Help Me Find Consulting Projects for my Business & Technology Students!

August 15, 2011

Tweet I am so excited about the class I’m teaching this fall that I’m breaking down the Chinese wall between serious topical blog posts and the practical fun of my work life, to post this Call for Projects for my students. I’m hoping that some of you readers in the New York/ New Jersey/Hoboken area […]

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4 Reasons Why Socializing Your Intranet Makes Organizational Change Easier

August 3, 2011

Tweet You can make the process of becoming a Social Organization a little easier if you start by socializing your intranet. Why? Because the shared, cohering nature of your intranet makes ‘social’ change efforts more comprehensive, more democratic, less scary, and more reinforcing of collective identity. In my previous post, I argue that we should […]

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Social Organizations from the Inside Out: Start with Your Intranet

July 27, 2011

Tweet What’s the best strategy for making your organization more social? Where do you start to transform your systems, so that you can transform your organization? Many social media experts suggest that you work from the outside-in. They encourage organizations to start with one function and one stakeholder group, and ‘get social’ by linking CRM […]

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How Social Media Can Help Us Generate Productive Momentum

July 18, 2011

Tweet Social Media systems inside organizations should not be designed just to support tasks.  Social business systems should also be designed to support the emotional elements of interpersonal relationships, since these build momentum by helping us feel more meaningful and valuable as we work together. Often, people assume that digital social systems inside organizations should […]

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Purpose is the Killer App: Why Organizations Need Social Business Tools

July 12, 2011

Tweet What will it really take to get organizations to adopt social media tools inside the enterprise? Mere numbers won’t compel us, so don’t count on ROI. The shiny object syndrome won’t hold our attention, so back off with the bells and whistles. And, please, don’t work on us with peer pressure. We’re above trying […]

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6 Terrific Business Books That Deserve Your Attention

June 30, 2011

Tweet It’s too easy to overlook great business books. Even with sites like 800-CEO-Read, authors’ own promotional activities, and reviews by thoughtful & prominent business bloggers, many terrific books languish on Amazon’s shelves. Of course, I may be a little — shall we say undisciplined — in the ways that I come by my books. […]

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How to Design Social Business Systems For Engaged, Social Organizations

June 23, 2011

Tweet Organizations are social — they always have been. But, organizations have rarely been designed intentionally to help us flourish as social beings while we work together. Neither our analog systems nor our digital systems have been designed to help us bring more of our social selves to our work together. But, it’s not that […]

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5 Ways That Systems of Engagement Bring Out Our Full Social Selves

June 22, 2011

Tweet Technology has a way of sucking the humanity right out of us. Consider how we describe, design and deploy ‘enterprise 2.0’ and work system technologies in our organizations: — When we talk about technology systems, we talk about machines, platforms, inputs and outputs.  We forget about values, emotion, flourishing, meaning and purpose. — When […]

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Social Intranet Design and Organizational Identity: Design for functionality and character

June 15, 2011

Tweet In a social organization, the design of digital social tools like intranets should reflect the organizational features that define the organization. These design features, no matter how subtle, can ‘auto-communicate’ and make salient the characteristics that matter most, and help organizations stay authentic. Especially in the digital workplace, our digital tools create an important […]

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Make Distinctiveness Matter by Linking It To Organizational Purpose

June 14, 2011

Tweet Does it really matter if an organization is “distinctive”? When an organization’s distinctiveness (identity) is linked with the organization’s purpose (greater social goal), the organization’s unique qualities provide the unique resources needed to achieve that purpose. Organizational Distinctiveness is more than Positioning Managers often dismiss the concept of organizational “distinctiveness”, thinking that distinctiveness is […]

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