Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, e2.0, Collaboration Technologies, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Personal Knowledge Management, PKM, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Social Networks, Communities, Learning, Tom Davenport, Andrew McAfee, Innovation, Org. Change, Business Transformation, Knowledge Enterprise, Knowledge Corporation, Talent Management, Leadership, Passion
Goodness! What is this obsession with knowledge and collaboration tools? I was actually disappointed how part of the debate was about the traditional KM tools and the next gen. of social software tools. If there is anything that we should have very clear, is that social computing is about everything, but tools. It is an attitude, a way of life that you breathe and embrace, a voice that knowledge workers are entitled to have so that they can connect with others and exchange their knowledge and experiences with others, who may have similar interests or are passionate about similar subjects. Where are the tools in there? They are just enablers, as far I am concerned, and nothing representative of the tools landscape that we have seen all over the place.
Moving on in the debate, and while on the subject of "What is it going to take to change culture?" there were a couple of answers provided: Enlightened leadership. Top execs? But then Tom mentioned something that resonated quite closely with something that I have been mentioning over here again and again: "[It is] Unrealistic to suggest that people who have got a lot of power within organisations will surrender it to people who are doing a bad job and blog about it […]"
Two key things in here. First one, that command-and-control attitude I have mentioned before, which I think is going to be the key differentiator between those companies that will survive in the knowledge economy and those that won’t. And second key thing coming out of that quote. If you business currently has got people doing a bad job and blogging about it, then you have got the wrong people in their jobs in the first place! There is a huge amount of incredible talent out there and certainly state that people do bad jobs is just not a fair statement for most of that great talent.
I have always thought that people don’t do bad jobs per se, it is just that their talent is wasted in doing something they never wanted to do in the first place. And here is the case where blogging can certainly help re-focus and place the emphasis on talent where it should have been in the first place. How many times have we been told that weblogging is all about writing on stuff you are passionate about. I bet that for those folks out there doing a bad job and weblogging along, you would be able to find out what they excel at and re-channel through their strengths into what they would really want to do. Because, after all, who wants to do a bad job nowadays? Any one out there? I doubt it. I doubt that even companies would hire people who do a bad job. They shouldn’t. They should instead find the talent and nurture it, before it is too late.
(To be continued …)
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