Read the organisation chart horizontally – not vertically

I’ve just been thrown into a project around change management for a global IT transformation project where we are changing from IBM and Lotus Notes to Microsoft and Outlook (plus a huge pile of other stuff – let’s leave it at that…) certainand a very interesting task. I could be whining about that it’s too late in the process and that too many things have been put in motion but a) whining gets you nowhere and b) the fact that communication and change management has been put on the radar is something I see as a very positive thing.

Looking through the material that has been prepared already I must admit I became quite confused. Initially I couldn’t quite put my finger on why that was. The material and plans were very professional and the content was also quite good. What about the target groups for the communication? A quick count of the identified stakeholder groups in the plans and the excellent and detailed stakeholder analysis revealed that we were looking at 30+ different stakeholder groups. Oh dear…!

I started wondering how this extreme complexity had entered the equation. Some big chunks such as “end users” and “global IT” made good sense, however, I started to notice that some groups had only a few individuals in them and that they were labeled by department names and names of committees – even names on individuals. AHA! Card sorting time! After 30 minutes of simple card sorting with the 30+ groups I got that number down to 14 – the joy of simplification!

In a perfectly flat and socially connected utopian world you would not have this problem. You’d simply communicate 100% transparent in a Yammer group or something equivalent but since we are not quite there yet in our company we will still have to work in a more traditional way. As I see it, the main challenge here is to pull people’s head out of the organizational chart. I hope that we will dare to look at the organizational chart in a different way and instead of seeing a hierarchy of responsibilities, command and control we see groups of people with different needs.

The open and transparent organization is coming – but only if we manage to see the people and the needs within rather than seeing chains of command, functional departments, and committees with dubious mandates and strange names…

Digital natives vs. Digital dinosaurs – a reflection on UX

Sometimes you get really surprised about what well known and well thought off companies get away with in their marketing material and this has prompted this short post – slightly off topic from I normally write about. I was really surprised and also appalled when I came across the following sentence in when reading some material from one of the biggest document management companies around. I quote:

“One of our highest priorities is serving the New User – the digital natives who are bringing yet another revolution to information technology. The New User wants to determine when, where, and how to interact with content and information – and on what device. The New User wants simple but powerful user experiences, tailored precisely to the needs, with all of the gears working quietly in the background.”

OK. On the surface this sounds all well and good but what if you turned a statement like this upside down? Let’s try….

Enter the Old User – The digital dinosaur – he has been working the same way for the last 20 years yet he has survived and continues to do so today. He comes to work from 9 to 5 every day – also something he has done for 20 years. He has one place and one way to interact with content and ONLY on his trusted PC. The Old User prefers complex user experiences where everybody sees the exact same information whether they need it or not and every single sub process is visible so that he knows exactly what’s happening every step of the way.

Does this guy exist – of course! He has been around for a long time and remembers when you had to work with IT systems not use IT systems to get work done. What I find particularly troubling is that some software companies still cater to the old paradigms and some times even reinforces the idea that everything was better in the good old days. In my opinion this is sad. Not that everything new is great – far from it – but if the new version is designed for the “New User” logic suggests that every version prior to that was designed for the “Old User”.

I would like nothing more than to say that this is not the case, but sadly I find it hard to do. Partly because I have seen too many systems where the focus is on the “Administrator Experience” and not the User Experience and partly because the fact that you have to use the notion of the “New user” makes me truly concerned about the product and as a potential customer I would start questioning whether this company who probably prides themselves of their innovative approach to everything is that innovative after all.

I’m happy that we are moving in a more user friendly direction but every time a software vendor takes the “digital natives” hostage – verbally that is – to justify an improvement the user experience or to introduce “social”, an incredibly cute kitten dies. They’re missing the point! The “user experience” should be the starting point for everything……. or did I miss something here?

Business and IT – Why can’t you guys just get along?

About 6 months ago I wrote the article below but didn’t publish it at that time. I remember that I thought it was too off topic and that I was ranting a little to much…. Today I read an interesting discussion on the collaboration between IT and Comms on the G+ Intranet and Digital Workplace forum and remembered this one and now is the time.

I’m still making gross generalisations in the post but since I am one of the people who have crossed the chasm from business to IT, I also feel that it is worth sharing these observations which are rooted in my own experience as seen from both sides of the divide and I feel quite confident that this will not be my last post around this topic

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Some months ago I was attending an internal course in IT Service Management. I can honestly say that I didn’t find it particularly interesting. Half way through day two and in the middle of a very exciting *ahem* presentation of the process for implementing changes I started to think about how the entire system was designed to limit human interaction! Everything was neatly divided into boxes and workflows made sure that everything was moved along to the next step as soon as you had made your contribution. Very smooth.

Elaborate standards are put in place to ensure this: Standardised solutions, a predictable future, smooth transitions and continuity. Why do we then still talk about the chasm between IT and Line of Business. The processes are very linear and leave little room for learning in the process and it’s when that happens that things start to go pear shaped. The system and workflows grind to a halt and all of a sudden you NEED human interaction to get things moving – the very thing that the processes and systems have eliminated.

I am aware that the above is a rather crude generalization, but I’m taking it a step further by stating two hypotheses:

1) IT put their trust in having proper systems and procedures.
2) ‘The business’ put their trust in having proper colleagues.

In IT it’s about ensuring business continuity and that’s about rigid systems and procedures – people are by no means robots but they are there to make sure things are running as smoothly as possible so that technology helps rather than obstructs work. In the business it’s about profit, business development, and innovation – things that require research and often a lot of trial and error. Certainly not something that fits nicely within rigid systems but some times a rigid system can also help you be more efficient. The challenge is that it is not nearly as interesting to fill out an online form than it is to walk over and have a chat with the cute receptionist.

No wonder that we all too often find ourselves caught up in the ‘them and us’ discussion. As long as you have these two organizational silos we will not get rid of this. The radical solution is to get rid of the IT department and integrate the people in the organisation. You may argue that this will require more coordination but I’m not so sure about that. It will be a different kind of coordination and that is of course a daunting obstacle. Either way, you certainly need to cultivate the competence of mutual understanding or – at the very least – find someone who can translate and challenge. I’ll end this post with a few well-meant words of advice to both sides of the divide:

Hey ‘IT guys’…
1) If you insist on referring to your business counterparts as “Customers” – treat them as such or the WILL take their business elsewhere. A place to start: Ask if you would do business with yourself if you received the same treatment.
2) There is ALWAYS a business reason! It may not be evident and it may not be good, but it is not something you can determine on your own. You need to explore it together.

Hey ‘Business guys’…
1) You are very vocal about don’t understanding any “computer stuff” but have no problem telling when something is too expensive, complicated, etc. – and then you go off and buy a system or tool that you heard about at a random conference. Where’s the credibility in that? Why would I, as the IT guy, take you seriously?
2) You have many great ideas that “just” or “simply” need to be made. There’s no such thing as “just simply”. I usually say “just” takes 4 hours and “simply” takes 8. Do the math.

…and Hey! Both of you!
Pick up the phone. Grab a cup of coffee. Open up. Ask questions. Try to understand. Ask more questions. Yes! It takes time and effort and you may even find it frustrating but in the end you will find that it has been worthwhile building the bridge and there is no question that your colleagues will benefit from much better solutions than they have been used to.

More insights from the basement – ISM Forum part 2

After a great day with lots of input – some of which I blogged about here – I was back in the basement for more insights. A little more preoccupied with the fact that I had to do my own presentation (which went well if you ask me) but the day also provided more great insights.

One of the first presentations was from BT. I have seen this presented several times, but I have to say that they are doing a great job and there’s always good ideas to find here. The interesting thing this time around was that BT has encouraged ’non-business’ social stuff in order to get the social side going – a really good approach, but also one which requires very good support from management.

If I compare to my own company I am sure that there will be a substantial divide between those who think it’s a good idea and those who don’t. Who is the bigger group is hard to say, but regardless I think everybody should keep Richards wise words in mind: ”People don’t come in thin slices – they come in 3D”. What he meant was that companies focus on a very small portion of a person. That portion consist of the expertise needed to fill the job role. Everything else is best left at home. Personally, I would like to see more ’3D people’ in the workplace. Wouldn’t you?

The ROMEC case featured a very entertaining music video which was a very welcome break, but the main takeaway for me was their use fo offline initiatives to drive traffic to the intranet. Nigel told how they used postcards sent directly to the employee’s homes to encourage use of the intranet. Simple and reasonably easy. In my opinion this is something that many, including ourselves, should do a lot more of. As a company you still want to engage with them, but in order to achieve this, you must look in the bag of old marketing tricks. Comms and marketing may be a bit like cats and dogs, but here’s an area where we can benefit from working together.

The final presentation of the day was the one I was particularly interested in. Attending a course in strategic management, I have recently turned in a paper on internal networking and in the process of writing this I have been thinking a lot about the future workplace and how loose ties become more and more important in diverse organisations. Luis shared very interesting insights in how IBM has become a very ’disconnected’ company and yet the social technologies help them stay connected allowing the IBMers to work when ever and wherever. He mentioned that people did not share their own work under their own name on the 16,000 blogs as much as they contribute to the internal IBM wiki which has more than 1 million page views per day. Very interesting that the internal sharing is driven by more altruistic motives, and not fuelled by the ‘Ego factors’ mentioned on Day 1…

Luis’ closing remark: ”Work happens wherever you are. You are work. Work is you.” was a very appropriate end to another day with lots of good input. After all, it was Friday afternoon close to 6 pm, and in a way this sould be classified as work, but a most inspiring kind.

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A brief epilogue: Thank you to all delegates for two days of excellent networking and last, but not least, a thank you to the ForwardNetworking team, Jozefa, Martin, and Luuk, for two excellent days.

Internal Social Media Forum – Day 1

Internal social media have a hard time getting priority in most companies – if that’s the reason for the Internal Social Media Forum being held in a hotel basement in Madrid is not for me to say, but the thoght did enter my mind during the first day.

Regardless of the venue, I did see some very interesting presentations with some good learnings, ideas, and food for thought. The highlight of the day – at least for me – was the presentation by Jerome from Alcatel Lucent. I was truly impressed by the level of internal transparency and openness they have achieved in a company of 77,000 employees.

The most striking takeaway was that the users had rejected Sharepoint as the platform of choise!

1. Sharepoint rejected?
2. Users had a say?

I’m officially impressed! According to Jerome, this wasa due to the fact that people brought their expericences from ’outside’ platforms like Yammer and Facebook which made them expect the same simplicity internally.

Other interesting takeaways was the focus on gamification from Verizon. Elizabeth told how they focused on the person and not the processes which, obviously, talks to the ”Ego-factor” that all people possess in some degree, and there is no doubt that vanity is a very powerful motivator when it comes to user adoption.

The final presentation of the day was from SAP and what struck me the most was the honesty about what makes people tick. Not strategies, not figures, but stories about real people. If you find what Angela and her team has dubbed ’Extreme Heroes’ and tell their story you create lots of engagement. It may not be strictly business relevant, but in this age of social media, engagement is what you are looking for, and what company can honestly say that they don’t want engaged employees?

All in all a very interesting day 1, and I am certainly looking forward to the sequel tomorrow. Stay tuned for more from the basement in Madrid, or follow the hashtag #ISM2011 on Twitter :-)

Thumbs up for the intranet – but what’s in a thumb?

Last week I shared some figures on the newly introduced interactive features on our intranet. Along the way I have received much feedback and many questions. The most interesting/baffling question I have encountered is ”What does a thumb mean?”.

Good one. Do you like/dislike the article? Do you agree/disagree with the message? Do you think it’s too long/short? Do you rate the author? …and not to mention ”What are you going to use it for?” All very good questions.

Honestly, I did not have a good answer, but I would think that people would like/dislike the message in the article. I also had a suspicion that these questions would answer themselves. This proved correct, and I have also been proven right. People base the direction of their thumb on the content. If the story is about something which is positive for the company – Thumbs up – if it affects the company in a negative way – Thumbs down. It’s as simple as that.

Up or down - What does it mean?

What ARE we using the thumbs for then? So far we have used them as a sentiment to how engaging a news story is. Since they are anonymous, it is hard to base any specific actions on these – that would have to be the comments. All in all, I believe that we will not be able to extract many insights from the thumbs in general, but they have another role which and that is to drive traffic. Humans are born curious and I’m sure that a number will click to see what others think. They may not like/dislike or comment, but they may very well read the story – the good ol’ 90:9:1 rule – and right now I am reminded of the slogan from UK retailer Tesco: ”Every little helps”

Questions are good. I encourage questions, but sometimes things are just there because they make sense. No ROI or business value. But then again, If thumbs drive some traffic – isn’t that a good enough reason? I have certainly seen more lame metrics in my career…

A small, but very important, step for the intranet

Monday last week we launched a new and improved way of publishing news on our intranet – possibly the biggest change in our intranet communication in 5 years. Along with this we introduced interactive features in the shape of comments and just as important – thumbs. Both up and down.

Interactive features in the broad perspective this is not new, but among my colleagues words like ”revolution” and ”innovative” have been uttered, which tells me that we are lagging behind, but also that ’we’ know it, and more importantly we are ready to embrace the change and see the perspectives.

In the process I did experience some concerns whether people would interact with the news through our new features. I kept assuring people that they would and now the verdict is in:

So far – after 1 week – we have had:

• More than 400 ”thumbs”
• Over 30 comments
• Several reactions via email (mostly good)

This is excellent – especially when we take into consideration that we have done virtually no marketing other than a banner and a news story. In my opinion the result so far  shows that although we had a suspicion that people did not talk much about the news we publish, they would willingly discus and rate – engage if you like. This was based on the amount of feedback gathered in surveys, and this proves to be correct.

Next challenge is to get even more comments. My colleagues and I are asking for feedback whereever we can, so this one is for you – dear reader – Do you have any experience on how to generate feedback for news? All suggestions are welcome…

There’s an app for that – but do we need one?

How often haven’t you heard the expression “There’s an app for that!”. Among online pros it is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek comment, but unfortunately other are listening and it seems like they have the impression that if there’s NOT an app for that we certainly need to build one!

Look! Apps! (by Cristiano Betta)

But wait a minute – Don’t we need a proper, rock-solid business case? Nope. Not this time. Apps are great. Just great. And we’ll be first movers – that’s value enough!

…Eh?!?…

Admitted. Not the usual approach, but for once someone has seen the infamous light and they believe – a rare thing these days, but also where many great things start.

In other words, and to answer my own question from the header: YES! We need the app! If everything goes as planned you will end up with a (free) test for mobile platforms for internal communication which – for the likes of me – is far from revolutionary, but is a giant leap of almost Neil Armstrong’ish proportions for others. Success is not a given, but with solid backing and strong interest you are certainly on the right track – even before you get going properly.

A few cautionary thoughts have also entered my mind: I’m not saying that we shouldn’t build apps and explore all the new exciting corners, but it is our responsibility as online pros to look beyond the novelty effect and make sure that it fits in with the rest (…dare I mention Second Life?). One day the novelty wears off and the last thing we want is to be the last ones at the party having to clean up after the others just because something was cool for 15 minutes. There’s not much fun in that!

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Stay tuned for updates – the above is a summary of my own thoughts following an app-discussion and at the time of writing things are looking good

Conference: Internal Social Media Forum

I have been invited to speak at Internal Social Media Forum by Forward Networking in Madrid on November 4th.

With a very interesting and strong lineup of speakers I feel honored, but also a bit humbled, to present at this interesting event. Already now I am looking forward to learn more from others, but also to present my own learnings, some of which is still in the making so the final outcome is not yet fully known.

The topic of my presentation will be about getting social media on the internal agenda. Here are the headlines:

Bringing social media into the organisation
- How to create a framework “mid-air” when social media has already taken off?
- Linking social media to your business goals and corporate values.
- Empower and educate: How to increase awareness and comfort using social media among employees.
- Knowledge sharing and facilitating best practises.
- Identifying mavens, connectors, and other VIPs.
- Tools and user adoption – Learnings so far.

As I mentioned, some of these topics are still being explored and who knows? Maybe you can read some of the insights at this blog in a not too distant future – if not come to Madrid and learn more from a lot of excellent speakers.