Does Your Boss Know You Are Blogging?

Mine does, I told him, and his boss and his boss. But due to generation gap, I do not know if they understand (yet).

This presentation should help understand how blogs work
and how they can be useful at work.

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Some facts about Generation Y: 97% own a computer, 76% use Instant Messaging, 44% read blogs, 28% author a blog.

I am not really Generation Y, since I was born in the 60s. This explains why I refer to John Lennon or The Blues Brothers.

But I am not a baby boomer either – according to a recent survey they in contrast have little or no interest in writing blogs or in participating in general social networking.

I try to balance somewhere in the middle. I am not looking for a job at IBM as Sacha, who made the presentation. I aim to continue on my journey of Lifelong Learning. I am finding more and more useful resources based on blogs, social networking and Web 2.0.

I also told about my blog to our head of HR, because I wanted to make sure I am not crossing any line. Her reaction was quite the opposite from this one on a Harvard Business Review cartoon:

"Frankly, we were looking for someone who's able to think outside the blog."

That is exactly what I am trying to do – think outside the blog. Just as Sacha outlined on her presentation:

1) Read and learn as much as you can (and not just books, but blogs and news feeds)
2) Write and share what you've learned
3) Reach out - find mentors, make friends
4) Rock - do a good job and tell how you would make it even better
5) Repeat from #1

I do that by collecting best practices in this blog and sharing them with my colleagues and with you. And I do that on my own time, not by Working in the Gray Zone.

Do you have a blog?

Do you follow blogs?

Do we share some of the same ideas?

Should we establish a connection somehow?

Which generation are you? (Does it really matter?)

Ideas Come from Customers

Peter Drucker and Elisabeth Haas Edersheim point out the importance of knowledge management in their book The Definitive Drucker

Delivering value depends on your listening and translating of customer needs, and innovating accordingly.

My friend told me about this great tool of exchanging ideas with your customers. It’s a tool created by Salesforce.com. They are naturally using their own tool on their website and openly asking their customers to comment their products and propose new features.

The tool was recently featured in BusinessWeek which wrote a story about how Starbucks and Dell use the tool. Dell for example has received thousands of ideas and tens of thousands of comments. (Starbucks requires user account , Salesfoce.com ideas was down or closed during weekend...)

The tool also allows customers and employees to rate the proposals to let the companies know, which are the best ones and should be worked on. Naturally it could be used only internally, if for example capturing customer needs in the web would open a door to your competitors.

Simple and effective. This tool really allows you to capture true customer requirements and ensure customer focus. And eliminate the distance between R&D and customer. It is really hard to think of a more effective and simple way than Salesforce.com Ideas.

How often have your R&D said they are too far from the customer?

How effectively do you collect customer requirements?

How effectively do you deliver them within your organization?

Would you have the courage to be as open as Salesforce.com?


Actually, I proposed this tool internally a year ago. Ideas are appreciated in our company, but I still felt like Bob on this little promotional video by Salesforce.com

To whom should I present this idea, and
how do they know if it a good one?

Have you ever felt like Bob?

The suggestion box in Bob's office looks suprizingly similar to the one shown on my earlier post Ideas Come from Everywhere

Knowledge Management Theory and Practice

Last week I heard a presentation about knowledge management, which got me thinking

What is the theory and practice of Knowledge Management?

Year ago I thought Nonaka's Knowledge Creating Company provided the best answer with SECI model:

Socialization: the sharing of tacit knowledge between individuals through joint activities, physical proximity. (Must happen before I post to this blog)

Externalization: the expression of tacit knowledge in publicly comprehensible forms. (Happens as I post to this blog)

Combination: the conversion of explicit knowledge into more complex sets of explicit knowledge: communication, dissemination, systematization of explicit knowledge. (Happens also as I post to this blog, and as you read this blog)

Internalization: the conversion of externalized knowledge into tacit knowledge on an individual or organizational scale. Applying the explicit knowledge into actions, practices, processes and strategic initiatives. (Must happen at the same time as posting to this blog, otherwise learning by doing does not take place)

I was no longer sure if this SECI model is valid at the age of blogging. So I started looking for the theory and practice and found them from unexpected sources.

A friend of mine actually just made his PhD on "Exploring and Exploiting Knowledge". Yes, it is academic, but provides good overview of Knowledge Management theory. (You can download the 191 page pdf, 1,8 Mb here)

In my search of simplicity, I will use one of the definitions Era (Dr. Mäki to you) identified:

"Knowledge management is a process of knowledge creation, validation, presentation, distribution, and application. These five phases in knowledge management allow an organization to learn and reflect as well as unlearn and relearn, which are usually considered essential for the building, maintaining, and replenishing of core-competencies." (Bhatt, 2001)

As unexpectidly I found a perfect example of practice at SlideShare. Meet Jessica and her Web 2.0 based Knowledge Management system:

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Studying a bit further, I found an abstract of an article I have no access to stating:

"Now, after 15 years Web 2.0 concepts seem to be an ideal fit with Nonaka's SECI approach opening new doors for more personal, dynamic, and social learning on a global scale by combination of formal and informal learning, knowledge management, and Web 2.0 concepts into one integrated solution.”

This actually proves that Nonaka’s model is still very valid. But I am still missing a good book about the topic.

Do you know any good business book about Knowledge Management?
One that you would recommend me - by commenting below or by email?

Do you have a Knowledge Management system?

How is knowledge created at your organization?

How is knowledge validated at your organization?

How is knowledge presented at your organization?

How is knowledge distributed at your organization?

How is knowledge applied at your organization?

Is there something you could learn from Jessica?

Link Between Strategy, Culture, Change and Leadership

15 years ago I was reading books about organizational culture by Edgar H. Schein. At that time I was a studying Leadership and Management at the university and did not yet understand

The power of organizational culture.

Now I am starting to understand it. Culture is more powerful than Strategy. As Schein says in The Corporate Culture Survival Guide

The organization clings to whatever made it a success. The very culture that created the success makes it difficult for members of the organization to perceive changes in the environment that require new responses. Culture becomes a constraint on strategy.

Culture is always more powerful than Strategy. If you want to change one, you need to change both. Outlining new strategy on paper is management, but implementing it requires a lot of change leadership to influence the culture related to existing strategy. Often a new organizational structure is helpful, if not required, to implement a new strategy.

I found some related videos from Stanford site. It’s a great resource as videos are cut to 3-5 minute searchable topics, with individual descriptions.

Silicon Valley Bank CEO Ken Wilcox:
Culture Trumps Strategy
Building great corporate culture is more than just metaphors; it's what motivates a winning team.

Click twice to see on Stanford site

Debra Dunn, former vice president of strategy and corporate operations at Hewlett Packard
&
Randy Komisar, partner at venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers:
Leadership and Change Management
Both speakers believe that leadership skills and the ability to handle change comfortably are the key characteristics that have been useful in their respective careers.

Click twice to see on Stanford site

Has your organization had a new strategy or structure implemented lately?

Simultaneously?

Have these had an effect on the corporate culture?

Was this all planned by clever leaders?

How confortable you are with change?

How confortable the rest of the organization is with change?

What is your role as a leader to influence the underlying culture?