The future of communication (5 of 10)
There's a fantastic news item in yesterday's newspapers about Duke University in the USA giving all new students iPods. The idea is that they can use them to study - uploading audio files about student life and even lecture tapes.
And why not!
We regularly ask our clients to compare how they access information about the world to how their organisation communicates with employees.
At the private school I went to 20 years ago the students have walked into class with their laptops and accessed the LAN for their assignments for years.
When I went there we had a single computer room where we learned to type:
10 goto line 20
20 end
And we were seriously advanced in computer science. I'm not even 40.
Where will organisational communication be in 5 years? I have a few ideas.
1) NO PUSH
There will be no such thing as an all-employee email. Employees will have all the power to chose what they want to hear about. You will have to fight for access to their attention.
2) DIRECT ACCESS
No self-respecting manager or chief exec will accept intermediaries carrying forward their messages. We will all be broadcasters... Like this blog... Talking directly to our chosen audiences. (See also Podcasting - coming soon.)
3) NETWORKS OF INTEREST
In less than a generation almost all major organisations moved from line management to matrix management. We are now seeing a new kind of management emerging based on 'networks of interest'. Work is beind shared across functions, geographies and even between business (sometimes amongst competitors) based on the need and ability to deliver.
4) OBJECTIVE SHARING
Surveys consistently show that organisations are failing to get employees to understand business goals. Generally speaking about half tend to know what their business goals are. Fewer still know what they personally need to do to help reach them.
As a result of this serious communication issue managers have already started to find a "work around". Contracters and even full time employees will increasingly see companies hiring people whose personal objectives align with the job the company needs performed.
5) EBAY PROCUREMENT
The idea of setting up a mass production textile in the western world would seem daft in 2005. By 2010 we will probably feel the same way about graphic design work and many other professional services. Already there is little reason why large organisations couldn't clearly state their needs, certify a dozen companies and put whole swathes of discrete 'communication' projects out to tender. In the future they won't all be won in New York, Tokyo or Paris.
More soon.
/df
And why not!
We regularly ask our clients to compare how they access information about the world to how their organisation communicates with employees.
At the private school I went to 20 years ago the students have walked into class with their laptops and accessed the LAN for their assignments for years.
When I went there we had a single computer room where we learned to type:
10 goto line 20
20 end
And we were seriously advanced in computer science. I'm not even 40.
Where will organisational communication be in 5 years? I have a few ideas.
1) NO PUSH
There will be no such thing as an all-employee email. Employees will have all the power to chose what they want to hear about. You will have to fight for access to their attention.
2) DIRECT ACCESS
No self-respecting manager or chief exec will accept intermediaries carrying forward their messages. We will all be broadcasters... Like this blog... Talking directly to our chosen audiences. (See also Podcasting - coming soon.)
3) NETWORKS OF INTEREST
In less than a generation almost all major organisations moved from line management to matrix management. We are now seeing a new kind of management emerging based on 'networks of interest'. Work is beind shared across functions, geographies and even between business (sometimes amongst competitors) based on the need and ability to deliver.
4) OBJECTIVE SHARING
Surveys consistently show that organisations are failing to get employees to understand business goals. Generally speaking about half tend to know what their business goals are. Fewer still know what they personally need to do to help reach them.
As a result of this serious communication issue managers have already started to find a "work around". Contracters and even full time employees will increasingly see companies hiring people whose personal objectives align with the job the company needs performed.
5) EBAY PROCUREMENT
The idea of setting up a mass production textile in the western world would seem daft in 2005. By 2010 we will probably feel the same way about graphic design work and many other professional services. Already there is little reason why large organisations couldn't clearly state their needs, certify a dozen companies and put whole swathes of discrete 'communication' projects out to tender. In the future they won't all be won in New York, Tokyo or Paris.
More soon.
/df
posted by /df at 8:24 AM
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