Snow and more questions

I spent the last couple of days running a MasterClass at Hendon and, amazingly for an event in the UK, we didn't come to a juddering halt just because there were a few centimetres of snow - although I had to stop organiser Alex Garforth running a snowman competetion.

One issue that was debated a bit was "how do you use on-line planning tools".  A couple of the delegates were considering setting up centralised systems for air traffic control and were wondering what experiences people had with them.  What they wanted to know was what are the potential pitfalls and what are the things you have to do to make sure they work - i.e. what do you only find out with a bit of experience when it's too late!  For example there was a long discussion about how do you get people to lodge plans on a central system when it looks like the benefit of doing so is actually enjoyed by someone else. 

Anyone got any tips and hints?

Liam

Comments

[Nicholas Ranken]

Hi Liam,

My immediate reaction to your question is: make sure that there is a benefit for those people before even considering it!

I'm not sure about you, but I don't do much that doesn't provide any benefit at all! It's human nature. Even voluntary work has some element of personal reward to it.

I'm not sure how such a system would work. But I can imagine that if it was in a global company and, say, you are trying to coordinate communications with regional offices that have been used to a certain degree of liberty then you might want to:

1. Bring these people on-board early to participate in the elaboration of the planning system. Start by explaining your concerns and strategy (why another new system!!).
2. LISTEN to their needs too. One I can imagine is that they may feel isolated and not have enough support from HQ. They may be looking to hear experiences and best-practices from their peers.
3. Where possible, adapt the system plans so that the system also provides value to them: make available central comm briefs that can be of use to them, provide discussion space for asking questions and exchanging best-practices...
4. Rather than thinking purely system, tool, IT etc. Why not look at the idea of forming a community of corporate communicators or a best practice community? Take away the impersonal IT and people can often relate to the objective better: "oh, so we can get all these tips, info and feedback and in exchange I just need to make my plans visible".

I wouldn't touch the project if there wasn't any benefit at all for those poor people!

Just a few thoughts

Cheers

Nicholas

[Liam]

Thanks for this Nicholas (I hope people are looking at your Blog - http://www.changecommblog.com).

I think the problem is that everyone agrees that you need to show some sort of benefit to the outlying groups and that people generally recognise co-ordination as a 'good idea' - it's just that it always seems so difficult to sustain.

Even when you convene meetings or regular conference calls, numbers drop off and the effort required to keep them on track feels disproportionately high.

We were wondering is anyone out there had cracked it and what had they actually done to keep people sharing plans, problems and ideas on a continuing basis...

Liam

[Nicholas Ranken]

OK I had understood the question as how to get people to enter information in a system where the benefit was purely for head office.

I agree sustaining is just as tough. But, surely a system, meeting, conf call that provides REAL value will be maintained. It's Darwin's survival of the fittest for the modern day. We see this with social media all the time.

However that is only the carrot. The stick usually comes from making participation obligatory: part of the job, validation procedures or annual objectives.

I participated in the creation of a custom-built e-learning hub and it amazes me that 2 years later that user numbers are higher than ever and the system is known as THE place to find training to use a particular finance system. Even though I am a big fan of technology, I was very sceptical about people adopting on-line training.

The carrot in this case is high-quality content that was tailored to the company way of working and job profiles. The training meets users' needs because it is adapted to their daily life. The stick is the fact that no new access rights are granted to the finance system unless the relevant training has been correctly completed on-line.

OK enough of my theories and thoughts. Maybe there are some useful ideas that could be help others, maybe not. I guess what you really need is a case study specifically related to a communication planning tool.

Nicholas