Social Sentinels #socialsentinels the new alternative to having more board directors for NFPs and social enterprises

Tags

LEADERSHIP, LEGAL, NFP, Not for Profit, recycling, refreshing, Social enterprise, social relationship, social relationship management, sustain, sustainability

I worry that our Not for Profits (NFPs) and Social Enterprises have Boards of Directors/Boards of Trustees etc with too many people on them.

I also wonder how many people are on NFP boards because it looks good on their CV and I then wonder how many NFPs invited people onto their  board hoping for hands on help, support and influence and just ended up with another pain in the ….. around the board table?

Up to now if a NFP or Social Enterprise wanted to bring on an expert pair of hands to advise, to help, to provide free assistance they would offer a Board position, unless they were one of the few with an advisory board or an equivalent.

Being a Director of anything is becoming less attractive for the Director and may not deliver the benefits the organisation was looking for.

Lovenotes http://www.lovenotes.co.nz is a Social Enterprise. It is a limited liability company but small and still finding its way. I love what they do, the vision of the business around refreshing paper appeals to my values (and provides a sustainable balance to my materialistic existence) and the creation of beautiful notebooks appeals to my love of stationary.

I have been helping Lovenotes out on a pro bono basis for about 3 years now. Lots of business advice, creative ideas and sometimes a little legal direction. We have been discussing what my role should be formally. At this stage it makes sense for Amanda to be sole director. In time I could join as a Director and/or Chair but the business is too small and what they need are my ideas, not governance.

We have come up with a new title “Social Sentinel”. A Social Sentinel is an expert in their field who is interested in and relates to the vision of the social enterprise or NFP and who provides practical hands on help and support primarily on a pro bono basis (but not necessarily) . Social Sentinels care and keeping a watching eye on the business and its staff and stakeholders (like a guardian/custodian but without any legacy baggage)  but who have no legal status and no legal liability. They neither run, manage nor govern but can provide expert practical help and ideas.

Does anyone else like the idea of doing this too and adopting this title?

Making sense of social media in a leadership context.

Leadership New Zealand Alumni Retreat – Making sense of social media in a leadership context.

How the customer experience revolution is changing the role of HR professionals

Article from December 2012/2013 from Human Resources-New Zealand’s Magazine for Human Resource Professionals.

“How the customer experience revolution is changing the role of HR professionals”

Latest article I have written-Wine and food on a budget in Napa and Sonoma

Tags

Budget Travel, food, Napa Valley, oracle, oracle OpenWorld, Oracle OpenWorld 2012, Sonoma Valley, travel, wine

No time for Napping NZlawyer 8.2.13 print

My latest article is a travel piece about our wine tasting and food munching trip to Napa and Sonoma last year after the Oracle OpenWorld Conference.

Great trip and really recommend the experience.

http://www.nzlawyermagazine.co.nz/GetALife/GetALife2013/Issue201/tabid/5035/Default.aspx

CIO Magazine Feb/March 2013 Primetime-Article featuring women in IT including me!

Tags

cloud, CRM, IT, ITC, LAWYERS, mobile, social relationship management, technology

CIO Feb:March 2013

Article in CIO hot off the press about the changing face of IT.

I really enjoyed being interviewed. the process is always good to help get clarity about who you are and what you are all about.

 

 

2012 World Business Capability Congress Auckland-3 days of Congress captured in Tweets

Tags

blogging, conferences, law, LAWYERS, LEADERSHIP, presentations, social media, social relationship, social relationship management, SRM

Have another go.

http://storify.com/jennievickers/world-business-capability-congress-2012-days-1-to

 

Spark Magazine November issue Jennie Vickers on cover

Tags

ADLSI, law, LAWYERS, LEGAL

http://sparkmag.co/bopnzl10x/november2012/index.html

Article about ZeopardLaw and a piece about fishing and contracts!

 

The Impact of Social Media on Board Governance-ZeopardSocial report

ZeopardSocial Impact of Social media on Governance Newhitepaper

Here is a link to my ZeopardSocial Report on the Impact of Social Media on Governance.

Report written to provide a more compelling argument as to why the governance role of a board to be custodian of a company’s trust reputation cannot be divorced from conversations about the trustworthiness of the organisation which are being conducted on social media platforms.

ADLSi President-Election Candidate Jennie Vickers-what I really think

Tags

ADLS, ADLSI, Auckland District Law Society inc, election, lawyer, LAWYERS, president

Many practitioners I talk to think ADLSi is already irrelevant and should give up and throw in the towel.  Although the reasons behind these views are varied, a consistent comment is that NZLS is forging ahead and ADLSi seems to be going nowhere.  This is not an unreasonable assumption after months of silence, no new exciting obvious initiatives and some worrying changes like the abolition of the small practice collegial activities.

ADLSi has 2 groups of members in my view (and without access to any lists to verify my suspicions). The first group who I will call the “Form Huggers” are those  who are members for pragmatic reasons ie the forms discounts and who may not really care who is President or on Council. I have a suspicion that this group does not open Lawnews or other correspondence and so they are less likely to come across a voting form and even less likely to send it in).  The second smaller group who I will call the “Chancery Lovers” is committed to the organisation, to independence, to collegiality, to having a voice and who believe an independent ADLSi is a good thing.

I have not been on Council for the last year and have experienced ADLSi as a regular member would and not as an insider.  Customer Experience is the most important trend which is impacting business and all member organisations across the world and the offerings and communications from ADLSi have seemed like no experience at all.  The impression was of inactivity, lots of kissing babies in LawNews and then a triumphal arrival of the new baby (namely the constitution and new name). The experience of the Form Huggers has I suspect been very underwhelming.

I am sure the work on the name and constitution was in fact substantial and that the team has been very busy, but they broke the number one rule of customer experience which is creating an experience and creating engagement with the members. The selection of a new name was always going to be controversial and needed careful handling and consultation. It was daft to think they could produce a new name and get buy in from the Chancery Lovers without respectful consultation.  I understand that a sub group of Council even excluded other Council members in this process.

I remain of the view that an independent ADLSi has a valid role on behalf of the entire profession, as an unfettered independent voice, but this needs to be a loud voice not a wimper. A year ago the Council approved a strategy with a bold vision but the whole year has been wasted arranging the deck chairs. There is much that can be done to play nicely with NZLS, which is to the benefit of all across the country.

I am really concerned about the future of our young practitioners and the law students coming through. The profession across the world is undergoing enormous change and revolution, yet we are still preparing them for nineteenth century jobs. Read my 3 articles in NZLawyer (which are on this blog site) to see more about my concerns. This group is going to be responsible for our pensions and buying our goodwill and we need to do a better job looking out for them now.

It really is:

Time to put up or shut up.

Please vote for me if you want to see some action, some presence and some progress. If you are a Form Hugger please use your vote rather than leaving the decisions to a minority.

Jennie Vickers

World Business Capability Congress-In Auckland 5-7 December 2012

Tags

ADLSI, Business Capability, Business Excellence, conferences, LAWYERS

The final Congress programme is out. Here it is.

World Business Capability Congress Final programme

If you are looking for inspiration, ideas, new and different ways of business then it is all here.

 

The Congress includes the New Zealand and International Best Practice Competition. I am presenting the ZeopardLaw entry “Getting your House in Order-Pragmatic Governance in the Real World”