Before I share the secret, I need to give you a little background on the profession. After we leave the formal education system, anyone who takes their profession seriously seeks two things to become more effective in their job: professional education and networking. Ongoing professional education has not changed much. Most still attend conferences and workshops. There is easier access to ongoing education and training via web conference and online training. Online training is good for basic training; however, it’s difficult to stay current via online training. Web conferences are a great way to stay current on new developments, but they are almost devoid of networking. Where the real advances have come is in professional networking. There is also a new trend in three-dimensional online conferencing. It is an interesting 3D simulated conference environment in which all attendees get a full-body avatar and they walk around from meeting room to meeting room, listening to presenters, talking to vendors, and networking. It’s not ready for prime time, but it’s getting there fast.
The real advance has come in the area of online professional networking. Online professional networking is so critical that if you do not make use of it, you are going to be at a real disadvantage. Those who use it are going to run circles around those who don’t. Those who use it are going to stay more current, save an enormous amount of effort when developing new policies, and get help with their specific problems. There is a catch. For those of you who think social networking is just for children and malcontents, I have a piece of advice, “Get over it.”
The early adaptors of most technology are experimenters. They use it for strange things. New technology sometimes gets used by malcontents for nefarious purposes. Then the technology improves or people think of new applications for it. Some move quickly to take advantage of the technology for professional applications; others continue to write it off as junk or a waste of time. Falling into that trap is going to leave you far behind.
First of all, social networks allow people to set up special interest groups for people who share something in common. No more general groupings in which you receive lots of communication about topics that don’t apply to you. Now, groups can be set up in 5 minutes that cater to any segment of the profession, based on an organization’s size, segment of the profession, or type of organization. A group can be based on a single regulation, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or subspecialty areas, such as social responsibility, ethics, auditing, education, etc. Every group gets their own list serve. With the ability to set up a subspecialty group in a social network, you are able to minimize the number of e-mails or topics that don’t apply to you.
If you are not on a list serve, it’s probably for one of two reasons. Either you can’t find one in your area of interest, or you are missing the point. Given that you can set up any list serve you want, the area-of-interest problem and irrelevant e-mails that come with it is solved. You just need to recruit people with interest in that subject.
The most valuable part of any presentation at a conference is the Q&A session. In Q&A, people get to refine their understanding, get the expertise of the rest of the audience involved, clarify misunderstandings, or drill down into a specific part of the topic. That is what a list serve does all day long. Any day you have a question about any topic, you can hit one of the list serves. And you can do it for free from your desk, at the point in time you need help.
But list serves, my friends, are only the tip of the iceberg. Social networking as it is implemented by organizations such as the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) or the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA), have additional functionality, such as document sharing (e.g., policies, procedures, presentations, etc.) Many list serves don’t allow attachments. If they do, it is a one-time event. If you set up a special interest group and start sharing documents, the software that SCCE and HCCA uses loads the group’s documents into your special interest group’s document library. The library builds over time. Documents are stored with key words. Key words can be added by anyone who ever looks at the document, allowing easier searching for those who follow. The document can be rated by viewers. Comments can be added, allowing others to help make the document more applicable to others. The profile (i.e., job tile, work place, education, experience etc.) of the person who added the document can be reviewed, giving you confidence (or not) that the document is well put together.
Blogging is another area that has a bad reputation, just because some people cover unacceptable topics or they dither. Like buying any good book, you just can’t just grab anything off the shelf. You have to look for well-written books on topics of interest to you. Blogs are no different. Some are full of profoundly helpful insights by incredibly knowledgeable people, and some are full of junk. And it costs you nothing—you can access it from your desk, you can comment on the blog, you can rate the blog, or you can start your own blog. Therein lies an incredibly interesting additional benefit few have realized. Social networks also have many other features that you will discover over time.
People ask me all the time how they can become more involved in their industry. People sometimes even complain that the same people get picked to write or speak at conferences, because they are a member of “the Good Old Boys Club.” I have a secret. The assumption is primarily misguided. In the circles I run in, there is no Good Old Boys Club. There are no members. There are no secret meetings to pick Good Old Boys. I have never been asked to be in one. If I had been asked, I would have told them what Groucho Marks once said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” The Good Old Boys Club is a total myth. It doesn’t exist. There is no list. The reason some people get more opportunities than others is because they try harder to become involved than others. Some don’t give up. Some are persistent. Some people, when they are given an opportunity, make an extra effort to do a great job. When they do, they get asked again and again. They get asked again because people know who they are and that they can depend on them. Then people looking on from the sidelines call them Good Old Boys. Good Old Boys get to be Good Old Boys and get opportunities again and again, because they were persistent, reliable, and easy to work with. Then they get so many offers, they have to become selective about what opportunities they can do. Those who are a part of the Good Old Boys Club are there because they volunteered often. And when they were picked, they worked hard, met their deadlines, and were easy to work with (low maintenance.) Now, there may be some exceptions, but the fact that people can’t break into their profession is primarily because of effort and their follow through—or lack there of. The good news is that because of Social Networking, there is no excuse. Everyone has an equal chance to become a Good Old Boy. The bad news is, those looking on and accusing others of excluding them are toast. There will be no more excuses, because the Social Network and all of its elements, such as blogging, adding documents, asking and answering questions on a list serve, is open to anyone.
If you want to be more involved in your profession, build your resume, make more contacts, or become more respected. The ball is now in your court. Although they exist, there are fewer Good Old Boys than you think. And there is still time to get into the social network world while there is less competition. Some will build a name for themselves before it gets too crowded and too competitive. They may not be able to do that after there is more competition.
There are social networks related to our profession on LinkedIn. HCCA and SCCE are experimenting with Twitter to get breaking news to their constituency. In three weeks, 1900 HCCA members and 1800 SCCE members have signed up for the news via Twitter. Blogs are springing up everywhere. Donna Boehm has an excellent e-newsletter on subjects related to compliance and ethics. Facebook is another tool that some are experimenting with, but the benefit at this point escapes me. I am convinced that somebody, somewhere, will be using Facebook to share important compliance and ethics information and/or for professional networking.
There is a lot out there. It can consume your time, if you let it. However, like any tool used appropriately, it can supplement your education and networking.