I am doing a program for ISPS Charlotte, NC in a couple weeks.  Someone from there just called to ask a few questions so that he can properly introduce me at the event.  And the answers I gave surprised me.  Before I get to that, I have to say that yet again I am blown away by the power of questions.  We work and we do.  But how often do we let others question us as an exercise for introspective purposes?  Slow down.  Ask questions. You, too may be surprised at your answers.

Now, back to our regular programming.

What put me in the right frame of mind was Luis Suarez’s on-the-spot post, “Forget Social Strategy, Think Social Philosophy: Hippie 2.0” and the questions I was asked on the phone.

And here is my realization:  We are taking the natural first step by trying to figure out how all this social stuff fits in to the way we work.  It is a perfectly logical thing to do, and we will be thinking about this for some time.  Our answers will be (and have been) good.

But there is another step very few have started to take and which holds so much more promise than the 1st step that we would do well just to skip it and move on to this one: How do we change the way we work, organize, manage, communicate, reach our goals now that we have the capabilities we have?  Therein lies the golden nugget.

I have a sign in my office that reads, “Redefine Engagement.” I don’t remember where I heard that first, but it is the KEY to the second step, the step that holds the real value and the future of what we will see.  Don’t just do things with new tools – redefine how we work now that we have the capability to go so much further than what we are used to.  Don’t fit it in current traditions / processes / organizational constructs, make new ones.

To quote Luis, “having the same mind set about social networking inside the corporate world, as the one we have been having for decades is not going to get us very far! Quite the opposite!

If we don’t make this leap, nothing will really change.  We will be doing the same old things in a slightly new way with new tools with the same ineffective and inefficient processes toward sub par goals.

When the possibilities are so much better, why settle?  It is time to create the new.

Can you ever imagine these situations in a business setting?

By by D'Arcy Norman on Flickr

• Billy grabs a pen and paper and starts writing, “Hi. I am writing this note because I was told I should.  I am not sure who I am writing to or why I am writing, I just am.”
• Jane picks up the phone and dials a random number, “Hi. I am calling you because I was told I should use this thing.  I am not sure who you are or why I am calling, I just am.”
• You get an email invite to the meeting entitled, “A meeting.”  In the body it says, “Hi. Please come to this meeting that I was told to have.  I am not sure why we are having it or why you are invited.  But we need to have a meeting.”

You would never see that. Why?  Because the pen and paper, a phone and meetings are not end results.  They are tools used when there is a purpose and it makes sense to use them.

Do we ever think, “I am going to use the phone,” without following that up with, “to talk with…”

Why, then, do we feel we need to use a blog or a wiki or a discussion group?  Why do we feel others should use them?  To often we say, “You should write your blog,” Or “You should try a wiki.”  But using these tools won’t lead to any positive outcome unless we have a reason to use them.

This is why it is so important to make sure these potentially powerful tools are used correctly and for the right purposes.  We need to weave them in the way we work.

Don’t write a blog post. Instead, share with everyone where you are on your project.

Don’t create a wiki page. Instead, collaborate more efficiently.

Don’t create a discussion. Instead, ask a diverse set people for an answer to a tough question and have a conversation.

Don’t tweet. Instead, share your insights and links.

What is your ROT?  You know, your Return on Tweets?

According to a survey, 4 out of 5 marketers could not make a connection from Twitter to higher revenue.  Why is that?

There are two main reasons: 1) They don’t get IT or 2) They don’t GET it or 3) They shouldn’t get it.

1) Most efforts try Twitter because it is the IN thing to do, without even really know why why they are doing it or how.

2) Then they try to calculate the ROI of their time on Twitter and don’t see a relationship.  When looking at Twitter, it is true that few can directly link revenue to Twitter, like Dell.  But that is not the point.  The point is to engage the customer (or potential customer) – the revenue is something that will happen.

3) Many realize that they shouldn’t be using Twitter for the reasons they are, or even at all.

Yet, at the same time, you can’t fault a company for trying.

So, they are either using it incorrectly or they shouldn’t be using it at all for the reasons that they are.  How do you fix that? Keep trying or change your Twitter goals.

When is a Keynote not a keynote?
When it is something else.  Like a sales pitch.  Or a demo.  Or an instructional “How To” speech.

photo credit: MeganMurray

I attended the E2.0 conference three years ago and remember Microsoft getting up in front of all of us, telling us what a wiki was, what a blog was and why to use them.  Although new in the space at the time, I found it funny that that is all they could say.  We knew this information.

This year, the keynotes were a big mix.  Some were full on demos (which made us all go heads down into our laptops or phones).  Some were too basic (still).  Yet others were real keynotes: they were thought provoking and inspiring.  THAT is what sets a keynote apart from the expo floor or from a session.

Note to future keynotes: Play your part.  Be inspiring.  Be thought provoking.  We will love you.

Photo on Flickr by Lars Plougmann

Attending conferences is always a mixed bag.  We LOVE the other attendees and the idea we get from each other.  The sessions are usually decent.  They keynotes can be a mixed bag, but hopefully they are spectacular.

What is missing? More of you.

And me. During the Enterprise 2.0 conference, my favorite part was talking to others about each others’ issues, concerns, questions.  That is where I gained the most value.  Monday night we had a Barcamp.  It was deep and tactical and answered questions.  The dialogue was excellent.

Yet when we go to conferences we sit in (usually) non-interactive sessions in what is termed as a ‘participant’ or rather a listener who might ask a question every now and then.

When more of the value comes from interaction, why don’t we do more of those?  Why not dedicate a day to Barcamp style sessions?  Get in deep and dirty.

Do that the last day and I guarantee people will stick around and not leave early. Not only that, but it will be the last thing they remember.  Give them a BANG to go out on.  It’s risky, but the rewards, I believe, are worth it.

Which do you focus on, the problem or the solution?  Josh Makower says the problem.  Why?  When you focus on the solution you have closed yourself off to all the other possibilities.

Case in point.  I heard a story once (and I will probably butcher it, but no matter) where a breakfast cereal plant was getting empty boxes coming down the production line in unpredictable intervals.  The solution?  Buy an expensive piece of equipment that weighed each box as it passed over and then remove it from the line, right?  Of course.

That worked until it didn’t.  It broke down.  So what do you do?  One clever employee grabbed a fan and put it up to the production line and turned it on.  Any empty box would be blown off of the line.  Done.

Of course there needs to be a point at which there is a decision.  Especially if there is a purchase to be made.  But most problems don’t require a purchase, only a solution with given resources.

My point: Be open to possibilities even when you think you know the answer.  Too often, one variable changes (or is discovered) in the process.  If you are stuck on the solution, you may not recognize that what was the right solution previously is now the wrong solution.

Iterate.

Social = People.  Enough said.

Sorry.  One can’t pretend to know social media, Enterprise 2.0, or anything like unto it and then in the real world (being outside of that realm) be closed off, controlling and opaque.  It just doesn’t work that way.  Especially when you are trying to create these type of environments with this type of mindset.

Trust and transparency are personal and organizational cultural traits.  If you don’t live them, you won’t understand them.  If you don’t understand them, you can’t effectively say you know all about “social.”

Trying to control social is insane because social = people. People resist control, even if it is toward a good cause.  People value honest and open communication.

Instead, influence, & inspire.  Yes, even when it comes to the technical aspects of E2.0.

Remember a time you were at a gathering – a child’s soccer game, a party, a dinner with friends, your neighborhood watch meeting.  Your conversation was mostly, if not all, casual.  There wasn’t an agenda – you talked about what came to mind.  Often those topics center in your similarities.

How many times did you turn to ways you might be able to help each other? Or collaborate on a project? Or give someone the name of someone else who they may be able to do business with? Or learned a new way to…? Or shared information which the other person was not aware of?  Or started a relationship with who would be a life-long friend?

Welcome to microblogging at your business.  It is the conversation starter that leads to greater things.  If you only jump into the heavy topics you miss the serendipitous interactions that pay big dividends.  Encourage the small talk – For by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

SOCIAL is not technology.

SOCIAL is not a blog.

SOCIAL is not a profile.

SOCIAL is driven by TRUST.

TRUST is an attitude, a belief, a way of being, acting.

TRUST is the currency of all things social in any form: in person, in a community, online.

Instead of helping others be SOCIAL, teach them to TRUST – the SOCIAL will naturally happen.