Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by Dave Blum
I ‘m intrigued by this Web 2.0 thing, even if I don’t exactly know how to make money from it. Is anyone out there really using Social Networking to make a profit (apart from the so-called Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook “consultants”)?
Especially from a team building facilitator’s perspective, one thing I DO like about LinkedIn, for example, is the “recommendation” function. In a nutshell, you can ask for people to recommend you as a service provider — which is great — but even better, as soon as you post someone’s recomendation of you, the site suggests you return the favor and praise that person back. Has this lead to increased business for me? I have no idea. It certainly hasn’t hurt to have personal, online “testimonials” posted on the web. What I’ve valued most about it, though, is the opportunity to exchange kudos with my colleagues.
In teams, trust is built a number of different ways–and expressing mutual appreciation is a big one. Surprisingly, though, whether it’s in the workplace or out on corporate team building outings, appreciation is rarely vocalized. Strange but true!
So–if you’re on LinkedIn, here’s your chance to give the appreciation people are starving for. Think about someone you haven’t heard from for awhile and write them a recommendation. Do it out of the blue. Be honest and specific in your praise. I think you’ll be surprised by the love that comes back to you, and how strengthened your relationship becomes in the process.