A copy of this is now available for downloading on the Documents page on this site.

The title of my presentation is: Improving your knowledge management performance to gain a competitive advantage and developmental process.  As soon as I figure out what that means, I will get my slide pack finished and be ready to deliver it!

But seriously - if you are in Sydney that Monday or Tuesday and would like to catch up, happy to do so.  I expect that I will be having some client meetings while I am there, but I should have some spare time around that, particularly on the Monday evening.  I’ll be staying at the Sydney Harbour Marriott.

“… when you tell people you write, read or listen to blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networks and online video - if they give you a funny look, it is now officially them that’s a freak, not you.”

Picked up a couple of recent reports from different places.  One was in time to build into last week’s presentation, one not.

Forrester Reports that Corporate Social Networks will Augment Strategic HR Strategies

The reports highlights the use of Social Media for: “… recruiting, alumni programs, mentoring, learning, collaboration, and connecting people…”  It also reminds us that: “Professional networks are the backbone of business”.

Fastest Growing US Companies Rapidly Adopting Social Media

“77% of respondents now report at least some use of a social media tool in their business.”

This post highlights that social media adoption is “skyrocketing” in 500 of the fastest growing companies in the US.

The post includes the quote at the top of this post, and a Gartner Hype Cycle, which shows Web 2.0 as well over the “peak of inflated expectation” and fast approaching the make-or-break “trough of disillusionment”, with less than two years to mainstream adoption. Corporate blogging is already on its way up the “slope of enlightenment”, also with less than two years to mainstream adoption.

Also in the same boat as corporate blogging are Idea Management, Social Network Analysis, and wikis.

In other breaking news - this site now includes a new list of published documents, with a couple of recent articles to be added to the list, as soon as the copies are sent to me!

When tweeting about this (about 4 hours ago), wonderwebby brought a post from deswalsh to my attention: 5 Ways Twitter Helps Me in Business.  In particular: “it is an excellent way of overcoming some of the mental echo chamber effect of working solo.”

The journey continues…

I have now also registered with SlideShare for the first time, and uploaded a (very slightly modified) version of the slide pack.  Not totally happy with the way it has been rendered, but it seems to be fairly readable.  It is also available for download.  Help yourself! And thanks to those who contributed…

Also had a great conversation with Ian Farmer of Bullseye.  Ian pointed me at a few interesting sites:

• Free web meetings at Dimdim.
• Social language learning at Livemocha.  This apparently provides two-way language learning - with real people.
• How to draw maps using your GPS - and lots of other apps - at Fire Eagle.

Also got a good reference from elsua via Twitter for “Twelve Ways to Sell Social Media to Your Boss - Don’t Forget about Yourself!” This may be of particular interest to this morning’s participants!

Great live Second Life demo from Decka Mah (aka Lindy McKeown) to end the day.  She also introduced us to PicLens - a cool Google plug-in for image viewing.  Second Life is definitely a usable environment for learning, but the interface probably has a way to go yet to be really seamless.  One thing to remember - it really works best as a synchronous learning environment - you have to be there at the right time.  One neat application - a virtual city for immersive language learning.

You’ve heard of blended learning?  Well, with Second Life, you can have “mixed reality”.

Some of us got a Twitter commentary going.  See the tweets here - and a couple of rogue ones here.

Chieftech mentioned this site as a good source for info on RSS for the enterprise - he has also blogged about the day.

Lots of other good stuff, but I really need to make sure I am all ready to present my workshop tomorrow.  A few parting thoughts that caught my attention, (somewhat paraphrased) from various presenters today:

• “So there are photos of me drunk on Facebook.  So what if a prospective employer sees them? If they don’t like it, then I don’t want to work there, anyway!”
• If only 10% of the staff are editing Wikipedia, then don’t introduce a wiki to your organisation.  If 50% are already on Facebook, then provide an internal directory with editable profiles.
• Start small.  Don’t give people too much variety at first.
• A great way to reduce email traffic is to charge for emails, and give each staff member a limited budget.
• World email traffic volume has just dipped below social networking traffic.
• If you stop people from saying what they want to say on internal online forums, they will just talk somewhere else.
• Enterprise 2.0: a journey, not a destination.
• “Change is driven by feelings” (John Kotter).

Oh, and I nearly forgot:

“Let them own it, and they will protect it.”

“Social media has enabled me to feel ahead, not behind as I return to work after 2nd baby.”
 - Serena Joyner (on Twitter) 

While preparing for my workshop for Key Forums on Friday - Using social media to harness knowledge within an organisation: Addressing the challenges - (breathe in now) I read this great tweet from Serena Joyner on the benefit she has found in Social Networking tools as she returns to work after her second baby.

Serena then directed me to a longer blog post that she has written on this topic, which was inspired by a similar blog post from “wonderwebby” (Jasmin Tragas), who I have only met recently via Twitter.

They each have a number of points to make about the the benefits of social networking, and wonderwebby has a number of additional ones from others as comments on her post.  In brief summary, these points (which I have now added to Friday’s slide pack) are:

• Personal development.
• Providing a “virtual water-cooler” - a looser network than the face-to-face one, but a network that includes thought leaders, and is “warmer” than the community provided on a (more traditional technology) listserve.
• “Tool transparency” - the feeling of being “in” a network, rather than just “on” a platform.
• A meeting of minds - online meetings that have led to rich personal meetings.
• Mentoring and skill development, in a situation where the mentors (within the same company) have been located in other countries.  This connection has been both within and outside the company firewall.
• Building confidence in writing, leading to contributing to a book.
• Career development leading to advancement within an organisation, or a new job in a new organisation.
• A change in mind-set from hoarding knowledge to sharing, leading to greater success for an organisation.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it.  Also, set up a system of cold water sprinklers over the whole cage.

Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs to climb towards the banana.  As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water. The monkey will leave the banana alone and try to get away from the water.  Turn off the spray.

After a while, another monkey will make an attempt with the same result. Pretty soon the monkeys will get sick of getting wet, and will stop any of the monkeys from attempting to climb the stairs, even though no water sprays them.

Keep this up for several days.

Now, remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.

The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. Even the previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth.

Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Some (and eventually all) of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the monkeys in the cage have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why is this?

Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done around here…

———————

This story appears in a few places on the web – one is on the Wow Zone site.

The thing that I would really like to know is whether or not this was ever performed as a real experiment, or if it has only ever been a thought experiment.  Either way, though, it seems to be a powerful illustration of the pitfalls in standardised work practices and bureaucracy.  This is another topic that Shugg wrote about recently, too.

When will we learn to keep a constant eye on the things we do to ourselves in most organisations?