Comments on: Guest Post- Why Cant We Be Friends

By: Dave Ferguson

Dave Ferguson — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:42:48 +0000

John’s comments apply to any two groups at work that don’t on the surface have much in common. Ian’s remark about “techies” was on target; I see similar things in the training / learning sphere: we’re all trainers, so we must all stand up in front of groups, showing PowerPoint until the weight of the handouts equals the weight of the audience.

In actual conversations, I’ll talk about “training” if that’s where you start, but I’ll try to get you to describe the problem you want to resolve. Maybe there’s a skill/knowledge gap is behind it. If not, then “training” isn’t likely to be a productive solution. Talking further, maybe I can suggest other paths.

But I try not to start the conversation by saying, “Oh, you don’t understand the problem you say you have.”

Rummler and Brache in “Improving Performance” stressed that real work gets done across organizational hierarchies. This post underscores that in a vivid way.

By: Jeffrey Levy

Jeffrey Levy — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:14:11 +0000

Fantastic, fantastic post. I’ll be forwarding this to everyone I know.

@Wendy, you betcha I do my best to get different folks talking to each other. Did so just yesterday, in fact.

If we all stick to our stereotypes, we all fail.

Jeffrey Levy
Director of Web Communications
US EPA

By: Why Can’t We Be Friends? | Online Marketing News

Why Can’t We Be Friends? | Online Marketing News — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:18:54 +0000

[...] How can we get past this? Find out by finishing John Meadows’ guest post, “Why Can’t We Be Friends.” [...]

By: alekhouse

alekhouse — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:33:01 +0000

Thanks for this post, it was very helpful to me. I own a business and am working with an industry (hospitality), which does not understand how technology and social media relate to it. They are almost completely oblivious to the value of both. When you mentioned stepping outside of one’s confort zone, this really hit home. At meetings, my colleagues don’t even want to talk about anything technical and most of them think social media sites are just chat rooms! I have been trying to turn things around in my area, but it’s much more difficult than I imagined.

By: Carrie Sperlunto

Carrie Sperlunto — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:22:27 +0000

Great and inspirational Guest Post.

Thank you to all the commenters that come from either an IT background or a Social Media Consultant background. Me? I come from a customer orientation. So I’m delighted both are making strides to get it together and I’m further delighted John Meadows took the time to address this issue.

Thanks again to all! Let’s all carry on in fun and cooperation to profit!

By: Howard Moorey

Howard Moorey — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 08:15:19 +0000

Thanks for the post Ian – it certainly served to highlight a hornet’s nest! Most of the difficulties seem to be derived from the ring-fencing of roles and the “macho posturing” that too often accompanies them in order to justify an existence. That is so “pre-2008″!

Social media has been born from our need to interconnect & converse much more, so it should in itself be part of the answer to the problem. We must all learn to open up a bit more & learn the other side’s point of view – that’s where the listening comes in – in order for all parties to work better as a whole.

To survive and thrive, post-2008, we must all be more collaborative – sales and marketing in the future will be a different animal to what has gone before – we, as customers, need more transparency to be able to understand the value, of a new project, or what it can do for us – we do not what to see, or even perceive, the parties squabbling, that is just an obstacle to progress!

So, as “Techies” or “SocMeds” we must all learn the new skill of blurring our boundaries and getting on together, sooner rather than later, because we all know what happens to those who don’t constantly update – anyone still using IRC? No, I thought not!

It’s a new world – let’s get out there and have some fun TOGETHER, making it a great place to live, work, sell & buy!

By: Anthony Kershaw

Anthony Kershaw — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:47:07 +0000

As always, John!

Outstanding!

By: CrystalsQuest

CrystalsQuest — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:08:01 +0000

As a bizarre geek/humanities crossbred mutant who paid her way through a psychology & education degree by doing work in the I.T. field (I’m not being rude, Ian, this was before it got segmented, back when Y2K was still way in the future and everything computer related was just called I.T. …) I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to translate what I affectionately call “geek-speak” to general staff. Anyone and everyone with a problem would call tech support and then put me on the line. When tech support were doing roll-outs etc I’d be the first port of call to make sure everyone knew what had to be done and what they could stuff up if they didn’t.

Now you’re telling me I have to worry about Social Media Consultants as well? Argh!

By: Isaac

Isaac — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:22:09 +0000

I think the key take away from this article/topic needs to be a focus on asking the question, “how can we get this done?” Marketers should and mostly do know everything isn’t as easy as pushing a button and additionally that there are security concerns with many projects. Yet, they have specific goals, ones that can probably be met in a variety of ways. As a marketer I absolutely want tech people to tell me why my plan won’t work, but I also want them to work with me on finding ways around those issues.

If we work together to figure out how we can get something done, throw ideas back and forth in a helpful not a negative manner, most times everyone’s concerns will be addressed.

By: Wendy Peters

Wendy Peters — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:49:07 +0000

@Ian Muir – I get called a techie as the only web savvy marketing person in my group by those who think anyone who knows how to work a computer is a ‘techie’.

“How can we get past this? Only by stepping out of our respective comfort zones, and learning about each others concerns and accountabilities as stakeholders.”

The thing I see most often is that many people recognize the disconnect between the parties and that something should be done. But who’s responsibility is it to take that first step? Should it be social media folks because they are the newest ones at the table? Should it be IT because they need to understand what is involved to support the project long term? Should it be the customer trying to get everyone working together so their project can move forward?

If you find yourself in a room where you recognize this happening, would you be the one to try and put a halt to it? Or play the go between?