Over and over, we hear the message in ILRI that we need better internal communication (and i recently heard exactly the same message from IFPRI and CIMMYT).

So what are some of the thing you can do, individually or in teams?

1. ILRI uses lots of ‘social’ participatory communication media. You can use these to ‘follow’ what your colleagues are doing (and saying and maybe even thinking).

• one way is to sign up for email alerts using RSS. You get the latest updates in your email box, fresh of the web. Click here to get the latest news from ILRInet.
• You can become a an ILRI Fan on Facebook!
• You can find ILRI on Linkedin  – link your job to ILRI’s page (a headhunter at LRI recently explained that Linkedin is ‘the’ most useful tool they use to find great candidates for jobs!)
• You can follow ILRI on Twitter – we also want you to retweet our news to your followers!

2. You can work  ‘out loud‘ – this is an interesting new take on interactive, collaborative work in which you and your colleagues report or ‘narrate’ what you do openly (on blogs or on yammer for instance) so others can follow and appreciate you.

You may be surprised how many of your colleagues are bloggers – Alan Duncan, Angela Wafula, Jeff Mariner, Susan MacMillan, Paul Karaimu, Jo Cadilhon, Birgit Boogaard, Tezira Lore, Evelyn Katingi, Andrew Nguyen, Alan Orth, Tsehay Gashaw, Abenet Yabowork, Albert Mwangi, Zerihun Sewunet, Diego Valbuena, Brenda Wandera, Jane Gitau, Kristina Rosel, Liya Dejene, Beth Cullen, Catherine Pfeifer, Ewen Le Borgne  … !  Each shares  something about ILRI’s work and helps us communicate to the world and across ILRI. Watch a video interview with Alan Duncan on this point.

3. You can join the CGIAR on Yammer – this is a kind of ILRI and CGIAR professional facebook where you can post announcements and updates and keep up with colleagues. You can interact with yammer through email, the web, or your mobile phone … your choice.  The two secrets of yammer ‘success’ are 1) manage your preferences and settings to avoid overload, and 2) POST or share something you are working on.  Once you are logged in, see these yammer guidelines for more help!

4. Attend seminars and coffee mornings – they are good opportunities to meet and connect and get updated; and there will be more of them than before.

5. Remember … in today’s ILRI, having knowledge is NOT power; sharing your knowledge is power! We each have to proactively share and communicate; we have to go looking for the knowledge and sign up to bring it home. We need to share our ideas. Read Charles Leadbeater  on how “ideas take life when they are shared” [or watch the great video]

Our Maarifa blog carries regular updates about communication and information at ILRI- check it out!