Here are my notes from the first session of the Enterprise 2.o Black Belt Workshop: Learn from the Vanguard

Speakers:

• Megan Murray, Community Manager/Project Coordinator, Booz Allen Hamilton @MeganMurray
• Jamie Pappas, E2.0 & Social Media Strategist, Evangelist, and Community Manager, EMC Corp @JamiePappas
• Rawn Shah, Social Software Practices Lead, IBM @Rawn

Notes:

[These are my quick notes, complete with  (what I hope is no more than) the occasional typo and grammatical error.  Please excuse those. Thanks!

From time to time, I'll insert my own editorial comments - exercising the prerogatives of the blogger.  I'll show those in brackets. ]

Rawn Shah: The Adoption Dance

• It’s critical that you understand the people you are serving
  • Make it relevant to each person
  • You need to understand their pain points and interests
  • Speak plainly – use the language of your audience [NOT Geek Speak]
• Market the good news
  • Collect and share success stories – “If they can do it, we can do it!”
    • They use surveys and interviews to find the stories
    • They store them in a series of slides and blog stories on their E2.0 platform
  • Build a collection over time to reflect a variety of scenarios at different points in the learning curve of your organization
• Engage the Enthusiasts
  • Recruit volunteers as evangelists – they will advocate because they are passionate about the tools and opportunities
  • Remember that enthusiasts have views and their feedback shouldn’t be ignored
• Look under the Leaves
  • A big part of the E2.0 Team’s work is to discover the people in the organization who can be helpful
  • Find the quiet folks who are using the tool and building an audience
  • If you support them, they will become evangelists
  • They provide critical support in highly local/particular circumstances
  • They can reach peers who may be beyond generic corporate communication
  • Accept that not every person will be an enthusiast
• Reward Good Behavior
  • Financial rewards aren’t always the best
  • Focus on effective alternative reward:
    • Provide visibility through public acknowledgment
    • Provide opportunity
  • Calibrate the reward to the level of effort AND impact
• Set Guidelines and Principles
  • This is not the same as governance – it’s about everyday user behavior
  • Let users know that this forum is not the place to start fights unnecessarily – focus on what’s important
  • Use a disclaimer to make clear what your constraints are
  • Set expectations of user behavior and make those expectation visible
  • Hold people accountable for their behavior
  • Encourage folks to be the first to respond constructively to their own mistakes – in fact, the E2.0 Team should lead by example here
• Create Practice Spaces
  • Never underestimate how little most colleagues know about social media tools
  • Let folks work “in draft” privately  – at least initially – so that they can get use to the tool without fear of exposure/ridicule/reprimand
  • Create a safety zone for experimentation, but remind them that this is temporary – at some point they need to share with the network
  • Let them practice at their own pace, but provide all support necessary to help them progress
  • Forgive errors and offer help
• Set a Rhythm, Practice Often
  • Set the rhythm of regular events early on (e.g., posting fresh content regularly)
  • The “Peacock” – Do a big show from time to time to capture user attention regarding these tools
  • The “Woodpecker” – You need to reiterate constantly to keep the message at the forefront – never stop reminding your colleagues of what they can do with these tools

• Exercise:  Imagine a Success Story, then explain why it’s a story that needs to be publicized
  • Focus on keywords and active phrases
    • Led to a sale – impact on Top Line
    • Improved productivity and efficiency – impact on Bottom Line
    • Reduced time to bring product to market [great for a Pharma]
    • Accelerated decision-making time
    • “Haven’t felt this productive in a long time!”
    • Gives employees a voice and stake in the organization
    • Increased employment engagement leads to increased employee loyalty
    • This saved $X and Y amount of time
  • Focus on specific examples – so you have stories that resonate with every particular constituency within your organization
  • Once you have a collection of stories, create a case study to market your program and take it to the next level
    • Look for repeatable events – they make compelling case studies
• Presentations:  www.e2conf.com/boston/2010/presentations/workshop
  • User name: Workshop
  • Password: Boston
• Presentations also on Slideshare: http://slideshare.net/20adoption