I’ve spent a lot of time working with CIOs and senior IT teams from large, multinational companies and one thing is clear:  most IT execs don’t understand Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 or the new Social Business Models.  They know it exists, and they are seeing pockets of activity.  CIOs and senior IT leaders are not dumb.  They are not even opposed to new ideas.  They just lack a framework for talking about the bigger picture, and they lack the stories to make it real.  CIOs and senior IT leaders need help understanding and articulating the opportunity for their organizations.  I can help.

Recently, I was fortunate to be asked to present a management briefing to an IT executive team.  We began with a show of hands of how many of the 20+ attendees were on LinkedIn (most of them).  Twitter (most of them).  Facebook (less, but still a good number).  How many read blogs (all of them).  Had written a blog (just a couple).  Knew what a wiki was (all of them).  Had ever contributed to a wiki (just a couple).  See….they know about some of the most popular web 2.0 tools.  They’ve even used them.

We are not in Kansas Anymore

We spent the next couple of hours talking about the language of this new place.  We looked at how enterprise 2.0 supports strategic goals of the business.  We discussed business value through cases like how social networks change how we know our CEOs (like Michael Dell being on Facebook),  how social media changes intimacy with customers (like @ComcastCares),  how web2.0 changes the way we build businesses (like Zappos), how blogs change the way we share information (like Beth Israel Deconess Hospital’s CEO blog), we looked at how innovation was done with crowdsourcing, and how social networks change what we know about our colleagues (like Wachovia’s Pulse and BoozAllenHamilton’s Hello networks).

We looked at the risks associated with not being aware and not having a plan.  United Hates Guitars provided a great case for discussion.  We then turned the spotlight on their organization.  We looked at the conversations about their company taking place on the web.  Were they aware of this?  Some they knew about, others were a surprise.

Follow The Yellow Brick Road

We concluded with a discussion of how to build a plan and then a strategy for their organization.  The first thing to do was to start listening.  Listen to the conversations going on.  Listen to their internal experts (who may or may not be in the IT organization).  Listen to their customers and identify the places these conversations were taking place.  Once they know what is going on,  they will have the information they need to move ahead.

We discussed the different objectives…those they may want to use to engage employees, others to engage customers, others to understand changes in the industry and still others to capture innovation.  Groundswell, by Forrester researchers offers some great models for building strategy.

Just Click Your Heals Together and Repeat “There’s No Place Like Home”

They got the message.  The feedback from the short time we spent together was terrific.  They felt empowered to begin the conversations with their business peers.  They understood the risks of not taking action now.  They saw the path for IT to take a leadership role in steering the corporation through the still unclear waters of enterprise 2.0.  They now have a plan for moving forward.

Is your IT organization taking a leadership role in bringing enterprise 2.0 capabilities and advantages into the corporation?  Shouldn’t they be?  Need someone who can talk with your executive team?  Call me, I can help.

Here’s an interesting and thought provoking diagram of the social web.  Created by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas, The Conversation Prism summarizes the components of social media in a complex but appealing manner.  In setting up the context for the Prism, Brian’s blog says,

Social media is not governed by the media or technology that facilitate online interaction, contribution, or participation. It is defined by the people, the communities they join, and the parallel cultures and behavior that manifest. Technology and the networks that spawn through constant innovation will continually surface, merge, excel, or vanish. Human nature and the desire to connect, interact, and elevate is perpetual….Using the Conversation Prism , we can visualize and map the shifting landscape of social networks and micro communities to observe and conduct our initial fieldwork through digital anthropology. The process reveals everything, from measurement opportunities to participation strategies to the specific infrastructure changes necessitated by the new proactive and reactive process of engagement in the social Web.

The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas

The Prism contains 24 categories of  tools used for social media.  In the center is the brand surrounded by the components of good brand management: observation, listening, identification, internalization, prioritization and routing.  Managing the brand is done by those responsible for product and sales, marketing and PR, corporate communications, crisis management, and support.  But today, brand is also managed by the community, through ongoing feedback and insight gained by participation in discussions through many different media, as depicted by the different colorful petals of the Prism.

I find this graphic to be a helpful visualization of many of the components of the social media space.  Is it all of the components? I can’t think of anything that is missing in today’s social web, but I’m sure there will be future categories that we can’t even imagine today.

This is the first time I’ve seen a comprehensive way to think about the entire space.  I want to pass it on to my readers.  Thank you to Brian and Jesse for bringing this together and furthering the discussion.

Earlier this evening, I ran across an interesting blog about Identifying a Social Media Workflow.  The author, Morgan Brown, covers a lot of territory about roadblocks to change, how to get started in social media, and choosing the right community (more on this in a future blog).  In this blog, however, I wanted to pass along his thoughts on creating a social media workflow, because I think he’s nicely summarized some very important concepts that escape so many people trying to figure out this space.

Morgan suggests,

“Social media is like a marathon, it’s not a sprint.  So the only way to gain value out of it is through repeated, regular involvement.  To make sure you do this you need to set up a workflow and schedule that ensures you develop a repeatable cadence that becomes part of your reputation online.”

Set up a plan–a workflow of how you will proceed.  To do this, he suggests setting up a block of time on a regular basis to both learn and use social media.  Whether its 30 minutes every other day, or an hour once a week, it’s the regular, predictable rhythm of your participation that is important.  It helps establish you as a reliable member of the community, and ultimately a core contributor to the community, rather than a drop in.

This was an eye-opening concept to me.  Certainly, we all can find time here and there to check Twitter, or LinkedIn, post a video, upload photos, or even craft a blog.  Doing so may make you a knowledgeable community member.  But it is the regularity that makes you a solid, dependable member.

This builds on one of the fundamental tenants of this new world…pay it forward.  It’s not like the past work environment where we had a well-bounded problem to solve or project to complete and doing so built a solid, valuable reputation.  Instead, this community values people who are bold and take the risk to put their ideas out there for discussion before someone asks for it.  Be a predictable contributor, and the reputation you create will be worth the time you put in.  Sounds like excellent advice for creating an online reputation of substance.

Being instantly responsive is once again in the news, as we watch a situation involving a passenger on United Airlines unfold.  The punch line is the story of an individual doing something about his awful experience. He didn’t just taking “no” for an answer, he used this medium to get the story out.  As of the writing of this blog, there has been no answer by United.

Here’s a basic recap of what happened.  A musician, David Carroll, takes a trip from Halifax to Omaha with his band.  They check their guitars in as baggage.  As they are preparing to take off from his connection at O’hare, David (and some other passengers) notice that the baggage handlers are throwing the guitars around, and this concerns David.  His guitar is expensive and delicate.

He tries to get the airline personnel to do something in the moment, but they are too busy with preparations to help him.  He gets to his destination, only to notice that there has been damage.  He then begins a long, unsatisfying customer service process, ending with a representative of United telling him they would not do anything for him.

He decides to write 3 songs about his experience, post them on YouTube, and let people see/hear them for free.  As of today, he’s posted his first song.  Of course, it’s gone viral, and over 1.3 million people have viewed his video.  Curve productions, a company in Halifax, has teamed up with David to get the word out.

Others have gotten involved in writing and promoting this cause.  Shel Israel wrote about how companies like United need to realize the power of social media.  He says,

Suddenly companies that do not apologize for poor customer treatment and play odds that most customers have neither the wherewithal nor the patience to litigate will just fade away.

They’re wrong of course. Companies that do not understand that individuals can use social media to raise concern, ire and awareness. Companies that continue to ignore this, I predict, are the ones that will fade away and sooner than they may think.

He’s right.  Companies need to understand this new world, and we have example after example of times when they miss the mark.  They eventually have to apologize. Sometimes they even use these very same tools to instantly get their apology out.

My husband summed the United situation up nicely.  He said,

The Internet and social networking has changed complaining. When something like this goes viral, it is really bad for the company even if it is not factual. The urban legend can go wild in minutes not years.

I’m interested in what United decides to do. My bet: nothing until the pressure is just too much to handle. Are they even monitoring what is going on? Certainly that must be the next step for any company trying to build a strategy for managing their brand and their reputation.

Here’s a few basic steps for United executives:

1.  Awareness: Learn about social media today.  Take a course.  Bring in a consultant to teach you and your team about this space (I’m available).

2.  Monitoring: Learn how to properly monitor these channels so you know what is being said about your brand and your enterprise.  Build a team of people who watch this space and can instantly alert executives to any activity they see.

3.  Strategize: Build a social media strategy so you can take well-thought-out steps to managing the opportunities and the potential disasters that happen in this space.

This sounds simple, but as we see, it’s anything but simple.  Especially when it’s your company who is the next case study in “examples of bad customer experiences”.

August, 2009 update:  To be expected, there is a lot of buzz around this incident.  A good analysis of United’s response can be found at Dan Greenfield.  Some interesting suggestions for United were penned by Angela Connor.  What about Song #2? here’s the latest from John Dodge at Smart Planet.

August 27, 2009 update:  The conversation continues around this musician’s response to poor customer service.  His second music video is out on YouTube…and it’s wonderfully playful.  The song croons, “What did you mean when you said you were sorry?  I’m a bit confused…”  But the real story is about how United is (or is not) handling this.  Where are they in this conversation?  Are they trying to handle this quietly on the side with emails to Mr. Carroll?  They need to understand that this is the wrong tactic.  Maybe they should team up with David Carroll to create the 3rd song he promises?  create their own video?  Laughing at themselves, publicly joining the conversation, is really the only option to get past this.  It’s out there.  ignoring it won’t make it go away this time.

I’m at Enterprise 2.0 in Boston and very interested in learning about how social networking and social media are being viewed and used in corporations today. I attended this same conference in 2008 and was pleasantly surprised to find this oasis of like-minded people all trying to solve the puzzle of how these new tools are impacting organizations. I’m anticipating even more thoughtful ideas this year.

Already, I’ve found a group of people who are writing about this and have clearly given it some deep thought. That is the Dachis Group. Here are the links to some of their thinking about a framework they call “Social Business Design”:

Peter Kim’s reflections on social business

Jevon MacDonald’s taking the leap

Kate Niederhoffer’s social psychologist take

David Armado’s life after social media

Glad to see the beginnings of a business model for social business.  This model has many of the underpinnings that we can expect to see emerge in robust, usable models for large enterprises.  It begins to answer the call I wrote about in my March blog.  Particularly exciting is the resurrection of real time organizations…similar to the concepts of my Zero Time work.  I look forward to learning more.

This model still needs to be refined, however.  It must be written in a language that makes sense to business people.  It  must use terms that will have meaning to executives today.  It will also need examples.  Corporate examples, please.   David’s blog references a few companies who have social media presence.  My blog and many others do, too.  But for this business model to take off, we need to see it in action.  I look forward to hearing about examples of where they implement their ideas.

Great job, guys.  Can’t wait to hear more.

Every company has pockets of Web 2.0 expertise–employees who are using socio-collaborative tools to find and connect with people in ways that were not possible in the past.  If your organization is typical, these employees are going home to use these tools; they can’t access them inside the company’s firewall, or they don’t have permission to use them during the work day.  But they know the value of these new ways to collaborate.  

This blog has shared a number of interesting examples of social media and social networking inside large, global organizations.  But for most of the Fortune 500, our research has shown that there is still significant resistance to embracing these tools in a systematic, well-managed way.  In some cases, leaders still have their heads in the sand, waiting to see how the Web 2.0 environment shakes out and what tools emerge as the winners.  

By then it will be too late for many organizations to take a leadership role in their industry.  Those who will deploy the game changing functionality are already experimenting with this environment today.  As the environment settles down, these leaders will already have risen up the learning curve.  They will have created the next playing field, and have gained the competitive advantage in their industry.  The time to start learning about this new environment is now.

Has your organization started learning how to be socio-collaborative?  Do you know where the pockets of expertise are inside your team?  Have you identified new ways to collaborate with employees, customers and other stakeholders?  The useful applications for your organization may not be clear today, but that is not a reason to hold off learning about the new world.  What’s clear is the need for hands-on instruction with the employees who will need to be thinking and working a new way– a way that may be alien and outside of their comfort zone.  It’s these individuals who will find new ways to propel your organization into the leadership position.

SoCo Partners and KP Partners (my company) have teamed up to offer customized workshops to draw out the creative ideas from your team and to identify ways for your organization to embrace this new environment.   These workshops introduce principles, core concepts, and case studies that are changing the way communication and collaboration are done inside the enterprise and with stakeholders outside the corporate boundaries. 

Success comes from introducing these new concepts to employees in a way that encourages adoption and applies them to every day business processes they already know. We are specialists in this area.  With many decades of experience in large enterprises, our approach bridges the past to the future. 

We are currently scheduling seminars for the upcoming summer months. We offer them at your location and we customize them for your team.  If you’re interested in scheduling a workshop for your organization, please contact us. We will be happy to discuss a unique training and orientation session that will gently introduce your employees to socio-collaborative philosophies and methods and draw out ideas that will change the game.

What is Saks Fifth Avenue doing on Facebook?  Earlier today, I got an email with an ad for delicious Jimmy Choo boots.  At the bottom I noticed the facebook icon.  Clicking on it brought me to the Official Saks Fifth Avenue Page on Facebook.  Immediately, I joined.  It’s fascinating that Saks is reaching out to their customers over this medium.

Saks was always my Mom’s store.  It was the classy, high service, mecca for fashion.  Not that my Mom was into fashion, but she knew that she could always find what she was looking for at Saks.  It’s a good bet that she never would have thought to look on Facebook for a page by Saks.

So what is Saks doing on Facebook?  From the looks of the page, they are reaching out to their younger customers and creating conversations.  It’s a brilliant move on their part.   They have created a presence where the young fashionistas are.  They have begun to engage them in conversations and in doing so, given their best customers an online home for the community.  That will go a long way to promote the loyalty they already enjoy from this customer group.

It’s a fantastic way to refresh their brand.  On the page, I see adds for events in their flagship store in NYC.  I see adds for some of the latest fashions.  There are some videos of runways and models, as well as clips from designers such a Diane von Furstenberg.  And there are lots of comments…things like “So happy to be visiting the Mother Ship this weekend” and “I Loooooove Saks”.  Some also are trying to talk with the company with comments such as “Love SAKS in general, but the San Diego store is not the best –limited merchandise. Can anyone talk to the buyers?? : )”

This is a brilliant move, and one that will certainly expand their customer base, their customer loyalty, and maybe even improve their already superior service.  This is definitely not my Mom’s Saks. Now it’s mine.

I recently read an interesting blog by Alexander van Elsas ….Yep, I’m a bit behind in my reading.  But in that blog, he suggests this:

“The way the web presents itself to us, and the endless possibilities for us to connect online, has changed our online experience considerably. The question remains though. What if business models would evolve with that technological and behavioral change? What if we would stop thinking in terms of advertisement display or cpm, and would focus on other value drivers? What if we would care less about keeping users sucked into a database, and set them free because you don’t need to hold on so tightly to make revenues? It is this ‘old school’ thinking that inhibits us from starting true revolutions. Technology-wise we can revolutionize our experience on the web. Business-wise we are held back and forced to take smaller steps.”

This sparked some ideas.  

This is the issue facing so many enterprises as we evaluate the web2.0 tools and their potential impact on the corporation.  In many cases, our enterprises have very large, successful investments in processes, technologies and tools that actually inhibit us from taking advantage of the web 2.0 benefits. 

It’s so hard to change any of these, too, because we don’t really have the new business models that provide the vision for the new way to operate.  We have a number of point examples of innovative companies breaking through barriers and reaping great benefits.  Dell uses these tools for marketing,  Zappos uses these tools to create and support their culture, P&G have embraced these tools to spark innovation 

Andy McAfee wrote about this in a recent blog.  He discussed the strength of weak ties and the value of converting potential ties into actual ties.  Is this the core of what we can expect?  It’s interesting, but hardly enough for the massive adoption that we keep expecting for enterprise 2.0.

Adoption is still an issue for most companies.  In this era of frugality, conservation, and caution, I can still hear the cry for a well-articulated business model that enables the enterprise to move forward. 

The embedded base, both in terms of technology and people, often operate in a way that is incompatible with the core principles of the new technologies.  Transparency, openness, information sharing, and connectedness outside the corporate boundaries challenge a few of the sacred cows that much be sacrificed to take full advantage of these new tools.  I challenge you to take another look.  What is getting in the way for your enterprise? In what ways can you modify your business model to get around these barriers and flourish?  The customers are there.  The partners are there.  And I’d bet the profits are there too.

Today on Twitter, I found a truly interesting story to blog about.  Its unfolding before our very eyes and raising awareness of so many issues created by social media. One of my friends, ITSInsider, wrote a tweet (a note on Twitter) about it, which I saw. I clicked through to the link she posted and read the story. You can read a great blogpost of the story (by Peter Shankman).  But to briefly summarize, the story is this:

Apparently James Andrew, a VP and Director for Ketchum Interactive in New York visited Memphis to participate in a meeting with one of their largest clients, FedEx.  Upon arriving in Memphis, this VP tweeted this:

“True confessions but I’m in one of those towns where you scratch your head and say ‘”I would die if I had to live here!”

A local employee read this tweet, was offended, and sent an email to Mr. Andrew.  The employee also copied all the executives at FedEx and Ketchem.  The email suggested that it was disrespectful and wrong, and hinting that it would affect the relationship between the two companies.  The letter is posted on Shankman’s blog.

All of this took place very quickly.  The Tweet was sent on Jan. 14, 2009 at 4:59 (I’m assuming it was about 5 in the afternoon, not the early morning). On Jan. 15 at 5:19 pm, an article was posted on Gawker. Today is Jan. 17 and this story is all over Twitter and in the blogesphere.  Since this happened on Wednesday, and today is Saturday, I’m wondering if the FedEx and Ketchum execs have even had time to formulate a response to this.

I’ve checked out Mr. Andrew’s original tweet  and his blog, and some of the responses he’s gotten from his readers.  I see an unhappy tweet from a woman who said:

“@keyinfluencer Nice try at backpedaling, however it comes across as somewhat insincere. Many of us saw this tweet and are offended.”

I also see dozens of other comments on Shankman’s blog and on Andrew’s blog that are supportive.  Some share the sentiment that not every visit to every city is positive, that nothing is secret anymore, that this is why legal departments worry about social media, that this is a hard lesson to learn, and that it is important to know who is in your social network when you sent your ideas out there.  The dialogue generated here is enlightening.

Mr. Andrew’s wife posted a blog about it.

I find it interesting how fast this works.  This story is still unfolding as I write.  I’m sure we will see more of this in the social and maybe even the traditional media.  I’m not sure FedEx or Ketchum will appreciate the discussion.  Attention is good, but is negative attention just as good?

One thing is for sure, Mr. Andrew has created dialogue in the social media space.  He is a key influencer.

Do you know what motivates you to do your best? 

That was the driving question at a seminar called Get Motivated!.  Speakers included  Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Suze Orman, Phil Town, Zig Ziglar, and more live and in person. 

I must say, I was very skeptical.  How could they really have all of these powerhouse leaders in person for $4.95 entry fee?  I set my expectations very low.

Well, I was blown away.  The seminar was everything they advertised and more.  There were rumors that more than 12,000 people signed up (but still, at $5/person, that’s only $60K…not even enough to cover 2 of the standard speaking fees of these people).  The Austin Convention Center was very full, and they had a satellite location which apparently was just as crowded.  It was an amazing production.  And yes, it was motivating to hear the messages of so many luminaries.

One surprise concept, presented by Get Motivated founder Tamara Lowe was called Motivational DNA.  Tamara shared her 3-component framework for what motivates people:

1. What drives you (production or connection)
2. What your needs are (stability or variety)
3. What awards you prefer (internal or external)

Each combination produces a profile of how to best motivate you.  Tamara’s written a book (due in January 2009) on this, and her book’s website has a very short test you can take to see what your motivation profile looks like.  Go on, take the test.  I did.

Here is my profile:

What is your profile?  You can find out instantly, without any further obligation.  This is a very useful idea.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you knew the motivational DNA of every member of your team? It would certainly help each of us know how to motivate and communicate with colleagues. Sounds like a good idea to me.