The World Has Changed. People Are Empowered

One of the most common questions I get when I facilitate conversations at events is: how do I convince my manager and IT group to work with me? What can I say that will help me win them over to support my initiative?

The risk component of the "what if" has stilted many an innovation inside organizations. And not just in my experience. It is well known that smart marketers enroll agencies and analysts in support of those kinds of initiatives.

Because the assumption is that these groups have direct and indirect experience with how to manage risks that are inherent with launching something new. They can offer examples of what other companies have done to make things more concrete.

Innovation is execution

Of course, the difference needs to be in execution. There are plenty of "templates" out there in social media that spell out what other organizations, or individuals, have done. We need to move beyond that, please.

While copying feels safe, it won't set you apart. In fact, it may set you up for diminished results and returns. I'm a big fan of creating frameworks around why something is important, what you need to think about, and only then, how to go about it.

Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler wrote an excellent thought starter.

In Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business (Amazon affiliate link), they explain the role of HEROs (high empowered and resourceful operatives) in modern organizations and what compact or pact these individuals should make with two other groups that are important to making things happen: IT and management.

Personal technology in the workplace

If you're in IT on the corporate side, you know you are competing with an avalanche of easy-to-use and familiar personal technology, some of it in the cloud. Employees are armed with smart phones, apps, and have all kinds of personal habits with tools that help them be productive.

This phenomenon is so diffuse, that progressive companies are running pilots by allowing some groups to requisition the systems and applications individuals deem most useful to get the job done. I spoke with an IT manager as recently as last week who shared they were engaging in such a pilot.

How do you handle technology in your organization? Are you exploring ways to allow employees to collaborate on the inside with tools such as Yammer, Jive Software, and Telligent, Microsoft SharePoint, etc?

The way we were

The third group of people in the book's conversation is managers. Their support is needed to help bake innovation in new processes. My mentor used to say that it is tempting to become very good at what used to work in organizations.

Indeed, the group that feels most threatened by grassroots innovation got to where it is by embracing the way things were.

As Bernoff and Schadler confirm, it's not easy to create a culture that tolerates experimentation. In my career, I have encountered it only twice.

The first time, it was driven by a very progressive CEO in a risk management consulting firm; an the reason why I loved working there, despite the more than three-hour round trip daily commute.

The second time is very recent, on the agency side. What I observed is that people give their best when they're not told what to do, and especially what they cannot do. Management guidance and support is critical in keeping especially less experienced employees out of trouble.

In conclusion

I worked with a SVP of sales who used to start meetings with "in conclusion". Having the end in mind and figuring out how to back into it is a great way of going about innovation. Why do all this? Because the world has changed. People are empowered. That means your customers are communicating more like your HERO employees. And smart competitors are already connecting with them that way.

Put customers at the center, buy this book for your team. When you regroup on what people got out of it, you will:

• use its graphics as guides with the rest of the organization

• love the many examples and illustrations from companies like yours, some of which known, many I read for the first time - Aflac, Chubb, the NHL, Genzyme, and many more

• learn how to go about building and staffing an internal council

• help support innovation in your organization and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace

And much more. Since you'll probably ask, let me answer that question -- this book is even more useful than Groundswell (Amazon affiliate link), although you may want to grab several ideas out of that, if you have not read it, yet.

[Disclosure: I received a copy of Empowered from Forrester's own Jon Symons who didn't need to beg, borrow, or steal to be welcome in my inbox. I enjoyed our conversations on travels to Italy, and other topics over time. Jon doesn't follow up four times on the same email, because he understands and values relationships, and for that alone, I am grateful. This review and recommendation is based upon the quality of the material -- and not on how I obtained it.]

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Comments

[James Chai]

Change as we all know is often fraught with resistance. That goes for individuals and companies alike. There is no doubt the Social Web has changed the way in which business is done.

The learning curve has sidelined many would be participants ... its easier to watch others doing it and hear about it than it is to learn about it and engage it.

[Geoff Livingston]

I guess Josh and Ted haven't been to Capitol Hill recently.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@James - the social Web has been an opportunity for those companies and teams that have wanted to see it that way, not for all. For others, it continues to be a place to spam and push messages centered on their own agenda.

@Geoff - there you are. I celebrate a birthday and a blog anniversary to little notice, and my friends come in to point out how a book is off. Nice.

[Patrick Prothe]

Thanks for the thoughtful review - much like the consideration that goes into your other reviews. I have this book in my que to read; may move it up based on this.

For many companies change is so hard because of how baked into the culture certain routines and practices are - especially for long-term employees. Neuroscience has proven that change causes physical pain in the brain, requiring focus to transfer to the part where it becomes automatic. And is the reason many change programs fail because the follow through isn't there.

I think in so many areas it all comes down to execution and that's what few companies do well. It's such an opportunity - but requires much hard work.

[Kyle Lacy]

Happy Birthday and Anniversary... trying to make up for Geoff.

My favorite part in this post is the quote from your mentor. "My mentor used to say that it is tempting to become very good at what used to work in organizations."

There are consultants who will tell you that individuals use what has always worked because they are lazy or afraid of change. I'm starting to believe that it is because they have no idea how to shift. Leadership in many companies need to support their employees in encouraging them to experiment and eventually shift a paradigm.

As always Valeria... brilliant.

[AJ Leon]

Great post, Valeria. Love this line "While copying feels safe, it won't set you apart."

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Patrick - change is uncomfortable for people. The hardest part is that there are so many assumptions and habits that are as physical as buildings: things people have come to rely on and in a sense get lazy about. The conventional wisdom is that we either accept situations as they are, or we fight them. There is, in fact, lots of opportunity in the middle. Testing questions and examining situations with a fresh eye.

@Kyle - very kind of you to do that, and collaborative. "Leadership in many companies need to support their employees in encouraging them to experiment and eventually shift a paradigm." In case they don't, we should not call them leaders, should we?

@AJ - glad you enjoyed. I call copying the blank screen syndrome. The constant need to react to something, instead of initiating something.