communication

Stop giving advice people ignore

At work do you ever say, “let me give you some advice”? If so, do people lean forward with anticipation to hear what you have for advice? When reviewing a draft ever heard someone tell you, “well, here’s my advice”? If so, do you take a deep breath so as not to lose your cool? [...]

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Tagged as: communication, competence, leadership, skils

Engagement needs both context and perspective

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet … “, iambic pentameter aside, I appreciate Mr. Shakespeare’s point. However, when I look at a word that is recently trending in a lot of companies and organizations, like the word engagement is, it seems context, perspective, and the value proposition truly defines how sweet the [...]

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Tagged as: communication, engagement, health care, leadership, market, motivation

Who knows?

In collaboration, there is a notion that we share thoughts and perspectives of what we know to make better decisions. What we know and share is important for context to any decision and you may have seen some or heard something similar to this: What you know you know, What you know you don’t know, [...]

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Tagged as: coaching, communication, decision, information, leadership, strategic planning, strategy

Your company social media strategy reflects organization culture, part 1

If you want an idea of your organization’s culture there is no simpler place for this insight than your organization’s social media strategy. Companies who view social media only as a marketing vehicle miss far more than an opportunity to engage. It is as likely these companies have lost their employee’s motivation in similar fashion [...]

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Tagged as: communication, culture, marketing 2.0, organization development, policy, social media, strategy, web 2.0

Communication, change, and your mission – if you choose to accept it

Change is fun for some: the energy of the unknown, the passion instilled in people looking forward to a new adventure. Some embrace the unknown as an opportunity to both learn, grow, and stretch their current perspectives. Change is pain for some: the feigned excitement for heading into unknown, the new roles and responsibilities to [...]

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Tagged as: actions, change, change management, communication, goals, objectives, strategy, vision

The communication obstacle course

A successful message retains the oomph of intent. For this to happen communication must travel an obstacle course to reach each person. Some of the bulwarks against communication’s smooth path to understanding include: values, bias, mood, culture, agenda, and emotion. These force communication through filters that affect both the intent and the impact of the [...]

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Tagged as: change, change management, communication, culture, emotional

Organization change, the frame retains the name

The success, or failure, of organization change may have more to do with the frame of change you and your leadership view your organization culture through than any other challenge to change. Adopting and sustaining organization change rarely succeeds if you can not frame communication to emotionally and rationally resonate throughout the organization. For change [...]

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Tagged as: change, change management, communication, culture, leading change, organization change

Marketing: trying to rekindle the old days

Though coming for a while, there was no sign of bitterness from the advertiser when his consumer finally walks out and abandons the clearly, lopsided relationship: Which side of the table is your seat? In a prior blog Marketing 2.0 — You Better Free Your Mind Instead I recapped: Lose control, provide content, make it easy [...]

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Tagged as: advertising, communication, consumer, marketing 2.0, social media, social media marketing

The value of information and the link to development

Information is not competitive advantage, knowledge is competitive advantage. What you know is information, only when you socialize your information does it then have potential to become knowledge. An organization’s socialized knowledge is really their competitive advantage and information and knowledge are both human capital issues. Enterprise knowledge management is a critical strategic need and [...]

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Tagged as: actions, communication, competitive advantage, development, goals, information, knowledge, knowledge management, linkage, objectives, socialize, strategy

In review: Quality communication in social media

December 2010 in review. A roundup of blogs from the previous month: Quality communication in social media (guest blog) — Helping doctoral students design quantitative research studies as well as analyzing and interpreting data dissertations occurred to me that some aspects of a doctoral dissertation could be applied to social media communications to make information [...]

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Tagged as: CFO, change, change management, communication, development, EI, Emotional Intelligence, EQ, IQ, learning

In review: Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success; stakeholder analysis template

October 2010 in review. A roundup of blogs from the previous month: Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success; stakeholder analysis template — Risk is anything that can positively or negatively effect the outcome of the project. So, identifying and managing stakeholders is step to identify and manage project risk. Each project has a [...]

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Tagged as: communication, impact, M&A, mergers and acquisitions, risk, scope, systems thinking, template

Recap: Communication in the age of saturation

A recap on my series of blogs around communication in the age of saturation. Preamble: Marketing 2.0 – You better free your mind instead The printing press brought us Marketing 1.0. Marketing 1.0, however, did not bring information to all equally. Information really relied on distribution and distribution relied on money. Marketing 1.0 was owned [...]

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Tagged as: communication, marketing 2.0, social media, social media marketing, Twitter, viral marketing

Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success; stakeholder analysis template

A stakeholder is anyone [or any group] who can positively or negatively affect the outcome of the project. Risk is anything that can positively or negatively affect the outcome of the project. So, identifying and managing project stakeholders is an important step to identifying and managing project risk. Each project has a unique set of stakeholders, [...]

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Tagged as: communication, human capital assessment, impact, impact analysis, project, project management, risk, scope, scope management, stakeholder, stakeholder analysis, talent assessment, template

In review: Mergers and acquisitions systems thinking strategies, part 1

October 2010 in review. A roundup of blogs from the previous month: Mergers and acquisitions systems thinking strategies, part 1 — Leadership, management, and talent create and sustain organization success. The total environment of an organization is a major determinant of corporate choice and corporate success. A key to change is circular reasoning — Supporting the [...]

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Tagged as: change, change management, communication, cost of culture, leaders, risk, strategy, trust

This social media fad will ruin organization development

What does the social media fad have to do with business? How is this social media fad related to organizational development (organization development)? Are you asking yourself if you really need to bother learning about social media? I’ve heard it all too often and continue to cringe hearing about the lack of effort OD and [...]

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Tagged as: collaboration, communication, involvement, listening, marketing 2.0, od, organization development, organization performance, organizational development, social media, social media marketing

Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success, part 2

The key for organizations to grow and to thrive relies on how to manage projects. And how you and your organization manage projects for organization success is an industry competitive advantage. But why do so many projects fail? Is it lack of preparation? Is it lack of communication? Is it lack of commitment? No, those [...]

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Tagged as: communication, impact, impact analysis, organization development, organization development strategy, portfolio, project management, project work, resistance, resources, risk, scope, scope management

Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success; impact analysis template

On my previous post, Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success that included the eBook Scope – Kills Bad Breath and Kills Projects [link below] I introduced the importance of scope before a project launches. The numbers on project failure are sobering: 90% of all projects fail and this post follows up both the blog [...]

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Tagged as: communication, impact, impact analysis, organization development, organization development strategy, portfolio, project management, project work, resistance, resources, risk, scope, scope management, template

Too many links, a pause for delinkification

A couple recent articles around author Nicholas Carr’s writings and thoughts present a negative symptom of hyperlinks, mainly, reduced reader comprehension. Too many hyperlinks or links negatively affect our ability to process and understand. Mr. Carr’s call? Delinkification. Is hyperlinking a hyper waste? Search engine optimization (SEO) aside, for the moment, the whole goal of [...]

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Tagged as: communication, communication saturation, comprehension, hyperlink, search engine optimization, social media marketing

Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success, part 1

Organizations rely on projects to remain competitive. Projects are the way organizations deliver and realize their executive strategies. The ability to deliver a project is the ability to compete. Scope kills projects and projects that are not delivered kill organizations. Scope is one of the most important ways to manage project success. And when projects [...]

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Tagged as: communication, organization development, portfolio, project management, project work, resistance, resources, risk, scope, scope management, strategy

Isn’t it enough that I told them?

Does your organization communicate or inform. Does your leader invite conversation at the table? Does your leader offer an environment of dialogue? If the answer is no, how does that affect organization motivation throughout all levels? Do your project leaders and project sponsors sit around the table and audit the failed implementations with comments like [...]

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Tagged as: collaboration, communication, conversation, dialogue, failure, John Kotter, leadership, leading change, strategy

4 tips to use Twitter for project management

In my last post I presented a case to manage your projects as a business portfolio. The ability to deliver projects on time, on budget, and within scope directly impacts your organization’s ability to compete and stay alive and project failure is an organization-wide risk. In this post I want to introduce Twitter to manage [...]

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Tagged as: communication, customers, manage, portfolio management, project, project management, risk, Twitter

8 steps to better decision-making

It starts with an executive need: a new market evaluation; improve operating margins; a game-changing technology; your competition is eating your lunch. Whatever the reason, a project is how an organization translates an executive strategy. The ability to scope and deliver a project is a competitive advantage. The best organizations realize project management capability as [...]

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Tagged as: communication, communication saturation, data, decision, information, knowledge, social media, strategy

5 tips to manage better meetings

Meetings, meetings, and more meetings. We have meetings to clear up confusion, to communicate, to interact, to make decisions, to listen, and to collaborate. Too many meetings end without clear decisions and too often it is not until after the meeting is finished when the real conversations begin when people: complain about not being heard, [...]

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Tagged as: body language, communication, leadership, manage, meeting

Viral marketing and Twitter gone right – the comment & the blog

On my last blog I received a comment I thought deserved a longer response than should be posted within the comment section. So, I decided to pick up the comment and carry it onto a new post. The blog comment david_becker: I disagree with this article as this is a “contest” and not a viral [...]

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Tagged as: Adecco Group, communication, customers, goals, Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory, motivation, motivation to work, Twitter, viral marketing, Will it Blend

Viral marketing and Twitter gone wrong – help Adecco recognize Adecco and win $100

Viral marketing happens when a story or idea takes off and spreads. The story is spread, like a virus, from one person to another through Twitter, the blog world, email, and YouTube – to name a few. In the online community being the object of the viral campaign can bring instant fame, for free, but [...]

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Tagged as: Adecco Group, communication, David Meerman Scott, ebook, strategy, Twitter, viral marketing

Marketing 2.0 – You better free your mind instead

Marketing 2.0 is about revolution, not evolution. Where marketing and public relations (PR) of the 1.0 world relied on distribution control, Marketing 2.0 relies on free distribution and the creative commons. This is less evolution and more revolution. The printing press was the key to unlock information. The printing press broke down the carefully regulated [...]

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Tagged as: communication, Creative Commons, distribution, marketing 2.0, pr, public relations, strategy

The bully in the corner office

I challenge myself to write blogs that might start a conversation either leading to change or to sustain what is working. I want to present an idea to provide a spark for action or follow-through. Anyone can come up with an idea, that’s easy, the hard part is to take an idea into implementation. My [...]

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Tagged as: bully, communication, cost of culture, diversity, fear, leaders, leadership, motivation, organization development, political correctness

Twitter power – Sarah Palin and the tweet to sue the entire Internet

As a follow-up to my Twitter is a waste of time blog, I provide a 4th example about the application of Twitter and social media communication: Late night, July 4, Sarah Palin uses Twitter to threaten to sue the entire Internet. Sarah Palin’s lawsuit tweets: AKGovSarahPalin To see full text of the letter from my [...]

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Tagged as: blog, communication, Huffington Post, leadership, msnbc, New York Times, Sarah Palin, Shannyn Moore, strategy, Twitter, Washington Post, web 2.0

Twitter is a waste of time

Twitter has changed the way people communicate. The marketing world, as it was known, has been carpet bombed. The rules have changed. The roles have changed. In a series of earlier blogs I talk about communication in the age of saturation, so I won’t repeat those points. However, I will revisit one reality: people don’t [...]

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Tagged as: communication, goals, return on influence, roi, social media, strategy, Twitter, web 2.0

Communication in the age of saturation, part 3 visual

In 2 prior blogs, Communication in the age of saturation, part 1 and part 2, I attempt to outline our communication challenge to break through filters and biases people set up to manage their information overload. In the spirit of Henry David Thoreau’s quote, what I began by reading, I must finish by acting. I [...]

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Tagged as: communication, Conversation Prism, plan, strategy, value, web 2.0

Communication in the age of saturation, part 2

Is your communication effort designed to interrupt people? Think of the filters you put up around your world to manage the saturation of information and decisions you have to make. What percentage of today’s decisions do you make from a telemarketer, billboard, or yellow pages? Conversely, what decisions do you make from a friend’s recommendation, [...]

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Tagged as: buy in, communication, feedback, recommendation, rss, social media, strategy, web 2.0

Communication in the age of saturation, part 1

The goal of communication is to be understood. Typically, the first piece of communication advice is: know your audience. When you know your audience – their interests, their lingo, their needs – you better relate to their communication style. When you know their style you can write and speak in a way that they understand. [...]

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Tagged as: audience, communication, email, filters, motivation, Twitter, web 2.0

How goals help us fail

March 15th I read an article in Boston’s Sunday Globe Ideas section on how goals have a dangerous side. The article called Why Setting Goals Can Backfire jumped-started my thoughts on goals. The past two weeks I have spent time thinking and scribbling notes all over this article. I thought I’d share some. [the .pdf [...]

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Tagged as: Boston Globe, communication, consequence, dangerous, Drake Bennett, fear, goals, leaders, leadership

Buy in

In organization change I always avoid the term buy in. You may hear the term in some variation of the following: now we need to get [insert stakeholder here] to buy in. I have never been comfortable asking anyone to “buy in” to a strategic plan, a new product launch, or an organization change. ‘Buy [...]

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Tagged as: buy in, communication, development, leadership, motivation, organization development, stakeholder, values

Leading and managing

Managers manage. Leaders lead. Are these roles so different? A manager is charged to manage their resources against a budget. Does this allow a manager to maximizing their talent, to cultivate creativity in their team, or to take risks? The manager needs to deliver to their budget and align their resources to successfully enable their [...]

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Tagged as: change, communication, leader, leadership, manager, motivation, skills, vision

Leaders and fishing

I focus a lot of root-cause analysis on how a leader affects their organization. Though it may seem people are responsible for their own motivation, this assumption is far too variable to count on for results. People, rightly so, have their own view, their own filter, their own experience, and their own goals. These rarely [...]

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Tagged as: China, communication, fishing, leaders, leadership, manage, motivation

Sid Ohri, Senior Manager, Accenture

Recommendation of Toby Elwin’s work and ability to perform on projects, influence decision-makers, and mentor staff.

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Tagged as: Accenture, communication, Deloitte Consulting, mentor, Sid Ohri, skill, team player

John Glennon, Director of Management Information Systems, WR Grace

“I had the pleasure of working with Toby for several years at Amicon/Millipore. Toby provided outstanding customer service to all his Marketing/Communcation constituants – both internally and externally. “I was always impressed with his customer facing skills – he was especially calm in circumstances that required a sense of urgency but not panic. “I kept [...]

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Tagged as: communication, customer service, John Glennon, Marketing, organization development, project management workforce training

Quick Bio

Toby Elwin has lived around the world and worked globally with, and for, some of the most highly-respected leaders and organizations in their fields.

This site, and thoughts, are rooted in the role leadership and talent have on an organization's motivation to influence, achieve, and sustain.

Toby's work combines systems theory, organization development, marketing, and portfolio and project management from more than 15 years in post-merger integration.
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The Modern Firm: Organizational Design for Performance and Growth by John Roberts

The Workforce Scorecard by Mark A. Huselid, Brian E. Becker, and Richard W. Beatty

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