Tag: Enterprise Social Network

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Fiendish Child: What We Have For Lunch Matters

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The ability to socialize – communicate, build a network, prosper with people of all persuasions – is an ability that all young people do not have, apparently.

They are stuck behind screens of various dimensions and mobility! They are playing video games for 30 hours A DAY! They are all flaming and trolling innocent others and punishing all and sundry with nary a thought for hurt and shame! They have lost the ability to speak and have grown massive thumbs with which they grab the world and shake it…

All of it nonsense.

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3 Things I Learned From Being An Anonymous Enterprise Troll

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Four years ago, before “social” was a thing inside my company, I tried a few things out. One of them was an anonymous blog on the crappy old intranet in which I gently, but directly, skewered various big personalities and important people in the organization, through the voice of The Pundit.

The Pundit always referred to The Pundit in the third person. The Pundit was self-important and zealous, convinced of The Pundit‘s rectitude. The Pundit antagonized and poked colleagues throughout the world, trying to galvanize social discourse and watercooler chat that was visible to all. The Pundit was very edgy, a satirical representation of the back channel protagonists and gossip mongers that patrol the office corridors.

The Pundit, unsurprisingly, was a highly divisive character – hierarchy killing hero to some, rude and ridiculous troll to others.

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When The Eyes Of Your C-Suite Are Staring At You (Unblinkingly), Your #ESN Will Fail

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Enterprise Social Networks flatten organizations, they release untold energy and stories and knowledge, content that floods through the network and makes the company come alive…right? Well, it depends who is watching. Everyone in social business will tell you that executive sponsorship is critical for the successful evolution of your social enterprise endeavour. Well, yeah, but no. I agree that support is required, some engagement too. But ownership top-down roll-outs, not so much. Case in point… A friend told me a story the other night: –begin– I got an invite to a yammer network from a developer colleague. Seems like Yammer is … Continue reading When The Eyes Of Your C-Suite Are Staring At You (Unblinkingly), Your #ESN Will Fail

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FAILSAFE 10-Step Process To Build Organizational Culture Using Your ESN.

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Yesterday, I shared a story about ice cream, and about culture. You should read that first then apply this FAILSAFE process to be a winner in your organization. Buy some <insert something GOOD here> Go to your enterprise social network (ESN) group of choice Write: It’s hot! Let’s ice cream!* – LOCATION – TIME. Go! Ask a couple of colleagues to Like or comment “I HEART <insert GOOD thing here>” to the post as a massive, personal favour to you after all these years and after all you’ve done… Ask the person with the loudest mouth in the office, or … Continue reading FAILSAFE 10-Step Process To Build Organizational Culture Using Your ESN.

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TRANS-Enterprise Social Networks: Impact Hub Westminster

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So, I’m reflecting on how ESNs are limiting, and that the new frontier of work is TESN (TRANS-enterprise social networks). We are moving beyond relative boundaries of the industrial age. We are, instead, availing ourselves of new opportunities to commune and collaborate with the very best people in our networks. Recently, I attended the #ResponsiveOrg unConference in London at Impact Hub, Westminster. As with Hive YVR, the environment is a mix of hot desk and semi-permanent work stations, and community and collaboration are at its heart. As their website states: We provide flexible access to workspace and curate a supportive, … Continue reading TRANS-Enterprise Social Networks: Impact Hub Westminster

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TRANS-Enterprise Social Networks: #_unBound Vancouver

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Yesterday, I mentioned HiVE Vancouver. Today’s trans-enterprise social network is a pop-up version, the first Vancouver #_unBound at the Microsoft office. A few ESN fellow travellers converged to a neutral venue to work (on our own stuff), to discuss (commonalities), and to network. No agenda, no required outcomes, just a space to be held where firewalls are forgotten for a few hours. Boundaries dissipate, inside-outside is put to one side – a trans-enterprise social network. You look around the table at people who are trying to move in a similar direction, and the comradeship is effortless, natural, unforced. It was … Continue reading TRANS-Enterprise Social Networks: #_unBound Vancouver

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TRANS-Enterprise Social Networks: Hive Vancouver

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I spend a lot of my time studying, considering, activating in the area of ESNs (enterprise social networks). It has been my entrance to the world of net work (sic). A key issue I face with ESNs is that it always becomes a conversation about technology, rather than about people (deploying that technology). As I an oft to say: the ESN is just a tool. So, I spend quality time reading and exploring around the theoretical and practical edges of ESNs, and lo! what do I find but PEOPLE…everywhere! Inside the firewall, I spent a week working out loud under … Continue reading TRANS-Enterprise Social Networks: Hive Vancouver

The Future of Work1 Comment

I Am The Next Middle Class, And I Need Your Support.

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For me, fellow Change Agent Harold Jarche triggers more deep thinking than any other blogger; and this post is no exception – getting larger and more menacing every day is the looming shadow of realisation that the future ain’t what it used to be! All knowledge workers are under threat – from information overload and big data, from automation and outsourcing. The futurist Ross Dawson says: “…in a connected world, unless your skills are world-class, you are a commodity.” The only way out? Expertise, Relationships, and Innovation. Welcome to the network. From Jarche: “We are seeing experiments in new forms … Continue reading I Am The Next Middle Class, And I Need Your Support.

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How To Flock In 3 Easy Steps

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Here is a short video that illustrates the amazingness of flocking – the ability of birds (and other animals) to work together in a network with only very limited, local sets of rules. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUkjC-69vaw Graphic designer Craig Reynolds developed this computer modeling called a Boids model many years ago; wherein randomly moving objects are given three simple rules of engagement in the network: Collision avoidance – cohesion Velocity matching – alignment Flock centering – separation and, lo! a flock is formed in real time, with absurd coordination and cooperation, yet without any central controls. This, friends, is how we need to … Continue reading How To Flock In 3 Easy Steps

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Embracing Complexity: Enterprise Social Networks

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I participated last year as an interviewee in a MSc dissertation on social information theory, and a quote from another participant struck a chord with me. The company asked in an employee survey, “Do you use the Enterprise Social Network platform?” and compared the answers of all questions of the people that answered “Yes” with the answers of those that said “No”. The “Yes” scores were roughly 10% higher in questions like “my ideas are listened to”, “I can communicate across business lines”, “I understand the strategy.” These people have sought active engagement with their workplace, the nuance and disagreements, the … Continue reading Embracing Complexity: Enterprise Social Networks

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Entropy: How Crap Communicators Waste Energy

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So, here I am talking about how great! exciting! embraceable! is complexity. And about how entropy (the cost of moving data) is a good thing! Yet, of course, it is never that obvious. We will all have “Yeah, but…” examples of what a pain in the arse it is too. So, here’s mine. One of my pet peeves is how complex and complicated communicators make so much of their work. It is either rank inefficiency they teach communicators, or a fear that – like the Emperor’s new clothes – if they did not actively pursue complex and overblown solutions, then … Continue reading Entropy: How Crap Communicators Waste Energy