can social fix it?

Oscar  Berg  thecontenteconomy.com  twi3er:  @oscarberg    

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”The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is /…/ to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker” Peter F. Drucker (1999)

Knowledge work is very different from the transformational and transactional work that we for decades have used information technology to automate and optimize. So how is management doing when it comes to improving knowledge work?

Knowledge workers spend from 15% to 35% of their time searching for information. 15% of the time is spent on duplicating existing information. "IDC

The effective usage rates of enterprise software are down compared to two years ago, with users experiencing productivity losses of around 17%. It’s like giving everyone Friday off.    IT Adoption Insight Report, 2012, Oracle UPK & Neochange

44% in US & Canada “unsatisfied” with their jobs. Right Management, 2012 “Around the world, employee engagement is eroding.” Mercer, 2011  

Symptoms

Low innovation

Falling productivity

High employee turnover

Quality problems

Talent shortage

…

30 > The existing solutions invented to enable growth and economies of scale are incompatible with today’s rapidly changing, unpredictable and connected business environment – and with knowledge work.  

These symptoms start to appear when an organization grows beyond a few dozen people. What’s the cause?

85% of executives see complexity, in one form or the other, as the main barrier to seizing business opportunities and being successful in an ever changing world. From  HBR  IdeaCast  interview  with  Chris  Zook  from  Bain  &  Company,  2012    

The user productivity loss of tech-focused organizations is 2.3 times greater than user-focused organizations. User-focused organizations outperformed the tech-focused companies, achieving 23% higher revenue-per-employee against their industry peers. IT Adoption Insight Report, 2012, Oracle UPK & Neochange

To unlock knowledge worker productivity, a user-centric approach that aims at simplifying the user’s interactions with other users and resources is absolutely vital.

94% the system

6% individuals

Around 94% of the possible improvements belong to the system - the responsibility of management.

Edward J. Deming, the 94/6 rule

Why isn’t management doing more to fix knowledge work, i.e. changing the existing systems to support it better?

Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.

The Shirky Principle

Fixing the Akilles heel of digital productivity workplace awareness

As work is being distributed across locations and organizations, current digital work environments - primarily designed for personal productivity - make people more isolated and less aware of what is happening at work. It cripples their ability to collaborate and be productive.

To improve workspace awareness, organizations will need to redesign their digital work environments based on social principles.

Participation Transparency

Openness

Dialog Participation

Transparency Openness

Dialog

Recognition

A major challenge for improving knowledge work is that the majority of the value-creation activities in an enterprise are hidden and thus not recognized or valued.

So, what is lacking in most digital work environments is a really intelligent system that helps people quickly build workspace awareness and make work visible.

Activity Streams

Makes digital work

visible

Fueled by conversations

and interactions

Adds context to

work

Background  by  Joseph  Sawyer  

To enable social collaboration, organizations need to provide transparent and open digital spaces where employees can participate and engage in conversations about their work and professional interests.

Connect people with

each other

Connect people with a

purpose

Connect people to

their tasks Connect people with

the market

Connectedness

We are now moving on from just deploying social tools to applying social principles and mechanisms to change how work is actually being done.

Social Everywhere Social Processes Social Integration Activity Streams Enterprise Social Graph Social Analytics

Social Tools Blogs and Wikis Social Networking Sites Tagging Social Search Micro-blogging

Trends in Social Collaboration

Understanding and applying social principles is essential to fix knowledge work, but also for developing new solutions that enable growth and economies of scale in a rapidly changing, unpredictable and connected business environment.

Social Business is

serious business

The  Drucker  InsLtute,  Claremont  Graduate  University  h3p://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/surgery-­‐at-­‐the-­‐science-­‐museum/  h3p://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadic_lass/5598218199/sizes/l/in/photostream/  h3p://fc09.deviantart.net/fs47/f/2010/211/5/5  /  Abstract_Wave_HD_Background_by_jcsawyer.jpg    h3p://www.freestockphotography.com.au/Images-­‐Clipart/Smiling-­‐People__410  h3p://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=447581  

Image credits