Understand the conversation first
For any organisation considering an Enterprise 2.0 implementation, we recommend you first understand the conversation that is going on.
Years ago, in another time and place, I had a meeting with a marketing director. With a growing sense of disbelief he went around the table of product managers, asking them for a particular input. When the result was one blank stare after another, he dismissed the team, and then turned to me, as the most senior manager. He was simply furious that his instructions had not been followed.
Now we weren’t all actively trying to sabotage him. We were an enthusiastic and capable team, quite innovative and had been successful in meeting our marketing targets. I tried to explain to him that no one had heard, or understood, his requirement. When not one person had heard the message and delivered to it, something had to be wrong with the original communication.
It took some skill to calm him down. Not only had he not been given the input he wanted, but I was querying his communication style.
Communication starts with people. New and fabulous tools aren’t going to make us all better communicators. I can tweet myself silly but every 140 characters I post may still be unclear, uninteresting, unamusing, self-absorbed, and worse still, boring.
So before you roll any Enterprise 2.0 tools over the top of your organisation, make sure you understand what the communication lines are, who they are between, who they should be between, and what conversations are occurring.