Comments for Reconnected http://timmsuess.com/reconnected The HR Social Media Blog Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:38:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Hiccups by Timm Suess http://timmsuess.com/reconnected/2010/03/hiccups/comment-page-1/#comment-196 Timm Suess Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:38:44 +0000 http://timmsuess.com/reconnected/?p=503#comment-196 @Anne: Thanks for your comprehensive comments; I think that the value of employees for a company lies in the product of their knowledge x motivation, and sometimes worry that the classification into "stars" (high potentials, catalysts, linchpins, engaged ones) and "non-stars" has lead to self-fulfilling prophecies inside companies of actually creating more "non-stars". Good one on "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" :-) @Anne: Thanks for your comprehensive comments; I think that the value of employees for a company lies in the product of their knowledge x motivation, and sometimes worry that the classification into “stars” (high potentials, catalysts, linchpins, engaged ones) and “non-stars” has lead to self-fulfilling prophecies inside companies of actually creating more “non-stars”.

Good one on “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” :-)

]]> Comment on Hiccups by Anne McCrossan http://timmsuess.com/reconnected/2010/03/hiccups/comment-page-1/#comment-195 Anne McCrossan Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:20:02 +0000 http://timmsuess.com/reconnected/?p=503#comment-195 Interesting post Timm, especially the point you make about volunteerism. Let me flip this and post the thought that the people who are the catalysts and the linchpins in an organization will instinctively think about contributing proactively like this, hence the followers, and the technical dilemma. Volunteering reflects the inherent added value that catalysts and linchpins bring to the collective intelligence of an organization. These people are worth their wait in gold. Easily replaceable labour, by comparison, doesn't; it provides less intangible value at a cumulative and corporate level which is another point in favour for software as a service, where adoption rates and useability are by definition generally well proven. Which brings us to the point about systems management. The risk of obsolescence and the opportunity cost of losing scalar possibilities because of the restrictions of centralized, bespoke systems cannot be underestimated for an aspiring dynamic and networked organization. Rapid fire, iterative development is becoming an increasingly essential component of any strategic mainframe, and centralized, compartmentalized management systems do run a substantial risk of falling short by being less adaptive by definition. 'Focus on resilience, less on robustness', absolutely, that's a very good way to put it. That old axiom, 'you don't know what you've got till it's gone' seems to have served your company well in the last few days; I hope the connectivity that was lost and then found will help put a new slant on some of the issues and arguments you've talked about above. Interesting post Timm, especially the point you make about volunteerism. Let me flip this and post the thought that the people who are the catalysts and the linchpins in an organization will instinctively think about contributing proactively like this, hence the followers, and the technical dilemma.

Volunteering reflects the inherent added value that catalysts and linchpins bring to the collective intelligence of an organization. These people are worth their wait in gold. Easily replaceable labour, by comparison, doesn’t; it provides less intangible value at a cumulative and corporate level which is another point in favour for software as a service, where adoption rates and useability are by definition generally well proven.

Which brings us to the point about systems management. The risk of obsolescence and the opportunity cost of losing scalar possibilities because of the restrictions of centralized, bespoke systems cannot be underestimated for an aspiring dynamic and networked organization. Rapid fire, iterative development is becoming an increasingly essential component of any strategic mainframe, and centralized, compartmentalized management systems do run a substantial risk of falling short by being less adaptive by definition. ‘Focus on resilience, less on robustness’, absolutely, that’s a very good way to put it.

That old axiom, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’ seems to have served your company well in the last few days; I hope the connectivity that was lost and then found will help put a new slant on some of the issues and arguments you’ve talked about above.

]]> Comment on There’s no “I” in “organization”… oh wait, there is. by Colin Foster http://timmsuess.com/reconnected/2010/02/theres-no-i-in-organization-oh-wait-there-is/comment-page-1/#comment-192 Colin Foster Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:06:25 +0000 http://timmsuess.com/reconnected/?p=496#comment-192 Great points Timm. Your perspective and advice are clear and to the point. I would even take it one step further - When the organization has a message it wants employees to share with their external social networks, be sure to *Ask employees to Amplify* & then *Make it easy for them to do it!*. For eg., include pre-formatted "share this" functionality so employees can ReTweet, post to their Facebook wall, update LinkedIn status, etc, with one click directly from short internal stories on the topic. And with some clever use of shorturls you can even measure the impact! Great points Timm. Your perspective and advice are clear and to the point. I would even take it one step further – When the organization has a message it wants employees to share with their external social networks, be sure to *Ask employees to Amplify* & then *Make it easy for them to do it!*. For eg., include pre-formatted “share this” functionality so employees can ReTweet, post to their Facebook wall, update LinkedIn status, etc, with one click directly from short internal stories on the topic. And with some clever use of shorturls you can even measure the impact!

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