Posts Tagged Adding Value
Using the WordPress iPhone App
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, iPhone on June 20, 2009
I am writing this post using the WordPress iPhone App with my laptop sitting a few scant feet away from me. Why?
First, because I can. I received my first iPhone, the new iPhone 3G S, in the mail on the 19th and have been immersing myself in this new delightful world for the past couple of days much to the chagrin of my family. The iPhone blurs all traditional communication platforms. In doing so, my iPhone allows me to stay connected in so many ways away from my computer.
Secondly, I am previewing the WordPress iPhone App. I am quite pleased so far. It was easy to connect to my blog using my admin account and start blogging. The WordPress iPhone App allows me to tag and categorize my posts, which are requisite SEO and organizational features for me. It even saved a draft copy of my post when there was an interrupt (which is important especially since this post is longer than originally planned).
My only concern now is the carpal tunnel that I might develop typing on my iPhone. Good work, WordPress.
Dan Hall
posted from his new iPhone 3GS using the WordPress iPhone App
Tomorrow is Benefits Day…
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Benefits, Human Resource Practices on May 28, 2008
After many hours and days of research, discussion, haggling, and even some heated shouting matches, tomorrow is Benefits Day at Visible Technologies.
This means that I have been able to follow through on a theme that is very important to me, add more value and create efficiency while reducing costs.
When I came on to Visible, one key area that is always in the forefront of an HR Manager’s mind is benefits. In my research and discussions, I was convinced we could get a better rate if we shopped our program around, and sure enough we did.
You see health care providers are like any other service industry – they want your business and are willing to cut their prices to get it.
Fortunately, we had a number of factors in our favor, we had surpassed the magic number of 50 employees thereby allowing us to transition from a shared cost plan that lumps small employers together to a stand alone insurance plan tailored to our own company. Tech companies tend to have a low risk profile and therefore are attractive to providers.
We managed to negotiate with a leading national provider to provide similar if not better service while savings the employees and the company over 13% on an annual basis. For those of you not familiar with the costs of health care in America, this is a significant amount of money even in a small to mid sized company.
In reducing costs, I was able to add more value by also adding some low cost, high return programs to our employees with the cost savings realized through the major medical transition including supplemental insurance, flexible savings account, and a commuter benefit program.
So with much fanfare, and the due diligence of meetings with teams and individual employees (medical transitions can cause significant turbulence without proper address, although we minimized this impact through our choice of providers), tomorrow is Benefits Day where we roll out the red carpet and add value our most valuable resource - our Employees.
Dan Hall
Seattle Human Resources Manager
Confessions of an Open Networker
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Open Networking, social media on April 9, 2008
I read a good post by Scott Allen labelled Confessions of an Open Networker that included some musings and thoughts from a self-professed “notorious” Open Networker.
I think it does a good job summarizing the diminishing value that this practice can return while providing some tips on how to maximize the utility of your social network.
Hey! I didn’t know Open Networking Groups had Fine Print…
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Open Networking, social media on April 7, 2008
Imagine my surprise when I learned that Open Networking Groups actually have fine print. Once again, someone I don’t know sent an invitation to join their network on LinkedIn, which is fine. I don’t have anything personally against Open Networking. From a professional standpoint, I don’t believe this practice adds much value to my personal brand or my social network and therefore don’t participate in such behavior.
However, I am ever curious about people’s online social networking behavior so I studied the requestor’s profile and followed a link or two.
Here is a snipped of what I stumbled across from TopLinked.Com:
Did you receive an “I Don’t Know”?
Everyone who participates in TopLinked.com has agreed to never mark a LinkedIn connection invitation as “I Don’t Know” or “Flag as Spam” – if they do not wish to accept an invitation, they should instead just simply click the “Archive” button (or ask to be removed from TopLinked.com via an email sent to: toplinked@gmail.com)
If you come across someone who violates this agreement, please first contact them directly, remind them of this rule, and see if they are willing to remedy the situation.
If they are then unresponsive or unwilling to resolve the problem, please be sure to let us know via email: toplinked@gmail.com (thanks!)
Tips: To stay safe, only invite people by clicking over from the listings on this site and then look for BOTH the TopLinked.com group logo (the same as the logo of this site) AND the TopLinked.com wording displayed properly on their profile. That provides three levels of assurance that they are active TopLinked.com networkers who understand and play by the rules. It is also a good idea to mention TopLinked.com in your connection invitations to TopLinked.com people and remind them of the TopLinked.com rules.
We cannot help you if you receive an invitation from someone who is not officially part of TopLinked.com – and someone is officially part of TopLinked.com ONLY if they are linked to from this site or are part of the TopLinked.com group on LinkedIn.”
—————————————————–
Whodahthunkit. They have fine print afterall.
Adding Value to Social Media Sites and Your Network
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Open Social, social media on March 31, 2008
Why are current Social Network sites’ accessibility controlled a simple switch – an on and off switch of permissibility if you will? The major players in the field MySpace, Facebook, even LinkedIn – all have a common theme in whether or not you deem this person a connection / friend or not. If you do they have access to you – your information, pictures, posts in some cases or in others just communicating or networking with you (adding value to the network).
Is that old acquaintance from high school that you haven’t talked to in 5 years on par with your boss at work? Should they be given the same accessibility into your social network, your social media life as it is.
What about business partners who are at odds with each other, do you want them to see each other as mutual connections? What about the functionality of sharing more personal photos – such as your wedding pictures to your close friends but not to your co-workers?
Why do we use professional social networking sites for your professional connections but Facebook for your more peronably friend and why do they not overlap at all – it is your life and network isn’t it?
There should be an overarching social networking platform that address these issues. The Economist had a good article addressing the closed social media worlds based on proprietary standards and their historical precedents of AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy (is history doomed to repeat itself?).
Social media websites should be as easy to setup as blogs and they continuing will exist if there is enough of a demographic who is passionate about the space to add enough value to warrant its existence. Social Media is a digital world shaping movement. The monetary prize in online ads which have fueled many of the big buyouts may be debatable in terms of future viability also discussed in the Economist, but the utility of Social Media is undeniable.
It is our networks, our lives that add value to Social Media not the proprietary systems that give us the platforms to connect. Sooner or later open social and digital portability will gain enough movement to achieve this and Social Media and the Internet will never be seperate again.
The Value of Your Network
Posted by Dan Hall in Open Networking, Personal Brand on March 21, 2008
I had coffee at Zeitgeist with Brien Thompson from Haystack Creative. We were meeting after being introduced by a mutual connection from LinkedIn. I don’t accept invites on LinkedIn if I haven’t had at least one fairly substantial value added conversation with the requester.
I have thought much about Open Networking lately, there is a seductive lure of having thousands of connections at your fingertips, but the real question is what the value of your network? I am convinced that while there would be some value to having that many connections, for most professionals ,myself included, it would actually dilute the value of my network. For social media to be effective and actionable there must be a distinction between one’s contacts and one’s network, even though many use these words interchangeably.
Brien and I had a great conversation about the shortcomings of current social networking sites, the lack of specificity and this notion of dilution in social networking. He mentioned the need to be “superniched,” that is being radically different. I really liked that phrase and what it means. Most professionals understand the import of differentiation, creating a personal brand image that distinguishes you from your peer group. Are you radically different though. He asked me what my personal brand image was, I told him to my brand was being a subject matter expert of 
Human Resources in Seattle to include recruiting in Social Media and Web 2.0 companies. I am both passionate and skilled in this particular niche. We agreed that this is radically different from the traditional human resources manager mindset.
You have to embrace change, technology, social media and networking no matter what field you are in. Brien is an expert in his field, it is obvious by sitting down and talking with him. He humbly laughed at the notion and he added, all I do is this:
Say what you are going to do (clearly) (parantheticals are my emphasis)
Do what you say you are doing to do (well)
And tell people what you did (every chance you get)
If you follow these simple steps, become an expert, hone your personal brand, and always add value, you will be well positioned to take advanage of future opportunities as they arise.
Create Efficiencies and Add Value
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Personal Brand on March 19, 2008
Align everything you do in life. Evaluate how you spend your time and create efficiencies. If you can’t create any more efficiency, analyze how you can add more value to the process, your personal brand, or your company.
or example, I am a Seattle recruiter (one of my hats, along with being an 
HR Manager ). Part of my job is talking to candidates each and every day. I could just dial as many candidates as possible and pepper them with questions. Instead, at the very start of the conversation, I spend the time to passionately describe our company and what makes us radically different from what others in the Social Media Web 2.0 space are doing. I am going to sell my company to them first and foremost. Why? Because I am not arrogant enough to think the position is lure enough to excite them, and if it did I am not sure if I would want them on my team. It also adds a lot of value to the recruiting process, I can recruit candidates that otherwise might not be accessible either due to competition or pay range. I want to hire passionate employees who add value to our mission and culture.
To many people, I am the first voice they hear of my company. This shapes my actions and my words drastically. Maybe they won’t get the job but if I am successful, they will go away an advocate of my company and my personal brand. This is my goal at the end of each and every screening interview.
Try to determine what cascading effect opportunities exist within a situation. Who knows what will happen in the future, who knows what social networks a person belongs too. Maybe, they are trusted friends with the perfect future employee. Or maybe, they will think about my company or me for future opportunities.
Unless you sit in a cube all day (and night), we all have the power to shape perception and therefore reality. Everyone one you meet has a neutral view of you and what you represent when you first meet them. Turn them into an advocate for your personal brand and your company.
