Change – It is Just Part of E2.0
I have noticed two overarching thoughts in those that ask for E2.0 in their organization / community:
1) They know what they want, but are not exactly sure WHY they want it. They say “we want a blog” but when asked why, they can’t quite articulate that. Sure, they may say that “we want to get information out” but they are not clear on to whom this information will go, or what the information will be or who will write it or how it is different than the purpose of an email.
2) They want to use different tools but not change the way they do things. This is like doing dishes by hand, buying a dishwasher and then still doing them by hand before putting them in the dishwasher.
There WILL be trade offs. One of the major trade offs is that E2.0 is participatory. This leaves the option to participate in their hands, not yours. Organizations too often try to force participation (or in a certain way) and what do they get? Either half-hearted participation or the illusion of participation.
Instead, allow them to participate where and when they feel it will be of most benefit. They will feel empowered and trusted and will be MUCH more effective.
I Finally Get It – It’s Personalization, Not Publication in Social Media
Oct 21, 2009 I Finally Get It, RSS, Twitter, collaboration, why
Here is another ‘ah-ha’ moment for me. Again, it was something that I always knew, but the importance of it became even more glaringly obvious.
I was reading a ReadWriteWeb post from back in September on Personalization. To make their point, they quote Ken Fromm as saying,
“The Internet is shifting from discrete units of websites and Web pages to discrete units of information [...] organized in ways that are relevant and personal to each individual, using data gleaned from social graphs as well as recommendation and personalization services that allow users to set their preferences.”
Much of our focus is on sharing data.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: friendfeed, personalization, RSS, Twitter
Don’t Focus on What – Focus on Why & How
Oct 1, 2009 KM, Selling Social Learning, Twitter, Uncategorized, collaboration, community, why
The response from my AH-HA! moment in the last post was amazing. I hope others benefited from it.
In the comments, ‘Wilson’ had some insights:
“…I don’t think this will help convince (nor should it, IMHO) a CxO or mid-level manager to embrace a social network platform. I still see the chasm of understanding re “enterprise 2.0″ tools very much represented in managerial statements such as “Of course we value and encourage collaboration and knowledge share, but that Facebook kind of stuff isn’t the way to do it.”
I agree with you 100%. It will take much more than this. And what will convince them to embrace it? DON’T TALK ABOUT THE PLATFORM – or the tools or the shiny new toys, or compare it to Facebook or Twitter or anything else. Talk to them about the pain they are seeing now and how it can be overcome. Tell them the story. Get them to buy in emotionally and intellectually. Buying in logistically will happen naturally as an effect.
EXAMPLE: Read the rest of this entry »
Corvettes, Waiters and Wikis
This morning my 14 year old son said that he LOVED Corvettes and I asked why. You see, every time he and my 11 year old son see a Corvette or Mustang, they gets all excited – too excited.
“Because they are fast and cool looking.”
“Would you pick a girlfriend based on those criteria” I asked.
“No.”
“What else do you know about Corvettes?”
Struggling… “That they are really cool.”
“Coolness is a cultural factor. Do they have style? And why don’t you get excited when you see other typical ‘cool’ cars – like a Porche or Fararri or Aston Martin or ….”
“Aston what?”
“Have you been inside of a Mustang?”
“No, but I saw the inside and it was cool. These tan leather seats…”
“So if I put tan leather seats inside a Gremlin (my first car) it would be cool, too. Right?”
This was all said lightheartedly, but with a twinge of seriousness.
What makes something “COOL” and is that reason enough to get it?
Too many in our professional world are waiters – order takers. They tell us what they want and we give it to them. A training. A wiki. Social something. But we need to back up and ask “Why?” Much of the time they say they want these things because 1) that is all they know or 2) because they are deemed ‘cool’. Both of these were in play with my son and his cars. He didn’t know much about other brands, nor did he really know why he liked them, but he knew what was cool.
If they don’t know why, find out for them. Even though it may seem like a bother to them, they will thank you in the end.
