As it turns out, cycling is beginning to take over North America as an extra-curricular athletic hobby. According to the National Sporting Goods Association the number of Americans who ride bicycles is greater than all those who ski, golf, and play tennis combined. According to Outdoor Foundation there were 1.2 billion cycling outings in America in 2011 second only to jogging and running. This got me thinking about one of my favourite personal passions (cycling) and our corporate organizations. Maybe if we were to act like a peloton in our organizations, we might see higher levels of employee engagement. What’s a peloton? In cycling speak, it’s what a pack of cyclists are called when they ride together. Check out the photo to the right for
organization Archive
The University off British Columbia has awoken from years of gender pay inequity and decided to grant all 880 tenured or tenured-track female faculty a 2% wage increase effective immediately and retroactive to July 1, 2010. This act — costing more than $2 million — was in response to a study performed by the University’s Equity Office and although one-time in nature, does send a message that pay inequality will no longer be tolerated. One might argue that’s (finally) taking a stand even though it doesn’t fully address the inequality of pay between men and women faculty. Also in Canada, four of the country’s ten provinces are now (finally) led by female Premiers including: Christie Clark, British Columbia Alison Redford, Alberta Kathleen Wynne, Ontario Pauline Marois, Quebec These four provinces
When I left academia in 2002 I also left the trappings of an office. When I switched organizations in late 2008, I also gave up a singular desk space. I’m like PacMan careening through a corporate game board collecting points at the desks, tables and rooms I occupy. I am a floater. I’m on a quest for the corporate floater high score. There are no ghosts in this game. Wherever the wind takes me — be it the road, various offices, home or coffee shops — I am working. I float. I’m like those bubbles we blew as a kid except I don’t pop when I crash into a wall. Too many childhood childish metaphors? With no office and armed with my laptop, tablet, mobile
As I’ve said before, micro-blogging inside an organization could be coined the ‘liquid knowledge network‘. There is so much to like about it. The following 6 use cases are intended for nascent users who might not fully appreciate the myriad benefits to micro-blogging inside an organization. 1) I’ve got a question When an employee is tapped into the micro-blogging platform, he or she now has access to the collective intelligence of the entire organization in ways email, phones and meetings will never reach. Ask a question on the micro-blogging platform and the spirit of human collaboration will surface with an answer more readily than if trying to find the ‘right person’ to answer the question in more traditional ways. 2) I’ve got something to share Putting paper notices