I enjoy technology, I embrace it. I really like social media and the ability it gives us to be connected to the world and to other people in the world. I have a Facebook account, although I’m not ultra active in it. I have a Twitter account and like to peruse it and post to it on a somewhat frequent basis. There is one thing that just irks me beyond all with Twitter. It’s those article spitting people on Twitter.

If you’re connected to a group of people beyond 100 you are bound to have an article spitter. Article spitters are Twitter users who if you check out their Twitter page, you only see posts referring to articles online. Sometimes there are even links to purchase products they are pushing online.

To me, this is Twitter spam. If you’re not going to be communicating with other users and you just spit out random links to articles you’re spamming. Twitter should be a tool for people to connect and communicate, not an alternative to setting up a Web site posting your information online and then spending hours tweaking your site for search engine placement.

More and more I’m seeing articles and products that people buy online that “teach” people how to make money online using Twitter without ever setting up a Web site. The secret behind it? Follow enough people, get lots of follow backs, then start spamming everyone your links to the product you are trying to sell. You then hope that people on Twitter click on your link, then buy the product.

I think that even the emergence of services that allow you to have items saved then posted to your Twitter account at a later time show this trend to Twitter spam. Why would you need to have a service that saves a link to something, then randomly posts it to your Twitter account later? Why not post it when you come across it? Probably because most of the people using this, scour the Internet for articles, then save them and then just tell the service to post it randomly so that Twitter won’t shutdown their account. In all, there’s no real two-way communication taking place online.

I’m not saying that this shouldn’t ever take place, but if that’s all you’re doing…well, you’re entitled to your own opinion. But overall, I think that it contributes to the negativity towards Twitter that is out there online.

I normally like Seth Godin’s take on business and whatever he decides to talk about for the day, but sometimes, I think that his “take” is just copy in order to put something out there on the Web. Blogging too often becomes “take some idea and argue the opposite, regardless of how ridiculous or useless the suggestion may be” type of thing.

The “Square One Underrated” point simply refers to the fact that if you find yourself lost, go back to the original place where you knew which way to go or had a chance to go the right way. I don’t agree with this because in business, square one is a place you have to get out of as fast as possible. Square one is nowhere. It’s the place where if you stay too long, you’re sunk, out of business.

Think about a trail, you start at the beginning and head out. Suddenly you are a mile out and 100 yards off course. Do you start back at the beginning of the trail hoping to not get off course this time? No, make some corrections in your heading and try to get back to the trail. You’re not yet on the trail, but you’re heading back towards it, plus you’re always gaining experience along the way.

In business, ideas fail, projects don’t work, things break. But just because your project failed does it mean you scrap everything and go back to the drawing board? No, you make corrections and keep at it. Because if you scrapped everything you ever started that didn’t work, you’d rarely accomplish anything. Most projects and ideas don’t normally begin as the finished products. Changes and corrections will almost always be done along the way.

No offense, Seth, I like your thinking, but this time, we’ll have to agree to disagree.

Employee coaching is the business art of helping each individual employee not only fulfill their responsibilities, but also be able to master their role within the organization. It may also be the most effective way to ensure that each employee is progressing in their role and are not becoming stagnant in the workplace.

Coaching is often an afterthought in the work place as many managers either don’t see the value in it, or fail to make the time commitments to following through with their coaching plans. It’s crucial that when managers begin to implement one-on-one coaching with their employees, that they understand that effective coaching requires a commitment to following through with each employee in order to see the maximum return.

Do It

Just staying committed to regular sessions with each employee will ensure that the employee knows that his or her manager is following up on the coaching items and that improvement will need to be demonstrated. Regular coaching sessions also allow for the making of minor corrections and adjustments in the work being done, which is much easier than trying to correct big mistakes that have been taking place for a long period of time.

Focus on the Positive

Much too often, coaching focuses on the negative things being done. Although correction needs to be done when appropriate, the key is “when appropriate”. Don’t let the individual management idiosyncrasies or personal styles force others to have to do things a certain way. Each employee may develop a pattern that is easiest or fastest for them, and this is ok. As long as the work is being done and in a timely manner, one man’s chaos, is another’s controlled pattern.

Guide Towards Empowerment

Too often managers want to exercise control, it’s the natural human tendency. You should build up your employees so that they can do their work almost without their managers intervention in day to day things. That’s the key to employee coaching, developing a master at their specific role in the organization, not drones that need to come for instruction every few minutes and with each individual task. As much as it may satisfy our ego as a manager, it’s poor management and furthermore, you’re not doing the employee any favors. In the end, you will find frustration with long-time employees who never seem to be able to take ownership of their day-to-day tasks and who never become fully comfortable with their roles.