Harvesting Implicit Knowledge
From Ted Shelton:
Bernardo Huberman, Consulting Professor, Applied Physics is speaking here at MediaX on “Harvesting Implicit Knowledge” — he proposes that a key differentiator of great organizations is their ability to extract, aggregate analyze and properly act on information quickly.
Today we need to discover communities of interest. We can do this by looking at the electronic communications that we use – tools like email and even powerpoint. People that communicate often tend to establish links that persist. Thus using the connections implicit in email communications it is possible to surface the connections between individuals in a company, uncovering implicit organizational structures.
This resonates with me. And it’s not just theory. Using wikis and blogs inside the enterprise is allowing us to tap into resources that were previously locked away. Andrew McAfee (HBS Associate Professor) comments further here on the case study he did on DrKW’s use of social software tools, and in particular explores the possible reasons why ‘Enterprise 2.0′ might not deliver on its promise. I don’t really give much weight to the first two possible impediments, however I think his third ‘risk’ is very real:
The third reason to be pessimistic about Enterprise 2.0, however, is also culture, especially as it’s defined and shaped over time by business leaders. If these leaders signal that they really don’t want open, freeform, and emergent collaboration, they really won’t get it. I predict that the diffusion of these tools is going to sharpen differences among companies as some work to foster the new styles, modes, and practices of collaboration and others work (subtly or overtly) to squelch them.
However, I’ll also take a risk and posit that – tying it back into the first idea above ie that the ability to extract etc information quickly and powerfully will be a key success factor for great organisations – leaders that don’t embrace this emergent and collaborative culture will ultimately lead their companies, like Aguirre, “into the heart of darkness.” (A bit melodramatic but a great film on leadership gone horribly wrong…):
(Don Lope de Aguirre) “That man is a head taller than me. That may change.”
Needless to say I don’t think Don Lope is going to be leading the next great company of the 21st century…
Also demography is on the side of Enterprise2.0 – Generation M, the Digital Generation won’t give companies the choice.
