benefiting from collaboration and transparency
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benefiting from collaboration and transparency: a scenario of how to win in a connected business worldTRANSCRIPT
benefiting from collaboration and transparency
advantages of working with people and utilising modern communication tools
created by liri andersson and jonathan macdonald
this fluid world
By Tim Forrest, Head of Communications Planning at OMD
“The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” [Einstein]
When I read the social media and scenario whitepaper by this fluid world, it struck me that the cynic might say it is easy to be wise after the event, in this case that comment would not so much ring true as ring hollow
this fluid world have to my mind very much envisioned the future by rewriting the past, one day at a time
The scale and scope of this highly engaging story is, when broken down to its component parts, an instructive manual for creating a process that conditions operational readiness for as yet undefined scenarios
I don’t believe it is as important to anticipate a specific scenario, as to have a broad process in place for dealing with rising situations. The process that this paper articulates implies a good deal of change for many companies, and something of a leap of faith
However, is it not the point of scenario planning to accept and anticipate future change both unknown and beyond control? – beyond control only if you expect to respond within the confines of what you historically have done
It is therefore highly appropriate to end as I began with further wise words from Einstein. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results
foreword
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the events that unfolded during the BP oil crisis of 2010 made us question what would happen if a public facing organisation, such as BP, had a different approach and attitude to positioning, collaboration, communication and transparency
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due to this we spent the summer of 2010 developing an alternative scenario based on a combination of the changing communications world we live in, the thinking, tools and methodologies of this fluid world, and learnings from the BP case
the tool used to arrive at our alternative scenario is known as scenario planning
scenario planning is a method for learning about the future by understanding the nature and impact of the most uncertain and important driving forces affecting our world
scenario planning works under the assumption that the future can differ greatly from what we know today
the purpose is to portray a variety of potential outcomes, or an ideal outcome, by applying a combination of trends, best practice and available resources in today's world
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the thought processes involved in getting to the scenario has the dual purpose of increasing knowledge of the communications environment, and to widen an organisation's perception of possible future events
the end goal of designing a scenario is for an organisation to ask itself, “what do we need to do to be prepared for different outcomes, or what do we need to put in place for this ideal scenario to become reality?”. the answer is used in building strategies to manage a different picture of the future
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Advanced Energy Futures (AEF) is one of the largest energy companies in the world
with 310.37 billion in revenue*, 94,100 employees*, and numerous oil wells and
pipelines across the globe
*Source: AEF Annual Report 2007
2008
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18th – an AEF pipeline ruptures off the coast of Alaska, backup equipment kicks in
and the risk of cataclysmic explosion is avoided
this raised a question internally as to AEF’s ability to respond to such a disaster
due to this, a crisis meeting is scheduled
september
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23rd – the crisis meeting is held at AEF headquarters in Atlanta
Simon Davies, the recently hired CTO, argues that, “From a communications perspective, the digitally interactive world of social media can magnify a crisis exponentially, and at an alarmingly fast speed”
he suggests this requires AEF to learn and adapt to a new communications landscape in order to handle any potential communications crisis
september
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27th – AEF seeks advice from Clarity Tank, a London based firm with expertise in business and
communications strategy, on how to harness social media and how to best handle a social media crisis
the initiative is driven by Emma Baker, CMO of AEF and the meeting is attended by AEF’s CEO Bob Young, CTO
Simon Davies, Head of PR Fiona Marshall and the Head of Engineering Stuart Fallows
october
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1st – over a period of five weeks, a strategic development programme is designed by Clarity Tank in collaboration with AEF stakeholders
the programme is a combination of the consulting firm’s two core social media products; ‘use’ aimed at helping organisations create a social media strategy that achieves brand and business objectives, and ‘diffuse’ which ensures an organisation’s ability to address and resolve a social media crisis in a beneficial and timely way
november
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the overall initiative is designed to establish full understanding of the risks, opportunities, implications and realities of social media, whilst also creating an improved communications and crisis management strategy
november
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5th – the initiative will sculpture the media training for spokespeople, including Bob Young, in order to ensure
future public statements and reactions are suited to an age of rapid editing, publishing and sharing of
information by official and unofficial sources
november
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8th – Clarity Tank recommend to AEF that, in order to be able to harness the belief and support of people
moving forward, AEF needs to be relevant to the general public
Clarity Tank suggests that the most powerful way to do this is for AEF to stand for something that people
can identify with, and to, in a collaborative way, define a clear and relevant external purpose
reflecting this
november
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10th – the decision is made to gather a group of influential people, including an AEF representative, for a two-day workshop facilitated by Clarity Tank at a neutral location in London
the purpose of the workshop is to create a pledge of combined activity and direction moving forward, in addition to defining a new mission statement for AEF; one that is closely in line with the organisations environmental position moving forward
a short-list of potential attendees is created and invites sent out
november
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15th – news of the planned collaborative meeting starts
trending on twitter with 132 blogs covering the story in a positive way
influential environmental blogger Steven Henshaw writes “It seems like
AEF has made it their mission to work with others to enable combined
thinking”
november
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17th – a story appears in the New York Times written by Susan Timon, a guest columnist from the
humanitarian site evry1.com, discussing the invitation she received three days prior
Susan calls AEF “Brave and forward-thinking” and pledges “Full support for an open discussion of mutual
benefit”
november
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5th – the workshop is a success
attendees include the U.S Secretary of State, CEO’s of three global energy companies, leaders of the largest environmental organisations, eminent research scientists, key journalists and bloggers along with technology experts from all over the world
the group is named The Collective
december
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a pledge by The Collective to drive initiatives benefiting the environment is finalised for joint release via news wires and communities by the morning
AEF’s mission statement is agreed as being “To collaborate with the goal of providing the best energy sources for the world, whilst protecting and bettering the environment”
december
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6th – the US President, Marie Montgomery states in a press conference “The Secretary of
Homeland Security was present in a meeting of minds” and that “I am
pledging my full support to the efforts of The Collective with whom
we are proudly involved”
december
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17th – there are over 4000 stories on the web about The Collective
thousands of comments are left on hundreds of forum boards
the main news headlines are all positive, one carrying the headline “AEF & Friends become The Collective - a mission without ego”
december
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20th – a blog post appears on a satirical comedy site making a joke about AEF and The Collective mission statement. within a few hours 441 comments are made in support of the AEF approach
the original satire is drowned in positivity, and quickly forgotten about
december
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26th – the AEF mission statement, supplemented
by The Collective pledge, drives an up-lift for AEF’s
stock value of 19% over the course of 18 days
January 2009
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27th – AEF distribute a company press release regarding the stock valuation rise
they speak of being “Very pleased with the growth” but maintain that “The added value in the company is also for reimbursement into the efforts and solutions we are collectively working on to ensure we can find more sustainable energy sources and protect our environment - everyone needs to benefit from this success”
january
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28th – the press release is referenced across the main
news sites and featured in broadsheets all over the world
the news programmes concentrate on AEF's intention to
share the benefit
the stock continues to grow in value
january
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1st – to bring the new vision to life, and to harness the power of the general public, AEF launches a global crowd sourcing initiative orchestrated by Clarity Tank
the goal is to outreach for ideas, suggestions, technologies and research with the intention to act as a global resource and discussion around energy, the environment and people's lives
february
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this manifests as SolvMachine, an interactive website (www.SolvMachine.com), where statements of intent and ideas for bettering energy sources and environmental initiatives, can be registered by professional and amateur collaborators all over the world
a desktop widget is also released along with an iPhone, Android and Java application enabling people to create, edit and share ideas relating to energy and the environment
february
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4th & 5th – Clarity Tank runs a two-day workshop about crisis management in communications at the AEF New York office. the workshop is attended by key internal stakeholders
it is agreed that a core team be created, and trained, to rapidly deploy prepared strategies in the event of a disaster
february
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13th – eight people from across AEF with links to PR, Marketing, Business Development and Technology are appointed as The Interaction Team
a virtual situation room is created by Clarity Tank in a secure shared online space incorporating monitoring tools, video calling, document storage and reporting software
february
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the role of The Interaction Team is to be in conversations with the public, and to manage the monitoring of conversations, in order to feed back into the rest of the organisation through the virtual situation room
february
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15th – in accordance with the communication crisis programme Clarity Tank creates a flag
system within the monitoring and reporting dashboard
the system flags real-time levels of sentiment, inaccurate or overtly critical statements
on the dashboard screen a red flag indicates urgent action, orange a mild issue and a green
flag indicates positivity
february
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17th – crisis guidelines are created enabling AEF to react appropriately in the event of issues arising that could have a negative impact on AEF, or any of the initiatives it is associated with
these guidelines include direction on the most suitable tone of voice, blog responses, press releases and communication with partners and stakeholders in the event of a crisis
february
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19th – the AEF board work with Clarity Tank to create a fast sign-off process for orange and red flags that circumvents standard procedure
february
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the sign-off process works as follows:
the orange flag process triggers enhanced monitoring of discussions and feeds in positive messaging from influencers
the red flag process is in six steps that take as little as six hours in total to complete
1. red flag identified 2. the Interaction Team are alerted 3. red flag cross-matched with crisis guidelines 4. adjustment of pre-designed communication 5. action authorised 6. action deployed
february
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20th – internal staff, external influencers and all partners are informed and trained on how to alert
The Interaction Team to situations
this is termed The Interaction Protocol
february
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22nd – a wide scale press, TV, poster, online and mobile
campaign for SolvMachine goes live across multiple regions,
promoting the unilateral initiative and urging people to get involved
with the tag line: “We’re all in this together”
calls to action lead to SolvMachine’s website, and an SMS
short-code enables people to either download the application
or register for text alerts
february
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4th – downloads of the SolvMachine widget reaches 368,000 in just under
5 weeks
the iPhone application is recommended in a tweet by the
famous comedian, Peter Tuck, to 1.5 million followers. thousands retweet,
reaching over 50 million users
within 48 hours, the SolvMachine application reaches 1 million
downloads across all platforms
march
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9th – the leading technology review site, revwr.com, calls SolvMachine:
“Perhaps the most important application ever”
march
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12th – by now, the organisations in The Collective are running over 50 agreed initiatives in support of the mandate
AEF is attached to each one as a sponsor and runs ten key initiatives of its own
march
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15th – Bob Young says on Sky News: “The support of Governments throughout the world has shown the validity in our mandate. We will continue to endorse initiatives that propel this forward and embrace the close working relationship we have with the political, environmental, scientific and technological partners, combined with the general public”
april
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5th – Bob Young has a vision to turn the crowd-sourcing tool, SolvMachine, into a scenario
planning tool
with that in mind, Young introduces two new stakeholders to the consortium:
Evy Akolley from Onsidia and Joan Madeski from Palo Alto's Institute for Generations
may
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to enable anyone in the world to create, edit and share ideas that can
be fed into a scenario planning tool, Young commissions an effort to
combine SolvMachine with Akolley’s crowd-sourcing site and Madeski’s
problem-solving games
the goal being to find energy sources and protect the planet, in addition to preparing for any potential accident that could lead to an environmental disaster
may
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25th – in support of the upgraded SolvMachine, Planet of Quest,
Foundville and Seventh Life create virtual doorways with signposts
directing people into SolvMachine as an extension to their platforms
may
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29th – the environmental, technological and gaming community spread the news about the platform tie-up across twitter
over 12,000 developers download the API code, enabling them to build on the platform, whilst 27 major bloggers and journalists take screen grabs and write about the seamless user experience
may
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1st – members of The Collective, and the public, are making voluntary weekly donations to support the increasing number of initiatives
the people involved in generating the top ten ideas are rewarded by being able to assign a proportion of the donation to a charity of their choice
june
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each idea is rated and a summary of the top ten is published daily across
numerous websites
a full report is sent to The Interaction Team at AEF for analysis. the content, with comments, is re-published on the AEF site: advancedenergyfutures.com
june
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2nd – a leading news site publishes a weekly update of the selected ideas and distributed funds
other publishers pick this up and decide to link the reported progress to related stories involving the selected charities
june
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3rd – commentators express that SolvMachine is now a multinational
response mechanism that pools support from individuals and
organisations to solve scenarios together
within SolvMachine, The Interaction Protocol is merged
with the crisis guidelines to ensure full understanding of how
SolvMachine can be used
june
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the US President, Marie Montgomery and UK Prime Minister, Jack Brewer announce at a
joint press conference “We stand shoulder to shoulder with the AEF and The Collective. 21 Global leaders, ourselves included, are now
interacting with SolvMachine to ensure we are up to speed with the ideas, creations and
methodologies of all contributors and collaborators.”
june
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6th – Pablo, a 13-year-old student in Mexico sends a tweet about his daily battle to run a
wildlife sanctuary on his uncle’s ranch, close to Rio Gande, where he seeks to protect 'at
risk' animals from the elements
he adds several hashtags, including #AEF and #SolvMachine, to the tweet
this activity is immediately picked up by The Interaction Team on their twitter stream
june
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7th – the tweet is distributed to The Collective and one of the technology partners offers to
set up a short-code that allows people to donate by sending an SMS
by the following day, the short-code is being distributed all over twitter and donations
rapidly increase
june
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8th – the story is picked up by Sky News who flies a reporter to Mexico to interview Pablo
pictures of the boy showing the reporter around the wildlife sanctuary, describing what he is planning to do with the donations, are broadcasted all over the world
Pablo is quoted as saying “Large corporations can really make a positive difference – thank you for all your support!”
june
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5th – directions to the SolvMachine have been seen within games by millions of players. over a hundred experts get involved, on a daily basis, in the discussion and modelling of the best collaborative ideas, solutions and missions
each one is rated, and a shortlist summary of the top ten is published daily – this is sent in full to The Interaction Team at AEF
july
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12th – Bob Young says to Time Magazine “We have been delighted with the development and input into SolvMachine. For us it is built into everyday business, but I am told by many other organisations that this is fast becoming a scenario planning tool they can use in collaboration with the wisdom of the crowds to solve environmental and energy issues”
july
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16th – Tom Ford, CEO of the Worldwide Foundation of Wildlife Protection, confirms Bob Young’s claim in a BBC interview where he states: “SolvMachine enables us to assess and prioritise the top initiatives to consider in terms of wildlife protection in all continents. old and new activists, researchers and scientists are encouraged to help out”
Ford finishes with The Collective’s slogan; “We’re all in this together”
july
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18th – conversations about SolvMachine are now taking place on 16 Facebook groups
major brands around the world are also getting involved creating their own platforms; among them the American Access ‘Open Place’, the Erolssin ‘Thinking Forward’ site and in the HBM ‘Smarter Universe’ community
july
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20th – the main environmental blogs facilitate around 3000 comments a day
most commentators are also adding insight into SolvMachine and act as self-appointed moderators and quality control officers by ensuring negative, slanderous or illegitimate
content is removed
new findings are published, tweeted, discussed whilst being monitored and interacted with by
The Interaction Team
july
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4th – the constant cycle of monitoring continues, covering
internal developments, public sentiment and the activities of
environmental organisations, bloggers and other influencers
august
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7th – an issue grows online
the community is questioning whether AEF is financially and procedurally set up to action
any of the scenarios from SolvMachine, threatening its
credibility
this is raised as an orange flag
august
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The Interaction Team responds immediately by publishing their crisis and resource plan, adding:
“We welcome any collaborators willing to help implement scenarios with us to change their profile setting to ‘willing collaborator’, we will then involve them in future conversations about existing and new projects we can work on together”
august
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20th – AEF announces its intention to close down the Freshpool Skyline, an exploratory drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, with a view to open it soon after as a commercial well
technical and strategic information of the well, and its surroundings, are fed into the SolvMachine
scenario modelling commences by ad hoc teams in order to detect any possible issues with the plan
september
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5th – the feedback leads to AEF making some additional
investment in safety and backup equipment that is
deployed in the areas identified in the scenarios
october
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27th – AEF creates a digital wall of fame where the names of the contributors and collaborators are displayed (where permission has been granted), as a symbolic representation of cooperation
from Times Square in New York, to the Reuters Building in Canary Wharf and the N Building in Tokyo, there is a constant ticker of contributors and collaborators for the world to see and celebrate
january
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20th – thousands of political, economic, sociological and technological scenarios have been created by virtual teams within SolvMachine
february
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6th – a news story runs in one of the largest American broadsheets, Today’s News, quoting a
research scientist Alvaro Sanchez, who claims that “AEF is hardly involved in any of the
collaborative work, they seem to want the glory without actually getting involved”
due to the wide influence Sanchez has, this is a red flag
march
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within an hour, three of the main bloggers who have been covering The Collective’s progress write a reply proving Mr Sanchez wrong
they correct the false information by discussing key projects and initiatives driven by AEF, in addition to the collaborative progress made to date
march
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hundreds of supportive comments have now been posted
the AEF Interaction Team update their advancedenergyfutures.com website with a live feed of the story and ongoing comments
march
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the Freshpool Skyline drilling rig explodes off the Louisiana coast
in the Gulf of Mexico
oil starts leaking into the ocean
20th april 9.46pm
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The Interactive Team is alerted of the crisis and all stakeholders,
partners and influencers are
informed
20th april 9.51pm
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due to SolvMachine, key stakeholders are aware of the potential consequences, and the relevant solutions that have been modelled that could add value in addressing the crisis
20th april 10.11pm
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Bob Young rapidly hosts an online webinar where he honestly explains the
situation, and what action is being taken to minimise damage
this is broadcasted by all major news channels across the world
20th april 10.55pm
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relevant information is instantly inputted into all media assets of AEF and The Collective
there are continuous, real-time updates to all stakeholders
20th april 11.22pm
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over a thousand people start working on new scenarios and solutions which are instantly fed back into AEF and partner companies
20th april 11.24pm
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all major social networking sites and tools are immersed in support of AEF and the collaborative efforts in finding solutions
this combines the thinking of competitive energy companies, environmentalists, scientists, legislators, politicians, bloggers, journalists and the general public
20th april 11.44pm
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the partner energy companies provide extra equipment to aid the relief effort
the US President maintains ongoing dialogue with The Interaction Team and
The Collective
21st april 6.46am
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what is needed to find a solution is in place
and the rest became history…
22nd april 10.21am
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Introduce scenario
other than publicly used platforms, all characters, and or companies
appearing in this work, are fictitious. any resemblance to real persons, living
or dead, is purely coincidental
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so marks the end of our scenario
the thinking, approach and methodology within this document is part of a range of solutions provided (in real life) by this fluid world
the scenario was built upon the principles of our advanced scenario planning service, called ‘asp’ – for more detail visit: www.thisfluidworld.com/asp.html
the social media components were built upon the principles of our social media protocol services ‘use’ and ‘diffuse’ – for more detail visit: www.thisfluidworld.com/use.html www.thisfluidworld.com/diffuse.html
if you would like to discuss this further, please contact:
liri andersson
jonathan macdonald
this fluid world