How do you teach a large, process driven organization to be innovative, work organically and think socially? from Deborah Schultz
Some principles and dynamics to think about:
- Opening up & loss of control
- The collaborative & organic nature of the medium
- The power and dynamics of network effects
- The importance of constancy and participation vs big grand gestures
- The personal intimate nature of the medium
- The importance of trust and relationship
- The always on - 24/7 nature of the web
Here are some of my quick learning take aways:
- Many of the P&G folks' thought the first task was to figure out the messaging of the campaign, where as the external folks just dived right in in plain English.
- The social web folks jumped on their networks first without necessary realizing the impact and focused on a long tail one-to-one approach figuring that network effects would take over.
- The P&G folks understood the need to identify where to get the biggest bang for their buck.
- The speed nature of the exercise brought out some incredible creativity. I had a sense that this freedom was very liberating for the P&G folks once they got into it. Some of my teammates quickly brainstormed a quick rap [yeah-it's dorky, but they did it without planning or thinking about it too much. We even got the team at Pandora to write a catchy little ditty. [Thanks Tim. It arrived a bit late, but kudos to them for jumping in. Compare that to the month long planning cycles most companies go through.
- The P&G folks were often very process oriented and the invitees where comfortable with more chaos - meeting somewhere in the middle brought out the best.
- Even the "digerati" who understand the principles of the social web stepped over the line a bit in the exuberance of the moment - to me this is a cautionary tale about the future of "influencers" and everyone's personal understanding of their relationships, networks and personal brand. Just as in the real world you are judged by your actions - so too are you judged online. Remember - Google is now the long tail of reputation.
- The need for a different set of skills and expertise - teams needed a human connector to bring it all together and a catalyst to kick it off. I see this as a growing skill set in business as a result of the social web. Think Community Manager meets Senior Executive.
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