Change is Hard: Online Communities and Organizational Change Management

Change is Hard Online Communities and Organizational Change Dawn Foster Sr. Executive & Community Practice Manager at Olliance Group olliancegroup.com @geekygirldawn fastwonderblog.com

Change is Hard on People   Fear   Anxiety   Worry   Resistance   Revolt Photo by: 416style http://www.flickr.com/photos/sookie/31219031/

Community Can Be Big Change   Many of us thrive on learning and using new technologies and finding new ways to collaborate   For others, an online community is a huge change   Shift from reading websites to being expected to create content   Need to learn new technologies   Communities can be especially scary because   Mistakes and failure are public for your peers to see   Anything you say now could be around forever   Some organizational cultures make it difficult to build community   Government, conservative companies or professions, regulation Photo by: BGLewandowski http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianlewandowski/55680565/

Scope of the Issue with Change   Entire industry / ecosystem   Government, regulated industry, less tech-savvy industry, certain demographics   Company or organization   Internal corporate community, non-profit organization community   Some portion of the population   One of more audience segments   Certain individuals having difficulty with the change Photo by: Anirudh Koul http://www.flickr.com/photos/anirudhkoul/3786725982/

Organizational Change Mgmt   Definition (Wikipedia)   Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It includes both organizational change management processes and individual change management models, which are used to manage the people side of change.   We can learn from organizational change management principles.   Used for many years within organizations to deal with change   Historically used with top-down change within organizations   We can apply some of their best practices to community building   Even when it isn’t a top-down initiative

Kotter’s 8 Step Change Process   Establish a sense of urgency   Help people understand the importance of getting involved now   Opportunities, market / competition concerns, potential crisis   Create a guiding coalition   In an organization, get executives as champions   For corporate communities, get key customers   Industry leaders, influential community members, etc. can also be champions for industry efforts   Develop a vision and strategy   Know what you want to accomplish (vision)   Always have a strategy for your online community efforts

Kotter’s 8 Step Change Process   Communicate, Communicate, Communicate   For people who are afraid or resistant, a single communication will not win them over   Over communicate with as much information as possible   Provide plenty of opportunities for training. Many people will need more than a single training session   Communicate using a variety of methods (written, video, etc.)   Empower People to Act   Remove obstacles   Change systems or processes that make it difficult to build community   Encourage risk taking and non-traditional ideas Photo by: DailyPic http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailypic/1459055735/

Kotter’s 8 Step Change Process   Generate Short-Term Wins   Find easy ways for people to be successful quickly and frequently   Recognize and reward members who are helping build community   Evolution   Figure out what works and what doesn’t   Evolve the community to change those things that aren’t working as well   Continue to improve the community over time   Culture   Focus community management on reinforcing and building this new culture   Develop new leaders who support the culture Photo by: usag.yongsan http://www.flickr.com/photos/usag-yongsan/3582952821/

Summary   Q&A   Resources:   John P. Kotter: Leading Change   About Dawn Foster   Author of Companies and Communities: Participating without being sleazy   My Blog: Fastwonderblog.com   Consulting: Olliancegroup.com   Twitter: @geekygirldawn   Email: dawn@fastwonder.com

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Change is Hard: Online Communities and Organizational Change Management

by Dawn Foster on Sep 29, 2009

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Change is Hard: Online Communities and Organizational Change Management Presentation Transcript