related. 10% is related to the company.

Ensure that you have a leadership mentaility, not a boss mentality. The company is about the sum of its parts. Everyone should be encouraged to understand and believe that they can contribute.

Focus on ensuring that all people in a leadership position have strong leadership skills and an understanding of the importance of this role.

McNamara recommends Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, First Break All the Rules, as a source for the questions to ask in ensuring that employees are inspired.

To grow your business, you must:

  • Hunt and acquire new prospects.
  • Market to existing clients.
  • Identify new sources of business.

Not all new business is good business. If you work with clients who are not very nice or whom you are not very passionate about, you’ll lose your people. Get the right kind of business, not more business.

Existing clients are the most likely sources of new business and the most profitable.

When deciding who to purse, start with an honest assessment of your capabilities. Do you have a chance of winning this business? To have a reasonable chance, you must have special expertise, the time and the resources to stand out from the crowd.

Find out as much as possible about the client. You must know them well in order to understand their needs.

Ensure that someone on your team is excited about working with the client. If people are not passionate about this, don’t pitch the business.

Stay away from strangers. Don’t pitch unless you can be in the room and present to the client in person. People choose other people, not paper proposals.

Create a very short list that is focused on your capabilities and ability to win (never pitch business that you don’t think you have at least a 50% chance of winning.)

Pursue opportunities by sending creative packages and look for opportunities to interact (e.g. a PR 101 presentation.)

Understand that most people have made up their mind about whether they like you or not within the first two minutes of meeting you. Make the most of this time.

One you’ve won the business, you must work hard to keep them happy. This should be your number one priority. Happy clients will be forgiving. They will take your advice. They will provide positive referrals.

Reasons clients leave firms:

  • Failed to meet deadlines
  • Did not meet budgets
  • Lack of follow-through
  • Did not keep the client informed of project status
  • Poor or inconsistent quality
  • Did not meet expectations
  • Over-promised, under-delivered
  • Lack of enthusiasm
  • Order-takers vs. idea generators
  • Lack of good chemistry or trust.

Ways to keep your clients:

  • Ensure there is strong team chemistry
  • Provide senior level involvement
  • Under-promise and over-deliver
  • Clients are no your friends; remind your staff
  • Take a “no surprises” approach to budgets
  • Set clear expectations; put them in writing
  • Never miss a deadline; develop thorough, doable timelines
  • Ask: what’s the best/worst thing we could do?
  • Use their products
  • Let your clients interact with each other
  • Admit your mistakes
  • Show your passion for their business

Listen to your clients

  • Conduct a client survey
  • Conduct internal reviews – be brutally honest in your assessment.
  • Interact with your clients – walk the halls with them; attend sales meetings; introduce them to new ideas and services even if they are not your own.

Have regular conversations with the client:

  • First week: conduct a client audit and organize an internal indoctrination on how we will work together.
  • 30 days: conduct a review of how we are doing. Walk them through the first invoice
  • 90 days: Ask for an assessment of performance and gauge performance against written expectations
  • Six months: Do an activity recap and a planning session.
  • One-year review: Conduct a written survey and establish new directions.

To grow existing business:

  • Ensure you have multiple contacts
  • Conduct/attend media/presentation training
  • Attend marketing and sales meetings
  • Interact with other suppliers
  • Start an idea generator program
  • Introduce alternate team members
  • Invite them to other client events

PRSA Counselors Academy Deb Radman

Day two of Counselors Academy opened with another round of Breakout sessions – small groups of 10 to 15 participants seated around a table for a discussion led by a senior practitioner or an expert advisor.

The first session I attended on “Preparing Your Future Leaders,” was led by Deb Radman, Managing Director of Stanton Communications and a former Chair of Counselors Academy. Darryl Salerno, the President of Second Quadrant, also offered much valuable insight. Darryl is the advisor Steve Cody credits with helping him to develop Peppercom‘s successful formula.

Future LeaderMost of the discussion participants agreed with Radman’s that all people are imbued with somesome leadership qualities. It is the responsiblity of current leaders to help young people to identify and develop the particular leadership qualities each of them possesses.

Of course, some people need more help than others to discover what they have that is special and will help them to lead a team or to run an agency.

Mid-size firms provide an opportunity for people to develop their leadership abilities. We’re in the leadership business: Our work is about helping articulate a vision, helping set goals, planning, researching, advising, persuading, and clarifying. That’s what leaders do.

We must stimulate the people who work for us to consider what kind of leader they might be and what they need to do to get there. Ask employees about who is an aspiring leader? Who do they perceive to be leaders? it’s very revealing.

  • What leaders look like:
  • They have bedrock values.
  • They have the courage to be decisive.
  • Consistent behaviour.
  • They do what they say they’re going to do.
  • They have the courage to be decisive.
  • They enable collaboration by building trust.
  • They create other leaders, not followers.
  • They articulate a clear vision of where they’re going.
  • They choose to lead.

To teach leadership, the people who you are trying to teach must perceive you to be a leader.
You must know what the people in your organization view as leadership qualities; then look at yourself to determine if you have the qualities to lead them, not just to manage them.

Radman emphasized that there is a tremendous difference between being a leader and a boss.

  • Boss drives people; Leader motivates them.
  • Boss depends on authority; Leader on persuasion.
  • Boss uses fear; Leader uses positive reinforcement.
  • Boss fixes the blame; Leader looks for a solution.
  • Boss say “I”; Leader say “we.”
  • Boss will tell people what to do; Leader will entice people to do something.

Leadership is a choice; you must inspire or persuade people to look inside themselves to determine what they want.