Polemic may be necessary months or years in advance of change. It may be the deciding factor in moving forward. To sponsor enterprise social disruption will usually require a loud voice, fearsome hand gestures and bulging eyes. [If you are one of the lucky ones who snuck social technology in whilst no-one was looking – and it stuck – bravo.]

Polemic may be more useful in the embedding process of social, especially when the groans appear and some voice of reason looks for roll-back to the crappy old environment that everyone used to hate…

Creative Tension

In any case, even though you are able to:

<Model> best practice;
through <Upskill> have deep knowledge to hand to show why;
have worked hard to <Bulk-Up> and can take it on the nose;

sometimes you still need to instill fear and loathing among your colleagues. Call it what you will – my preferred monikor is creative tension – there is a time and place for

WARNING!

Keep it balanced – too much fear makes you the party pooper. Share resonant data, stories, ideas, network learning about how others have taken the social leap and survived / prospered. Entice them with a better tomorrow; find startling apocryphal social outcomes – there is a 137% increase in something exciting, promise – and hope that takes you over the edge.

People > Potatoes

Whatever angle you take, move forward. Claim the space. If you do not, a competitor will. This is not about ‘who shouts LOUDEST wins.’ This is about committing wholeheartedly to a new version of excellence for your organization, standing behind it, urging, really urging others to join you on the forward march.

Do not be the agent for technology change. As Life, The Universe, And Everything already proved,