Unpacking our online presence

Friend and colleague Jayne Cravens recently wrote a blog post entitled "Why I won't follow you on Twitter" which explained her reasons for engaging with others through a variety of social media.

This got me thinking that, almost a year on from the creation of Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd, it might be useful to explain the thinking behind the various social media and websites I am involved with in the hope that this will help you think about the best way for you to engage with me/the business (and  me/the business  with you).

Before I get started I will say that with only a few exceptions the media I'm talking about here are company accounts rather than my personal ones.  So the Facebook link is to the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd page, not my personal Facebook page/timeline.  I keep the two separate so please don't put in personal follower requests if I don't actually know you.


Website
This is the front end to the world for the business.  It explains who we are, what we do and how we can help as well as quotes and recommendations about our work.  The homepage features links to our latest news, recent posts on Twitter and the latest from our blogs.  There isn't a lot of interaction here at the moment as that takes place via the social media covered below.

Blog
This blog is the main focus for my professional writing on a whole range of topics and issues.  Some of the content is in response to announcements, breaking news etc. and some of it is more think-piece oriented.  There is no set publication schedule and comments are always welcome, whether in agreement with what I say or to air different views.

You can follow the blog via log-in or email and/or take the RSS feed - all the boxes and links for these options are in the sidebar on the right of this page.

Third Sector blog
Once a month (usually around the 1st) I have an article published as Third Sector online's "voice of volunteering" blogger.  These posts are usually shorter than the main blog and look at a current issue or a reflect on the volunteering dimension to recent news in the voluntary sector.  As with the main blog, comments are very much encouraged.

Third Sector online is a subscription service so the blog may not be available to you unless you already subscribe to the online magazine.

Twitter
Twitter is perhaps the social network on which I am most active and where most people follow me/the business.  I use the RobJConsulting account for sharing news about my work, about issues in the sector and volunteering field, upcoming events, to promote work I am involved in and to engage in conversation with others, for example via the Thoughtful Thursday discussions run by Volunteer Centre Warrington.  Twitter is also where I gain a lot of my information about what's going on with issues and organisations I'm interested in.  To that end I have set up a number of lists which I follow, from news sources to Volunteer Centres, and anyone can subscribe to these.

Facebook
There is a company presence on Facebook although I did resist doing this for many months (I am similarly resisting Google+ as there are only so many hours in the day to keep on top of social media).  To date most of what is on the Facebook page is articles and stories that I also tweet, the exception being videos and pictures which I think work better posted to Facebook than Twitter.

Also, please note that I do not link the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  If you want to follow me/the business on both then please do so.

I am currently re-thinking how I use the Facebook page as I want to differentiate it from how I use Twitter, perhaps making more use of some of the more engaging features the site provides.  If you have any ideas about how you'd like us to use the Facebook page then please do let me know by leaving a comment below.

i-Volunteer
I have a presence on i-Volunteer under the username robjackson74.  I do occasionally post to the network, mainly commenting on articles other people's blogs, but I use it much more as a source of news and information.

Newsletter
Once a month (usually about the 16th) I publish the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd newsletter.  This has recently undergone something of a facelift and re-launch for 2012 with a view to providing a wider range of content than just what I and the business have been up to.  So alongside some company news you'll find key news stories on volunteering related issues from the previous few weeks, information on useful resources and helpful tips and links.

The newsletter is powered by MailChimp, is totally free and unsubscribing is easy if you decide it isn't for you.

Latest news
The Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd website has the facility for its own dedicated RSS feed of latest news about the company.  A quick click through to the section will show a variety of stories from the past year, announcing events I was speaking at, conferences that were taking bookings, press releases for significant volunteering events etc..

LinkedIn - Rob
If you are interested in who I am and my professional background then you can find relevant information on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd website and on my LinkedIn profile.  The latter option gives access to a variety of recommendations about me and my work from throughout my career, my skills and experience and shows which other professional networking groups I am involved in on LinkedIn.

Please note that (for now at least) the company Twitter feed is linked to my LinkedIn account, meaning my tweets appear in my LinkedIn status.

If you want to connect with me via LinkedIn please bear in mind that I only really accept connections from people I know and am doing or have done business with.  I don't use it as a way to connect with people I don't really know so if I don't recognise who you are I probably won't accept your request to connect.

LinkedIn - Company
Aside from me personally the business has a presence on LinkedIn.  If you aren't familiar with company sites on LinkedIn then here is a quick run down of what you'll find on our page:

• The landing page provides some brief summary information about the company, a link to my profile and the ability to sign up to follow the firm on LinkedIn.
  
• The products and services page is where the real content is.  This provides a brief summary of the different services we offer alongside recommendations of our work from clients.  These clients' images can then be clicked on, giving you access to their profiles and thus the ability to get in touch and ask them about our work.

I'm a big fan of businesses having a presence like this on LinkedIn as it gives customers the chance to sound us out before they even make first contact.  That's an additional incentive for us to consistently deliver great customer services and satisfaction because we never know who is going to contact a client for a recommendation of our work.

If a business doesn't have such a transparent approach to what they do, ask what they might be trying to hide.

YouTube
One of my aims this year is to do more video blogging.  The company YouTube site is where those vlogs will feature.  It is also where you can view videos that I think have relevance to the volunteerism field & voluntary sector and where you can access some of the videos of other YouTube users I follow professionally.

Flickr
There isn't much I do on Flickr other than use it as a space to share photos of events the business has been involved in and promote the work of the photographers who I come across at conferences etc..

Skype
I'm on Skype, again as robjackson74.  I use it for free phone and video communication with colleagues across the world as well as cheap conference calling.  If you add me as a contact please do say who you are and why you want to connect.

UKVPMs
I am involved in moderating the UKVPMs email group which I set up in the late 1990's.  UKVPMs was the first online networking forum for UK based volunteer managers and now has over 1400 members.  It is free to join and more details can be found on the UKVPMs website.


I don't expect anyone to follow me on all of these sites (except perhaps for my mum - hi mum!) but to pick and choose the content and method of engagement that works best for you.  That's why there is a range of choice for you.

However you do decide to engage with me and/or the business, I look forward to meeting you online soon.

A milestone is reached

At some time in the last few hours this blog received it's 10,000th page view since my first post on 1st April 2011.  That's 1,111 views a month on average!  Wow.

I want to take a moment to say a massive thank you to everyone who has read, commented on or shared what I have written.  I am truly humbled by your interest in and (in most cases!) support for what I have to say.

For many years I wanted to have more of a public mouthpiece for my thoughts, opinions and musings on volunteering.  For a variety of reasons this wasn't possible until I struck out on my own last year.  Since then I have written 33 articles here as well as a monthly blog for Third Sector online and a variety of other magazines, websites etc..

Why do I do it?

For a full answer to that read my post on why I write and why you should too.  For now, the author Isaac Asimov once said that "writing is thinking with your fingers".  I love that and totally agree.  For me, writing is a great way to think through issues, to order my thoughts and to present them to the world.  Sometimes people agree, sometimes they don't.  The point is that opinions are shared and issues discussed.  If my small contribution via this blog consequently helps to advance our thinking about volunteering and ultimately affect our practice in a positive way then I'll be content.

So thank you again for reading my blog.  If you haven't yet joined the debate and commented on anything I've written then please do so.  It's dead easy but if you have any problems then drop me a line and I can post your comments for you.



For those of you interested in statistics, here is a bit more information about the 10,000 page views.

• The three most viewed posts are: my analysis of the Pathways Through Participation report and what it means for volunteer managers; my reflections on David Blunkett's proposals for a National Volunteer Service; and my observations on an advert for a volunteer manager position.
• There have been 36 comments on the blog so far.
• More than 50% of page views have been from the UK.
• France, Russia and the USA have each provided more than 1,000 page views.

Looking back on 2011

OK, so where did 2011 go?

Seriously, it seems like only a few days ago we were entering into 2011.  Lots of people I've spoken to this year have commented on how fast the year has gone by.  Before we know it we're on the cusp of 2012.

This post is an opportunity for me to reflect on the year coming to a close and say some thank you's before, in the new year, I consider what may lay ahead in the year to come.

For me, 2011 started on a low note.  Never one to be particularly enthused with new years (for me it always feels more like 'here we go again' than 'yay, its January again!') 2011 was, I knew, the year I was going to lose my job.  I ended 2010 having failed at interview stage to secure a new job.  January was just three short months away from redundancy from Volunteering England (VE).

Not far into 2011 I decided I was going to take the plunge and set up in business for myself when I left VE.  As soon as I made the decision things began to fall into place.  It seemed I'd made the right call as people responded to my news enthusiastically and the first invitations to pitch for work came from prospective clients.

Considerable activity ensued to get the business set up in time for my last day at work.  I bought domain names, set up email accounts, built a website, set up this blog, established a Twitter account, found insurance, a bank, bought equipment etc..

I remain indebted to:

• Mike Marshall at eastsleepthink who helped me immeasurably by designing my logo.  If ever you need design work doing, Mike's your man.
• David Swann and Nathan Hopkins at Greenstones, my amazing accountants.
• Kate Moss (yes, really!) at Barclays for getting the bank account set up.
• My brother-in-law David Byworth who helped me learn how to build a website.
• My great friend Susan Ellis of Energize who has been a constant source of support and challenge.

March was an emotional month, closing down projects that had occupied me for the previous 3-5 years, saying goodbye to friends and colleagues, and having to make others redundant whilst getting set to leave myself.

On the upside I had the chance to kiss goodbye to five years of commuting over 100 miles from Lincolnshire to London and back for four days a week and to the season ticket that cost £6,000+ each year!

And so my journey as Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd started.

I can honestly say I have never looked back.

I've had great fun this year, both in establishing a new business and in meeting & working with some amazing people.  Some of the highlights and thanks owed are, in no particular order:

• Working with the amazing Sue Jones of Volunteer Centre (VC) Warrington.  I've known Sue for many years and have had too few opportunities to work together before 2011.  We put that right this year and will hopefully collaborate even more next year.
• Developing and delivering the Turn Your Organisation Into a Volunteer Magnet tour with Martin J Cowling of People First Total Solutions.  We'll hopefully be bringing the tour back next year and are discussing some exciting developments for early 2013.  Thank you Martin for your friendship and support.
• Working with two other old friends, Lynn Blackadder and Moyra Weston.  We have exciting plans for 2012 - watch this space.
• Being asked to re-work Essential Volunteer Management into a new Complete Handbook on Volunteer Management for the Directory of Social Change (DSC).  Particular thanks to Rick Lynch and Steve McCurley, the book's authors, for the opportunity and to John Martin at DSC for his support and patience.
• Working for and with some amazing clients.  In just nine months we've had over 20 clients, more than I ever dreamt we would have had by the end of 2011.  Thank you all.
• Getting to be a part of the Volunteer Squared team as their UK representative.  Thanks in particular to Tony, Anne and Andrew.
• A big thank you to Gemma Quainton at Third Sector online for asking me to be their blogger on volunteering issues.
• Thank you to everyone who has read this blog.  As I write we've had 8,279 views of 29 posts (this is my 30th).  That's just over 900 views a month.  The most popular post was my analysis of Pathways Through Participation.
• Travelling around Europe during the European Year of Volunteering 2011.  I've been to Dublin (thanks to Volunteer Ireland), Budapest (twice), Brussels (three times) and Warsaw (once).  I've met and worked with some great people and become even more convinced of the value of volunteering organisations in the UK linking up with our fellow European colleagues across the EU.  You can read my thoughts about the European Year of Volunteering in my latest blog for Third Sector.
• Thanks to our newsletter subscribers, the 400+ people who follow the company/me on Twitter and everyone who follows me or I have interacted with on Facebook, LinkedIn, , Flickr and YouTube.

At the risk of this becoming rather like the Oscars, I am sure there are people I haven't thanked.  That's because so many people have been hugely supportive of me and the business in just a short period of time.  

To all of you, a very sincere and heartfelt thank you.

And so 2011 comes to a close.  It has been a rollercoaster ride that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

In my next post I want to share some of my thoughts about volunteering in 2012.

Have a great Christmas and New Year.

Rob

Volunteers, stationery supplies and an apology

First of all, the apology.

It has been five weeks since I last posted to this blog.  Whilst I have had my monthly Third Sector blog published during this time and I have written a post for The Cowling Report which will appear on 5th December I haven't gotten round to posting anything new here.

The main reason for this has been a really busy November travelling around the UK training and speaking at conferences.  This busy period has been very welcome given Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd is a new business in a tough economic climate but it has kept me from having time to write anything here.  So my apologies.

What then has prompted me to write something now.  Well, I am currently attending the closing conference of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 in Warsaw, Poland, and in one of the sessions this morning a speaker talked about her organisation using volunteers.  I immediately turned to a colleague and we both grimaced.

Why?

I feel very strongly that we should never talk about using volunteers but involving them.

Yes, volunteers are a resource that contributes to the fulfilment of organisations' missions just like paper clips, photocopiers, staples, staplers.  But volunteers are people, they take an active role in fulfilling our missions.  They are engaged and involved, not used.

In my experience, all talk of using people is in a negative context.

We use paper clips, not people.

Now some of you may be thinking this is mere semantics and that there are bigger issues to be concerned about.  In fact, this is what another colleague said to me this morning.

I think the language we use (!) around volunteers and volunteering speaks volumes about the way they are viewed, regarded and respected in our organisations.

If we talk of using volunteers, putting them on a par with the office photocopier, then we should not be surprised if volunteers are seen as providing a far from meaningful contribution to our work.  If, however, we talk about involving them then there is implied within that a much more constructive, positive and meaningful attitude to the contribution volunteers provide.

So I hope you will join me in challenging anyone who talks of using volunteers and help them to understand why such language is unhelpful.  Please share stories of doing so in the comments below and give others confidence to do so as well.

And of course if you disagree, please leave a comment telling me why.

Why I write and why I want to encourage you to write too

One of my aims when I started Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd was to write more.  For many years I'd been working in organisations where my workload meant that I didn't have the time to do any writing about volunteerism or volunteer management or any of the other topics I felt moved to comment on publicly.  It sometimes became difficult as my views didn't always agree with organisational policy and, if expressed, could have caused problems for colleagues working to support and influence others.

Since starting the business in April 2011 I have written numerous blog posts as well as a guest Hot Topic for OzVPM, an article for ArtsProfessional Magazine online, a piece for e-Volunteerism.com and a regular blog on volunteering for Third sector magazine.  I've also started work editing a new edition of the Complete Volunteer Management Handbook (formerly Essential Volunteer Management) for the Directory of Social Change and the first UK edition of Susan Ellis' popular book, From The Top Down.

But why do I write and, more importantly, why should you?  Why should leaders of volunteer programmes put finger to keyboard and share their views, opinions, insights and thoughts on volunteerism?

Four reasons why I write

1. To contribute to and build up the field.  For most of my writing I don't get paid; I do it as a volunteer.  Why?  Because I am passionate about volunteering and the invaluable work of those who lead and manage volunteers and volunteer programmes.  When I started in the field I benefited hugely from the writings of others, leaders like Susan Ellis, Steve McCurley, Rick Lynch, Jayne Cravens, Ivan Scheier and Linda Graff (to name just some).  Now I can share the insights and experience I have developed since 1994 and contribute to the field myself.  “Pay it forward” in action.
2. From personal experience, I know how busy the day-to-day life of a volunteer manager can be.  It can be an isolating role with demands mounting up daily from volunteers, colleagues, managers, prospective volunteers and organisational leaders.  Consequently it can be hard to carve out thinking time during the day - time to muse on some of the big issues facing volunteerism.  And if we do manage to carve out the time, what are the big issues?
   
   Through this blog I hope to provide some food for thought for colleagues in the volunteering field.  I hope I am writing on issues relevant to people in their busy professional lives.  I hope that what I say might ultimately lead to some action that helps volunteers to have a more rewarding experience as they make important contributions to organisations' missions and society's needs.
   
   
3. One of the things I think we lack in the UK is people who speak out when issues come up that affect volunteering and volunteer management.  That list of names in point one is made up of people who are all outside the UK.  Our peak bodies like Volunteering England have a key role to play for sure but they sometimes have to hold back because of wider concerns and other forms of lobbying and influence that they are engaged in.  Similarly the Association of Volunteer Managers are great advocates for volunteer management but they are a small number of dedicated professionals who can't speak up on everything.  So I see myself as having a role to play, free from the constraints of political influence, funding or inter-agency politics.  That's why I write posts about stupid ministerial statements or union leader ignorance or ridiculous expectations placed on volunteer managers.
   
   Of course I hope what I say helps but, no matter what, at least someone is saying it (and I also provide a forum to allow you to say it with me!).
   
   
4. Whilst my main motivation for writing is to give back to and build up our field, I also do it because it can be great marketing for my business.  I say this honestly and unapologetically.  Having taken the risk to go out on my own makes it important to be known so that I can earn a living and keep on speaking out.  As of today, there have been over 3,500 views of my blog from people in more than ten different countries.  I hope the people who read what I write like it, feel challenged or inspired by it and so might hire me to work with them as a consultant, a trainer or a speaker at their events.  Ultimately, someone will hire me because of my publicly shared opinions, which becomes an upward spiral:  I will continue to experience the real-world issues of our field through my clients, write more, and stay on potential clients’ minds.

Four reasons why you should write

1. Writing things down forces you to think about what you want to say.  Whether it is sharing an insight you have, a response to a news story, or something you feel passionate about, the process of getting what's in your brain down into written form forces you to have an opinion.  Not enough people working in volunteer leadership and management roles have opinions about the strategic and operational the field faces.  And If they do have an opinion, they often don't share it for others to read and think about.
   
   Just to clarify – I am not urging you to go write a book – although perhaps you might.   But what about replying a blog post (like this one!) or to an article in an online magazine (as you are increasingly invited to do)?
2. Which leads me to my second reason more people in the volunteerism field (you!) should write.  Once you have an opinion and you share, it you open the possibility for others to engage in debate over your views.  Such debate forces us all to think, to sharpen our understanding, challenge our perspectives and advance the theory of volunteer leadership and management (and ultimately the practice, for there is nothing as practical as a good theory).  My own views on working with volunteers have developed significantly (and continue to do so) from reading and discussing the thoughts and insights of others. I haven't always agreed with them but I have always learnt something.
   
   What could you help others learn today?
3. Which brings me to my third reason why you should write.  I want to know what you think.  So do others.  It isn't just the 'leaders' in volunteerism from whom we can learn.  All of us have something to share.  That's why I started UKVPMs over ten years ago:  as a forum for people in the trenches of volunteer management to ask questions, share tips and ideas and advance our collective knowledge.  That's why I got involved in co-editing the free Turn Your Organisation Into A Volunteer Magnet eBook, in which forty people from across the field of volunteer management around the globe (contributions come from Australia, Britain, Canada, Italy, New Zealand and the USA) share what they have learned about making your organisation attractive to volunteers.  You have fabulous treasures of knowledge others could benefit from, so please share.
4. My final reason for encouraging you to write is that it has never been easier to share your ideas and insights.  Blogging, social media and the overall growth and development of the web have revolutionised the provision of and access to information on volunteerism.  You can even tweet your thoughts in under 140 characters,  so there is no longer as excuse for not having the time to comment.
   
   Susan Ellis has written that the web means no volunteer manager should ever feel isolated again.  This is true, but the more people write and contribute to the ever growing library of knowledge online, the richer we all become.