In Connecting Organizational Silos, Frank Leistner presents a full-featured guide for organizations interested in using social media. His argument is simple: as it becomes easier for people to interact virtually, the value of effectively moving knowledge through an organization increases. Leistner outlines basics like social media analytics, the mobilization of various departments, and social network dynamics, and he explains why social media is here to stay. Leistner also explores the concept of enterprise social networks (ESNs) and how the future of social media platform technologies will affect both users and organizations in the coming years.

Fire, Flow, and Future

Today's business managers benefit from an unprecedented number of quality improvement tools, such as lean manufacturing, re-engineering, Total Quality Management, and Six Sigma. Yet despite substantial investments, many companies continue to see slow improvement in the quality of their products, services, and processes.

Management is routinely troubled by questions such as "Why are my sales dropping off?"; "What can I do about excessive scrap?" and "How do I reduce high turnover?" How they decide to answer those questions has a measurable impact on both quality and the bottom line.

LEO can help organizations find ideal solutions to these questions not because it is a better management tool than the likes of Six Sigma, but because it causes a shift in every person's frame of mind, affecting how they approach problems and how they decide which actions to take. LEO is a broad methodology that transforms how existing management tools are used, and it operates best when used by people at all levels in an organization.

While designing LEO, there are three scenarios with the most room for quality improvement: Fire, Flow, and Future. In a Fire deployment, LEO is used to solve an isolated, often unexpected problem that needs immediate attention and an accompanying change in quality -- for example, when a food manufacturer's product is suddenly and inexplicably underweight.

A Flow deployment seeks to improve quality in the operational processes of an organization--for example, a hospital's procedure for hiring nurses or a manufacturer's process for creating an RFQ (a request for quote). In a Future deployment, quality is built into the process of innovation.

All three of these scenarios are focused on improving an existing product or service or developing an entirely new one. Regardless of the type of deployment, a LEO team should be appointed to follow same three-step process of Listen, Enrich, and Optimize.

While the composition of the team will vary by deployment, in general it should be led by someone from management, and team members should be chosen based on who the scenario effects and requires input from. No deployment can succeed unless the executive cadre is actively supporting it each and every day.

This article is based on the book "Power of LEO." The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.

UNDERSTANDING DIVERSIFIED MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS: DEFINITIONS, CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES

Diversified mentoring relationships describe mentor and protégé relationships with members who vary by "race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, disability or other group memberships associated with power in organizations." Diversified mentoring relationships face many challenges.

Researchers need to consider the shared group associations of mentors and mentees. Importantly, different branches of diversity should not be gathered under the title of minority.

Each shared group faces different challenges depending on their specific experiences and the context of the mentoring relationship. Every organization has different "micro-climates" that non-visible, stigmatized groups must navigate.

Having a mentor who can better understand these micro-climates can greatly benefit the protégé. Diversity in a mentoring relationship can change over its lifespan.

While group membership differences may initially create barriers, these differences may become less of an obstacle over time. In fact diversified mentoring relationships can lead to members relating on more individualized and deeper levels.

These individualized similarities are what cement a strong and meaningful mentoring relationship. Members of a diversified mentoring relationship must accept the role of privilege in their organization.

Privilege refers to the benefits that certain shared group members enjoy. On the other hand the numerical minority group members experience higher expectations and greater visibility.

Whereas pretending that these differences in privilege do not exist may increase comfort in a diversified mentoring relationship, ignoring differences in privilege means that members cannot learn from one another as effectively. Discussing diversity differences in great depths does allow members of the mentoring relationship to learn from one another and better understand diversity, but over discussing diversity does not allow members to appreciate one another on an individual and deep level.

Ideally, diversified mentoring relationships address diversity but do not allow it to dominate their conversations and mentoring relationship. In order to encourage diversified mentoring relationships, the environment in which they exist must accept and encourage diversity.

Therefore change from inside an organization is the optimal tool for encouraging diverse and meaningful mentoring relationships. In order to achieve this, leaders of the organization need to appreciate the importance of diversity in the workplace and the challenges workers face as a result of discrimination.

Similarly, the organization needs rid itself of the glass ceiling that prevents diversity from being represented on a senior level. Formal mentoring may be an essential tool in the future for advancing the careers of numerical minority groups in the workplace.

Currently, formal mentoring programs are not any more effective than having no mentor at all. Employees with informal mentors are more likely to advance in their careers than those with formal mentors.

In order for formal mentoring programs to create a supportive environment around diversity, it is important that employees have access to both formal and informal mentors. However, the quality of a mentor is more important than a mentoring relationship being formal or informal.

Mentoring programs not only provide numerical minorities with access to mentors, but they also increase the number of future, diverse mentors. A mentoring program that encourages diversity can create a more positive work environment with an inclusive culture.

This article is based on the book "Mentoring and Diversity." The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.