Caution Is The Killer Of Achievement

After the panel discussion at the Competitive Intelligence Forum I connected with a few of the attendees via LinkedIn. I got talking with one lady via Linkedin and we were talking about what what you should and shouldn't say online. Here is an excerpt from my message to her:

You are wise to be prudent online. A good gauge is to ask yourself "Would I be happy with this being read in court of law?" But good to not get too hung up on it though. Caution is the killer of achievement.

It's true that one should be cautious when using social media but I don't think that it should get in the way of productivity. What do you think?

How To Create Social Media Accounts

A client is taking the long term view of social media and making a brave and sensible step in encouraging all of their marketing people to get accounts on the main social media sites where they don't have them already, and to use them to engage on behalf of the organisation.  Accompanying this is training, coaching and policies and guidelines on how to use the various sites & tools.

We will be doing the training. The people attending will have been encouraged to set up their accounts beforehand.  We wish to offer them advice on what they should consider, before setting up the accounts on say Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, Foursquare, YouTube & Flickr.

My initial thoughts are below.  I'd be interested in your views - whether additions or corrections.

1. If you haven't seen the site you are signing up to before, take a look, see what people share, how they call themselves (usernames) and what images (avatars) they use to identify themselves.
2. What username do you want?  It makes sense, unless you have specific reasons to not want to do this, to have the same name on each social media domain? e.g. mine is nickodoherty on most sites.  But nowadays most common names have been taken.  Simple ways to create an identity that people will identify as you, but that are less likely to be taken are: 
   1. Replace letters by numbers in your name. So my user-id on most sites is nickodoherty, but I could replace i by 1, and o by 0 and come up with n1ck0d0herty. Replacing e by 3, s by 5 also work. 
   2. Use a phrase with your name e.g. nickthebeekeeper or kentishnick. 
   3. Embed your name in other letters e.g. xxnickodxx.  
   4. There are still many ways you can include your real name in a user-id.  Or you can choose a complete pseudonym in e.g. pinknebulae, drybeer. goforth 
   5. In all cases keeping the user name: short - less than ten characters ideally; long lasting - something that you won't quickly outgrow and want to change; and hard to spell wrong. 
   6. Practical implications are: a)  that you may want to have the account setup screens for each site open in separate windows and get to the point of finding whether a username is available on each of them before commiting on any. 
   7. Having chosen a preferred username are there acceptable variants, if for instance the preferred names is available on all but one site e.g. in my case  I might accept a variant on that one site such as odohertynick, n1ckodoherty, nickpodoherty
3. What avatar or physical representation do you want to have?  In some cases, like LinkedIn a photo is recommended but not demanded.  Something that people who know you will associate with you is sensible, say a chess piece if you are a chess player.  My business partner Cormac uses this avatar, but has started using a photo with avatar embedded on sites or in situations where a photo makes sense.
   
4. If you have a work email and a home email it might be an idea to set up a separate email account for social media domains because:
   
   1. the volume of stuff that might come through depending on your account settings might be annoying in the other email accounts.
   2. some sites e.g. Flickr demand that you sign in with a Yahoo id, Facebook or a Google account.  If you don't have any of these, it will offer to set you up with a Yahoo id (email account) which you don't have to use for email but will have to use to sign in to Flickr in the future.
      
   3. If you are going to have an additional email account because of Flickr, then it might be better to make a conscious choice between Yahoo and Google.  I wouldn't advise on using Facebook ids to sign into other social media domains until the current situation on Timelines and "forced sharing" is better understood.  I have both a Yahoo id and a Google account, and the Yahoo id is the email address for my Google account.  Strange and with forethought I might have done differently, but it works.
      
5. Order of setting up accounts: if you do not have a Google account, you will need one for Google+, and can use it to sign into Flickr, it can be based on a Google email address (Google email account is separate from Google account) any other email account.  So the initial decision is really about whether you want a separate email account for social media. Once you have decided, I'd suggest setting up a Google account 
6. Most social media accounts request a small biography have a look to see what others have provided and having something prepared that you can cut an paste in.  Keep it short.
7. On some sites you will be asked to make initial decisions about how your posts will be treated.  If in doubt, choose the most restrictive to begin with.  So on Flickr, you can make the photos you share there available for all to see, or friends to see or just you to see.  You can relatively easily change this decision later. So why not start with friends as the default.
8. In most cases on starting a new account with these sites, the site asks if it can look through your address book for friends who are already there. It is safe to say yes, the sites above do not automatically request a connection. You have the final say. It is always useful to have a few people as "friends" or "connections" or "in circles" just to see how that aspect of it works from the beginning - so we will be recommending to our client contact that he makes his accounts availabel in this way for the first week of this activity.
9. For more information on setting up accounts on these sites, look here
   1. Creating a Google account Youtube video
   2. Facebook  Youtube video
   3. Twitter  Youtube video
   4. LinkedIn Blogpost
   5. Google+  Youtube video
   6. YouTube  Youtube video
   7. Flickr  - Youtube videos

Competitive Intelligence And Social Media

Next Tuesday I'll be on a panel at the UK Competitive Intelligence Forum for the event:

The Great Panel Debate - Tapping into Social Media for Effective CI

Competitive Intelligence or CI is a funny old thing. I've heard it called "industrial espionage". In a nutshell, it is finding out what your competition is doing. In the past, getting information from the competition was such a difficult operation. I mean, why would anyone divulge sensitive information?

In the world of today's social web it's not so difficult to get a lot of information. OK, many things are still going to be difficult to find out but it is shocking how much people are now willing to share. And if they don't share it have a look at their networks, there are usually people there that are willing to share.

I see the business world is still quite split. There are the ones who don't get this social media stuff at all and wonder what is the point in telling the world what you had for breakfast. And then there are the ones who are not only willing to tell you what they had for breakfast but are willing to share where it took place, and where they will be at any given point of the day.

I am of the belief that the more you give away, the more you get back. If you give away, you are interacting. If you are interacting, you are strengthening relationships and growing your network. If your relationships are strengthening and your network growing, then you are getting payback.

I often say that the first three things you need to do when it comes to social media are:

1. Image by francisco_osorioListen
2. Listen
3. Listen

I see a correlation between those who listen and those who engage. Generally those who are engaging most in social media are those that are getting the most from it. Using tools such as Twitter, RSS and increasingly Google+ are great for gleaning information. Also it is by using these tools day in day out that you learn of the skills that it takes to get the information you need - skills in terms of technologically, search and etiquette.

In my time in PwC there were parts of the office that were restricted access, technologically and with physical access rights. I know that there are parts of the world that are very well closed off, but with using tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter and also Foursquare you can gain access to people and information that you otherwise would find impenetrable. 

For me CI is all about research and, whether they know it or not, almost everyone is a practitioner of CI. When they encounter someone new they hit the web and look that person up in anywhere that's available, from Facebook to Wikipedia.

I'm looking forward to next Tuesday's debate. You can find out more and register here.

Facts, Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics

I was listening to my daughter and her boyfriend discussing the proposed public sector strikes over pensions. "It's wrong for them to strike, their pensions are still better than private sector pensions".  I agreed, I've heard that so many times, it's stuck with me.  But a few days ago, a public sector union leader said that the average public sector pension was £4000 a year. Sounds like a fact.  Can be checked, but what does it mean?  The average man has less than two legs.  Fact - but not very informative.

Julia and Ed are definitely not for strikes.  They were not born at the time of the three day week of the late 70's. I remember that and the electricity black-outs and brown-outs. I know the damage that strikes can do. But I also remember that before WW2 my Granddad, was a shop steward of the National Union of Railwaymen, a Labour district councillor, and a pillar of the community - no radical, a retired professional soldier, a sergeant farrier in the Royal Horse Artillery in India pre WW1.  A conservative but not a Conservative, he was involved in organising strikes in the 1930's, some supporting the miners.

Flickr image by Gary ThomsonI am not sure about the validity of public sector strikes.  I'd be more supportive of a strike at the increasing inequality of pay in this country.  The ratio of the top paid to the average paid is increasing, (in public and private sector) despite poor economic performance which should penalise leaders first.  I know about this increasing inequality, I've heard about it so much - so it must be true.

I remember a video clip of the "Newspaper Wars of 2014" first produced 5-6 years ago, which covers the changing nature of news, as we source it more directly, and aggregators present it to us, without the need for the advertising vehicle that is a newspaper.  Towards the end, it has a line, very roughly paraphrased as "... at its best, people were better informed than ever before, at its worst people had their prejudices reinforced by the news that they read."

Where do you go to get the facts, to see the raw data? What do you do to get to truths as important, relevant and irrelevant, depending on context, as the fact that the average man has less than 2 legs?  Are we better informed, nowadays?

Social Media Adoption & Change Management

I am presenting in ten days at a conference of developers and implementors of wikis, blogs and the like on the topic of adoption of social media in an organisation (how to achieve it). this post, despite its length, is a summary of what I'd like to cover.  Your comments or examples would be appreciated.

The framework for the presentation is the change equation.  DxVxF>R - slightly differently laid out than the last time I refered to it, but for me it is more of a hook to hang thoughts on than a formula for success.

The equation says that change will happen if Dissatisfaction with the current state, multiplied by clarity of Vision as to how thing could be, and concrete First steps to achieving the vision, are greater than the Resistance to change.  I separate Resistance into resistance by individuals and resistance by parts of the organisation.

Image by NASA's Marshall Space Flight CenterChange management is not complicated, it's not rocket science,  it can be difficult because it requires thinking, perseverance, and a variety of resources, not least time.  It is often overlooked because it is not as sexy as the other things going on - like delivery of a new IT system.  But as an ex IT person, I have a huge amount of respect for it, as, on the few occasion we delivered our projects on time and to spec, the outcome was often a failure because no one had considered what else needed to change or how to make it happen.

Change management includes the boring bits like training on the new sexy "thing", and providing cover so that old things can go on as before whilst new things start to happen.

Looking more specifically at social media projects - delivering internal wikis and blogs and the like.  The change management aspect is about how you get these things used, or adopted within the organisation, and for me the most interesting considerations are on the right hand side of the equation i.e. looking at resistance, how at you can prepare for and minimise it.

Resistance from individuals

Image by Mr Tickle - Wachoo Wachoo Tribe CongressmanYou may know  the 90/9/1 rule of wiki usage.  For every person who initiates a new page, there are 9 who will supplement the content, or correct spelling or reorganise it or supply necessary links. And 90 who will read it.   I have doubts about the validity of the 90/9/1 rule, but accept that most people are initially reluctant to start a new wiki page or take up a blog.  When I ask why, I get variations of the following:

1. I don't know how
2. Who'd listen to me
3. I have nothing important to say
4. I'll be shot down and feel stupid
5. Who am I writing for?

All of these are valid reasons not to contribute, at least in the minds of those concerned.  It's hard for people who have been blogging or using wikis for ages to recall that first encounter with a wiki.  It's a bit like that first day at school.  Anyway, recognising the legitimacy of the personal fear of others to engage is the first step to dealing with it, and adressing the concern with the respect it deserves is the next.  How you deliver the answers depends on the organisation e.g. via workshops, using leaders, one to one but the essence of the answers are:

• I don't know how
:- I can show you - training, coaching, feedback
• Who am I writing for? Start with writing for yourself.  If you have an interest, write about it for you. maybe a future you. If your filing system is like mine, Google will be more help finding your blogpost than Windows Explorer.
• Who'd listen to me:-  Who do you listen to?  Do you have tools (RSS Reader) to help you notice when people you want to listen to, say something new?  Can you add to what they have to say?  Can you encourage them to say more by commenting?  Social Media is about conversations, listening and responding is more important then initiating. and if you find people saying things you find interesting and you aggregate, share and attribute their thoughts, why shouldn't you get an audience?
• I have nothing important to say. There may be people who have more knowledge than you on a topic, but there will also be those with less.  Share what you have.  Ask others to fill in your gaps.  In a wiki just identifying that something needs to be said about X is valuable, even if you have little to say. Helping others avoid blank sheet syndrome is a valuable contribution.  
• I'll be shot down and feel stupid.  Some people take a provocative position, marshal their arguments and take on all comers. Not everyone sees value in confrontation. A perfectly valid approach to blogging is to share your initial thoughts and ask for others' views.  If you polish a post to the point where it is obviously your last word on a topic, you may make yourself a target for those with different views.  But if you are deliberately tentative and exploring a new idea you are more likely to get helpful comments  than sarcasm.

Resistance from parts of the organisation

Parts of the organisation are made up of individuals, but here I am looking at resistance that comes form a person acting as a in their role as a manager or leader, say, not personally.

When a change is planned, some parts of the organisation may benefit, without having to do anything differently.  They will tend to support the change.  Some may be worse off, i.e suffer and have to change the way they do things.  Without other consideration they may oppose the change.  There may be a series of changes needed and a series of benefits and beneficiaries.  Understanding the big picture, the total benefits and costs and changes, and engaging to make the case for change is necessary.

Image by spjwebsterSome times people will not support an activity even though it is good for the overall organisation, good for their part of the organisation and good for them personally.  This seems strange until you remember that resources, including the number of hours in the day are finite.  If a manager already has 4 projects on the go, and cannot cope with another, cannot keep another ball in the air, the fact that your project is beneficial on all levels may be irrelevant, and they will oppose this project.

Dealing with organisational resistance requires a firm grasp of the realities and a willingness to compromise.  In many cases people cannot or will not articulate, even to themselves, that they cannot take on another project.  If this is the case and you are pushing your project, you will be disappointed.  It is always good practice to think If I am asking X to do this, what can they stop doing to make the time for it.

In an organisation wide, top down project, requiring activity from many, overload of existing projects is a built in reason for failure.  Most organisations do not do capacity planning of this kind.  To succeed in this environment, in a background of overload, requires powerful sponsorship and effective stakeholder management. Or an alternate approach.

Viral change avoids trying to boil the ocean. Image by Hawaiian SeaTo avoid the problem of  being stalled by too many overloaded parts of the organisation, a more subtle approach is needed. 

A viral approach: choosing a part of the organisation motivated to succeed, and implementing the project there, ensuring it does succeeds.  Then letting the news of its success spread (with help) so that other parts of the organisation are demanding "Why does HR have blogs and wikis and not us?" 

Social Media is a prime candidate for adoption via viral approaches.  . 

How does this viral approach, to say introducing a wiki, work? 

It's all about how you choose the first, and may be second candidates for implementation of the wiki. This is where the left hand side of the change equation comes into play.

Dissatisfaction: Which part of the organisation is suffering real pain from a business problem that a wikil could help address.

Does the leader of that part of the organisation agree that the wiki would help address the problem? Because they are the  best person to articulate the Vision of how things will be when the problem is addressed.

Starting with one small part of the organisation means that you are not spreading your project and specialist resources too thinly, so you can rapidly plan, and support the First steps needed to make the wiki address the problem.

One final check - is this part of the organisation already overloaded with activities?  If so is the leader willing and able to drop enough to give this project a chance?

Organisational Resistance is likely to be low if the leader is supportive.

Personal Resistance can be addressed with a) focused resources and b) the persuasiveness of the leader.

Once you have one or two successes, news has spread and others are demanding the tool. The situation has changed and:

Dissatisfaction with current state is higher in other parts of the organisation than it was. they are now unhappy that they haven't got access to the tool.

Vision of how things could be is clear - you can see it in the first adopters areas.

First steps are more clear and have been tested and proven.

If you choose a viral approach to change,  the left hand side of the change equation helps you choose strategic candidates for initial adoption, i.e. ones likely to succeed and the right hand side helps you focus on tactical activities needed to ensure success.

Case Study: Social Media Roadmap, Policies & Guidelines

We have been working with a client helping them with a Social Media Roadmap. In other words, a way in which to use social media in order to deliver their business initiatives. The work was originally seen as a year long project but it quickly became obvious that the roadmap should see them busy for the next few years.

Years? Surely not! I am afraid so. I was encouraged to read that PwC have released a document which states:

"It takes years, not weeks, to embed consumer conversations in an organisation. Companies need to address this now or it will be a huge challenge to catch up. "

Social media: the future of customer relationships. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

You got it on the head Mr PwC. Now of course with Twitter having recently enjoyed its 5th birthday it is impossible to have a roadmap that is set in stone, but by thinking in this way, the organisation can see why they are using whichever social media tool in such and such a way, and consequently how it helps with the business benefits that they are hoping to achieve, and how that plays out in the overall company strategy. Ultimately they are going to have to revisit the roadmap periodically as the take up, functionality and popularity of new tools becomes apparent.

If there is a roadmap then you need some social media policies and guidelines as to how best use the tools.

• The roadmap is where you are heading.
• The policies are the 'You must... ' and 'You must not... '.
• The guidelines are a more softer approach with the how best to get the desired outcome. 

The client wanted these documents to have some colour in them and so I came up with a few drawings. Now I say a few as I felt it was best that the staff of the organisation come up with the rest for a few reasons:

1. It forces them to read the content and digest it differently.
2. By using their own images it reinforces their IPR awareness.
3. It gives them a sense of ownership of the documents.

Here's one of the images I came up with. OK so I am no artist - the drawings were only ever meant to be provisional! - the point that we were making is that the web magnifies your voice.

Overall the client is very happy. Like many organisations they were using social media tools because they felt they had to, and there is nothing wrong with that. What we did was helped them focus on what it is exactly they wanted from social media and offered them clear instructions on how to get it. 

If this is something you think you need help on feel free to get in touch.

Spring Fair 2011 - Birmingham NEC. Review Of Second Day

My second presentation at Spring Fair 2011 in Birmingham NEC brought in a similarly large if not a bit bigger crowd I am glad to report. All the feedback afterwards was very positive saying that people were able to take a lot from it. 

Me speaking at Spring Fair 2011

I met painter Helen Elliott again who explained that she set up a blog the evening after hearing my presentation on the first day! She was able to see the immediate value of this and so got to work. We got talking and I explained that my wife is 38 weeks pregnant. Helen then gave me a picture for our child's nursery! I was quite overwhelmed by her generosity and I intend to send her some free pointers to make her blog work well for her.

I also got a tweet from @emmaorange who also set up a blog after my presentation and another from @net2nana who worked some improvements on her Facebook page - glad my presentation was so inspirational! I hope that these people can carry on the momentum. I have learned over the years that it is easier to set up a blog than to maintain it. 

Keeping a blog going

I am thinking of the difference of Graham Parker Luthier who I gave a number of coaching sessions compared to a number of friends who have taken upon themselves to set up their own blog. My friends would be fired up enoough to start a blog and, because they have not been able to think of how they can sustain the thing long-term it usually quickly falls by the wayside, which of course is a shame.

One difference with Graham is that I was able to coach him through what to blog about, how to blog, and most importantly how to use the blog to drive his business forwards - so always blogging with his business objectives in mind. The second difference is that I was montoring what is was that Graham was doing. As he knew there were a constant pair of eyeballs on his online activity it really made him up his game.

Now I am not saying that unless you get outside help your blog will fail but I am saying that of the people I have coached, it's always the ones who have come up with a long-term social media strategy that have got the most success from it.

What's your story? Are you getting the results that you wanted? Are you stuck somewhere? Where is it? What is it like?

Helen Elliott's artwork in my child's nursery - that's the blue birthing pool in background!

Spring Fair 2011 - Birmingham NEC

I gave my first presentation at the Spring Fair in Birmingham NEC today. Was a great attendence and even managed to get two rounds of applause. (No, not when I started and when I finished!)

Social media and retailers are a funny mix. I learned today that there is a great awareness that "something" can be had from social media, but few know how to get the best out of it, well the few that I talked with today anyway. 

The retail industry is highly passionate, and quite dynamic. They have to be, otherwise they would not exist. It seems that this industry in particular is feeling the brunt of these austere economic times. Most of them seem open to the notion of venturing into the world of social media. And why not.

The Amazing Beatrix Potter stand.

My presentation seemed to go done very well. I got great feedback. I think I thought I was talking to a bunch of picture framers but it turns out I was talking to everyone from photographers to artists to teddy bear sellers - I met a lovely chap from teddybearfriends.co.uk! It's really great to meet such a diverse mix of people who all wanted to know more about how social media can work for their business.

Spring Fair itself is immense. I was really impressed with the Beatrix Potter stand. To be honest, as an Irish man, I was never much exposed to Beatrix Potter and never quite "got it". When I saw their stand today I was amazed. Such artistry.

Doggy Doorstops by Richard AllenSpeaking of which, I was also blown away by an artist called Helen Elliott. Helen was at my presentation and seemed to have got a fair deal from it - so she told me. Afterwards I saw Helen's art and it was nothing short of awesome. Bold, bright acrylics of mostly sea scenes. Helen told me she could make a fortune painting cows but chooses not to as it doesn't really get her going. 

I'll also mention Richard Allen who is the guy behind the Dog Doorstops. Richard is on a journey I think that is going to be huge for him. "We can't make the dogs quick enough." That is a really good sign. Just as Orla Kiely is making everything from cups to furniture I can see Richard's designs heading in a similar direction.

Thanks to everyone who came today to my presentation and gave me their time. Also thanks to everyone who gave me their time afterwards. I will be presenting again tomorrow at 2pm in Hall 2, Aisle E. Come if you are around.  

Were you there today? What did you think?

Social Media and the Spending Review Statement

Leaving aside the content of the Chancellor's statement on the spending review, and avoiding politics as much as possible, the government's approach to the spending review statement has implications for social media. 

Image by Lucy_HillThe government announced in advance that any comments it had to make about the statement would be tagged #spendingreview on Twitter.

At a stroke HMG acknowledged the importance of this social media channel and ignored the essence of it - conveying meaning with the minimum of (short) words. The Computer Weekly blog has a pithy but informative article on the hashtag issues caused by the spending review statement.

I had already discovered some of these issues on Wednesday when listening to the statement on TV.  I needed to leave the TV to do some work but wanting to keep half an eye on a Twitter stream to see what he said about education.

What hashtag to search on? A few general searches suggested #csr #spendingreview and #SR10.  Subsequently I became aware of #CSR10. The plethora of hashtags in itself is not a problem, a simple search of "#csr OR #csr10 OR #spendingreview OR ...." dealt with that problem, give or take the occasional tweet that seemed like a non sequitur until I realised that someone was using #csr for the more usual, most of the time, but less topical "Corporate Social Responsibility".  I suppose people with an interest in Corporate Social Responsibility were a bit miffed at the hijacking of their hashtag on Wednesday, yesterday, today ...

I am not sure what the answer is, or even quite what the question is around the use of hashtags. I guess the confusion cause by no consistency on use of hash tags is sorted by a mix of search terms and filters. Maybe familiarity with search and filters is essential for effective use of Twitter?

Anyway watching the twitter stream gave me an enhanced understanding of the announcements - much more than hearing them with the BBC commentary.  I guess it was for two very distinct but linked reasons:

First the chancellor did what many people do, either to obfuscate or to make the presentation more interesting, he regularly changed the basis on which he was providing figures.  The written downloadable statement is consistent in presentation of the figures so I'll assume he did this to make the presentation more interesting.  By changing the basis I mean he switched from: absolute terms - the budget for this department is cut from A to B; percentage terms - the budget for this department is cut by x%; to percentage relative to cost of living - the budget for this department will rise by 1% in real terms. 

However the effect of this potential confusion was negated in the Twitter stream because for every significant topic there was someone with an intense interest in what he had to say, and a very comprehensive understanding of the currrent situation, and therefore able to dissect, interpret and comment almost immediately.  As an example the  Chancellor announced that the Science budget would be frozen in cash terms.  So some commentators hailed this as good news until the following much retweeted tweet: "RT @faisalislam: 'Protecting science Budget at £4.6bn per year' equals a 9% real cut. Why treat us like idiots? #sr10"

This is probably not the first time that a session in parliament has been analysed inthis way on Twitter, but the government's acknowledgement in advance that it would happen seems like a coming of age for Twitter in UK politics. 

Leadership, Initiative Overload and Social Media

A Twitter conversation between people I respect has caused me to want to explore the issue of initiative overload in organisations.

image by anwerpenRI need to make some assumptions explicit as part of this exploration, and these have to be simplified and not reflecting the variety that you see in any organisations.  So imagine a simplified organisation with 100 people. 10 initiatives are proposed. Each initiative will succeed if it has strong sponsorship and 50% of the people are behind it. Initiatives get started with at least medium sponsorship and at least 25% support. Support for the 10 initiatives is fairly evenly spread across the population. Each person supporting only 3 initiatives, because they know through experience that this is the maximum that they can cope with.  (This means that every initiative has 30 "votes".) Perhaps the most important assumption of all is that whilst the leadership of the organisation can impose their choice, success of initiatives that do not have sufficient internal support is usually short lived.

So, in this organisation all 10 iniatives could get started but none completed and eveyone operating above their "iniatives limit" i.e. stressed.

What do you think of the analysis? What about the assumptions? Are some stupid, naive, or unrealistic?  Are there some important assumptions unstated? What parameters are completely wrong - can people cope with 5 not 3 organisation wide initiatives? How would you restate the assumptions to make them more realistic?

Having re-articulated the assumptions to your satisfaction, do you recognize the condition in practice?

If so, what can we do about it? Press on regardless does not seem a reasonable option? I feel that it would be sensible to surface and agree the values of the key parameters then work within them.  But working within the parameters in my artificial case means choosing a maximum of three initiatives and getting the support for them increased from maybe 30% to over 50%, presumably through persuasion and trade offs.  Some compromise is needed by virtually everyone.

It maybe that social media has a part to play here.  If there were a place where the case for each initiative could be shared, discussed, challenged and maybe improved, it is possible that some would change their minds voluntarily, some would see support for their favoured initiatives dwindle and with good or poor grace switch allegiance. Cases might be made that a particular initiative would be more successful after another had succeeded.  In any case, it may be possible for leadership intervention to succeed in reducing the options further from, say, 6 to the necessary3.  Why would this succeed given what I said before about leadership unilateral action?  Well it would not be unilateral action.  Leadership would have decided after all who wanted to do had aired their views, and if the leadership could demonstrate that they had listened and that their own thoughts on options had been swayed, it is likely that their action would create greater support for the chosen options.

Of the assumptions I've made above, the two most important are:

• Initiatives don't succeed long term without sufficient support from the members of the organisation
• Everyone has a limit to the number of internal initiatives that they can cope with and that imposes a limit on the number of organisation wide initiatives that should be attempted.

Discovering what the "organisation initiatives limit" is would seem to be an important consideration for leadership.  Maybe good leaders have a feel for the answer intuitively? Maybe they are able to increase that limit for their organisation?