Participation and Getting Ideas Done

[Maestro Salieri and the priest, from Amadeus, 2:35]

This week, so far, we talked about setting up listening posts to serve customers better as first line of response and to be proactive, building a framework to develop valuable content to deliver as a service, and measurement. Today we focus on participation. That mix of attention, time, interaction, with a sprinkle of human thrown into it that makes relationships start and grow.

What did you see in the movie clip above? [hat tip Rohit Barghava for leading me to Amadeus]

Antonio Salieri was the most famous composer in Europe. He wrote 40 Operas alone. In an intimate conversation with a Priest we find out that the only music the cleric can recall having heard is not his. The Priest can recall a simple, playful tune, one composed by Mozart (Amadeus), Salieri's nemesis. How could that be?

Mozart didn't choose to be a genius and in fact he didn't even look the part. In the movie he's depicted as an irresponsible, fun loving, spontaneous... human. Salieri, on the other hand, is all perfection, expects the best because he followed all the rules. There's something else.

It's the interaction with people - and in the movie wine, it seems - that makes the music inspired, and popular. If Salieri was able to listen to real music, and to distinguish inspired notes and passages, Mozart could make it work so it would not just communicate, but connect. Every fiber of his being participated to getting what was in his head - the idea - done.

The work wasn't any easier, it was just distributed differently and coming from a different place. Compare in the movie - Salieri wanting to become the best for himself, to get recognition; Mozart wanting to get his music and story out, told, shared with the public.

Some are musing today that social media should be its own department. While I agree that resources and time should be allocated to exploring your level of participation, I disagree that it should have its own label and silo.We shouldn't be creating a separate practice. We should enroll and practice across the organization.

In fact, I disagree with the current silos in marketing departments overall. Why? Because marketing is changing, and skills/experience now need to go across relationship building and positioning, online and off line.

As IBM and other companies do for PR and advertising, it's time to merge the strategy of all the communications and conversations functions in an organization so they build value for customers around market insights, agile development, testing, and measurement.

Separate line items in a tactical project management sheet and turfs with little or no collaboration will hold a company much further back in this environment. This begs the question of how the organization will restructure how people get credit for meeting goals, perhaps a topic for another post.

Marketing today is adaptive. How well are you trained in following all the rules of marketing?

***

Interesting anniversary: this is my 1,001 post.

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Andre Blackman]

That was indeed a great movie and I really like how that connection was made to how we need to think about engaging with people differently. Social media isn't social if it's not connected to the other facets of your service.

[John Sumser]

I'd love to hear your views on the mechanics merging the somewhat contradictory things. While you do have conversation and communication with investors, customers, media, employees, prospective employees, management, channel partners and so on.

At least two of the groups (investors and potential employees) create regulatory concerns and require particular kinds of discipline.

The devil is in the details on this issue. While comms and community are merging, figuring out how to maintain message integrity and targeting remains a big concern.

[Harriet Meth]

@John, your concerns about regulatory issues are well-founded. That said, one of the biggest challenges today for companies, especially the larger ones, is the lack of consistency in how those key messages are communicated.

@ Valeria, you've touched a real hot-button issue for companies in how they silo critical communication functions. The lack of integration of marketing, PR, IR, AR, sales and now of course social media creates an environment that's just ripe for inconsistency and lack of alignment around key ideas and important storylines. Or, just as unfortunate, it leads to missed opportunities. Great post, thank you.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Andre - I like how you articulated it. Well done. I'm making a note of that.

@John - indeed. Disclosure regulations and thresholds are important. However, in many marketing departments, aside from the classic "turf" issues and concerns as to who gets the "cookie" for having thought of something, there is a total lack of transparency, thus integration. That hurts the organization more than it not being on Twitter.

@Harriet - missed opportunities and double or triple work. Nothing worst than turfs. For a company to get rolling with social media, marketers need to put aside their petty internal land grab issues. How do you hope to attract customers if you're less than attractive to deal with?

[steve cunningham]

Valeria - first of all, you had me at "Amadeus". It's my favourite movie of all time, and I think I'll watch it again this weekend.

I would like to say this though - although there was a distinct difference in motivation between Salieri and Mozart, let's not forget that Mozart really did "have the chops". I think it's the COMBINATION of chops and abundance mentality that makes the difference. One without the other won't do.

On the silo issue - I agree wholeheartedly. This one has been beaten to death, but having a "social media" department is like having a "fax machine" department. Social tools and participation bring opportunities for all functions of the business, and the people participating in social media should be coming from the areas of business that will be impacted. I think we'll get there soon.

[Valeria Maltoni]

You gave me a big smile this morning with this comment, Steve. Thank you. I think I called Mozart a genius. The Requiem is one of my favorite pieces of music ever. It's just amazing and evokes such powerful emotions.

Soon enough, I hope, businesses will just learn to adopt of the tools what makes sense to learn, grow and help customers. Soon enough, we'd like to move past empires of profit and into communities of practice.