April 6th, 2007
Intracompany blogs
We recently discussed strategic intent statements, some folks refer to it as mission statements. You can have both, strategic intent is where you are going, the mission is how you will get there. One is long termed and the other is both long term and short termed.
A comment from Tisha evolving from a conversation Latimer and I were having caused me to think about work place communication. Tisha, mentioned how different departments all head of in different directions and often times do not know what each other is doing.
We all know about silos and the wall around information. We have the internet and the intranet for internal communication. How about intrablogs so perhaps R & D from one division may discover the project they have budgeted millions for was also being researched in a sister division. Is there synergy? Opportunity for cost sharing? Is there potential to enhance effectiveness by tearing down walls.
Would sales and marketing communicate better, if each dept blogged with frequent post and responded to comments. How about customer service and any other dept, the customer service dept is in constant contact with the customer. Is customer feedback important. What do you think?
April 6th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Communications between business units is an ongoing problem in business. Business goals and mission statements are suppose to be a guideline for Business units to properly align there goals with that of the companies’, however that is usually the biggest problem.
Intranet sites have been used by companies to share communications between units and in theory this is suppose to resolve the issue of communication. In reality the intranet is not used as it should be by the employees in general. The biggest concern for business is how to get their employees to read the information provided.
April 6th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Our dialogue continues gentleman, brilliant James, thanks!
Yes Latimer and same goes for governmental departments. There needs to be organizational change, the culture of not reading them should not be tolerated. I know sounds harsh and a tad unrealistic however it is critical in order for the “machine” to run properly - the oil to keep it greased properly.
In many cases the fact that the y are not involved in the whole strategy development process also doesn’t give them a vested interest when carrying it out and that’s probably where a blog may be instrumental James.
April 6th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Sun Systems is a great example of this. It’s such a large organizations that Jonathan Schwartz, CEO has said that the blog has helped considerably… not just supporting the company and messaging externally, but also helping to align and communicate internally.
You’re going to see a lot more on Intracompany blogs in the next few years. Leaders have such little time to communicate with their own employees that this will help considerably! I would highly recommend it!
April 7th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Latimer, you sait it all, When I managed a 1000 person organization with 50 managers and directors all over the country, communicating information down many layers took on a life of it own. That would allow the power of blog communication to work well as another tool. The culture of larger organizations would have to change some team members would be comfortable commenting.
April 7th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Tisha, not reading information is a big contributor to lack of knowledge. The people on top, have to also share the burden of offering concise important information in a timely accesable manner. I agree, blogs would help
April 7th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Doug, thanks for the information on Sun systems, this blogging world has the potential to be like TV was in the 50’s or color TV in the 60’s, before long everyone gets it.
April 9th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
I totally agree with you. I currently work for a large corporation, Metlife. And it really seems that sometimes, people have no idea what the person in the office directly across from them are doing. Even if they work on the same project. An intra office blog would be a great idea.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Dame, thanks for the comment,blogs offer unlimited possibilities.