CMI National Conference Comment Competition

Submitted by Adi Gaskell MCMI on Mon, 13/07/2009 - 16:37

The Management Blog has twisted the arm of the events team here at the CMI to offer you a great chance to win a free ticket to our National Co national conference nference in October, worth £250 for members and £500 for non-members.

All you have to do to win is comment on the posts within this blog. The reader with the most approved comments during August 2009 will receive a free ticket to the National Conference on the 15th October. (Naturally, comments need to be of a certain quality, otherwise they won’t be approved.) So, what are you waiting for? Have a browse of the blog - there are hundreds of blog entries which you can discuss - and comment away!

To enter the competition you will need to use the same email address for each comment so that I can track things. A 100 character minimum will be in place for each comment to ensure quality is provided (full T&C here). I will provide a weekly league table to let you know the current standings. So, to recap, here's what you need to do:

Post as many comments as you can (of good quality - 100 characters +)
Check back regularly to see how you're doing against the competition
Make sure you're top of the table at 12 midnight on the 13th August 2009

Enough from me, get commenting!

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Comments

Submitted by on Mon, 13/07/2009 - 19:15

Hi, - Just a quickie - In this post it says '100 characters' and in the T&Cs it says '100 words' minimum limit. Which applies?

Submitted by on Mon, 13/07/2009 - 20:14

Well spotted Simon, it's 100 characters, not 100 words.

Submitted by on Mon, 13/07/2009 - 20:44

Hi Adi,

Interesting concept a prize for the most posts and good to see that you have set a quality limit - not sure how many you will disapprove of that hit the 100 character mark.

Obviously the idea is to get people into reading and commenting on the blog more - not a bad idea but can't help feeling people will comment on blogs they have no real interest in to try to win the prize.

Great for those who have all day to spare but should you be encouraging people to 'waste' so much time? :-)

Regards

Ray

Submitted by on Mon, 13/07/2009 - 21:03

Nearly had that down as unapprove due to it daring to suggest commenting on our blog is a waste of time :)

It's an experiment really, see what works and what doesn't. Time shall tell.

Submitted by on Mon, 13/07/2009 - 23:51

Thanks for not turning that one down Adi - By the way,it is a bit sneaky not stating in the headline page it doesn't start till tomorrow!

Looking at the t&C's it referrs to number of posts so presumably multiple posts on one blog - of sufficient length and quality - will qualify?

Submitted by on Mon, 13/07/2009 - 23:54

I also wonder re the concept - will people be writing on true management issues, or in relation to the competition itself-ezc

Submitted by on Tue, 14/07/2009 - 01:14

I started counting from yesterday so you're ok there Ray :)

David, people are posting as their personal brand. All of this stuff is searchable, which is fantastic if what you post is very good. Not so good if it's not though. That's what I'm relying on to ensure quality is maintained.

Submitted by on Tue, 14/07/2009 - 10:42

Thank Adi - does that mean I get two counts for yesterdays posts on this blog? ;-)

Submitted by on Tue, 14/07/2009 - 11:27

The rules are the rules, so yeah, everything thus far has counted, giving you a healthy lead. Sure you'll get some heady competition before long though :)

Submitted by on Tue, 14/07/2009 - 16:40

Ah, there's a vast difference between 100 words and 100 characters. 100 words would've had me writing almost a dissertation in volume. So thanks for choosing characters - I can now have a better comment/life balance.

Submitted by on Tue, 14/07/2009 - 16:47

Sounds good, I look forward to entering (with more characters :) )

Submitted by on Thu, 16/07/2009 - 15:27

Question: When at work does doing the RIGHT thing become the WRONG thing to do?

I have some ideas about this based on my experiences but I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks in order to expand my understanding and challenge my assumptions.

Thanks
Matthew

Submitted by on Thu, 16/07/2009 - 15:40

Not sure I quite follow you Matthew. Could you elaborate a bit more?

Submitted by on Sat, 18/07/2009 - 14:35

Matthew - I think that doing the 'Right' thing by policy would be the wrong thing if it would utterly demoralise your collegues to the point that it would affect productivity.

Submitted by on Tue, 21/07/2009 - 14:37

Hi Adi

I was trying to be vague and leave the question very open to see how people interpreted it as much as the answers that they gave.

However, in terms of elaborating then please see below is a small and incomplete list of potential conflicts that could cause a misalignment between an individual and the company that they work for.

When individual goals and organisational goals are not aligned.
When office politics get in the way.
Ethical issues such as whistle blowing, etc.
When giving a factually correct answer can become an "inconvenient truth" for senior management.
When doing something at work that might be right for the organisation is bad for your reputation or career.

I'm sure that there must be loads more scenario's that could cause this kind of situation but hopefully this will provide enough guidance to initiate a conversation but not limit what people want to talk about.

I hope that this helps and I look forward to seeing what people have to say.

Regards
Matthew

Submitted by on Tue, 21/07/2009 - 14:46

Hi Matthew,

My apologies, I mistook your comment for something related to the initial post rather than a standalone question.

Sounds like a topic for an article in its own right if you wanted to put a few paragraphs together on it to kick us off? My email is over there on the right, do feel free to drop me something in the post.

Adi

Submitted by on Tue, 21/07/2009 - 16:02

Hello Matthew. Here are my thoughts on your question.
I think the scenarios you relate are quite common in a work situation. I can give you a story about ethics whereby myself and my senior manager had to fire an employee for unethical practices despite the fact that he had a long record as an outstanding sales person, and was personally connected to the CEO of our company.
Ultimately I think you have to stand up for what you believe is right. Most good organisations allow their employees to say what they feel however you also need discernment and good judgement as to how you might do this and how far to go.
Vince

Submitted by on Fri, 24/07/2009 - 21:38

Hi Vince

Thanks for responding and it's interesting to hear about the situation that you describe. After you fired the unethical employee was there any fall out from the CEO or anyone else due to a personal connection or the loss of a high performance sales person?

Cheers
Matthew

Submitted by on Fri, 24/07/2009 - 21:56

Hi Adi

Although I probably send around 50+ e-mails a day I certainly wouldn't consider myself a good enough writer to put together an article for you. However, I'd be very happy for you to take the idea and develop it based on the conversations that we have on the subject or any other research that you can dig up. If you do write an article on this subject then please let me know as I'd be interested in reading it.

My only motive for posting the question was to get people talking about this subject and in the process broaden my understanding of it.

So, come on everyone, have you ever been in this situation?

Matthew