Whats a Social Media Expert?

This is a follow on from a December blog post: Completely Unqualified Trainer -Youre Hired where I complained about a Social Media Trainer who I believed had no qualifications to train on the subject. She is not the only one. I have been to a few conferences and seen lots of "so called" Social Media "experts" featured on the program.

I am rewriting my training notes for Social Media today (fourth major rewrite in 18 months- field moves quickly!). As I did so, I found a great quiz  which sorts out what to look for in a Social Media expert. It is very funny but makes some good posts.

I finished the Quiz did it and I am pleased to say I would have no trouble walking (see Question 7). In fact, I can hold my head up respectably! I am also excited to say in the third month of The Cowling Report, we have seen the number of people connecting with my posts rising dramatically! Thank you!

Friday Facts: Uk Big Society is imploding

It started as a great scheme! The new UK Government aiming to get people involved in their communities with national citizen service, less  central control, more volunteering and more co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises. The Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured left) said "groups should be able to run post offices, libraries, transport services and shape housing projects."


Rolled out to great fanfare it now seems to be moving from big to bogged.  In fact, the situation in the UK now seems to be getting out of control:


First up as I blogged last week, Lord Nat Wei of Shoreditch hired to be one of the main advisers for the Program reduced his time because he found out after his appointment that it was a voluntary role and he could not afford the time or money to volunteer. 


Secondly, this week   Liverpool Council one of the four cities involved in the Pilot project pulled out  after "the council learned in December that it would lose £100m in specialist grants from the government, many of which were allocated to charities and community groups tackling welfare issues, from worklessness to family breakdown.  The Prime Minister of England continued to defend Big Society as he attacked Liverpool Council.

Thirdly Charity leaders are starting to speak out against the scheme. Dame Elizabeth Hoodless, a formidable figure in UK volunteering ha weighted in saying that the Government cuts are destroying the Big Society. She was backed up by others including Sir Stephen Bubb, head of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, who said Big Society "more soundbite than programme", causing "a tide of cynicism" and said it was "hitting the buffers".


Eight concerns I have about Big Society:

1. do vast numbers of British people want to overnight suddenly start running, for no pay, services in their areas that for decades have been run for them? e.g. their libraries
2. do we really want everyone to volunteer? There are some I don't believe should volunteer.  
3. a lot of people are no longer connected to one local area in today's modern world
4. Cameron has said: "“I don’t believe that civil society springs up of its own accord” yet has massively cut so much infrastructure  and support for volunteer management e.g. Volunteering England 
5. it means replacing paid staff  with volunteers -morally dubious
6. it ignores the huge numbers of volunteers already out there- will they be expected to volunteer more or will others really join them
7. most telling was that a number of Politicians when asked how they volunteer cold not tell people (ala the cartoon below!)
8. Big Society sounds awfully like the 21st Century version of Thatcher's Privatisation in disguise. A program detested by some Britons and welcomed as salvation by others

In the 70s and 80s there were many TV shows that imagined a future Britain in a state of collapse and bereft of services (The Guardians, The Changes, Noah's Castle).  If they are not careful Big Society may actually hasten that in and not prevent it.

"To tell you the truth Volunteering Sucks"

How would your charity feel if one of your volunteers posted the above comment on a public blog  following a call by your charity for people to volunteer? What would you do?

Here's the full post.

"I already volunteer 3 times a week just to get back on my feet after long illness, and to tell you the truth it sucks. The permanent staff think nothing of you, you get asked to take on their workload and all for nothing, trouble is i cannot find any work out there so the volunteering keeps me going."

This message on an article response on 1 February 2011 @ 9:19PM is now in cyberspace ...forever. It can be searched-and found. It can be forwarded. It can be agreed with. It can be copied and pasted. It can be read by several million people including potential volunteers, donors and sponsors of that agency.

There are two issues here:


1. The Volunteer Feeling
 How many of your volunteers would feel this? Would you know how many feel this way? Have you asked them? What can you do to overcome a situation where your paid staff were perceived to be treating volunteers in this way? How can you repair the damage done to that volunteer?

2. Agency Reputation
A lot of people dismiss the damage that a comment like this could do to your agency.  If the writer had said: I already volunteer 3 times a week for (insert your charity name) and to tell you the truth it sucks, you could probably handle it one way and many readers would dismiss it as one person venting. If other volunteers forwarded it and/or added their agreement to it, then you have a real problem online. Would you know how to handle it?

I am going to do a blatant plug here. This didn't start as a marketing post for me but now its going to be! I run two relevant workshops. One is for volunteer managers on working with employees and the other is a Social Media workshop. Both have had rave reviews from participants and I would love to share them with you or your colleagues or anyone you think might need them. More information is at: http://www.pfts.com.au/training.htm

Okay, blatant plug over-Love your comments on how would you deal with this situation? 

But What does it Mean?

Volunteering Australia have launched their designs for 2011 Australian National Volunteer Week (May.2011) They engaged a volunteer to do the design which is a great model. Heres the full size Poster (it is a PDF) 

I  am curious to know what people who work with volunteers think about the design and what you think it represents.

Can you comment below as to what you think of the poster and what you think it means or complete a quick 3 question anonymous survey (or do both) - you don't have to be Australian to comment!


NB The survey is not an official survey endorsed by Volunteering Australia but I will pass on the feedback to them.

Monday Motivation 7th Feb 2011

Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner.

Les Brown

The Kings Speech

Saw the Kings Speech at the Sorrento Atheneum Cinema with my sister

I can see why it has 12  Academy Award nominations, It is brilliant!! I think its the best movie I have seen for a while. It has to beat Inception, Black Swan,  The Social Network, Toy Story 3 and five other films. Geoffrey Rush deserves to win best supporting actor-he was brilliant!

The film is about the current Queen of England's father: King George VI  from the time before he becomes King to his first wartime speech.   There are two parallel stories. The first is the King's speech problem. His wife Elizabeth (we would know her later as The Queen Mother) arranges for an Australian speech therapist Lionel George Logue to treat the King's stammer.

The second story deals the dramatic political events gripping England: who would be King and the looming World War Two. King George VI only became king because his brother,  King Edward VIII chose to marry an American divorcee and was forced to abdicate from the throne. This is because conventions of the time meant that the church of England (which the King is the head of) could not accept the King marrying a divorcee. (NB  the Church of England was started by Henry VIII so he could divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon and marry  Anne Boleyn!). World War Two breaks out shortly after the King's coronation and history tells us he became a much loved monarch through the war.

I thought the acting, cinematography, script and music all brilliant.  Five Stars!

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Friday Facts: There is no such thing as a Free Lunch

Imagine being head hunted by the British Government to take on a prestigeous role with Her Majesty's Government.

Imagine resigning from your Board positions to avoid having a conflict of interest.

Imagine steeling yourself for your first day of work.

Imagine the night before you start your new job, you find out that your role has no salary!

This happened to Lord Nat Wei of Shoreditch, the youngest member of the British House of Lords.

What is the connection to us in not for profit land?

On 18 May 2010  Lord Wei was appointed as an adviser for the UK Big Society Project.  One of the priorities of Big Society is to "Encourage people to take an active role in their communities" (volunteerism)

He is designing the approach to building the Big Society in the UK. In other words, he is trying to find strategies to get people to volunteer.

His 3 day role comes with a nice desk but no salary.

His reaction? After 6 months in the role, Lord Wei has reduced his hours from three days to one day a week saying to friends: " he is cutting his hours to allow him to earn more money and "have more of a life"

In other words, he does not have enough time to volunteer. Yes thats right the man charged with increasing volunteerism in England is reducing his own volunteering! Check out the Article on his situation!

Some Friday Facts 

1. Volunteer Management is not free. Why does David Cameron, the Prime Minister of England pay his Communications Director £140 000 and pay nothing to his director of volunteerism? How about we swap that around-ask the Comms director to work for free and employ a volunteering adviser for £140 000?
2. Not Enough time is the top reason in the UK for people to not getting involved in volunteering. Lord Wei has just shown this in action. Love to see his national strategy now for people who say they need more time for family and work.  
3. Money reveals priorities The government spends £4.9 million on  special advisers (ie media advisers). This is about the total budget for Volunteering England. The PM's own special adviser team is being paid about £1.3million of that money - a little less than the amount the Cabinet Office gave to Volunteering England last year. And guess who got reduced funding?
4. Accurate Role Descriptions will keep people engaged - the treatment of Lord Wei happens to lots of volunteers. They are told one thing on recruitment and another when they start the job!

How does your agency, community, department show their real value of volunteering?

Stunned at the Response

My company People First -Total Solutions  have been producing an electronic newsletter (People First e-News) for six years!

Readership continues to grow. I feel very humbled (and responsible) by the number of people who read our stuff!

Recently, we asked readers to give us their feedback. As of today, I am more humbled- over one fifth of our readership have replied! -could be the offer of a $100 (£40 for those in the UK)  gift voucher!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. whatever the reason-its been great feedback so far.

The Survey closes in about a week (February 9) and if you read our E-News, I would love your participation.

If you have not seen the newsletter, check out the January edition.

Random Musing and Reflections on 2011 after a month

January was a crazy month for the world it seems with floods engulfing my country at one end and fire at the other. In the middle we have a drought still! Europe and USA were dumped on by massive snow and ice.

Me? I officially had a vacation for the first part of the month interrupted by some support for flood stuff and my Red Cross volunteering.

Then work suddenly engulfed and January has vanished! Its been great to be at home.

I have been reflecting at how I work (which can be a crazy pace!). My world last year felt a little engulfed and at times I felt flooded and burnt.

So am looking for some strategies for me:

My Desk in Melbourne, Australia

1. Dealing with the email tide. I ended up the year with several hundred unanswered emails which I spent all of December and January clearing out.  I  now switch my email account for the first one hour of the day answering all I can. i set a timer so that at the end of the hour, I switch off my email account. If I get through the emails before the hour, then I have some extra time. if I don't, then I do it tomorrow.  I do quickly check through the day and give myself five minutes every hour. I realised that of the postman interrupted me every few minutes with another letter, how much would i get done?
2.  I am giving myself 30 minutes Social Media time each day. I have been neglecting my Cowling Report readers because I didn't want to bombard you (I will only do that on Twitter and Facebook!).  If you don't want to read something I write, you can skip it! If I don't write anything, you don't have that choice! 
3. I live 3 minutes walk from the beach so I have been ensuring I get there every day. After all if people fly from around the world to see it -then why don't I?

Have a great day!

PS I just checked my email and have just had an email from somebody saying they are furious that I have not replied to their message from a month ago. I don't even remember getting a message from them- so much for my new system working!

My beach at sunset

Monday Motivation 31st Jan 2011

If you can change your mind, you can change the world.
Joey Reimer