I find myself in the center of an intellectual tempest.
The traditional ‘learning’ folks are trying to sort out how to revolutionize the industry by augmenting their formal learning strategies to incorporate social media, social learning, social networking and the like. It’s a good thing to witness, but slow as molasses in some circles.
The Human Resources and Organizational Development folks are mulling over their competencies, values, leadership development programs, amongst other elements trying to embed flatter, more connected ways of working. Also good to see, but at times I see these folks in other companies plodding along without involvement of the Learning side of the house, or the technology outfits.
The technology groups (be it IT, Systems Analysts, ERP groups, etc.) are busy trying to synchronize existing investments with new instances of 2.0 collaboration technologies and platforms. They often do so without synchronizing their efforts with the Learning function(s) or the HR/OD groups.
And finally, corporate communications, marketing and even perhaps splinter social media teams are all either contemplating or incorporating social media, social networking and/or social learning concepts into their workflows.
Do you notice something here?
As I’ve written about previously, I believe that an organization needs not only an internal 2.0 Adoption Council, they need a cross-functional team (the Enterprise 2.0 Org Structure) to help ensure all the various pieces of a 2.0 world seamlessly come together, mitigating any confusion for the employee, partner, or customer.
But to get this going, I believe we need to introduce, recognize and accept the New Holy Culture Trinity for the Organization. That is, an updated leadership framework, coupled with the integration of Learning 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 concepts will help drive or augment a 2.0 connected ‘culture of collaboration’.
Together, united, in unison.
Actions:
- Update your existing “Leadership Framework”
- Every organization has their mission statement, their values, their competencies, their leadership programs — each of these could potentially be ‘updated’ to incorporate a flatter, more connected way of operating as individuals, in teams, and as an organization. (think Tom Malone -–Future of Work)
- Implement “Learning 2.0”
- Whether you have an internal corporate university, a decentralized learning structure, or a completely outsourced model, your model should be adapted to be formal, informal and social. Whether it’s old school or not, the ‘learning department’ plays a significant role for the organization, and if adapting to a 2.0 culture, it needs to grow up. (a little more info about Learning 2.0 here)
- Enlist “Enterprise 2.0” Technologies
- Not in isolation, but as part of the puzzle, Enterprise 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs, video system, rankings, ratings, comments, discussion forums, profiles, networks, micro-blogs, content sharing, site sharing, etc. can all become an integral part of the new culture, if mapped in accordance with the updated leadership framework and Learning 2.0 concepts.
I’ve written about Learnerprise in the past (the combination of Learning 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0) so think of the Holy Culture Trinity as a more thoughtful way of ensuring organizational success, keeping all three concepts in mind.
UPDATE: looks as though Ross Dawson is thinking similarly with “What Enterprise 2.0 means for the CIO and IT department“.
