Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Microsoft’s New Tool Helps Nonprofits & Corporations Tell Stories of Social Impact

Davidoff Communications - Microsoft’s New Tool Helps Nonprofits & Corporations Tell Stories of Social Impact By: Gene Zlotnikov

Microsoft’s new mapping tool is helping nonprofits and corporations utilize technology to effectively communicate stories of their impact on society. The Microsoft Local Impact Map is a customized map showcasing an organization’s work in local communities around the world. This new tool is unique as it incorporates text, pictures, videos and social media tools. It enables stories to be easily shared and promoted. Marnie Webb, co-CEO of Microsoft nonprofit partner TechSoup, states, “Before implementing the Local Impact Map, we had case studies in different formats, such as PDF files, Word documents and PowerPoint presentations, scattered all across the organization. It made me nuts. The Local Impact Map gave us the ability to put all these case studies into one place.” Corporations are able to use the tool as well. UnitedHealthcare has been using the map internally for their 80,000 employees to contribute stories of their volunteer work. The tool is intended to transform the way nonprofits and corporations use technology to promote their social impact within local and international communities.

To read more about how Microsoft is helping organizations communicate their stories, you can click here or here.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

How To Get Senior Leaders to Transform

By: Gene Zlotnikov

Senior business leaders are hard-working, intelligent and believe they are doing the right thing at work. However, people may have a superfluous optimism about their own behavior and might think they are better than they are – a psychological phenomenon known as  “self-serving bias.” If senior leaders are to embrace the fact that they must change some form of their behavior, a good strategy for change is a concrete 360-degree feedback technique, which measures the desired changes that will drive business performance. A strong example of this includes Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer’s approach of asking his top 75 staff what he could do differently and sharing his development needs publicly with his team. This circle of feedback can not only transform leaders, but could also create sustainable growth for the organization.

To learn about how to break “self-serving biases,” you can read the Harvard Business Review story here. Davidoff Communications - How To Get Senior Leaders to Transform