Speaker

Getting Smarter –by building a collaborative business cultureLouis RichardsonIBM Social Business Evangelist

Why we want to leverage collaboration

• To be innovative, efficient, increase revenue, reduce costs

What’s the most important leadership quality?

• 2010 Study of 1500 CEOs

Creativity

So go make your company creative!

What words come to mind when you hear “creative”?

Do these words describe your organization? Should it?

Why is creativity so important? And maybe hard to find?

“We are all born artist. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up”

• Pablo Picasso

“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties”

Eric Fromm

seeks to acquire

“I am valuable because of what I KNOW”

HAVING BEINGfocuses on the

experience – derives meaning from exchanging, engaging

and sharing

“I am valuable because of what I SHARE”

So how do you define and develop a “creative culture” in your organization?

It’s not about technologyIt’s about the culture

• Technology is important, but it’s not the focus

“Where Good Ideas Come From”

• A Natural History of Innovationby Steven Johnson

The slow hunch

• “Where Good Ideas Come From”• by Steven Johnson

Credit graphics to RSA` Animatehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU

The slow hunch sometimes lays dormant

• “Where Good Ideas Come From”

• by Steven Johnson

When hunches collide…

• “Where Good Ideas Come From”

• by Steven Johnson

When hunches collide…you often get breakthroughs

• “Where Good Ideas Come From”

• by Steven Johnson

So…who are the people in your organization that have these “hunches”?

Don’t assume you know where they are

• They aren’t obvious

So if you want their hunches…how do you enlist them?

Are they the type to fill out surveys?

• I don’t think so

Mass mailings or email distribution lists?

• Wrong again

“Knowledge Accidents”

• You can spark the collisions

Creating “Knowledge Incidents”

Open up the conversation in the context of everyday work and then listen and learn

develop a “creative” culture

1) Open up the conversation

How do people in your organization communicate?

When you have a question and someone else gives you the answer…only the two of you benefit

Coffee houses and water coolers

• The birth of Global Positioning Systems

So how can you create ‘virtual’ coffee houses?

People need to have an identity

• Profiles

People need to have an identity

• Tags

People need to belong

• Communities

People have opinions and ideas

• Wikis

People have opinions and ideas

• Ideation Blogs

People have opinions and ideas

• Discussion Forums

People have opinions and ideas

• Micro Blogs

People create things to share

• Files

People create things to share

• Media

This is the stuff knowledge accidents are made of

Social solutions are great for sharing, but you need to also consider the next part…

2) in the context of everyday work

Many vendors have social apps

• You may even have some of these in your organization today

but these can be distracting

• Specific social applications for specific social needs

Some business application vendors are attempting to make their apps more social

• “Social” has become the new “e” word

but this can create social silos around your business applications

Think back…we’ve actually gone this same route with content

Content had little impact until it was integrated in the context of our daily work

Social will have little impact if it’s not integrated in the context of your daily work

• It has to be part of your culture

So how do you do that?Let’s look at some examples

Where do I start?

You talking to me?

• Email and Collaboration Client

You talking to me?

• Email and Collaboration Client

Where is my stuff?

• Enterprise Content andSharePoint Repositories

Where is my stuff?

• Enterprise Content andSharePoint Repositories

What’s up?

• Social Analytics

3) and then listen and learn

Innovation and good ideas often doesn’t call attention to itself

Innovation and good ideas often doesn’t call attention to itself

You need insight

Cognos Consumer Insight

• Tapping into the social conversations

What are the connections?

• Atlas

And back on the subject of your people with hunches

• This is an area where HR may need some new approaches

We’ve always recognized the value of the salesperson’s rolodex

• Customer contacts, relationships, conversations and trust

Now we need to recognize the business value of your active social users

• Social network, customer contacts, relationships, conversations and trust

So if you want your organization to growyou’re going to need a creative culture

So if you want your organization to growyou’re going to need a creative culture

IBM’s culture is one that appreciates and encourages innovation and new ideas

• We can help you!

www.ibm.com/social

Anything less would be…just anti-social

thank you

• it’s been my pleasure

Louis RichardsonSocial Business EvangelistIBM

RichardL@us.ibm.com www.twitter.com/inter_vivos www.linkedin.com/in/louisrichardson

I invite you to visit www.thecollaborationsoapbox.com You can read any of the materials there, but I would suggest you request to join the community so you can contribute and comment.