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using your NetworkChapter 3

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Welcome back.Jim here. Your resident social

business expert.

The last time we met, Charlie and I were

eating lunch, celebrating the great

brainstorms IBM Connections was helping

him lead. That’s when we met Maria, our

HR manager.

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After hearing about Charlie’s new process

and how engaged his team had become,

Maria asked if she could sit in on one of his

IBM Connections-hosted brainstorms. She was

impressed. A few days later, an email showed

up in my inbox.

“Jim,” she wrote, “I’m seeing big changes in

how our teams work. First with Betty over in

sales and now with Charlie in marketing…it’s

making me wonder whether we can do things

differently in HR, too. The company leadership

recently came to me with an important

challenge. Do you think you can help?”

To: Jim

From: Maria

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“Let’s grab a coffee!”

Coffee in hand, Maria explained her situation.

“Our leadership team knows that in order

for the company to stay competitive, our

employees need to extend their skillsets

and better connect to experts across the

company. That’s why I’ve decided to create

a new employee mentorship program, so our

people can keep growing and learning while

building a support system and camaraderie.”

“That’s a great idea!” I said. Maria shook her

head.

“Not so fast. I’ve hit a few roadblocks…”

JAVAJAVA

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See, Maria needed an easy and fast way

to transfer knowledge from subject matter

experts to interested employees. But locating

the right experts, connecting them with

mentees and enabling them to work together

over a long stretch of time were proving easier

said than done. On top of that, Maria found

traditional knowledge-sharing methods

cumbersome, since they offered no easy way

to get information to many people at once.

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I explained to her that IBM Connections

could help her implement this

exciting new program.

First, IBM Connections would make it easy

for participants in the mentorship program

to find and connect with the right expert

mentors in order to gain the new skillsets

they’re interested in.

Next, it will allow experts to mentor many

people at the same time, amplifying their

voice. With IBM Connections, mentors will

be able to build communities around their

areas of expertise. Any interested employees

can join in and contribute, from anywhere, at

anytime. It’s that easy!

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“Jim, this sounds perfect. I can’t believe I

didn’t know about it sooner!”

I met up with Maria a few weeks later and

found her team humming along. They had

already started using IBM Connections as

part of the new and successful mentorship

program. The results so far? Employees

find themselves wearing many hats and

contributing to the company more

broadly, giving the entire business

a competitive edge.

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Maria was proud to introduce me to one of the

mentorship program’s early adopters, Carlos.

He explained how he used IBM Connections

to learn more about a new part of the

business. In fact, he was already enjoying a

productivity boost during his workday.

“This is a neat tool,” he said as he shook my

hand.

“But wait till you see what else it can do,”

I said.

I smiled. I had a feeling I knew what he was

about to say…

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have a question?Tweet them to

@JimClaussen using #ConnectionsWithJim

Are you looking to use your network in new and meaningful ways, like Maria did?

Listen to the AskJim Podcast (Episode 9) and get the inside scoop on creating effective networks.