Mutual Respect

I have been having trouble trying to reconcile some thoughts this past week.

On on ehand I have some members who refer to our head office, Moor Hall, as 'the mother ship', 'fort Moor Hall', or 'the ivory tower'. All pretty derogatorray terms, which don't help to forge links with CIM staff located at Head Office. This can equally be challenged by actions, policies and procedures that seem ill informed and totally out of sync with the membership.
Clearly our Chief Executive has experienced some of this as he has been heard to say that Moor Hall is just building and could we please stop inferring that Moor Hall can cause members problems.

Oh dear!

I was discussing this today with a fellow member and I asked him to put down in words his eloquent conclusion -

There are not many genuinely evil people in this world, just people with different objectives and therefore agendas.

It is this misalignment of objectives that causes apparently like-minded people/logical groupings of people e.g. Product Marketing (PM)and Press Office (PO)to pull in opposite directions e.g PM carry revenue and profit targets, PO carry column inches and impressions target. Both teams work hard to achieve their individual goals but the goals are not common and supportive of each other. This leads to disagreement, lack of co-operation or worse case, conflict.

If you fix the objectives alignment problem, then you fix the behavioural problem resulting in teams pulling in the same direction towards a common and agreed purpose.

I hope you agree with this, as I do, and hope you decide, whether CIM staff or member, to subscribe to take this onboard. Let's see if we can just pull ourselves into some form of alignment. I sincerely hope that the latest change in management structure will serve to bring us all closer to a better situation.

Revisiting Moor Hall, let's take responsbility and create some mutual respect.

Week 35: Dump the disposable diaper…

You can tell this is written by American’s! 8 million disposable nappies are thrown away every day in the UK and they are being buried or burnt in incinerators, which we discussed in week 30. That is an awful lot of money being buried or burned as nappies are not cheap. I believe there are now real nappy laundry services setting up across the country, which is a great example of entrepreneurship and innovation, so why not give them a try?

Recruiters

You may be interested to know that this week I spent time with some local recruiters. This was a follow up to a forum we held last year to get a general feel for what they knew about The Chartered Institute of Marketing and how we might work together. Myself and colleagues from Moor Hall presented our thoughts and materials, which we hoped would be of use to recruiters, employers and candidates and on the whole I think they were received well. It has opened up a great line of development for us and great networking links with local recruiters, which I am sure our members will benefits from so watch this space!

Disenchanted

This is the word I am hearing a lot from members, which is of great concern to me.
I am told by some that members are disenchanted with The Chartered Institute of Marketing and can't see the point in retaining membership.

I can understand that members have had a raw deal in the past and we did at one point appear to not care about our members but I don't feel that is the case currently. I feel that we have made good progress, though there is always room for improvement, in putting our members back at the heart of what we do. And I wouldn't have crossed over from volunteer member to CIM staff two and half years ago if I didn't believe in CIM.

I am always hearing good things about our Membership Services Team and how delighted a member was that we got in touch with them.
I am amazed at how well received we are when I attend events and exhibitions - by people who have studied with us, by people who are interested in joining or studying, or just by people that want to know more about our Institute.
I am pleased to report that the number of professional members in the North West is on the increase, which must mean something!

On that last point I believe my strategy from taking up this post is finally paying off. That is concentrate on the members we have and those we don’t have will follow. I have put a lot of energy into the North West Ambassador pilot, which is still in its early stages, but I think is is working. You can find out more about the pilot by visiting www.cim-nw.org.uk and looking up regional structure.

I hope this will prove that we are not just out to ‘push’ goods, as I have been accused of in the past, and I hope that all our members will appreciate us in time.

Climate Change Website Launched

I thought you would be interested in this, this I received this week...

The NWDA has launched a website which will keep you up to date with news about plans in the North West on how to tackle climate change:

Climate Change Northwest is the new regional website which explores the opportunities and challenges that a changing climate presents to the Northwest. The website’s aim is to be the first point of call for anyone looking for information about climate change in the region by offering:

· The online home of 'Rising to the Challenge - A Climate Change Action Plan for England's Northwest 2007-09' and will provide regular progress updates on activities taking place in the Northwest to ensure the delivery of the region's first climate change action plan;

· A regional forum through which other complimentary climate change and energy activities, news and events will be highlighted and exemplified throughout the Northwest and beyond, and

· A unique portal linking to information and advice relating to climate change and energy issues in the Northwest.

Visit Climate Change Northwest at www.climatechangenorthwest.com for further information.

Week 34: Help others to help themselves…

This is all about helping the people of Bhopal, India get back on their feet at www.bhopal.org

In complete contrast to the last website I mentioned, here raw truth and shocking realisation of what is going on in the world is used as a marketing tool.

But do persevere because they have good news at the bottom of the page, which will restore your faith in human beings!

Week 33: Adopt a local water course…

This is helping restore local waterways with www.wrg.org.uk

I absolutely love their eyecatching banner on the homepage! It just proves probably the oldest marketing rule - sex sells!

Week 32: Make sure you’re getting a good deal from your council…

Firstly, yes I have dropped the ball. I haven't posted for nearly three weeks because I have been very naughty and took a holiday - sorry!

Anyway, I'm back, refreshed and ready to post...

I touched on this in week 30. Our council is very good and way ahead of the minimum of two types of recycling collections required, as I believe are most rural areas. Plastic and glass bottles, cardboard, newspapers and garden waste is collected once a fortnight, which is adequate and in addition we have a local recycling tip, which is the cleanest tip I have ever been to! All credit to the council not only in providing the services but for promoting them and having a sign at the tip saying how much of the waste is being recycled. This is a simple yet effecting method of communicating and getting people on board - educational marketing at its best!

Week 31: Create a wildlife haven at the bottom of the garden…

I am delighted to say that the bottom of our garden already is a haven, even though it isn’t very big. We have a row of conifers that are a hi-rise for a range of birds – collar doves, tits and sparrows. It is great in the summer time to see them happily going about their business and their songs are real music to the ear. In fact I am so lucky that in the summer, when I am home more often, I work on my laptop in the garden and just enjoy their company.