At the same time, we have lost some of our people for various reasons over the past few months. It’s always sad to see a valued colleague and friend move on, but many left to pursue great new opportunities — and in a few cases, their dreams — and that’s something to be happy about.

When we look back at things, the change in our production philosophy was a catalyst to a change in our people. We switched from a waterfall method of production to an agile method in January. We also created smaller teams, each with about eight to ten people, that were focused on different types of work. We currently have teams dedicated to mobile, web apps and website development, and we’re looking to create more teams soon.

Using smaller teams and agile production helped us become more efficient in our work, though it also created some staff turnover as roles changed and we focused on building the strongest team possible.

Currently we are 45 people strong, which is about 10 fewer than our peak. But, we are also in a position to hire and grow our team with complementary talent. We’ve already hired a new HR Director and right now we’re interviewing  developers (web and mobile) and designers. We plan on having about 65 people by the end of this year and close to 100 by the end of 2012. Keep an eye on our careers page for new job postings in the next few weeks.

While the team is changing, we truly feel we are in a much better position as a company than we were a year ago. And we will continue to make smart business decisions that have a positive impact on both our people and our clients.

Essentially, the plan is to make zu a more profitable company. To get there, we have to take several steps.

As you know, zu is a website, mobile and web apps company. That’s not going to change. Our first priority is to take the great work we’ve been doing and make it even better. In order to do that, we’ve reduced our client roster so that we can focus on doing better work with fewer companies. This process started in July and should be complete by the end of the year. It’s always tough to end a relationship with a client, but it is something we feel is a necessary step if we are to produce truly world-class work.

Our second priority is to become more efficient. To help jump start this, we are introducing a profit sharing program that gives every employee the opportunity to literally take ownership of their work and be rewarded accordingly. It’s a win for our clients and a win for our staff.

As we continue to grow, developing great digital experiences for our clients, we will start to work with start-up companies as well. This will start in the next year to 18 months.

With these start-up companies, we will not only receive revenue for our services, but we’ll take an equity position. All of the staff working on these projects will have the chance to share in that stake. The reason behind this is that it will allow our staff a good mix of working with both new and established companies — each presenting their own challenges. This will keep our thinking fresh and allow us to share important insights across all of our clients. It also gives our team the chance to ride the wave of excitement that come with working on a successful start-up.

We have some long-term plans that involve setting up incubators for our own ideas as well, but I’m getting a bit ahead of things. For now, we’re concentrating harder than ever on our work and our clients, and that’s something we’ll keep doing for a long, long time.

Perhaps the biggest change has been bringing in Ted Hellard as a managing partner. Ted is the founder, former CEO and current chair of Critical Mass, the most-recognized digital agency in the world with about 750 employees in over half a dozen offices worldwide. Ted has worked with mega-brand clients like Mercedes-Benz, Nike, NASA, Dell and Proctor & Gamble.

For six years, he was also the co-owner, managing partner and president of the Calgary Stampeders. zu worked with the Stampeders on their digital strategy and website, which is how our relationship with Ted began.

When Tony and I had questions abut the industry or needed advice, Ted made himself available. We liked his no-nonsense and visionary approach to the digital world. We kept in touch, talking on the phone a lot and meeting several times. Ted taught us a lot, and we appreciated his business acumen.

When Ted stepped down from the Stampeders at the end of last season, the three of us started talking seriously about him getting involved with zu in some capacity.

Then in June, Ted had an idea about how to grow zu and our client base, while improving customer service and the talent level of our staff. We thought it was a great plan and have been working at it ever since.

Ted’s role at zu will be to help with the interactive strategy for our clients, to help open doors for gaining new clients and to help improve our internal systems.

We are in Saskatoon and there is a huge base of local talent to leverage. The developers and creatives here have the ability to do world-class work. The challenge is that they are young and need some mentorship.

Ted understood this and started to recommend senior people we could tap to come in and help develop our team. We’ve already hired JL Schmidt as our new COO. She has over 15 years of experience managing digital projects, and has worked with Adidas, Nike, Jugo Juice, Good Earth Cafe and many, many others.

JL’s role at zu is to make sure that our teams are operating efficiently and to ensure that we provide the best value possible for our clients. She’s already started implementing a number of positive changes that are reflected in our improved relationships with clients.

We’ve got a lot more work to do, but with Ted and JL added to our talented and dedicated staff, we are moving quickly in the right direction.

When Jeff and I chatted, we talked about his project at Sherbrook, his recent speaking gig at TEDx in Saskatoon, and his life in art.

A: Tell me about your job at Sherbrooke.
J: I don’t like the term Artist in Residence because it implies that it’s someone doing their own work, like a monkey performing at a zoo. When the project originally started, Saskatoon was named the cultural capital of Canada, the Saskatchewan Arts Board had created a program called Artists in the Communities.

Whenever I tackle something, I want to go big. I want to make it a huge success. I saw the potential in health care, and my fundamental belief is that we are ALL ARTISTS. I really believe that. It’s something that we can all communicate if we let ourselves. And I knew that individuals with limited mobility—with a cognitive disorder, dementia, Alzheimer’s—were going to make incredible sh*t, like, blow-you-away stuff.

A: Did they initially bring you in to be an art instructor?
J: They didn’t have a clue. I showed up and asked, “Where’s the studio?” and they said, “What’s a studio?”

Within the 9-month residency, we went from “What’s a studio?” to having that incredible show at the Mendel—which took everything to the next level, because nobody believed it could be that big. And that exhibition, for me, was a wake-up call to health care: Let’s stop treating residents as infants. We don’t need craft rooms anymore. Let’s raise that bar, let’s push the art, let’s see how far we can go.

A: So what does an Artist in Residence do?
J: I’d like to change the name. I spend a lot of my time building partnerships. I want to see community organizations come together. I want to see partnerships happen with local businesses….it’s about what everybody can bring to the table, and perhaps bringing together groups that you would not normally think had anything in common.

I believe there has to be a revolution. There’s got to be a revolution in health care, there’s got to be a revolution in our education system, the art institution needs a revolution. Things have to change.

A lot of what I do at Sherbrook is go out into the community, working with at-risk youth, with high schools, elementary schools…where we’ve got students coming through the studio, where the studio becomes a playground, where you learn skills and you build confidence and you’re able to express yourself visually.

I work with groups of people that feel at a dead end, that didn’t know what else to do. They come into the studio, we work with them, they learn a skill set by working with the resident artist….and then they’re able to move on, they are off medications, they have jobs, they’ve moved out of social housing and have their own apartments, have boyfriends and girlfriends.

The studio is that powerful tool, a powerful place where things can happen. That’s why I’m steadfast in protecting the integrity of the studio and the rules: there are no mistakes, and we never want to create for somebody else.

So if you come in there, you might be very self-conscious [but] you work through that self-consciousness and know that the marks that you make are just as valid as the marks that I make. The point is, that it is your mark and you are the only one who can make it.

A: What are some things you’ve learned while working there?
J: It’s not just about making great paintings—this is what I got to learn in this whole process—I just wanted to see great art made. That’s all I wanted to see. What I learned was that art was the vehicle for change.

It was like, how can I shake all of that up? I want to shake up everybody and let them know how important art can be and that there are people are sitting on the margins of society, who nobody knows exist ’cause they are safely tucked away in their long-term care homes. Who cares, right? We wanted to bring these people into the spotlight and showcase their art and blow everybody’s socks off. And that happened.

I watched the confidence of people who were once contemplating suicide move on to “I can do things again,” “I can teach,” and “I can have a relationship.”
Through something as simple as the art studio, there is this confidence—by being able to create something—that’s huge. That’s fundamental, and—now able to share this creation and to give—that’s human. As soon as we aren’t able to give, I think we lose something. When you become institutionalized, it means somebody else is doing things for you. When you are in long-term care, specifically, that’s a lifetime of people doing things for you. So flip it around, and now you’re able to do something.

A: There’s always someone you can help.
J: It’s not my studio, it’s their studio. I just work there. The studio is an environment where it is safe, you are encouraged to express yourself. Once you did your mark it is about how can make a better mark. It took a lot of your energy to make that one mark, so how can you do ten, or twenty. I’m kind of a coach, a cheerleader.

I don’t like seeing how art has separated itself from the real world. Life is art and art is life. There shouldn’t be any separation. It sounds naïve, but I think it is that simple.

A: You talk about standardized creativity. Can you elaborate on that a bit more?
J: It is the most heartbreaking thing to see. I’ll tell you a story, and I’d like you to point out where the creativity is. This takes place in a long-term care home with an art program. One of the recreation staff members has a ship-building kit and assembles a group of residents around the table. I don’t know if you have seen one of those out-of-the-box, ship-building kits but the instructions are intense and there are tons of very small parts.

What’s wrong with this picture? Who will put the ship together? The rec staff. What have we turned this into? Something that could have been, should have been, a creative act—a creative moment, a moment of expression—has now become a spectator sport.

Standardized creativity begins when we start looking to others to tell us how to do things.

A: You said you were a ditch digger.
J: I am a ditch digger. I’m a pathfinder. I’m not going to teach you how to paint trees the way I paint trees—that’s my way. What I’m going to do is help you dig down to wherever you buried your creativity and help you pull that out.

A: Give us an idea of the setup you have a Sherbrook.
J: It’s like walking into a room where a paint bomb went off. It is a place unlike anywhere else in a long-term care facility. It is loaded from top to bottom, it is cluttered, it is chaos. And it is gorgeous, ’cause as soon as you get into the room, it changes. Your mood changes. When you walk in, you can start breathing.

A: Tell me about TEDx. Your talk was one of the many highlights, some say the TED Talk of the day. Were you a TED fan before?
J: I was. I knew what TED was but I didn’t know the rules. Just that there were these incredible ideas and talks. I like the storyteller aspect, because I think that was what I saw from TED, that…it’s not about dumbing down, it’s about being a good storyteller, being able to express yourself.

I wanted to talk about health care because we will all come in contact with health care at some point in our lives. And that’s a scary place for a lot of people. Let’s face it, if you are going in for cancer treatment, it’s not exactly a fun place to be. But if we can introduce something that will make your stay better…if you are able to create, to express yourself, that’s important. And if it’s diversionary, if that’s all that it is, fine—if it keeps your mind off having that chemo IV stuck in you. Rock on.

A: How is the whole reception of the Ted Talk?
J: You know, it was like this huge orgasm and then it was done. The whole day, the response was great. As an artist you just hide away in your studio but sometimes you just want to get out there and talk. The greatest minds weren’t necessarily on the stage. I mean, that was a roomful of people who are like-minded individuals.

A: Give me a bit of your history as an artist.
J: I’ve always been an artist. My very first art class in University, I had the realization—19 years or however old I was—that I will always be a student of art. I just took it seriously and hit a level of success very young. I had dealers and collectors at a very young age and was selling my work quickly, and I was getting shows in New York and Chicago.

I just began my practice and never looked back. I worked hard. I would have jobs when I lived in Calgary, I was starting a job at 5am as a groundkeeper at Mount Royal College picking cigarette butts up. Just so I had some money to pay for my studio downtown. I put in eight hours there and then another eight at my studio. I was cranking out work and I had discipline, and that discipline paid off. I had faith in myself, some luck, and produced a body of work. I was very fortunate. And the career just sort of took off. What’s interesting is I was so prolific I was doing five solo shows a year and twenty group shows a year. That’s huge, like, that is absolutely huge.

I was just constantly producing and I loved that. But it turned to a grind, and the more successful I became the less rewarding it was. So my prices would go up or I’d have another show, or this critic wrote about it or that collector bought it or this gallery was showing it, and it started to become hollow. I was living in Toronto and…I was feeling empty. I needed to walk away for a bit.

I moved to Saskatoon. I was actually in Saskatoon when I made the decision. It was a really tough thing to do, because you spend a lifetime building a career. I found out very quickly that it’s called a spotlight, not a searchlight, for a reason. When you step out of the spotlight you are done.

So now I am reintegrating myself into the art world. But I am making my own choices about how I want to do it. I’m not hungry to please, I do my work how I want it done, and if you feel you can show it, then we can have a relationship—but I don’t need to do things to impress you.

A: So, what’s next for Jeff?
J: The new work is incredible. I’m working with spray paint and stencils. I’m returning to my roots. It was in Regina in the early ’80s and lot of graffiti culture was making it’s way up through films and music, and there was a group of us that just started expressing ourselves that way, emulating what we saw. We were dumb because we would spray our names. My last name is Nachtigall, there are about three Nachtigalls in Regina and we are all related. I got caught. Now I combine found and salvaged materials with images depicting obvious Canadian stereotypes… they’re big and ugly and fun.

Now I’m working with the City of Saskatoon, specifically the Saskatoon Police Service, and also with the Anti-Graffiti Unit to come up with programmable space—we need some free walls in the city. You would be surprised at how much money is spent on the grey paint they use to cover tags. And, we need to educate people about the difference between gang tagging and Street Art.

In early 2011 I partnered with a local artist and opened up a project space in the Riversdale district in downtown Saskatoon. Make Work Projects is a  2000 square foot store front studio and sometimes gallery/think tank/ residency/ arts incubator. Follow us on Twitter @makeworkproject for updates.

A: Who better than you to do this?
J: Art needs an advocate. The best way to do it is not to run around telling people that this is what it’s like being an artist, what it means to be an artist, what you should do to be an artist. We should go and turn people into artists.

A: I’m speaking to a high school soon about careers and pursuing your passion. Any tips?
J: Stick to your guns. The path of individuality, doing what you want to do, is the most rewarding but it’s the most difficult. And there is no life like it. When you do what you want to do, the payoff is huge. And it’s not always monetary but the quality of life is incredible.

If you are talking to a group of kids, it might be their last stop. There are a lot of incredible kids out there, but they’ve been told that this is the last stop. I think that’s focusing on limitations again. Focus on what you can do. Limitations are everywhere. Get over it. Deal with it. Find how to chart your way around the tree instead of hitting it.

For more information about Jeff and his past and present projects, head to his website. You can also check out an article on Jeff’s most recent piece in the May 6th, 2011 edition of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.

Since the inception of the zu Green Committee last year, we have encouraged the company to take a few simple steps to make our workplace a more earth-friendly place to spend 8 hours of each day.

Completed earth-friendly initiatives:

• Switch to locally made EnviroWise cleaning products, office-wide.
• Encourage recycling in all areas of the office, particularly in the kitchen and printer areas.
• Change printer settings to print double-sided copies to reduce paper consumption.
• Ladies’ night last year included a Swishing party, a place for ladies to swap their little-used clothing for someone else’s little-used clothing. All clothing that wasn’t swapped was donated to a local charity.
• Eco-bonus: a daily allowance for zu peeps who walk, bike, bus or carpool to work.

Upcoming initiatives: paperless timesheets.

EnviroWise
This Saskatoon-based company formed 20 years ago and is still going strong. The company manufactures household and personal cleaning products in Saskatoon, so we feel good about patronizing a home-grown product, knowing the products are environmentally friendly. Another bonus: when you’ve finished using the dishwasher detergent powder or household cleaner, you can take the container back for a refill to EnviroWise’s retail location.

Alternative Transportation
With a company that staffs more than fifty people, we run a little bit short on coveted downtown parking space. However, many staff members live within walking distance of the office and walk or bike to work on a daily basis. Many others are “fair-weather,” human-powered commuters or they take the bus. Many staff members take advantage of zu’s Eco Bonus transportation incentive. Last summer, a few folks started their own “bike posse” and rode their bicycles to work together.

Around the Water Cooler
Okay, we don’t have a water cooler, nor do we really condone the use of bottled water (there’s no specific policy, but nobody drinks it, either). However, in the lunch room, staff members have been known to discuss things like local Pine View Farms, that sells chicken, beef, pork, and eggs (and more), Etomami (Eco Farm), the Good Food Box, and Steep Hill Food Co-op. Please check out these businesses and organizations if you’re interested in knowing where your food is coming from.

Personal Challenges
Challenge yourself this Earth Week to eat a waste-free lunch, carpool, bike or walk to work, or maybe start composting in your backyard to reduce the amount of waste picked up and shipped off to the dump.

Online EcoResources
Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council
TreeHugger.com
EarthDay.org
EarthDay.ca

The Sandman comic series was the first big one that really turned me on to the true nature of stories and the power they wield. Then I read All-Star Superman and delved into the crazy mind of Grant Morrison, who opened me up to the idea that ideas themselves can affect our reality. When codified in language and symbols, ideas leave us operating within the programming language of the universe and effectively hacking our consciousness—and consequently, our reality.

It may sound a bit “New Age,” but these concepts were discussed and utilized thousands of years ago. We lost the concept of the magic and power of stories, words and symbols sometime around the Industrial Revolution. During that time, we began deconstructing our world because we wanted to see what our reality was composed of. We dug down to the atomic, subatomic and quantum levels, hoping to make sense of everything. And, the deeper we dug, the more we realized how intricate and malleable our reality is and just how much story powers that reality.

Comics went through a period of deconstruction recently, and one of the most notable works was The Watchmen. Authors—in this case, Alan Moore—started to pick apart what it meant to be a superhero. This was in stark contrast to prior stories, when authors would run with wild ideas, hoping something would stick. While some amazing work was happening, the insanity of the stories was reaching farcical and unsustainable levels. And once deconstruction hit a point of diminishing returns, authors began to reconstruct those worlds into something greater.

We’ve gone through a similar cycle at zu, where we are now hitting the end of our deconstruction and are rebuilding ourselves into an even better company than we were before. But as we put it back together, we need to be clear about the rationale and the direction in which we’re headed so our talent and clients understand what we are doing. To accomplish this, we have to do more than just communicate our ideas. We have to connect on a fundamental level. And what better way to connect and drive change than with stories!

“The world is composed of stories, not atoms.”

To truly change the paradigm of an entity—in this case, our company—you have to first change the narrative. We see this sort of reality hacking going on all the time, particularly at a political level. So we began by analyzing the underpinnings of zu—who we are, what we value and what we do. We came up with five company values and three company themes that form the overarching plot of our company story.

The 5 values are:
› zu innovates
› zu executes
› zu empowers
› zu cares
› zu has soul

The 3 goals or themes are:
› Efficient
› Consistent
› Outstanding

Finding these words was an important step, and now we need to continue to unfold the whole story. We have to embody these concepts in ourselves and let it permeate the company’s consciousness. But to allow this to really take us over, we also recognized a need to break them down one step further and connect at the department level.

Each department was tasked with defining an overall theme for the year that would set their narrative. We asked each department to come up with an archetypal concept that would embody the improvements they are striving towards. This would allow the people in each department to better understand the role they can play within the Company Epic.

The narrative concepts each department came up with are:
› Admin & HR – Smooth
› Accounts & Marketing – Love
› Strategy – Clarity
› Design – Collaboration
› Programming – Passion
› Production – Unity
› IT – Open
› Process – Fun

We have begun to tie every change, every meeting and every action back to these departmental concepts and narratives. And the narratives themselves tie back into the corporate themes, laying the foundation for a cohesive company story to begin to unfold. It’s a story of improvement, enlightenment, and a quest to be the best at what we do.

Cameco wanted to reach investors, their key audience, through a website designed specifically to meet the information needs of investors. They first came to zu for help in 1995. Recently, Cameco has drawn more top-ranking IR awards. How did they come to be the industry leaders they are today?

All along, Cameco has been committed to making their story easy to understand. They have been willing to create new best practices and are unwilling to copy other companies, who often just mirror their competitors. And because Cameco is so open to new ideas, they inspire those they work with to go above and beyond.

When Cameco identified investors as their primary web audience, they began asking them more targeted questions though their annual perception studies. This helped determine what their investors wanted to see on an IR website. Cameco also recognized that investors would want to understand the basics of their business before they would be comfortable making investment decisions. And, when it came time to ask about company performance, Cameco knew that well-informed investors ask better questions.

When it was launched in December 2008, the redesigned website was strategically reorganized to enhance the flow of information to stakeholders. zu provided a spectrum of skills based on technological innovation, IR experience, design prowess, attentive service and programming expertise. Above all, an overall strategy gave structure and meaning to the new content and architecture. An expansive site design accommodated a wealth of reference materials that included multimedia, financial tables, dynamic charts, and other features, such as:

• Regularly updated CEO messaging, including CEO’s Corner (Q&A feature)
• Updated webcast and audio recordings
• Consistently fresh and relevant site content
• Tools that allows users to easily find historical market and company information
• A library to access documents in one location
• Information architecture focused on usability and easy navigation
• Enhanced environmental assessment content, highlighting:
• 23 key performance indicators
• Topic scorecards, with expandable and contractible information
• Information categorized by workplace, environment, communities and financial performance

Although the goal wasn’t to win awards, that was the result. The goal had been to make the site as useful and usable as possible to the primary target audience—investors—and this goal was achieved. In the annual IR Global Rankings alone Cameco has most recently been awarded:

• Best IR Website in North America (2010)
• Top 5 Ranked IR Website in North America (2009)
• Best Online Annual Report in North America (2008)
• Best IR Website by technical criteria in North America (2008)
• Best IR Website by technical criteria in Canada (2008)

The essential missing piece is convergent thinking: taking all new ideas, isolating the best, and determining how to apply them. Knowing which ideas are best is where experience and expertise come in. Regardless of what issue is being solved—an aesthetic experience in art or a mechanical problem in engineering—determining the best solution means being aware of the environment in which the problem exists. This includes hard knowledge of concrete environmental factors—what has come before, the limitations of the medium, implementation and recurring costs—and soft knowledge, such as accurately evaluating how different solutions will be perceived by stakeholders and end users. A solution that doesn’t correctly assess the environment is not creative—it’s naïve.

Convergent thinking is why most boardrooms environments fail at generating creativity, since part of the process involves coming up with ideas and quickly discarding some (usually most) as impractical or outright useless. Everyone is more comfortable refining their own ideas than others’. Walking on eggshells around an idea that should be discarded drags on the creative process interminably.

If you want to be more creative, learn more about your problem and your industry. If you are stumped on a web project, then either you don’t know enough about your client’s and their end users’ needs, or you don’t know enough about the possibilities of your toolset. The biggest implication of this is the realization that creativity isn’t about a “spark” as much as it is about hard work. Once you’ve put in the work to understand your problem and its ramifications, the ideas will flow—and they’ll be good.

In the same time period, the physical size of displays has also generally increased but now includes a lot more variety. A decade ago, 15” desktop screens were common, and 20” screens were about the largest in regular use. Today, anything under 19” is uncommon for desktops, with screens ranging up to 30”. But notebooks with smaller screens are everywhere, netbooks with displays even smaller yet abound, and mobile devices proliferate with comparatively tiny screens. Technology solutions have largely helped deal with this disparity, such as the iPhone’s easy zooming feature for web browsing. And with 1024 x 768 as the current default minimum target resolution, it’s really only phones with lower resolutions.

But there’s another, related issue: with the disparity in screen sizes and resolutions comes a compounded variance in pixel density. While a standard desktop 20” widescreen monitor at 1680 x 1050 has a pixel density of 99 pixels per inch, my 15” MacBook Pro running the same resolution is 128PPI. An older 19” CRT at 1024 x 768 is 67PPI, almost half—meaning that elements such as text are physically half as big on the newer screen. And mobile device disparity is even greater: the iPhone 4’s 3.5” display at 640 x 960 is 326PPI.

Designers need to rethink the scales they’ve always used for design. Increasing pixel density means that 10- and 12-pt fonts are basically illegible on many screens. While we’re accustomed to working to the lowest common denominator (for screen resolution), we need to be actively considering higher-end users in terms of pixel density.

One mitigating factor is that most browsers have now adopted the “zoom the entire page” model instead of “make the text larger”, resulting in a better experience for those outliers who we fail with our designs. But relying on technology to compensate for our failure to accommodate our users isn’t a reassuring thought. There is a definite opportunity here for designers focusing on legibility and usability to lead the way on web design trends.

But there will always be that little, annoying voice in everyone’s head that whispers doubts and disbelief about every company’s potential for growth. Call it due diligence, corporate distrust, or fear of the unknown, but this voice serves as IROs’ nemesis, chipping away at all the work they’ve put into promoting their company as the ultimate deliverer of shareholder value.

Yet, is the effort enough? More specifically, is the online story that companies are telling an open book, with all elements present to powerfully draw in investors so they not only believe the company’s story but want to tell others?

For it to resonate with your audience, your story needs to be easily accessible, understood and true. Ask yourself, your IR department, and the investors who visit your website:

-Does your website require visitor information prior to giving access? (The equivalent to a salesperson asking me to provide my personal information before I can browse a store for shoes)
-Does it hide the good stuff in PDFs?
-Does it only speak to the past, rather than also proactively discussing the future?

If the answer to these questions is yes, revisions are in order.

Consider Canada’s current place in the world economy. Relatively sheltered from the global recession, Canada is slowly but surely recovering. And so, Canadian companies are positioned to capitalize on this major opportunity once the country recovers and people regain confidence in the markets. But companies need to prepare now for when that time comes, when investors will flood the markets seeking best value, trusting in stories that clearly tell them how they will earn that value. Pen your online tale properly now so that you can be ready to draw these investors in and create believers out of them.

Based on the screenshots below, which organization are you more likely to trust?

The truth is that you would receive the same educational experience from either website above because they are the same institution. The first screenshot is their old site, and the one below is their new site. At a first glance, which one would you have trusted to be a credible educational experience? This quick exercise was to show that a strong web presence is not about manipulation, it’s about accurately reflecting your true self and your business online.

Presuming you do cover these topics somewhere, will our intrepid investor find what you are providing? How hard will this task be for him? Is your website effective in informing, or does it make it a challenge? If it is a challenge, well… why are you allowing it to be a challenge?

It seems IRO’s usually strive for communication effectiveness in ways suitable to the form they are delivering meesages in:

-    for required filings and releases effectiveness is in accurate reporting, a transparent writing style, and balanced treatment of opportunities and challenges;

-    in presentations they shoot for nicely designed PowerPoint slides, hopefully with legibly-sized type and some consistency in visual style;

-    in speech delivery or one-on-ones they practice-up the executives for an engaging and credible delivery.

Yet investor sections of corporate websites are not getting the idea of “effectiveness”. They may be getting the idea of ‘completeness’, but they are just not getting the ‘Internet’ part.

Not many of your favorite websites would consider their efforts to engage their audience complete with the addition of a PDF. Frankly, I can’t think of any good (non-investor related) website that would trust key messages to only PDFs. Well, maybe government websites, but they’re not really in any sort of competition based on effectiveness. Oh, and they’re not trying to achieve a fully and fairly valued stockprice based on informed investors. Oh, and they’re not worried about their cost of capital.

So, back to the idea of considering whether you are communicating foundation material on your website effectively. Ask: “Why should someone who doesn’t know my company invest in it?” “Can my website answer basic questions that will engage them in our story?” “How difficult does my website make it to find these answers?”

Get your visitors, especially potential investors, off to a strong start when they visit your website. (Please Note: I didn’t say “When they visit your Filing Cabinet”).

Don’t make the task of evaluating your company more work then it has to be. Don’t make them convince themselves of your worthiness. Don’t make them play BattleDecks with your sans-remarks Investor Slideshow.

Get your content strategy together. If you’re interested in doing better talk to us at zu.

The further we have dug into this research the more we have come to realize that governments need to change their online approach as well as the way they do business. With shrinking budgets, aging employees and a skeptical public that is becoming more educated, governments need to adjust quickly or risk further tarnishing their credibility.

Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital, wrote the foreword for a new book called Open Government. He says, “it is the next wave of innovation that presents a historic occasion to fundamentally redesign how government operates; how and what the public sector provides; and ultimately, how governments interact and engage with their citizens. It is truly a time when either government will play an active role in its own transformation, or change will happen to it.”

For governments to control their own destiny online, they will need to follow the three pillars of a good website which I presented at zu’s One Government sessions last week (#1gov).

The first pillar is to adopt human-centred design. Too many government sites are built around the structure of government. Citizens do not care who the Deputy Mininster is or who reports to the Mayor. They care about booking a camping spot or paying their power bill. For One Government to work, websites need to be developed from a user perspective. Focus should be on the user, not the technology.

The second pillar for effective One Government is to create a unified vision in every department. This has nothing to do with the website, but rather with internal communications. Governments, like large companies, operate in vertical silos where staff communicate with their superiors and underlings. Imagine if they started communicating with their colleagues. They would save time and money, and provide an enhanced user experience.

The third pillar is to go where the people are. Governments that are still publishing print pieces and doing billboard campaigns are wasting money. For a fraction of the cost you can hit a larger audience online. More people, lower cost: makes sense to most people doesn’t it?

Of course, I have glossed over most of the details of the three pillars for an effective One Government. If you want to learn more, drop me a line and let’s talk. We are living in a once-in-a-lifetime period for government right now and we should all try to get it right.

Over the last 8 years, I’ve had the chance to visit a large number of offices. Few are fun, some are tolerable, and some are unbearably dry. “It’s as though they are missing a certain element in their air,” Tony notes. “Or they have too much ‘Bore-inium’ pumped in.”

On a local level, zu has garnered some attention for its culture. If you have done some digging around, you might be able to catch a glimpse of it on the web. Or, even better, you may have heard about it from someone else. But preserving this culture as the company grows has been a challenge that has cost zu a fair bit. However, I like to think the benefits far outweigh the costs and I’ll tell you why.

When I say culture, I’m really talking about the energy that exists day to day in the office. It’s a culmination of the people, physical space, social initiatives and projects that help make getting out of bed every morning a little bit easier.

After observing our efforts and comparing them to other places over the years, I’ve compiled some evidence behind what drives the creation of culture.

1) Try
This may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised at how little companies try or how feeble some attempts are at achieving any sort of culture. Rule #1, if your attempt to form any corporate culture comes from an HR textbook, you’ve already failed. We try really hard to look like we’re not trying at all (almost shamefully so).

2) It comes from the top
Now the co-founders, Ryan and Tony, are my close friends as well as my bosses, so I don’t want to sound like a Dwight Shrute, but it really starts with them. Some places really suck the fun out of great people with the wrong management. Their attitudes and personalities really set the tone for the entire company. The fact that Ryan wanted to hire George Wendt from the show ‘Cheers’ to sit at our conference booth and drink with the delegates, proved to me that no idea I could come up with would be off limits. (Norm never happened, but you get the idea.) Though R&T aren’t as involved in the planning of parties as they once were, you can still see their influence at all our functions. If you are the head honcho, it’s as much your job to help create a fun environment as it is those in it, so don’t leave it up to someone else.

3) Hire the right personalities
You don’t need a room full of extroverts to have culture. You just need people to believe in and contribute to the culture. We have many quiet introverted people around here, but when it’s time to bob for apples, everyone’s hair gets wet.

4) Fire the wrong personalities (or don’t fight to keep them)
Get rid of culture killers.  If you are trying to establish or foster culture and someone is actively bringing it down, then find ways to get them to buy in, or get rid of them. It doesn’t matter if they are talented. (Agree, disagree?).

5) Small things add up
On my first day here, I can remember filling out my first timesheet. A stark, one colour grid with one small twist – above the box where you filled in your name, read ‘Groovy Person’. This set the tone from day one and communicated to me what kind of place I was working for. It also made me wonder, “why don’t we ever see more of this?” So at your office, think of ways to spice up everyday things. For starters, change the name of your social committee to something that doesn’t use the terms ‘social’ or ‘committee’. You’ll be surprised at how even a little detail like that can have a trickle effect on your organization’s culture.

6) Aim for comfort
Most people have divisions between their work persona and who they really are. Try to foster an environment in which people can be natural. From the dress code, to flex hours, to the office space, to the language used around the office. It’s different for every company, but taking a good look at how to make your place more human is a step towards building culture. This is the service experience you give your employees.

7) Learn from other great environments
When you hear of other tales of success, don’t be afraid to copy them. We’ve been influenced by ideas employed at some local companies like Point2, VendAsta, EngComp and many of our clients. It’s exhausting thinking of new ideas for staff functions, so it’s good to listen to other fun ideas other companies are trying. Which reminds me, I just missed Point2′s Reggae Party.

So there you have it, piece of cake. I should state that this works better for companies our size, and I’m aware that some things are harder to pull off in bigger and more unionized environments. But to the people in charge, you should be asking yourself, “what’s stopping us from doing this?”

My intention here isn’t to showcase the zu environment, but to share some ideas on what we have found seems to work for us. ‘Real’ things still happen here after all. People get fired, people quit, and there is the odd Debby-downer once in a while. It’s the one side effect of not employing robots. But one thing is that we never stop trying to build up the culture, and I hope we can inspire your company to do the same.

I also hope this was the best thing you’ve read in the last 4 minutes.

These companies provide great entertainment or great products, yet they have become lightning rods for criticism. As the trendsetters, who were their customers years ago, saw the mass market adopt these icons, they moved on to smaller, alternative competitors.

It’s like the ‘alt-rock’ cycle. The XX gets great reviews on Pitchfork and the indie rock crowd eats it up, making The XX one of the coolest bands in the world. A few months later, they go mainstream and all of the alt rockers who loved them in the past move on to Charlotte Gainsbourg.

In Microsoft’s case, you are seen as ‘cool’ if you bash them. The trendsetters want to distance themselves from the mainstream so they use Google Docs, Mac OSX and an iPhone.

We were sitting around zu HQ the other day and we started talking about trends and market dominance. With Google and Apple now joining the mainstream, I asked everyone when it was going to be ‘in’ to start bashing Google. How much longer until it is cool to crush Apple’s strategy.

Albert Jame, our Creative Director thinks it will happen soon. “All of the thirty year olds who went to Lulu ten years ago aren’t doing that anymore because 12 year olds are shopping there,” he said. “When the guys with chunky glasses see the rednecks using an iPhone, they will find something else.”

“It is cool to be uncool and that is what the hipsters want,” zu’s Marketing Manager Michelle MacDonald said. “They want things that other people do not have yet because they are striving to be unique. They want to be perceived as innovators.”

For me, I think that Google and Apple are at the stage where we will start seeing the trendsetters bash them. However, both companies are still perceived as underdogs to Microsoft which is keeping them alt.

I’m interested in what you have to say, if or when, it will be cool to hate Apple or Google.Why?