Web 2.0 In Practice

effectively employing social media as a communication tool Kate Carruthers Ark Group Conference - Demonstrating the Strategic Importance of Internal Communication Melbourne, Feb 2008 Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008

TODAY

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 in practice as a communication tool

Understanding impact on group communication

Persuading management about new media

Managing the risks

Practical examples

Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008

INTRODUCTION

Today I am going to look at several areas related to using web 2.0 technologies to assist with internal communication. I will also discuss some of the challenges and risks associated with this. The areas are:

What is web 2.0?

Web 2.0 in practice: effectively employing social media as a communication tool

Understanding the impact of Web 2.0 on group communication

Persuading management to have confidence about the use of new media

Managing the risks associated with Web 2.0 and user-generated Content

Outlining practical examples of how a company can enhance internal communication through user-generated content

INTRODUCTION

These will also be placed within the broader context of demonstrating the strategic importance of internal communication in general. By this I mean recognizing the need to demonstrate tangible results arising from the enhanced internal communication. It is important to be able to demonstrate the value adding ability of internal communication and associated capabilities.

The impact of effective communication strategies to support change management is key to success of new initiatives, and web 2.0 concepts and technologies can assist.

Most organizations are trying to improve the communication abilities of their people, especially leaders, and seeking to improve employee engagement throughout the organisation. Better internal communications are an important foundation to that strategy.

WHAT IS WEB 2.0? Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008

GENERATIONS Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008

GENERATIONS

The speed of change is best illustrated by reference to a technology with which we are all familiar – the telephone. For about 100 years the technology remained essentially the same.

My great-grandmother, who was born in the 1880s and who passed on in the 1950s, would have easily have recognised and used modern phones until recent mobile models. It was only with the advent of the mobile phone in the 1970s that the technology and how we used it began to change substantially. Now my great-grandmother would likely not know what to do with an iPhone.

To help us to put this increased speed of change I’ve mapped it against the generations that are discussed these days – baby boomers, gen X and gen y, etc. This fast speed of change has implications on our use of technology, expectations and ways of communicating.

GENERATIONS

“ Change also leads to a need – indeed a powerful search – for greater personal connectedness and meaning in our work.” (Champy et al, Fast Forward: The Best Ideas on Business Change , p. 264 )

There are many management theorists studying organisational change and our workplaces have undergone substantial changes over the past decade, with many more to come.

The research indicates that we are not very good at doing change. Kotter (2002, p. 1) has argued that to effect change we need to stop making rational appeals to shift people’s thinking, rather we should show them truths that influence their feelings.

GENERATIONS

This aligns to the power we are seeing in Web 2.0, it has grown up around communities of people who become passionate about the application or community and seek to drive it in new directions.

This sense of meaning and connectedness is the power we can leverage in building online collaboration. However, it is difficult to manufacture meaning and connectedness out of nothing.

It must arise from being part of something larger than the individual, and this is where clear articulation and sharing of the organisational goals and direction becomes important.

WEB 1.0 V WEB 2.0 – THE EARLY DAYS Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008 Source: "What Is Web 2.0 - Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software" by Tim O'Reilly 09/30/2005 http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html Web 1.0`  Web 2.0 DoubleClick  Google AdSense Ofoto  Flickr Akamai  BitTorrent mp3.com  Napster Britannica Online  Wikipedia Personal websites  Blogging Evite  Upcoming.org and EVDB Domain name speculation  Search engine optimization Page views  Cost per click Screen scraping  Web services Publishing  Participation Content management systems  Wikis Directories (taxonomy)  Tagging ("folksonomy") Stickiness  Syndication

WEB 1.0  WEB 2.0

In the early days of web 2.0 there was a sense that something about the way we were developing technology and the technology that we were developing was changing in some significant ways.

Tim O’Reilly ran a foo camp ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_Camp ) in 2004 that discussed these changes and this table was one of the ways that the discussion started. It is interesting to note that much of what they predicted has come to pass.

Syndication, tagging, participation are all normal parts of digital life now for ordinary people. Businesses are monetizing their digital businesses via AdSense, cost per click, search engine optimization and search engine marketing, we’re all getting way too many email newsletters.

WEB 2.0 HISTORICAL MEME MAP Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008 Source: "What Is Web 2.0 - Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software" by Tim O'Reilly 09/30/2005 http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

WEB 2.0 MEME

This original meme map for web 2.0 clearly shows the importance of the cultural changes to the web 2.0 movement. It is essentially a democratization of technology and people’s relationship to that technology. Important ideas in web 2.0 included:

an attitude not a technology

play, mashing up different ideas and technology

rich user experience

decentralization

user co-creation, participation and user generated content

user behaviour not predetermined

trust your users

WEB 2.0 MEME

These were revolutionary ideas! In the past IT was the preserve of initiates who had custody of the secret knowledge of technology, and normal people could not access that knowledge easy.

Traditional corporate IT views the user with suspicion as someone who is a risk to the correct operation of the system. But now we have this technology that is built on the view of the user as participant and co-creator.

Our people are getting a very different experience of technology between the home and the workplace. And it is their opinion of the workplace technology experience that is suffering.

WEB 2.0 MEME

Most of us have better access to modern technology at home than at the office. Also the fear and suspicion with which companies are viewing this new technology is palpable – for example, the recent hysteria about staff accessing Facebook from their desks.

I find this amusing because I am old enough to recall the debate about everyone having access to email, would it destroy the world as we know it? I’m sure there was a similar debate about phones on desks for an earlier generation. Technical innovation is always feared at first.

WEB 2.0 MODERN MEME MAP Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008 Source: Luca Cremonini http://www.railsonwave.it/railsonwave/2007/1/2/web-2-0-map The previous meme map showed the original thinking when people were trying to understand what the new web movement was starting out a few years ago. This more modern version of the Web 2.0 meme is displayed as a tag cloud

Source: Dion Hinchcliffe, A checkpoint on Web 2.0 in the enterprise, Part 2 Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008 This is where we begin to harness the power of the collective might of individuals in relationship

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR COMPANIES?

What does all this stuff actually mean for companies, especially in terms of their internal communications?

“ A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.” (Cluetrain Manifesto)

This trend means that the expectations in the workplace are changing. In the past companies could set the agenda in the workplace and workers followed. But now with the rise of knowledge work, a company’s most valuable resources walk out the door every night. It also means that the competitive environment for business is moving faster and changing more rapidly than in the past. Further, customers are moving fast too – their expectations of service and functionality are increasing.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR COMPANIES?

These changes in the business and technical landscape are forcing companies to change the way their people work so as to deliver innovation (always faster-better-cheaper) and with less people involved. This drive means that companies need to find better ways for their people to collaborate. To enable better collaboration Web 2.0 offers a number important technology based resources.

However, the implementation of those technology resources still requires some good old fashioned change management. The key steps remain to:

establish and communicate a cohesive vision that aligns with organisational objectives;

ensure that employees do not fall victim to change fatigue;

overcome behavioural barriers to online collaboration; and

encourage participants to engage throughout the implementation process.

WHAT IS ENTERPRISE WEB 2.0 REALLY?

Each of these tools can be used to enhance internal communication. However, their implementation must be subject to good planning as with any other business activity. A good communication plan is essential, as is a metrics plan to measure that the benefits have been achieved.

None of these of themselves do anything to enhance internal communication, rather they are merely tools. A tool used by a craftsperson who understands their goal and the capabilities of the tool can achieve great things.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO ENABLE ENTERPRISE WEB 2.0?

To enable these kind of activities at an enterprise level there are some additional challenges than if you are a start-up in a garage somewhere.

Firstly, listed companies generally have obligations under various types of legislation and regulation. For example, some countries require that you be able to recreate a version of your website on particular day and at a particular time. This can be a challenge if your content management system does not keep versions of published web pages.

Privacy is another requirement, both internally and externally it is essential to be able to secure personal data.

There are many tools that enable all of these kinds of activities, from open source right up to high end proprietary systems from large vendors. The key to implementing any of them is a business plan, appropriate business processes and skilled people to do the work. Often, because it is web, firms do not invest the thought and governance into their web 2.0 type implementations.

The other area that is often neglected is planning for ongoing technical support and maintenance. If these systems are not cared for they will deteriorate like any other. Further, failure to include total cost of ownership (TCO) in the initial business case often causes problems post-launch.

A good example is if a firm decided to implement an open source wiki to store all business process documentation. Often this decision will be driven by the passionate person who loves wikis, but when that person leaves there is nobody that knows that technology and the information is no longer updated. Thus the initial investment is wasted and a replacement must be found.

VALUES Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008 Does anyone recognise to which company this values statement belongs?

VALUES

RESPECT: We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment. Ruthlessness, callousness, and arrogance don't belong here.

INTEGRITY: We work with customers and prospects openly, honestly and sincerely. When we say we will do something, we will do it; when we say we cannot or will not do something, we won't do it.

COMMUNICATION: We have an obligation to communicate. Here, we take the time to talk with one another...and to listen. We believe that information is meant to move and that information moves people.

EXCELLENCE: We are satisfied with nothing less than the very best in everything we do. We will continue to raise the bar for everyone. The great fun here will be for all of us to discover just how good we can really be.

VALUES – WHICH COMPANY?

VALUES

Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008 Source: Enron’s 1998 Annual Report, “Our Values” Enron!

VALUES

The most critical piece in the value chain for internal communication and collaboration is values in action.

Corporate values in action are the key to creating effective collaboration in both the on and offline worlds. It is not about the values that are on the posters on the walls, but the real values that are displayed by the behaviour of people in the space. If managers talk about open collaboration but then punish those who openly collaborate then collaboration will either die or turn into lip service.

Enron had some pretty nice sounding values but, as history shows, they meant little in practice. One of the key business practices to support effective online collaboration is to define rules of engagement for the participants so that they know what is expected and what is acceptable behaviour. Openly reward appropriate participation and quietly correct inappropriate participation.

IMPORTANT WEB 2.0 VALUES

Authenticity

Participation

Open communication

Dialogue

IMPORTANT WEB 2.0 VALUES

The web 2.0 values are very important since corporations are adopting an external technology AND culture they are importing a set of behavioural norms as well.

For example, if your CEO is going to blog to the staff and does not seem authentic then the audience will disengage.

Or, even worse, if comments deemed unacceptable are removed for political reasons.

Users understand ground rules for the community, e.g. no bad language, but are offended by transgressions against authenticity, openness and dialogue.

WEB 2.0 IN PRACTICE Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008

WHAT ARE WE REALLY TRYING TO DO?

Corporate internal communication seeks to replicate natural phenomena

Conversations

Relationships

Sharing

Knowledge

Cooperation

Collaboration

Each of these behaviours occur naturally when groups of humans come together in communities. Within organisations we are trying to harness this natural human tendency for business purposes.

The key thing in most communities is proximity – until the advent of the internet people formed communities because they were physically close in location as well as having common interests.

However, the internet has made possible a kind of localised proximity. That is, I can form a community with people that I have never met in real life and we can behave in many of the ways a real life community does.

E.g. I can form a community with people that I have never met in real life and we can behave in many of the ways a real life community does. This capability is increasingly important in the globalised world of business. It also means that Australia’s famed ‘tyranny of distance’ can be overcome by web 2.0 tools for collaboration.

Management people are interested in initiatives and ideas that achieve some or all of the following:

take a pain or problem away; delivery of their personal KPIs; positive (and preferably quick) ROI; alignment with current organisational key business initiatives and politics

Thus any initiative that is framed in terms of addressing these items has a better chance of approval.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WEB 2.0 TOOLS? Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008

ABOUT WEB 2.0 TOOLS

I am not going to give you a laundry list of web 2.0 tools – firstly it will probably be out of date before you even get a chance to follow up, secondly it is more important to understand the general principles.

Web 2.0 communication and collaboration tools are getting easier to build useful solutions. This example above of some marketing for a new online tool shows the direction in the market.

By the way, I have no association with this product, nor am I recommending it. However, the marketing approach is very typical of web 2.0. It is easy, you don’t need to be a “rocket scientist”. It is funky and contemporary looking, and it is a lot easier than your average enterprise information system to use.

ABOUT WEB 2.0 TOOLS

The most important thing is to work out how your virtual initiatives are going to integrate with your real life initiatives. Some examples of each category follow:

Virtual

Intranet; Email; Message boards; Wikis; Blogs; Forums; Online meetings (e.g. through WebEx); Virtual meetings (which can be housed and facilitated through online MMORPGS , like Second Life )

Real Life

Town hall meeting; Conference calls; Internal newsletters; Print materials; and Real life meetings

A sound internal communications strategy will identify which of these is the most suitable combination and enable you to deploy accordingly

RISKS? WHAT RISKS?

Not being clear on the ground rules & boundaries

Not following a communication plan

Not working out the risks up front

Not understanding what metrics are needed to gauge success

Not evangelizing success internally

Not getting the Web 2.0 meme

RISKS

The traditional IT world has learned from bitter experience that enterprise level applications need to deliver dependable and trustworthy systems.

Enterprise systems are generally architected to ensure no interruption to business processing, no unplanned downtime, and high levels of fault tolerance. This is typically achieved by high levels of command and control over the systems.

For example, the ability of users to change those systems ‘on the fly’ is severely restricted, and often there are substantial compliance requirements governing the enterprise systems (e.g. accounting and banking systems).

A recent article that nicely summarises this attitude reported that “Companies are being exposed to risks by home workers' bad behaviour online, such as hijacking the neighbour's Wi-Fi and opening unsafe e-mails.” (Nick Heath, ZDNet 2008

RISKS

However, until the advent of email in recent times, internal communication was done by means of memoranda and meetings. Communication was tightly controlled by management, and often by head office. But email changed the game, people could now communicate peer-to-peer over large distances at low cost.

The normal IT risks are evident with adoption of web 2.0, but the other risks are probably more important than the pure technology risk. These are related to how the initiative is framed internally, how people understand that it will deliver benefits, how achievement of those benefits will be shared.

The other key risk is that the organisation does not get the web 2.0 meme and does something that causes the user community to lose trust in the initiative.

WHY INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT Feb 2008 © Copyright Kate Carruthers 2008 Source: "Emergence in Organisations" by Richard Seel 2003 http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/emergence-human.htm Command & Control Paradigm  Emergent paradigm Keep people in ‘silos’  Build connectivity Ensure everyone ‘salutes the flag’  Encourage diversity Manage communication initiatives  Have conversations in corridors Blame people for failures  Learn from events Make it clear who’s in charge  Give everyone leadership opportunities Tell people what to do  Tell people what not to do Set objectives  Agree clear goals Keep busy  Wait expectantly

IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL COMMS

This idea of ‘emergence’ as a way of being within an organisation is very helpful (Richard Seel’s paper is a good introduction). One of the problems we are trying to solve by improving internal communication is getting the mission accomplished with all the correct people involved and with the best possible outcome.

Our traditional organisational and change management models are no longer doing the job. We face problems like globalization, fast cycle times for new product development, changing staff expectations, changing customer expectations and rapid speed of change. To deal with these problems it is critical for us to effectively harness the energy and passion of our people.

IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL COMMS

This means we need to move out of the old broadcast medium model, which is like TV where we just send the message out into the ether and someone might buy it.

Now as with narrowcasting in the media, we need to target our messages better. And, most importantly, we need to obtain dialogue with our target audience to check that our message is being understood and that the call to action is being addressed.

This is only possible through a dialogue, and it means that our communication channels need to be enabled to handle that.

That is where web 2.0 technologies and mindset are ideal.

AMP CASE STUDY

AMP an early adopter of Web 2.0 ideas

Supported by senior management

Good enterprise strength toolset

In-house skills and support

Technical professionals

Communications professionals

Formal plans for internal communication

Clear outcomes and metrics

THE ‘HUB’

Intranet – log standing but refreshed recently

CEO home page

Blogs –CIO, IT directors & staff

Wikis – new but growing

‘ Catalyst for Magic’ role - formal innovation, knowledge, intranet & communication director

WHO’S DOING WHAT?

Who’s doing what?

CEO has a home page to provide informal communication – tools to enable the conversation

CIO, & some IT directors blogging together a number of staff

Wikis are a new way to share information – some education activities to improve use

Vision

RSS subscriptions driven by demand/relevance for all intranet content – coupled with some degree of push.

Less reliance on text based delivery and one to many. Instead have more visible, more 2 way and UGC.

Blogs, wikis, discussion forums, IM and similar collaboration interactive tools are routinely used.

Perceived barriers i.e. Comms is done by special teams is replaced by team generated/sharing.

Top down channels are complimented by peer to peer structures.

SUPPORTING INITIATIVES

Ideas Farm

Code Jam

Innovation Festival

Innov8

SUPPORTING INITIATIVES

Blogs

Wikis

Podcasts

Learning

Collaboration

KEY ADVANTAGES AT AMP

Support from CEO and CIO

Culture of thought leadership and earned trust:

“ you earn your ability to influence with top management by demonstrating thought leadership & benefits of smaller projects over time, it’s about building trust to enable influence” Annalie Killian, Catalyst for Magic

Focused leadership - Innovation Director

Internal skilled resources – web & comms

Planned approach

Focus on results

CONCLUSION

Web 2.0 has let the genie out of the bottle, staff are already embracing the empowered dialogue driven mode it enables.

Companies that can harness the engagement and passion of their staff will be ahead of the curve. I am always amazed at how much wisdom is already resident within the people of an organization.

It all comes down to trust, and this is not a very corporate word. But trust is the foundation of good business. If you cannot trust your staff and communicate openly with them, then you have bigger problems that Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 simply provides a viable technology platform and ideological framework to enable conversations and communication to be more efficient than ever before.

CONCLUSION

Web 2.0 is the basis for beginning a dialogue

The sooner companies get over the fear the sooner they can leverage the benefits

Transparency is coming, early adopters will win

REFERENCES

SEEL, Richard (2003) "Emergence in Organisations " , http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/emergence-human.htm

CREMONINI, Luca (2007), http://www.railsonwave.it/railsonwave/2007/1/2/web-2-0-map

O’REILLY, Tim (2005) "What Is Web 2.0 - Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software" , http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

HINCHCLIFFE, Dion, (2007) “A checkpoint on Web 2.0 in the enterprise, Part 2”, http://blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe/?p=135

LEVINE, R., LOCKE, C. , SEARLS, D. (2000) The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business As Usual , Perseus Group

HEATH, Nick (2008) “Staff threaten network security from home”, http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Staff-threaten-network-security-from-home/0,130061744,339285740,00.htm