Six Ways to Make Web 2.0 Work
March 13, 2009 by Raj Sheelvant
McKinsey has identified ways to make Social Network or Web 2.0 work for the traditional organizations. In an article titled ‘Six Ways to Make Web 2.0 Work‘, they lay out strategies that can make Web 2.0 work.
1 The transformation to a bottom-up culture needs help from the top: Web 2.0 projects often are seen as grassroots experiments, and leaders sometimes believe the technologies will be adopted without management intervention—a “build it and they will come” philosophy. Successful participation, however, requires not only grassroots activity but also a different leadership approach: senior executives often need to become role models and lead through informal channels.
2. The best uses come from users—but they require help to scale: In earlier IT campaigns, identifying and prioritizing the applications that would generate the greatest business value was relatively easy. These applications focused primarily on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of known business processes within functional silos (for example, supply-chain-management software to improve coordination across the network). When management chooses the wrong uses, organizations often don’t regroup by switching to applications that might be successful. Rather than dictating the use, management need to broaden participation by supporting an awareness campaign to seed further experimentation.
3. What’s in the workflow is what gets used: Perhaps because of the novelty of Web 2.0 initiatives, they’re often considered separate from mainstream work. Earlier generations of technologies, by contrast, often explicitly replaced the tools employees used to accomplish tasks. Participatory technologies have the highest chance of success when incorporated into a user’s daily workflow and Web 2.0 implementation and deployment needs to follow the same pattern.
4. Appeal to the participants’ egos and needs—not just their wallets: Traditional management incentives aren’t particularly useful for encouraging participation. Earlier technology adoptions could be guided readily with techniques such as management by objectives, as well as standardized bonus pay or individual feedback. These methods tend to fall short when applied to unlocking participation. A more effective approach plays to the Web’s ethos and the participants’ desire for recognition: bolstering the reputation of participants in relevant communities, rewarding enthusiasm, or acknowledging the quality and usefulness of contributions.
5. The right solution comes from the right participants: Targeting users who can create a critical mass for participation as well as add value is another key to success. To select users who will help drive a self-sustaining effort, a thoughtful approach is required.
6. Balance the top-down and self-management of risk: A common reason for failed participation is discomfort with it, or even fear. In some cases, the lack of management control over the self-organizing nature and power of dissent is the issue. Companies often have difficulty maintaining the right balance of freedom and control. Some organizations, trying to accommodate new Web standards, have adopted total laissez-faire policies, eschewing even basic controls that screen out inappropriate postings. In some cases, these organizations have been burned. Prudent managers should work with the legal, HR, and IT security functions to establish reasonable policies, such as prohibiting anonymous posting.
See my old blog on similar subject titled ‘Why Traditional Organizations fail to leverage Web 2.0‘. The above mentioned 6 ways by McKinsey tries to address the ‘resistance’ for Web 2.0 implementation within the organization. Their solution to successfully implement Web 2.0 is very pertinent and I think every IT leader (CIO et al) need to read this article to gain information.
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