Originally published May 2012.

Welcome to the May edition of the Management Journey Carnival. This blog carnival presents top posts from thought leaders around the web that I select or that contributors submit themselves. This month’s Carnival has some great information on employee engagement, marketing, innovation, life balance, business trends, social media, organizational culture, communication, leadership and other topics.

Social Media Corner

Social Media Corner

Being agile in our age of disruptive innovation is critical for business success (remember MySpace). Distinguishing the next opportunity from the next business bubble in this environment is difficult however.  David Gildeh tackles this difficult topic in his article, Are We Entering Another Bubble?

Pinterest is a newer social media tool that is gaining popularity. As businesses use this social bookmarking tool to market their businesses, it is important that they understand this fast growing community.  In her article, Susan Gunelius of Entrepreneur explains the Do’s and Don’ts for Marketing with Pinterest.

Digital marketing through social media can be a major driver of innovation. It can also be a source of information overload and confusion if it is not done correctly. In his article, Digital Marketing a Major Catalyst for Innovation, Guido Kerkhof of PeerIndex explains why “merely chasing the latest social media platforms and tools without a solid strategy will not result in sustainable success.”

Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin: As a business professional, where should you focus your efforts?  Sam Laird of Mashable provides interesting statistics to help your decision making in his article, Which Social Network Should You Use — and When? [INFOGRAPHIC].

Some businesses focus their social business activities on a single area like customer service or marketing.  In his article, People Naturally See Across Artificial Borders, Jack Vinson of Knowledge Jolt with Jack suggests a more comprehensive approach. He explains that “social business opens up the world” and should be viewed as a systemic, continuous improvement opportunity.

You get what you measure! As businesses rush to implement social media in their business operations, some managers neglect to also measure their return on investment. In her article, How to Measure Social Media ROI, Christina Warren of Mashable provides a thoughtful analysis of the tools, metrics, and methods for this important effort.

Articles

Featured Articles

Some smart managers succeed in an organization where other smart managers failed. Were these successful managers more skilled than the managers who failed?  Maybe not! In his article, When Choosing a Job Culture Matters, Bill Barnett of Harvard Business Review explains that organizational culture is critical to a manager’s success.

Nature is full of management and leadership lessons. In his article, Orcas Showing Teamwork, Clint Cora of Motivation Diversity Success Blog reminds managers that they cannot be effective alone.  Managers need a good team!

A picture is worth a thousand words! From my blog, Management is a Journey, I offer, Employee Engagement: It’s Still More Than Money and Benefits [Infographic]. This infographic provides some interesting statistics on the state of employee engagement and the role managers have in this activity.

As managers focus more on everyday innovation in the workplace, their chances of succeeding will improve if they identify and develop those employees who excel in this area. In his article, Who Will Innovate For You, Art Markman of Monster Thinking identifies “three characteristics that — when found together — are good predictors of someone’s innovation potential.”

There’s nothing like a good story to drive home a point! Sheridan Orr of Customer Think does just that in her article, The Elegance of Simplicity: Creating Experiences the Drive Purchase. She explains how too much complexity ruins the customer experience.

Editor’s Pick

Editor’s Pick

This month’s Editor’s Pick is an article by Ron Ashkenas of Harvard Business Review titled, It’s Time to Rethink Continuous Improvement. Ron begins his article with the following provocative statements:

Six Sigma, kaizen, lean, and other variations on continuous improvement can be hazardous to your organization’s health. While it may be heresy to say this, recent evidence from Japan and elsewhere suggests that it’s time to question these methods.

Ron provides some compelling statistics on the decline of several Japanese industries. The information he provides raises an important fact:

If  Japanese companies—that have thoughtfully implemented continuous improvement, Six Sigma, lean management principles, and other quality management—are losing market share and innovation breakthroughs to their competitors, then some rethinking of how to implement these initiatives in our time of disruptive innovation is needed.

Ron raises some important questions for making continuous improvement compatible with disruptive innovation.

This concludes the May 2012 edition of the Management Journey Carnival.

Robert

Social media photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.