Do you remember Susan Jeffries book: Feel the Fear and Do It Anway? If not then I recommend it as a master class in social psychology for the workplace. Much of what she says has direct application here.
The last two weeks have taught me some valuable lessons. At both Office 2.0 and TechED, the fear that something will go wrong if my business enters the open blog/wiki world is seen as the biggest puzzle to solve. In private emails and conversations, some of my blog colleagues are under incredible pressure by their managements. Management’s fear seems to centre around two issues:
First, the ‘cult of the personality’ will impinge on the brand value of the organisations who employ those wodely read and respected bloggers. This is crazy. Robert Scoble may have become the most widely recognised ‘brand’ in the blogosphere, but who outside that bubble cares? Other than the handful of FT and Guardian readers who might not be geeks. Not many I’d wager.
When Robert left Microsoft, the world didn’t implode. Microsoft didn’t suddenly veer off course or get less attention. If anything, the community he fostered and encouraged has grown. The quality of information I can now get from Microsoft is an order of magnitude better than that available through PR channels. Microsoft understands this, whatever we may say about them elsewhere. and Robert should receive full credit for fostering that community.
The same goes for SAP. Its SDN is the largest of its type on the planet. 600K member and counting. Chaps like Mark Yolton who manages that project recognise there are serious challenges as to how they take the community forward, how they harvest the best material, how they help co-create both content and product functionality. In other words, how SAP learns. But guess what?
In one conversation, Mark said he takes a great deal of notice about what the external blogs are thinking. It’s not just listening to direct customers, but also those who might have influence or who offer constructive suggestions. And yes, SAP accepts that adverse comment will arise. They know it’s something with which they need to contend. They’ll figure it out. But then Steve Gillmor paints an ominous picture:
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, IAC, and others are shuddering as they see their once-carefree audiences starting to wake up to the dangers–and value–of their behavior. And in turn, the realization that it’s not the quantity of their breadcrumbs but the quality of their gestures that increasingly will count.
Steve – the forward thinking companies know this and are working out the best way to respond without hurting the communities they seek to serve.
Second: Jerry Bowles points to a specific post he says has consistently been his most popular. It covers questions and challenges you might well be considering:
Cultural Barriers
6. How can I monitor the system to make certain that what individuals are saying and sharing reflects company policy?
7. What are the legal dangers in saving and sharing so much loosely supervised input?
8. How do I distinguish “productive†use of the technology from horsing around?
9. How do I “manage†the gathering and disseminating of so much unstructured information?
10. How do I know if I’m getting my money’s worth out of the investment in technology?
My suggestions:
- Top of the list – command and control. Doesn’t work and runs the risk of encouraging the barbarians inside the gates to do their own thing and perhaps be much more vocal. Reflective of Steve’s observations?
- Legal issues – yep – need to make clear what’s in and what’s out. Again, back to Steve.
- Who has time to ‘horse around?’
- Managing content is relatively easy – tags and categories. Managing its publication is another matter.
- ROI is a real issue. I’ve written about this a LOT. Start here. But especially read this from Charlene Li and the comments that follow. Work is being done but it is do-able.
My biggest concern is about attitudes in the workplace. CPA Trendlines notes:
The big issue among accounting professionals is “office atmosphere.”
How big? No less than 45 percent of respondents say they’d consider quitting because of it.
It’s most laudable that the profession has apparently resolved the big issues — fulfillment, friendliness and freedom. Having taken care of the biggies, mere atmosphere should be a snap.
Agreed. But if 45% of the workforce think the office stinks, then how the heck to do they reconcile the other three ‘Fs?’ It’s an illusion. It means those same professionals have no real conception of what they’re talking about.
And it works both ways. Tara Hunt doesn’t get this either. On Stowe Boyd’s site she says of the Office 2.0 event:
I totally felt like I was at the wrong conference.
I liked getting the iPod, though.
Tara freely admits to being a grass roots activist with little interest in the enterprise. To my mind, that’s code for a mirror to management’s attitude. If true, then how the heck does she think her work will take hold long after she’s left without giving management a migraine? But look at me? I didn’t understand what the heck Tara was on about either. So I have something to learn.
There is no way this media works internally, let alone externally, unless there is an implicit or maybe explicit agreement between management and the workforce that’s it’s OK to make mistakes. We all do it at some point so why try and cover it over or pretend it doesn’t exist. Embrace and learn. If you find that hard to stomach then look what happened to Rod the other week. Now know this: IBM WANT a relationship with Rod. Despite the fact Ed Brill rubbished him. There is at least a willingness by Big Corp to converse with Little Man who has Big Foghorn. It’s a start.
That’s the issue at hand. It is easy to resolve. Understand that as in life, no-one is to blame but everyone is responsible. Remove the culture of blame and you have an empowered organisation. Do that and this medium works. Provide the means for people to learn and accept that sometimes the tone is not all you’d maybe welcome. (Note to Sage: give me a reason to be nice to you for a change) Deal with the substance. And keep the Assholes out.
Technorati Tags: enterprise irregulars, no assholes rule, participation, SAP TechEd06 TechEd06, Scoble
