10 Change Management tweeps to follow

@jenfrahm

Twitter you’ve changed.

What’s seems like eons ago, I posted on my first 100 days of Twitter. It was actually in February, 2009. Reflecting back on that, it seems like so much has changed (which I guess is to be expected) and so much has not. You can certainly find more change management tweeps now!

Twitter is still a tremendous source of genuine thought leadership, a place to research ideas, meet people who might be great fun at a dinner table or a valuable contribution to your business. You can test ideas, seek input to stuff, and for me it still is my primary source of articles to read.

It has of course changed, twitter grew in usage and the usage of it broadened as people determined how they saw value in it. Sadly, for me, the conversational element of it declined, with mass market usage it became a vehicle for indiscriminate one-way marketing. Indeed, most of those who I got great value out of in my early years, have since moved on and now re snap chatting away.

But you know what? There is no “twitter has changed” without “we have changed, I have changed”. Twitter is a community and we all have a role to play in how it is consumed and how it adds value.

Recently in listening to a Reputation Revolution podcast with Trevor Young (@trevoryoung) and Stanley Johnson (@branddna), the conversation turned to the value of twitter.  Stanley challenged listeners to not be that indiscriminate retweeter – to always add value to something you retweet, not just an endorsement, or “this is great”, but to add to the ideas or challenge the central premise of what you are tweeting about.

This was a terrific call to action and when I looked back at a 30 days of my tweets I could see I was contributing to the vast echo chamber that twitter can be with RTs. Twitter had changed, because I had changed.

Twitter for those who work in Change Management

For those who work in organisational change, the potential benefits of twitter are vast. Some immediate ones are:

• You can find peers who think like you and those that don’t. Both enhance your capability for dialogue and sense making
• Twitters 140 character limit conditions you to communicate well with brevity – a must in change management
• You can research organisational cultures on twitter – the organisations of your clients.
• Follow the right people and twitter shows you the future direction of your change work
• Follow the right people and you can improve your practice, people with change expertise are generous in their sharing.

But one of the challenges in getting value out of twitter is knowing who to follow. So with that in mind, I have 10  tweeps I think you should follow if you are not already.  And I know as soon as I publish this I will think of others!! And will have potentially offended some. Sorry about that :-/

Change Management tweeps to follow

These are tweeps who are mostly consistent in their tweeting, stay pretty much on topic (although there are some related deviations). They are conversational and often make connections for you, when they know your interest. They are primarily content creators – so are doing their own thinking about change, as opposed to curating content (retweeting others), although their content curation is also excellent value. They have also achieved their following organically as opposed to using auto follow bots  or buying followers (from what I can see). I think authenticity is important in social media.

This is not a perfect list – obviously, and I may be hampered by global time zones e.g. there may be terrific tweeps who fit these criteria but do not use auto scheduling of their posts or hashtags and so I miss them in the AEST time zone. We can rectify that in the challenge at the end of the post!

1. Jason Little – tweeting since 2008, author, blogger, podcaster, involved with Spark the Change conferences, agile OCM
2. Dr Jen Frahm – yes, me. You should be following me. Tweeting since 2008, author, blogger, soon to be podcaster, Communications and OCM, smattering of Future of Work and agile OCM, #CAWW
3. Heather Stagl – tweeting since 2009, author, blogger, consultant and podcaster, TEDxer, primarily OCM
4. Caroline Kealey – tweeting since 2009, blogger, developer of the Results Map, OCM and Communication
5. Simon Terry – tweeting since 2009, blogger, Co-founder of International Work out Loud Week, Charter Member of Change Agents World Wide (#CAWW), change with a heavy dose of Future of Work and ESN
6. Gail Severini – tweeting since 2009, blogger, owner the Organisational Change Practitioners group primarily OCM and thought leader in Strategy Execution, exemplary connector
7. Luc Galoppin, tweeting since 2009, founder of Organisational Change Practitioners group, driver of #socialarchitecture in change
8. Change Factory – tweeting since 2009, blogger, primarily OCM
9. Chris Smith – tweeting since 2013, blogger, editor of Change Blog, primarily OCM
10. Lena Emely Ross, only tweeting since 2015, but definitely one to follow – OCM + future trends

And from the #cm2follow challenge

11. Helen Bevan – tweeting since 2010, Chief Transformation Officer with the NHS, #CAWW nominated by @innovate, @simongterry, and @surveyguy2

Top change content curators to follow

And here’s some of the tweeps who only offer value in their tweet stream and I would LOVE to see share some of {more} of their own content.

Paul Thoresen – tweeting since 2010, heavy on IO Psych flavoured change and pure science, owner of I-O Psych network

Rita Meyerson – tweeting since 2010, Doctoral candidate, Accenture consultant, excellent example of conversational, authentic, and adding value to RTs

Concluding tips

So if you are in change management and you want to get more out of your twitter experience here are some thoughts.

• Follow change management conference hashtags like #ACMP2016 and follow those who are tweeting at that
• If you find some-one who is new to twitter and providing good value, tell them so, and signal boost
• When you attend conferences or meetups tweet your insights
• Use thoughtful hashtags #OCM or #changemanagement so people can find your tweets regardless of scheduling
• Create a list of people who give you value and share it – I haven’t been good at this, I’ve just started one here, and will continue to add to it.
• Subscribe to other people’s list and check in on it from time to time to find new people
• Follow the breadcrumbs – when you find some-one who offers good twitter value, see who they are following.
• If you publish something, tweet it! And tweet it more than once, it’s ok – not everyone sees it the first time

A twitter challenge (#CM2follow)

So in signing off, when you read this post, retweet it and add the name (s) of change management tweeps who you think provide great value and use the hashtag  #CM2follow. I’ll update as either a creator or curator if they fit the criteria, and ultimately we’ll collectively make it easier to find good tweeps to follow!

update 31.05.16 – the Tweeples Choice!

So the#CM2follow isn’t exactly yielding tweeps who fit with the criteria I have laid out above, but it has generated tweeps who are AWESOME to follow and offer value more broadly. So without further ado:

Celine Schillinger – change leadership and disrupting industries, #CAWW, TEDxer

Lois Kelly – Rebelling at work! #CAWW

Esther Derby – coaching, workshops, assessments, Agile teams

Paul Batfay – blogger, facilitator and great at back channel tweeting of conferences

Russel Raath – Kotter International consulting

Culture Digs – company culture, HR, leadership

Gotham Culture – leadership, culture, change, management

Keep em coming…

Jen Frahm

Dr Jen Frahm – Experienced change management practitioner, communications professional, coach and facilitator. Member of Change Agents World Wide network, author of the Transformation Treasure Trove Series 1 & 2 and upcoming book “Conversations of Change – navigating workplace change” .

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