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This globally dispersed organization is aiming to leverage the collective intelligence of its workforce around the world and is working with Orbital RPM to develop and implement a collaboration strategy.

Elements of this strategy include social network analysis, collaboration software review and configuration, roadmap development and more.

With a background in SEO, I find myself less interested in how other SEO’s respond to the change, but rather how the everyday user adapts to it.  Though the issue is ripe with grand claims as to exactly how lay-users will adapt to “Google Instant,” I’ll refrain from making any such gestures.

That said, I am fairly certain of a few simple truths that surround the issue:

1.) General Google users will continue to find the information they’re looking for. Google will acutely make sure of that.

2.) Users will find this information, but now they will likely find it more quickly, and in greater quantity and quality.

And most importantly…

3.) Users will quickly adapt to the new service.  Period.

Finding Knowledge and Experts Instantly in Your Organization

While these are not terribly ambitious observations, in and of themselves, they should hopefully provoke a sense of introspection, specifically with regard to how knowledge is distributed, accessed and leveraged within your organization.  And in taking a deeper dive into that thought, begin assessing the external modes of knowledge; particularly how it is brought into the organization, and how it is disseminated outward.

For an organization that hopes to build or sustain an innovative environment, an evolutionary mindset and regular self-examination process around how knowledge is handled should be core tenets of such an environment.

Change will always bring some element of aversion, particularly when dealing with long held company practices and procedures.   But when this aversion relates to your company’s most integral asset, its knowledge, that should be your queue to dig in, ask questions and start evolving

Opportunities and Risks With Instant Knowledge

As Google Instant will prove, the average 18-year-old Google user will adapt how they gather knowledge with greater effectiveness and dexterity than most professional organizations.  In the not too distant future these users will be entering the workforce; possibly even being hired by your company.

If they aren’t allowed to build on their knowledge and skills with the fastest and most efficient means they know, they won’t stick around long, and more than likely neither will the company that held them back.

And if that isn’t an arresting thought, it should be.

For most, resumes are simply a high-level snapshot of generally recognized terms, projects, education, certifications, etc. They’re effective for generating interview questions but do not reveal the nuanced depth of someone’s true experience; especially if their roles are heavy in knowledge-based work as most are.

Enter the challenge with the growing interest in ‘Expertise Location.’  In many discussions I’ve had people feel that by just uploading resumes/work history into a collaboration platfrom this will enable others in the organization to find the experts associated with any given topic.  Not so fast.

The problem is that a resume uploaded today is likely to be out-of-date within weeks or months.  People’s work in organizations is often quite fluid between different projects, functions and departments and not only is that nearly impossible to capture in text, almost no one is going to go back and update their uploaded resume [until their looking to submit it elsewhere].

This is where the advancements in collaboration platforms comes in handy.  Most of the platforms on the market [i.e. Jive, Socialtext, Telligent] will track the different areas in which someone is partcipating and allow others to find them based on that activity.

So when an analyst hired for their prior roles in finance is quickly sent out to your understaffed office in a high growth area they’ll be learning new skills very quickly.  These skills likely won’t make it onto their resume on your system – but they will reveal themselves through the activity generated in a collaboration platform while getting up to speed on these new competencies.

If  your collaboration system and the corresponding processes are set-up correctly you now have an expert in some unique areas that someone in the future can find and leverage.  If not, what are the chances that someone else in the same situation struggles with similar questions, challenges and roadblocks on their road to expertise?  And what is the impact to individuals and the organization when this happens?

In 1988 tunnel boring machines aimed at one another began their slow attack from France and the United Kingdom respectively.  The ultimate death match resulted in the Chunnel – a consistent, fixed mode of mass people/cargo transportation across the English Channel.

A similar thing is happening with the inevitable convergence between the fields of Enterprise 2.0 [communities of practice, collaboration networks, knowledge management] and Social Marketing [customer communities, influencer networks, social media, Social CRM].  With the goal being a consistent link between workforce, partners and customers and with the infrastructure to provide a continuous ebb and flow of knowledge, ideas, reputation and all things intangible.  Kinda like the Chunnel.

The success of the Chunnel, as with merging Enterprise 2.0 and Social Marketing initiatives, depends on clear objectives, planning, tools, people and sheer determination.  There’s a big difference too, though.  The Chunnel diggers started at the same time on each side.  I recommend starting your internal/Enterpise 2.0/collaboration initiative before engaging customers or influencers in your customer community/social media initiative.  Don’t meet in the middle.  Why?

Ideally you want some experience with internal collaboration before customers are engaged.  Or ‘Get your house in order before you invite over company.’  Think of your workforce as your immediate family, and your suppliers, partners and vendors as your neighbors.  They can see your house a little messy – especially if it’s due to a snazzy renovation.  Your customers are more like your dates – your best foot is always forward.

It’s for this reason that a strategy where internal collaboration is enabled first is best.  Work out the kinks of collaboration with your internal workforce, suppliers/partners, etc. first so that you’re prepared to respond to customers ridiculously faster than with a silo’d organization.

Evolution of Enterprise 2.0 and Social Marketing

The worlds of Enterprise 2.0 and Social Marketing are the result of a similar evolution[in my mind].  Enterprise 2.0 represents the needed transition in learning and knowledge management from formal [classrooms and databases] to informal [communities and Web 2.0] while Social Marketing is the same evolution in marketing from traditional [print and banner ads] to social [customer and influencer communities].

They have a different audience but the same objective – integrating anyone you count on for success into your strategy for better products, services, efficiency or enhancements to your business model – aka innovation.  Internal and external communities are the incubators of ideas for improvement.  Bring them together successfully and you’ll have the most valuable resource needed for the new economy – knowledge.

Next Steps for Enterprise 2.0 and Social Marketing

As the respective fields are evolving it’s in everyone’s best interest to…wait for it…collaborate.  Shocking, eh?  And this is where those nasty changes in process come into play.  Just b/c it sounds like a great idea for teams form Marketing, Knowledge Management, Innovation, IT, HR, etc. to work together for the sometimes utopian goal of a freeflowing exchange of information through a company’s value network it doesn’t mean it’s easy.  Inconvenient things like politics, personalities, power and culture are all front and center.

This is where we find it helpful to use a tool to visualize and measure process as it occurs in today’s dynamic times. A value network analysis shows stakeholders their current process flows [intangibles included] and let’s them determine how best to rearrange them for mutual benefit.

However it’s done, though, these areas need to be working together – the tunnels within your organization and to those that you count on for success need to be dug and the infrastructure needs to be in place so that knowledge, ideas, reputation and all of the other intangibles you rely on can flow as they need.

Most People: What is it that you do again?

Me: I help companies operate and compete in a knowledge-based economy.

Most People: Huh?

Me: I work with companies on their learning,development, knowledge management, innovation, marketing, HR and other processes to help them do business now – which is much different than how businesses have ever operated in the past.

Most People: [blank stare]

Me: I’m a consultant.

Most People: Oh…I know what they do.

Although the above is exaggerated I’m not naive enough to think that the label ‘Social Business Design’ will cause the conversation to be too much different than it is now – but I strongly applaud the team at Dachis Group for coining the term and providing a rallying cry for a whole industry [software suites, authors, consultants, etc.] of folks that will contribute to transforming organizations for a landscape that has no boundaries and relies on relationships, ideas, conversations, knowledge and all things intangible.

Social Business Design may become the next buzzword but I think it’s a simple yet eloquent and descriptive term for the results required to compete in a knowledge-based economy.  So much so that we’re incorporating it in our communication about Orbital RPM’s offerings.

And while I lend credit to Dachis Group and Altimeter Group for energizing this arena I also thank and credit the following fields for their work in what I feel provides the foundation for a transformation to operating socially [representative honorees shown in brackets - there are way too many to list]:

• Social Network Analysis [i.e. Rob Cross/Cross Networks Analytics, Valdis Krebs]
• Value Network Analysis [i.e. Verna Allee, Value Networks and team]
• Systems Thinking [i.e. Peter Senge/Pegasus Communications, iSee]
• Industrial/Organizational Psychology [i.e. Kurt Kraiger]
• Organizational Design [i.e. Peter Drucker]
• Scenario Planning [i.e. Art Kleiner]
• Organizational Learning/Knowledge Management [i.e. Etienne Wenger, John Seely Brown, Jay Cross]
• Leadership Development [i.e. Reg Revans, Steve Kerr, Michael Marquadt]
• Workspace Design [i.e. Frank Becker, Charlie Grantham, Jim Ware, Camille Venezia]
• Innovation [Peter Skarzynski, Rowan Gibson, Clayton Christensen]
• Social Marketing [i.e. Charlene Li, Peter Kim]
• Social Software developers/vendors

Combining insights from these [and other] fields brings a comprehensive solution to organizations wanting to become social businesses.  The timing is right to combine the best of what’s new [i.e. web 2.0 & social marketing] with age old approaches [i.e. communities & action learning] that will help with this transformation.

This is what we’ve been doing for the last 5 years.  Now we have a name for it.

For many of the organizations that I speak/work with regarding knowledge networks/communities of practice they have [or are planning on implementing] a collaboration software package with many slick bells and whistles but without a clear path and strategy for getting up and running – this often results in an empty knowledge landscape with little showing except for some bells and whistles strewn about.

Even in the CIO world it’s popular to say that collaboration and innovation isn’t about the software but what do you do in addition to buying software? 

The Iceberg in IT

The delimna I frequently witness is what I call the ‘Iceberg in IT’ conundrum.  Someone decided that people needed to collaborate more and told IT to implement a package that enables collaboration.  While a good software package is certainly a required step, I prefer to put it near last instead of first. 

Using the admittedly cliche and ubiquitous iceberg metaphor above, social software is simply the visible thing that enables collaboration to happen.  When IT is told to purchase it when there is no strategy to generate adoption, it will feel cold and barren [sorry - couldn't help it].  In order to truly affect how this can help people do their jobs there is a large amount of work that needs to done behind the scenes…hence the 7Cs of success:

• Capturing:  the notion of collaboration is foreign in many organizations so people often need to be shown what potential is there if they were to collaborate.  We always visit different geographic locations and capture [via video, audio, memory stick, etc.] what people are working on so that we can determine common topics and have some seed material to begin populating the software system.
• Connecting:  even software that’s designed to connect people will do little in that regard if left on its own.  People [especially when at the early phases] need some help connecting with one another – simple things like setting up bridge calls and facilitating conversations serve to build trust and awareness and provide nuggets of content that can be housed in the platform.
• Combining: in a dispersed organization you’re bound to find bits and pieces of similar work living in a great many places.  Helping the users combine that information using the wiki feature of a platform, for example, will show users the efficiency in working together while training them on what in the world a ‘wiki’ is.
• Contextualizing: the most effective collaboration initiatives will integrate members from an organization’s suppliers and customers and related academic institutions.  Translating that into compelling content that will make sense to your users will be critical in getting them to absorb and leverage it.
• Confirming:  similar to above, if you’re getting knowledge from various sources, care must be taken to ensure that what’s being provided is accurate information so that it can be acted upon.
• Circulating:  what good is the best information if no one knows about it?  The role of a community/network coordinator is essential in circulating news about what’s new, recent questions, etc.
• Communicating: having someone dedicated to getting the word out about the success stories in your knowledge network will go a long way in generating interest, excitement and ,of course, additional funds that will be necessary to continue operations.

Having an effective Web 2.0 collaboration platform at the center of this activity certainly will make it much easier to coordinate but the software alone [today's versions anyhow] will never replace the behind-the-scenes efforts required to start and sustain collaboration and innovation.

BusinessWeek just published an article about how groups around the world are preparing for the Knowledge Economy.

Notice the focus on the design of the physical space that they’re proposing and how that will help foster the necessary community that will be required for collaboration, learning and innovation.

Now I’m clearly a little biased in my support for this message – but that bias first came from all of the other sources that turned me on to this trend.

Using the ideas in the article, what can your organization do to prepare for the knowledge economy?  How can your workspace be configured to best support the way work happens?  How can you integrate the collaboration of your customers, suppliers and employees into the learning and innovation that will drive your organization forward?

BusinessWeek just published an article that talks about incorporating people that aren’t formally part of your organization into it’s methods for innovating.  The article profiles a video game company that leveraged a fan-base on Facebook to create a new game – and along the way they slashed development costs and even a hired a few top coders.

This philosophy of ‘crowdsourcing’ will be critical as we get further into the knowledge economy.  I encourage organizations to assess who they count on for success and then develop strategies to incorporate all of those groups into their learning/innovation pipeline.  [Note: a value network analysis is a great tool to help visualize this.]

Who does your organization count on for success [i.e. suppliers, consultants, customers,...]?  How can you incorporate their insight and suggestions into your next big idea?

Here are some of the methods used at Orbitl RPM:

Knowledge Networks + Communities of Practice

Tips, best practices and insights already flow through most organizations.  Some of the informal interactions that happen around the proverbial water cooler are where the most useful information gets transferred.

It happens in the break room, out to lunch or via a response to an email question.  Orbital RPM adds strategy and structure to this informal organizational element that allows people to learn more from others.  We help cultivate knowledge networks and communities of practice, or groups of people who transfer their knowledge and insights with others in the same role or with the same objectives.  

For executives we offer membership in learning communities that are composed of other executives from similar but non-competing organizations.

For all other employees we specialize in cultivating knowledge networks and communities of practice as a forum for them to learn from others, develop their own solutions and add more value to their employer.  These groups may also include representatives from the organization’s value network.

Knowledge Transfer

NASA’s Lunar Program lost critical knowledge during the downsizing craze of the 1990s when Saturn 5 engineers were encouraged to take early retirement.  One NASA manager confided, “If we want to go to the moon again, we’ll be starting from scratch.  All of that knowledge has disappeared.  It would take at least as long and cost at least as much to go back.”

When people leave an organization, whether through retirement or before, an immense amount of experience, tips, and stories goes with them.  Proactive organizations are finding and sharing that knowledge before it’s gone.

Orbital RPM uses a process that captures and transfers the tacit knowledge that organizations need to avoid re-inventing the wheel, or in most cases, something much more sophisticated than a wheel.

Learning Histories

Knowledge networks tend to focus forward in order to address common issues and collaborate toward innovation.  This neglects the significant events in that group’s recent timeline that can provide content for budding networks as well as resources for knowledge transfer when network members move on. 

Where appropriate, a deliverable will be records (audio, video, text, etc.) of the lessons learned from past transformative events so that mistakes can be learned from and ideas advanced.