Social Media Evolution

Social media outlets like LinkedIn, Facebook, and even Twitter wrestle with two divergent forces.  First it is a human impulse to gravitate towards entertainment and education which reinforces our existing beliefs.  One of the reasons that the fringes of political systems are made stronger as people sometimes even unconsciously seek media which does not challenge but simply echoes what we already think.  This pattern in media have driven some to more and more extremes to seek attention simply to gain greater audience.

Second is our inate drive to seek knowledge and truth.  While it is true that so many options have allowed our attention span to be diverted many times over; it is still true that at our core we want to understand.
It is this second drive which is evolving social media to be more collaborative and in fact providing the classrooms for informal training.  More and more as people seek to distinguish themselves on sites like LinkedIn they post knowledge to discussions which advances the entire groups repository of usefull information.  In part it is due to the informal nature which is leading more people to use these outlets as training grounds for testing new ideas and experimenting with theories.

No one has said it better in the last few thousand years than one of my mentors:
” No where is the truth more likely to be found than in a free and open conversation” – Socrates

This evolution of extending group knowledge may have been spurred greatly by Wikipedia but in the everyday needs of commerce social media outlets like YouTube and LinkedIn are changing lives and perspectives.

More to come…

Organizing Knowledge – Find Info Faster

Facts can be organized in many ways.  Knowledge is the application of those facts and analysis to synthesize solutions. Information however is the answer to the question asked.  So if I have a file cabinet, a database or even the entire internet how can I find information quickly.  Too often using a single dimension of search data is returned that has nothing to do with the question asked.  One new Search Engine’s entire advertising campaign is about how current searches give so much irrelevant data.

Let’s examine a simple question and answer:
“What will the weather be at Grandma’s house tomorrow?” Breaking it into it’s constituents like we have done in grammar school we see the subject “weather” with the modifiers of time and location; “tomorrow” and “Grandma’s house” respectively. Many search engines do actually support multi-dimensional searches like this but to enter them properly there is a syntax requirement, akin to programming.

So back to our topic of using informal blogging and wiki’s to spread knowledge throughout our business – a portal or dashboard which is comprised of summaries of the latest entries joined with a multidimensional search engine should help.

Expanding briefly on the topic of multiple dimensions of search capability tags associated with your blog should suffice. However the tags should be categorized grammatically and some extras for example “subject” should be a main tag while time-frame tags be it “historical” or “forecast”, additional modifiers like type, location represented in “opinion” and “Chicago”.

There well may be a search engine that works exactly in this way but in the meantime when gathering the data for your organization tag what you can with these extra dimensions as we build a structure with empowers every organization to find information faster.

Spending Democracy

You already know everything written here, but we all need a reminder.

You vote everyday not once in four years.  Everyday you individually influence how our society works.  So many of our choices we make purely from habit. Without even thinking or better yet for some businesses you made the choice once because the only way to get the product or service is to automatically get charged every month.  By spending the money you work hard for you directly indicate how you want society to function.  Economists and financiers create complex equations to explain how your choices are completely predictable the common denominator has made one retailer the largest company in the world. Price, you want the lowest price, because more for less is always better or so it would seem.  Many pundits and news people enjoy making demons of the big bad company.   Time and time again movies, editorial TV programs, and prolific blogs dictate the horrible behavior of large banks, industrial giants who pollute our environment – each time the villain seems clear.  Yet how did these business achieve their formidable size – we bought what they sold, you did, I did, millions of us did. We made a choice that price was our driving factor and took the goodies home to share with our families.  As a society we have decided not to intentionally buy goods which have been stolen. It is a choice which has a common understanding not to knowingly support (or vote) for a supply chain process which violates a shared value.

We all have tremendous power, but responsibility comes with that power.  When price is the driving factor you cannot be surprised when businesses make decisions based only on cost.  That includes jobs as well, in December 2003 Charles Fishman wrote an article titled “The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know” which had an interesting closing sentence to the first paragraph. “Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?” ( http://bit.ly/1Kza0 )  In many ways one can make the argument that in search trying to stretch our lowered real incomes we continually pushed for lower prices.  This inevitably led to an acceleration of pushing jobs to where people were willing to work for lower wages.  Businesses have to react this way as we continue to vote for a price based behavior. Free enterprise works very well to force the market to respond when consumers vote.  So how are you teaching your children to vote?  Should they always look for the “best deal”?  Can we as a free society dictate how it function, the answer is yes we can, but perhaps you want to learn more about if the product you buy every week and where you buy it is the best choice for you and your community.

When you started reading this you knew all this information, but here is the reminder.  Every day you choose, you vote, how you spend your dollars dictate how business must react to survive.  When you find out something disturbing about a business do you shrug and continue to vote your dollars for it? Knowledge has consequences, if a business is too big to fail, remember who can make it smaller.  You can, your neighbors, your community endorse candidates through retailers, mutual funds, and credit card companies – the question is how what you spent today reflect what you value.  How are you spending your democracy?

Too much Information!

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Do not worry you are not alone – with the proliferation of blogs, wikis, and endless multimedia postings it is estimated that the total amount of information on the planet more than doubles every 18 months. If you didn’t feel overwhelmed before perhaps now you do.

In the field of medicine Atul Gawande, author of “The Checklist Manifesto”, states: “Clinicians now have at their disposal some six thousand drugs and four thousand medical and surgical procedures, each with different requirements, risks, and considerations. It is a lot to get right.” Its no wonder that even very competent doctors may overlook or may not be aware of a few possibilities.

So what is the point? Should we just give up say there is too much complexity and just stick to what we already know? Or is this the opportunity to leverage our shared knowledge trying to reach for the ‘group learning’ (as opposed to groupthink coined by social psychologist Irving Janis). The increased usage of checklists, peer reviews, and collaboration techniques should be a good answer. Anyone working today needs to make two commitments just to stay even in the marketplace let alone advance our competitive offering.

First we need to commit to lifelong learning. Reminding us that as knowledge workers “he who learns the most, earns the most” This can take many forms, webinars, formal classes, reading, even participating in team projects can advance our knowledge of what else is happening in and around our chosen discipline.

Finally, we must also commit to sharing our knowledge and seek out the collaboration of our colleagues and mentors. We cannot expect collaboration from others without sharing our own experience and perspectives. This is not just a restatement of the golden rule, but also a new reality of successful business. When peers are available within your company it helps, but outside viewpoints cannot be underestimated. Many companies today strangle innovation due to internally focused perspectives. One need only look at the American car manufacturers to see what stagnation it has caused. This is not meant to say that outside opinions are always right, focus groups and customer feedback is usually short term focused and may not include a longer term view of how solutions may evolve. In the end a healthy dialogue can only improve the long term goals of both customer and company.

So with all these perspectives how can we get any work done? That’s the work, that’s the secret! It is your synthesis of that information which solves problems, brings new approaches to bear, and tells the story of how we can survive and thrive through very difficult times. So pause for just a moment, take a deep breath… now jump!

BY9J86H7G4H4 – Claim Tag – Technorati

Happy Holidays!!!

Power Project Management – Collaborative Projects

The job of a project manager is to coordinate the disparate tasks to achieve a goal greater than the sum of the parts.  Bidirectional communication is the key part of that communication.  Discussing open issues, tasks on time or behind, lessons learned, and keeping to the scope agreed to! Using wiki’s for this communication can speed the entire process.  Team members can be empowered to update tasks assigned to them, enter their own learning’s and continually refer to the scope and project plan to verify they are on target.  Change logs of the wiki are the reporting tools the project manager uses to track progress.  If intermediate steps are also documented using the wiki – it becomes a rapid feedback system keeping everyone on track for faster execution!

Tools change relationships matter

A number of responses to the Social Media Revolution have asked the question whether social media is a fad.  In my opinion this is the wrong question, the right question is does social media help me connect with people better.  Tools always change communication tools are certainly no exception.  Relationships still depend upon how you feel when you interact with someone.  Do they make you laugh, think, cry or does their impact fade once out of sight?  I know it sounds corny but I still believe it is what is inside the person which speaks to us, hard to tell that in 140 characters, but over time with multiple interactions multiple channels be it text, audio, video, or perhaps even in real life you begin to tell those you wish to have some on-going connection with.

So with enthusiasm we welcome all the new tools, lots more to learn, lots more to get lost in and to discover, just include the off-line one too!

Why Wiki’s?

People have asked me why I am so passionate about Wiki’s and I answer because they are the start of the next revolution!
Throughout history what initially seemed a small innovation often lead to very big results. Making roads between villages helped the Romans build an empire. Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press along with the Chinese contribution of paper, less expensive than parchment, opened up the sharing of knowledge and ideas and by some historians estimates hastened the already advancing Renaissance. Being able to see far objects as though they were close through two polished lenses opened up man’s exploration of the heavens. The exciting aspect of invention is when it can move people or ideas over greater distances faster and with it, increase the exchange of ideas. Trade inevitably moves products but it also moves ideas, before you held an iPhone you never knew you needed one!

Manufacturing having worked through many issues over the years moved much faster once the overlaying systems of accounting, purchasing, and inventory all used the same database in MRP, MRP II, and finally ERP systems. The idea of one objective reality with everyone using their piece of it is present in many ideas and systems which are intended to accelerate coordination. It is also present in Eli Goldratt’s work of “The Goal” and Critical Chain, that any complex system must have very few or even one independent chain which when recognized and exploited is the best method for increasing productivity of the entire system.

The idea of collaboration using web 1.0 tools like email did increase the speed of communication but not to the level of a wiki. Not where one version of reality or objectives can be worked on both synchronously and asynchronously. One can only imagine in the not too distant future people collaborating on a virtual 3D version of a wiki. Perhaps even as I write this it’s already being done, but again the concept of everyone bringing something to write with in a supportive environment can lead to innovations that all of us will benefit from very soon!

All of these reasons make me even more passionate that we can find new ways to come together and solve real problems. No longer will we cower behind artificial separations that prevent open and honest communication – which Socrates told us over 2000 years ago, was the best place to find the truth!

Informal Training – Skills Cataloging

Once employees are writing or recording blogs and summarizing articles on wiki pages; the summaries need to be reviewed and recommended for further development.  This can be done by an information manager, the manger of each department, or potentially by the followers of a particular blog.  This last method is more organic but relies upon the atmosphere of mutual respect.  In fact summaries could be regulated by requiring a number of followers or subscriptions.  This demonstration of thought leadership by associates should be publicly praised; not required of all but praised when true innovative ideas that can be put into action benefit the company.

Cataloging summaries and links to the blogs and wikis which develop them further can be performed by the group interacting with the thought leader or by management.  Which method adopted depends upon the structure of your organization and other factors, but this also is accomplished faster using wikis so that one version of reality is in place, not multiple updated versions saved on individual hard drives not always connected to your network.  Access to the corporate wiki can be secure but open enough that employees don’t hoard versions to themselves creating an incomplete or partial version.  Policies and procedures should do everything to encourage work being done directly on networked wiki or blog, this also facilitates better collaboration for all team members since there is only one version of the work in progress.

Finally, as cataloged knowledge grows and thought leadership is defined these new skills can be entered into the formal talent management system by Human Resources.  References on the participants who grew the knowledge and skills build pride throughout the organization as well as the individual.  When attracting new talent to the company the recognition of Thought leadership is something usually reserved for academics and publications but in this company it’s a source of pride for every associate to develop and document existing processes and improvements as well as potential areas for business development.

For more information see my website:   http://chasenvision.wikispaces.com/

Extraordinary Senses

From a post from another blog last spring:

I got a wake up call today! – Going for a walk today in the sleepy suburb where I live I started to really pay attention to everything around me.  Not merely pay attention I mean REALLY notice every crack in the sidewalk, freshly cut grass, which birds were chirping, and which were answering.  Walking along a nearby river I saw a family of geese with 6 goslings and an amazing feeling came over me, a feeling of joy that I had not experienced in quite a while.

When is the last time you experienced that, being totally in the moment?  Throughout the rest of the walk I noticed some many more things around me and it reminded me about how many people are really going through tough times that we all forget to really notice the amazing things all around us.  I am not preaching any spiritual message here; I appreciate and respect all religions and philosophies.  I am referring to what we all have within our own grasp; the five wonderful senses almost all of us posses and take for granted most days of our lives.  People who are missing one or more senses often don’t need as much as a reminder to experience with what they have left.

I have a habit that helps keeps me focused and positive.  Asking myself three questions everyday, today I just added five more questions.  I bet you already know them, but here they are anyway:

1.  What was my favorite sight today?
2.  What was my favorite sound today?
3.  What was my favorite touch today?
4.  What was my favorite taste today?
5.  What was my favorite smell today?
6.  What did I learn today?
7.  What am I thankful for today?
8.  What made me happy today?

So here is my challenge to you, before you go to sleep tonight ask yourself all eight questions, too tired ask yourself 1 of them – then go to sleep with a smile on your face!  I promise you will wake up with one, or perhaps your partner will!

Here in this venue if you feel comfortable please share the answers to any of the Senses questions.

RULES:  NO RULES

STRONG SUGGESTION:  No negative comments about anyone else’s favorites!

Gentle Suggestion:  I know everyone loves songs, movies, TV Shows but please share something that you experienced, companion’s perfume, child’s laugh, sunset over the Kansas plain, a new cooking experience.

Feel free to be brief of as long winded as you like, I appreciate anyone and everyone who shares comments or messages