"We Take Care of Our Own" is a powerful song by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Part of Springsteen's 2012 Wrecking Ball album, the song has had political implications ever since its release. Since the song targets the working class, the message resonates more for where we are today.

We are all the working class. Together we can take care of our own.

The recent news Gartner released offers a metaphor on projected IT spending. "The global steady growth rates are a calm ocean that hides turbulent currents beneath," said John Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. Part of this discussion is how collaborative technologies are reshaping spending patterns, across all of the IT sectors that Gartner forecasts.

I am recommending use of planning tools to manage costs and customization of collaboration technologies. There are no shortcuts to software implementation, either. We need to document functional requirements, more than ever, including social and mobile applications and improve our workflow processes to work better together. We can take care of our own.

Now Springsteen's song starts off, "I've been knocking on the door that holds the throne. I've been looking for the map that leads me home. Wherever this flags flown. We take care of our own." You can listen to and watch Springsteen's music video to understand--you are not alone, and together, we can take care of our own.

Image copyright Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images 2013

Journalists and reporters can now find news quickly on Twitter especially from police departments (PDs) like in Seattle. As reported on Poynter, PD's use of Twitter to disseminate news is a growing trend. Seattle PD is a timely example  where bike cops tweeted, in the midst of protests in the city, on so called May Day.

The PDs use of digital media to transmit news and alerts signals a changing dynamic from traditional long forms of press releases. My article this week on student learning focuses on using new forms of social technologies and it became clear that students are already accustomed to using social media and other social tools to facilitate communications. At Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, for example, future professionals in the fields of public relations and journalism are developing collaborative skills along with media toolkits to take right into the field.

Effective use of social media is already being demonstrated by the PDs, since timing is critical. As cited on Poynter, the tweet from Seattle PD intended for reporters, 'You need to leave the area' that occurred during the protests nearly reached them when police officers in front of them issued orders.

Journalists and citizens may be advised to follow the police department in your area. Twitter is already displacing the old forms of immediate news distribution.

Our business network is much like a garden. In spring, we amend the soil, get plants in the ground, then water, weed, and fertilize all summer long until harvest. In the fall and winter, we share lessons learned and new gardening ideas with friends in our community (always a great topic at parties).

In my recent contact with Nancy Fox, a business strategist and advisor in Los Angeles, she shared tips for improving the way we network. Nancy and I dug into the roots of networking obstacles as you will see in Networking in All the Right Places. As any gardener knows, you need to rotate your crops, like tomatoes and plant them in a different spot in the garden.

In a similar way to gardening, a seasonal approach to networking may require us to review key strategies--who should we be networking with and where do we find these people. We harvested two regiments needed to nurture our networks: new resources and social intelligence. Read about the steps you can take to get out of your comfort zone. Let your network flourish.

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Social software in the workplace like an intranet provides advantages for finding experts and making valuable connections to organizational and project resources. But conscious actions to improve identification of resources may require the support of a recommendation group.

I'd like to suggest setting up a recommendation group, much like how a review group or interdisciplinary team will function. A recommendation group would consist of cross-functional members within your organization, like market research, corporate communications, and human resources. The group would help pull together experts as needed for collaborative projects or identify people in your organization that can serve as advisor or consultant.

There is substantial reliance on search and retrieval of knowledge resources in the workplace. Review this actionable approach through a recommendation group and several other ideas to build more robust knowledge resources.