Leading from the front

Fredrik Ring lifts the lid on how social networking is transforming business leadership.

“Companies that cherish accumulated company knowledge tend to have better return on innovation”
-Fredrik Ring

Fredrick Taylor pointed out the lack of knowledge when it came to labour efficiency in the late 19th century. Today we run into that kind of employment drilling in service centres, line production, fast-food chains or telephone sale organisations. The employee is regarded as a minute delivering asset that is as cheap and easy to replace as any cogwheel. Organisations that have built their business upon such working methods are getting smaller and smaller margins due to offshore outsourcing for instance. Companies that cherish accumulated company knowledge tend to have better return on innovation. In the industry this knowledge sharing was usually represented by a post box where the employees could drop ideas for the management to evaluate. These functions are more commonly presented at the intranet and other business supporting systems today.

Something Taylor failed to fit into his scientific management was the essence of science – people's brainpower. By turning the hierarchal pyramid upside down we soon understand the power of systems such as Wikipedia and other crowd sourcing projects. Feeding these systems with brainpower and making them the engine in your company. That's what Web 2.0 is all about.

We are facilitating systems based on communication and user generated content to enhance knowledge sharing. By demanding that the employees are responsible for their own networks and relationships within the organisation, you can have a community control over the way of behaving. Having a clear strategy of how to deal with over-engaged employees is also of importance. Usually when implementing this kind of knowledge sharing systems the problem is seldom that the employees start discussing sensitive issues. Coming from a culture where keeping quite is equal to doing your job and maintaining your network in the company as a thing you do in kick-offs. In the new era sharing of knowledge becomes a very valuable asset for the company instead of information keeping for personal management advantages.

Company cultures

As I indicated, the transformation is not only about introducing a new tool. It's a combination of cultural change in close relationship with the proper technology to benefit from this. So in a way you need to think big, but act small. Designing the foundation how you want to interact in line with your culture will be the basis. Select a pilot and start learning by doing, motivating your staff to participate in aligning with your business goals. And you should participate yourself by enjoying interacting with your customers and your staff.

Don't forget that the journey already have started in the consumer based applications such as Facebook and Twitter. Your employees are already "employees 2.0" and have been so for a while now. What need to change now are leadership and management. So, start with management courses to form your leaders and turn them into "petrol tanks" to your brain powered engines, instead of empowerment guardians.

Leadership tools

If you believe that your organisation's opportunities to survive in the future are in the hand of its accumulated knowledge, innovation capacity and power to change, you need to change the bonus systems. By adapting Web 2.0 solutions into your organisation and also giving the management the right leadership tools, your leaders will be able to lead in more coaching manners. Give bonuses to the informal leaders who are critical to your business or they will abandon you.

I'm not saying that we all should throw our balance sheets in the garbage can, but that we once a month start looking over the knowledge processes and quality enhancements in our organisations. Regarding the massive request for solutions we see in this area, our hardest job right now is staffing up. We are preparing for a paradigm shift where the fuel for the company engine has dramatically changed.

Fredrik Ring has worked as an advisor, analyst and project manager in major ECM-related IT projects since the early 1990s. He is currently in charge of ECM at the Logica Group, who have 2000 consultants and a number of larger business partners within ECM.