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. 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?” “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…” 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. 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! Brought to you by “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.

2. Brought
to you by
using your Network
Chapter 3

3. Brought
to you by
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.

4. Brought
to you by
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

5. Brought
to you by
“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

6. Brought
to you by
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.
?

7. Brought
to you by
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!

8. Brought
to you by
“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.

9. Brought
to you by
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…

10. SocialBusiness
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.