Crowd-Sourcing - cartoon

We don't sell products; we sell the marketplace. And by 'sell the marketplace' we mean 'play shooters, sometimes for upwards of 20 hours straight.'

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Lessons on teamwork from really bad team members

The best managers understand that effective leaders are also solid team players. The workplace is filled with capable teammates, even some who take initiative, overdeliver and inspire colleagues.

Unfortunately, there’s also the occasional employee who has no idea how to collaborate or communicate effectively.

Such poor performers aren’t entirely useless, though. They offer some of the most poignant lessons on teamwork and leadership.

Here are seven things failing team members do and what you can learn from them.

1. Complain about everyone and everything. The worst co-workers are often the most negative ones. Employees who complain regularly about others — or about circumstances in general — do little to help the team and much to hurt it. The most effective team members stay positive and find good ways to provide feedback.
2. Gossip regularly (about work or personal issues). Nothing breeds distrust and paranoia like gossiping in the workplace. Team members who spread — or worse, start — rumors are literally sowing the seeds of discord. The best team members and leaders express an interest in colleagues’ personal life bust respect everyone’s privacy and dignity.
3. Hoard knowledge. There’s nothing wrong with a lust for learning, but ineffective team members often accumulate as many secrets as possible and are loath to share helpful information with co-workers. Hoarders think their unique knowledge is valuable, but they don’t realize that unshared knowledge is useless. The best team members establish themselves as experts by becoming go-to resources in their field of specialization.
4. Talk almost completely about themselves. There’s nothing wrong with self-promotion and increasing your visibility at work, but poor team members take this quality to a fault. They’re especially likely to use words such as “I” and “me” and take individual credit for their team’s success. On the other hand, the best teammates promote their team’s success, ask lots of questions, know when to listen and use words such as “we” and “us.”
5. Play the blame game. Every team member — from executive to entry-level employee — should learn to take responsibility for his or her actions. By casting blame, workers actually diminish their sphere of influence, personal autonomy, others’ trust in them and colleagues’ respect. The most successful team members take responsibility for success and failure and right any mistake if possible.
6. Look for reasons to exclude people. Some teammates try to create small, insular groups and find every reason to limit the size and definition of their team. Such focus on exclusivity only limits the team’s perspective and options. High-performing teams cast the widest net possible and examine every reasonable solution or resource.
7. Lack empathy. It might be easy for some workers to lose sight of their teammates’ feelings, but there’s almost never a good excuse for doing so. The worst team members show an actively callous disregard for colleagues’ well-being. On the other hand, the most successful ones keep lines of communication open, pay attention to colleagues and make themselves as approachable.

If you want to become an effective, brilliant team member, take a look at your poorest-performing teammates and do the opposite.

Once you master the skills of clear and effective communication, building positive relationships at work, promoting yourself and teammates, and taking responsibility for your actions, you’ll be on your way to becoming a highly effective team leader.

Managing water - YouTube

Social sciences have given us a new understanding of how societies are managing natural resources such as water supply.

A research project under the Sustainable Practices Research Group, led by Professor Mark Harvey, is exploring our management and consumption of drinking water in the UK and across the globe.

Facebook Contest Ideas to Benefit Small Businesses

Facebook contests are becoming good marketing strategies for businesses of any size. You’ve probably heard Facebook success stories from big brands with large budgets.

They often have elaborate landing pages, TV commercials, paid blog posts and celebrity endorsements.

What about the small business that doesn’t have thousands to spend? This list is for you.

1.  Tie your contest into current events
Clothing company PLNDR gave a unique twist to the NCAA. Instead of basketball teams facing off against each other, they had brands submit T-shirt designs and let them battle on Facebook.

The designer with the most “likes” moved to the next round. As a result, PLNDR's Facebook page grew 800 percent—look at their chart on this blog post.

TimetoPlayMag.com tied their contest into a holiday with a virtual Easter Egg hunt. They hid five Easter eggs on their website each day, for a total of 15 days.

The first player to find an egg and click on it won a $20 Toys"R"Us gift card. All of the clues and hints to find the eggs were posted on Facebook—smart way to drive people to your site.

2.  Run a photo contest
During the summer, pizza company Fresh Brothers runs contests using their mascot, the Slice (a giant slice of pizza).

They tell fans where and when Slice will be at events, and if they snap a picture with the Slice and post it, they get a gift certificate as a thank you.

Wine website Snooth.com created a Facebook landing page on their Fan page using the Wildfire app. Facebook guidelines say brands should run contests like this through an app.

To promote one of the Australian brand wines, they asked people to submit pictures of people showing their Australian pride.

Fans posted pictures of themselves enjoying the wine and using the Australian recipes from their website.

People voted on the photos, driving new exposure, and as a result, traffic continued even after the contest ended.

3.  Play simple guessing games with your fans
PR firm Sammis & Ochoa runs promotions for two restaurants in Texas. The contests run every Friday at 4 p.m. CDT, which gives them a chance to prep and tell others.

“When we run late, we hear about it,” says CEO Mario Ochoa.

Other game examples:

• A Word Jumble of a local landmark.
• Post a local picture for people to guess where it was taken.
• Guess how many almonds are in the cup.
• Ask a weekly question then randomly choose a fan to reward with a prize.

4.  Ask fans to share their best tips
Hiatus Spa is running a “Be Green and Be Good; Earth Month 2011” Contest. They asked fans to share tips on how to use less resources through this Web page.

The tip with the most unique comments and "likes" wins three Hiatus Spa services. “The great thing is that this has really been fun and people are sharing wonderful, useful information,” said Jordan Harbinger who helped run the contest.

5.  Collect your fan’s favorite quotes
This is simple and can be applied to just about any business. Laura Ann Allahverdi is a Personal Life Coach who asked her fans to submit their favourite quotes.

The person who got the most likes on their quote got a free session with Laura. She loved how people filled her Wall with inspirational posts and fans got their friends involved in the contest, increasing her exposure to new networks.

6.  Name the local celebrity game
Maia Yogurt said one of their most successful contests was a "local celebrity ID" game. They posted a picture of a local "celebrity", they chose a popular and well-known independent grocery store owner so it helped garner some good will with the people they hoped to contact, and asked their Facebook fans to guess the person’s name to win a free MAIA T-shirt.

7.  Reward “likes”
Again, you must be careful how you do this to fall within Facebook guidelines, but there are many ways to reward people for becoming fans.

Snack and Munch ships boxes of snacks to hungry office workers and college students so they’re ready for the munchies.

To enter their contest, they ask people to “like” their page. They choose a weekly winner who gets a free box of 24 snacks. In the process, they get great feedback about their product.

The company has some solid advice about expectations: “You have to be patient because the success doesn’t come overnight, it takes time and persistent. Persistence is the key, you have to keep on moving forward and not stop.”

LinkedIn Marketing: 7 Tips for the Small Business

LinkedIn has over 135 million members, the majority of whom are professionals, in 200 countries.

For businesses looking to connect with particular industries or specific business demographics, its powerful search facilities and networking opportunities make the most out of a limited marketing budget.

The following LinkedIn tips will help you focus on the network’s potential;

1. Listen to your market
LinkedIn Groups can essentially provide you with free market research if you spend time browsing in the right places.

Once you have identified your target market, you can search for the groups in which people are discussing the sorts of problems or challenges they are facing, or learn more about how they would like to do business.

2. Maximize your profile
Make the most of your company profile by filling in all the sections, including the keywords, which will help others find you.

Be sure to keep all links current and customize what you can. For instance, you can change the URL to be your company name rather than a string of numbers and letters.

You can also upgrade your account to allow you to do more, such as using the InMail service to contact members, get introductions to companies and see more information on potential contacts.

3. Make the most of what you already have
You can use LinkedIn apps to link your blog, portfolio and other content directly into your LinkedIn feed.

You can also upload YouTube videos, SlideShare presentations and other media. Or you can set your Twitter or Facebook updates to post automatically to LinkedIn.

If you do this, however, beware of how you would like your business to be portrayed; frivolous Facebook or Twitter remarks may seem out of place on LinkedIn.

4. Use LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn Ads can offer a low-cost alternative to traditional advertising, with a potentially wider and more targeted reach, including CEOs or senior decision makers. Because of the detail in LinkedIn accounts, LinkedIn Ads can specifically target your demographic by industry, geographic location, seniority, age or LinkedIn Group.

5. LinkedIn recommendations
One of the best ways to build your business’s reputation on LinkedIn is to ask for recommendations from customers, clients or business partners.

Recommendations from others will show up in their profile, meaning that their own network will see it, which gives you a much wider reach than your own network.

You can also use LinkedIn’s Recommendation Ads to have your recommendations placed strategically on your customers’ profiles.

6. Make the most of LinkedIn’s search feature
LinkedIn has detailed search criteria in their Advanced Search, which can help you target your efforts and reach contacts or other networking opportunities in a more focused way.

In addition to keywords, names, location and company, you can also search industries, groups, seniority, experience, function, company size and several other categories.

7. Manage your goals
It is important to realize that, as with any social network, LinkedIn is a tool for connecting but it is only as good as the way you use it.

You can maximize your effort by having clear goals of what you want to achieve, whether it is numbers of client connections, hits to your website, recommendation targets or an increased exposure with a particular demographic.

Keeping your goals in mind can help you focus on where to concentrate your resources and create a more successful outcome.

Being Human - The Anatomy of Boredom

Firstly, Boredom is adaptive as a transient state, but dangerous as a chronic condition.

To tell the difference between the two, psychologists designed this test, known as the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) and devised in 1986, as a way of distinguishing between a) those who suffer transient boredom and b) from those who suffer chronic boredom.

The following statements should be answered using a 7-point scale — from ’1′ (highly disagree), to ’4′ (neutral), to ’7 ‘(highly agree).

1. It is easy for me to concentrate on my activities.
2. Frequently when I am working I find myself worrying about other things.
3. Time always seems to be passing slowly.
4. I often find myself at “loose ends”, not knowing what to do.
5. I am often trapped in situations where I have to do meaningless things.
6. Having to look at someone’s home movies or travel slides bores me tremendously.
7. I have projects in mind all the time, things to do.
8. I find it easy to entertain myself.
9. Many things I have to do are repetitive and monotonous.
10. It takes more stimulation to get me going than most people.
11. I get a kick out of most things I do.
12. I am seldom excited about my work.
13. In any situation I can usually find something to do or see to keep me interested.
14. Much of the time I just sit around doing nothing.
15. I am good at waiting patiently.
16. I often find myself with nothing to do, time on my hands.
17. In situations where I have to wait, such as a line I get very restless.
18. I often wake up with a new idea.
19. It would be very hard for me to find a job that is exciting enough.
20. I would like more challenging things to do in life.
21. I feel that I am working below my abilities most of the time.
22. Many people would say that I am a creative or imaginative person.
23. I have so many interests, I don’t have time to do everything.
24. Among my friends, I am the one who keeps doing something the longest.
25. Unless I am doing something exciting, even dangerous, I feel half-dead and dull.
26. It takes a lot of change and variety to keep me really happy.
27. It seems that the same things are on television or the movies all the time; it’s getting old.
28. When I was young, I was often in monotonous and tiresome situations.

To find out your own proneness to boredom, add up the total of the scores you gave each question.

The average score is 99, and the average range 81-117. If you scored above 117, you become bored easily, and if you scored below 81, your boredom threshold is very high.

Researchers have found that some people have a metabolic proneness to chronic boredom, correlated with neurotransmitter imbalances and higher risks for depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, gambling, hostility, low academic performance, and more.

NB: Be cautious in assuming causality; chronic boredom can be just a symptom of these chemical imbalances, along with risk-taking and sensation-seeking, rather than a causative agent.

Meanwhile, those who suffer only transient boredom have been found to perform better in various aspects of life, including work, education, and personal autonomy.

More information
By looking at everything from body language in classical paintings to studies from some of the world’s best neuroscience labs, a book written by Peter Toohey: Boredom: A Lively History, examines boredom as an adaptive mechanism.

It goes on to paint a portrait of boredom that is at once a sweeping cultural observation across time and space and a deeply relatable, personal lens on this most unglamorous yet most universal aspect of what it means to be human.

The 5 Main Types of Facebook Fans and How to Encourage Them

Here are the 5 most common types of Facebook fans that we've all seen while managing communities, and how you can tailor your content to keep them.

1. The Potential Client/Customer
   The potential client or customer is a fan who has heard of your business through something like word of mouth or an advertising campaign, and is intrigued by what you're all about. This type of fan is like a hawk waiting to swoop; the more relevant, interesting, and personal your content, the more likely this fan is to stay on your page and make a purchase - or contact you for business, if you're B2B.
   
   How to Encourage them: Strike a healthy balance with your content that services their needs/wants with a bit of personality. B2C companies can do things like showcase fan reviews, while B2B companies can showcase in-house talent, or show off a "behind the scenes" look at what the office environment is like. Be fun and approachable, and work on exhibiting a voice that mixes thought leadership with friendliness.
   
   
2. The Friend/Employee
   The friend/employee is someone who has liked your page either because they want to support your business, business venture or work with your company. These fans are dangerous because while they raise the quantitative count of your audience, they qualitatively reduce the value of your audience. Employees and supportive friends are less likely to engage with your content, simply because they typically view the "Like" as the end of their transaction.
   
   How to Encourage them: The more important piece of this question isn't how to retain them, but how to engage with them. Borrowing a few tactics from pleasing the Potential Customer/Client can help - B2Cs can highlight certain locations that provide excellent service, and B2Bs can make things personal by recognizing individual employees. Since they already have a personal connection, you can play on it and, if it works out, your other fans will enjoy seeing the faces behind the logo talking about things that are happening.
   
   
3. The Sweepstaker
   Did your page feature an exclusive contest recently? If so, it's a pretty safe bet that some of the newbies to your audience simply liked your page so they could have a chance at winning your giveaway. Often, Sweepstakers have a "one and done" mentality, and once the contest is over, may unlike the page and move on. Other times, these fans might forget they've liked your page until an irrelevant piece of content appears in their newsfeeds, and then they'll purge your page. 
   How to Encourage them: You may be wondering why you'd want to keep such a specific group of people, but the Sweepstakers are more likely to vocalize their excitement for your promotions, and that's free marketing for your page. Don't just post a contest and then forget about it - support it with content they can like. And, as one contest is winding down, hype up others that may be launching soon, or focus on promotions you have outside of Facebook. Provide exclusive deals, like coupon codes, through posts made on random days to increase the chances they'll stick around.
   
4. The Happy Camper
   The Happy Camper is a great fan to have, and most brands see them interact with their Facebook pages regularly. Happy Campers have positive brand sentiments based on great purchases they've made, wonderful customer experiences, and/or childhood memories. If your community is more support-based, they're on your page because they want to come together with other fans to get that feeling of community. They come to your page because your brand or business has already enhanced a part of their lives, and they're passionate about sharing that with you (and other fans) so they get some recognition.
   
   How to Encourage them: Keep their conversations flowing! Thank them, ask them questions, and respond to them when they take it upon themselves to post content to your Timeline without a call to action. Work conversational posts into your content that ask for opinions that these die-hards will be eager to give. Tease upcoming work or new products/promotions with photos, polls, and links to keep their excitement flowing and, if they ever post really unique content to your wall, ask if you can share it from the brand's voice. People love to be recognized and reinforced.
   
   
5. The Fairweather Friend
   The Fairweather Friend is a fan who may like your brand, its services, or a recent product they've purchased, but isn't driven to shout that from the rooftops. They usually like your page to stay current on brand/business news, or to remember your brand/business for a later date, when they'll be seeking what you have to offer. Unlike the Happy Campers and the Potential Client/Customers, though, they're more likely to leave negative feedback if your brand does something they don't like.
   
   How to Encourage them: If they leave concerns or comments on your page, address them head-on. Transparency is key. Understand and embrace what makes them different: they're looking for information, so give it to them. Make relevant appeals, and much like you do for the Potential Client/Customer, show the value of your services to encourage engagement and business transactions outside of Facebook.

Of course, a healthy Facebook page that sees an upward trend of engagement and growth combines all of these content pieces into an overarching strategy. 

But, unless you understand who you're speaking to, you may not know where to begin. Use these profiles as a starting point, and then dive into the analytic tools to get a closer look.