Rogier Noort - Page 8 of 40 - welcome to the 21st century

The Agile Elephant in The Room

It’s interesting to see that despite economic downturn, people are still starting up new businesses. Entrepreneurship, it seems, is hard to kill.

I knew I had a photo of an elephant somewhere

I don’t believe we are still in an economic crisis, in fact, I believe there’s always been a fair measure of exaggeration by governments in order to push other agenda’s (raising taxes, cutting expenses or giving business a reason to downsize), but that’s just my suspicious mind. Nevertheless, starting a new business takes courage and audacity, especially in these times.

In Social Business, however, the momentum seems to enable a wave of new, and exiting, undertakings.

During a conversation with David Terrar (@DT), at #e20s, we explored the current Social Business market development, and I asked him about his new venture; Agile Elephant.

Not The Right Term

David explains, “We ran an event in 2013 called “Patchwork Elephant”, which was part of Social Media Week London. We had eight speakers talking about Social Business, or Enterprise 2.0. And it turned out these terms are somewhat difficult to explain to business people.

We don’t have the right term for Social Business yet, people confuse this with Prof. Yunus’ version, where an enterprise has a social purpose. What we do, is use social tools to make business better, more effective, do better teamwork, and connect with our employees, teams, customers in a better way, with less resources.”

It used to be Office 2.0, then Enterprise 2.0, and has evolved into Social Business (as coined by Peter Kim). To me, it seems “Social Enterprise” is a more appropriate title. Although, this one too is associated with the enterprise having a social purpose. So, a proper, unifying name is still to be found.

David continues, “We’ve been going at it for a while now, at least as far back as 2006, already 8 years now. And we’re really getting traction, but the actual change will be 10, 20 or maybe even 30 years in the making.”

This explains why people (and big business) are venturing into Social Business. Social Business is not just a change, or a project. It’s a fundamental evolution of the way we work. And that takes time.

So why “Agile Elephant”?

“The first reason we started Agile Elephant is that something is just about to hatch. Social Business is just about to cross the chasm, and start to become more mainstream.

We feel the optimism that something is going to change. And we either want to jump on the wave, or, if the wave doesn’t start, we want to help start the wave.”

Based on the conversations I’ve had during (and before) #e20s, I had the distinct feeling that this line of thinking is inherent to Social Business. It’s not enough to ‘just’ make money, or to ’just’ have a job. This ‘evolution’ is a passion to those I speak to.

“We call it Agile Elephant because we think this topic is the elephant in the room, also based on a number of books about change with an elephant as the metaphor, but also about the parable of the Elephant and the Blind Men, where one feels a wall, the other a rope, the other a tree and so on.

The point is, this topic viewed differently by different people, it’s complex. That explains the elephant. The agile part comes from using a lean, agile, approach to a project.”

Social is a custom business. One size does not fit all, quite the opposite, every company requires a different approach.

This is part of the Agile Elephant Manifesto, as David explains, “We have a thirteen thesis manifesto to lay out the important things of getting Social Business right. It’s the Agile Elephant approach to Social Business.” This is good for a business to have, but also, like the Ten Tenets of Social Business, provides a great reference for fledgling Social Businesses to see what is involved with this change.

Here’s the list:

We want to transform “business as usual”
Business has become a social object
There are no one size fits all solutions
Social business needs to work across the entire value chain
Treat people as Individuals, not nodes or cogs
It’s time to get real
Stop talking technology, start talking results
We need to focus on the practical and the pragmatic
Don’t worry about what we call it
It’s the people, stupid!
Learn from what has worked so far
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it
Our approach should be in “perpetual beta”

I invite you to read the entire manifesto on the Agile Elephant website.

From The Top

The combined wisdom of Agile Elephant’s three founders provides the company with a solid foundation. Here they have extensive knowledge of business processes (such as ERP and CRM), which they can combine with their thorough understanding of Social.

Businesses need to change from the top, business goals need to be aligned with social goals, business problems should be solved with social tools, and all of this needs to be connected in order to get the right statistics, proper big data, and much better results across the board.

I really enjoy these developments. Companies that start up with a unique and fresh look on the way we do business, the way we work, and ultimately the way we live.

Spin Doctor for #e20s

When I visited the Enterprise 2.0 Summit in Paris (in 2013) I was surprised by the amount of quality content (presentations). I learned a lot those two days. And not just about Social Business as a theoretical practice, but also about it’s real world value.

The greatest bonus, or advantage, of being active in this field is that you’re surrounded by people who understand the benefits of social. They are social. They have to be social.

This means they’re open, not closed.
They’re helpful, not obstructive.
They’re friendly, not arrogant.
They’re supportive, not opposing.

All in all, I had a lot of fun, which was a first for me at a conference.

#e20s Meetup

When the schedule for the Meetups was made available, and there was one in Brussels, I simply had to go.

Present was a small contingent (Bjoern Negelmann, Rawn Shah and Frédéric Williquet) and the topic was, of course, Social Business and the upcoming Summit. There was also some regular chitchat, and all-in-all it was a pleasant evening.

Ambassador

I suppose my showing up, being part of the evening triggered enough in Bjoern to ask me to be part of the Ambassadors team for the Summit. This is why I’ve been Tweeting and writing about the Summit so much. That, and the fact it is my favourite conference.

I take that role pretty serious, I do find it to be an honour to be asked. This might sound a little too Klingon for some, but it’s true nonetheless.

Spin Doctor

And then there’s that. Born out of a necessity, my predecessor moved on to a different project, the role was offered to me.

Prove

So, there it is my friends, prove that being active in a community has its rewards.

And this is an important lesson too, because it strikes at the very heart of social. If you do nothing, share nothing, ask nothing.., you will receive nothing.
At the other end of the spectrum, every seed you plant will yield some result. And these results can either be reaped by you at a time of your choosing, or something unexpected pops up or falls down.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. – The Beatles

Social Media is annoying, so let’s ignore it

A friend of mine just started a new job, and me being me, I advised him to ask about their social media policies. In this day and age, we can assume there is bound to be one and it’s important not to make any mistakes with that.

The reaction was a bit unexpected and a little bit worrisome.

Everything is blocked on your desktop, you can use your cellphone for social.

The person asked seemed annoyed by the question, he might be asked about social often, but the company has nothing in place regarding social.., nothing.

No policy
No directive
No listening
No engagement
No presence

As you can imagine, I was stunned. Agreed, it might be a bit naive of me to think that most companies are doing something by now, but doing nothing at all…

Living in a Cave

I’m going to make another assumption. I assume most people do not live in caves any more, there might be one or two, but in Western Europe, that is highly unlikely. We can stretch this assumption all the way to Social Media.

You probably have a home, a telephone, an Internet connection and, statistically, you probably have a Facebook account too. Within any company in Western Europe there are, at least, some managers whom are active on Social Media. At the very least, some employees are.

And judging from main stream media and even the reported news.., you just have to be aware of this phenomenon called Social Media.

I believe this is a fair assumption.

Any Company

It is my believe, and with me almost every professional who has anything to do with social, that the use of social can benefit any and all companies.

Highly customised in some cases, well controlled or monitored in others, but a solution, or beneficial addition can always be found and made.

Just, No

Now we have established that most people in most companies are aware of The Social Evolution, you would assume they’d do something with it, or about it. Well, you’d be wrong. I was wrong.

That is one assumption you definitely can’t make. In fact, it’s save to assume that a lot of companies do not even entertain the thought of doing anything with social.

This company my friend works for as but one policy: No. Just.., no…

Every social site is blocked on the desktop, there is no training, no policy, no awareness, no risk management. I’m sure they have some PR worst-case-scenerios, but I’m also sure this does not involve social. Maybe it gets mentioned somewhere, but without a proper presence and proper training, there is no way you can predict or handle any problems or fall-out, should it occur.

However, you are allowed to use social through your own device (not sure if they have Wi-Fi, but you can bet they don’t).

No Stopping It

There is no way a company can forbid the use of social media. Especially in your own time.
They also cannot stop you from expressing your opinion about anything on any platform, they can only react.

And, they also cannot stop people outside the company, like customers, express their opinion.

Not For All

Now, it must be said, this company is an life-insurance company. Having a solid Social Media presence is difficult in this line of business. It’s not the most dynamic subject, and it’s hard to translate it into anything visual (but it can be done).

Also, one of their prime concerns is customer privacy.

They fear that with the use of social (on a desktop), sensitive information can easily be shared (or leaked). Also, because it is, in part, a financial institution it has to adhere to many rules.
Because of these two factors, its reputation is its most valuable asset. And yes, you can lose that in an instant via social.

However, this may happen regardless of whether or not you have an active Social Media Policy.

And therein lies the dilemma.

Risk Management

I’m not saying they should have a Twitter account and a Facebook Page.
I’m not saying they have to open up all channels on the desktops.

What I’m saying is; At the very least, they have to have a solid policy on the use of Social. Not as a restrictive measurement, but as a clear guide.
Informing your employees on the pitfalls of social, and having a document to fall back on, is not just smart, it’s mandatory. Through this policy you can not only protect the company from harm, but also the individual.

Closing everything of, and saying ‘No’, is not a solid strategy. It doesn’t protect you, it doesn’t educate. It only moves the problem somewhere else, maybe even increasing the risk.

Companies have a responsibility towards their employees, much like parents towards their children.

Social Business

And then there’s that. If we (companies) do not encourage the save and proper use of social by our employees, the gap to a Social Business becomes even greater.
Shunning social completely only prolongs the digital stone age a company is in.

When the time comes to move up, and this time will come, the challenge to change will be enormous.

Any and all companies (and individuals) have to move with the changes. If you do not, you run the risk of becoming obsolete.