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HEADING INTO THE GREAT UNKNOWN
One of the challenges, and joys, of using social tools in business is that you don’t know in advance what people are going to do with them or how they will develop. This is a challenge to some but liberating to others.
My team and I used to end our meetings, only half jokingly, with an American Marines saying which is “Keep moving, stay in touch, and head for the high ground.” It seemed to make eminent sense in the world we found ourselves in with our social tools growing really quickly, not many people having done it before, and no rule books. If you think of it – having a rough and agreed idea where the high ground is, keeping moving and doing things rather than sitting around planning or strategizing, and keeping talking to each other while you do it all make eminent sense in modern, fast changing organizations. Contrast this with the conventional process for determining strategy which involves a small subset of the organization who, after an often lengthy process, deliver a finite, closed document that is, if anything, designed to close down communication rather than opening it up.
There is little doubt that some people feel more comfortable without a clear idea of where they are headed but it is becoming harder and harder to give them this with any confidence. Who could have predicted many of the recent financial disasters that have affected the economy, or the sudden demise of the communist bloc, or for that matter the impact of the web ...
