“How it Works” is a 5 minute video by IBM Research that describes the changing nature of the way we work. There’s not much “new” but it is well-presented and I think would be useful as an opener or adjunct to many of my workshops and presentations on learning & working on the Web. I’m sure many of my colleagues would find it useful for similar purposes.

It discusses the main challenges in today’s workplace:

1. embracing change, and
2. connecting & working with people far away

IBM Research provides a good metaphor for dealing with constant change in the workplace – ” like changing tires on a speeding car”. I particularly agree with the statement that “Employees are ready … it’s the processes that guide their work that haven’t kept up”.

Everyone is facing these challenges and, once again, the crux of the matter is giving up control in order to have a more resilient organization. Resilience, or the ability to learn and adapt, will be the key factor in successful tire changes.

I found a recent HBR article on The Big Shift by Hagel & Brown via Betrand Duperrin, who provides his own comments in French (and in English). The key point of the HBR article is that Return on Assets have diminished over the past several decades, in spite of increases in productivity. The authors say that many organizations no longer reflect the realities of the external environment which now includes networks of transparency and multiple knowledge flows.

Twentieth-century institutions built and protected knowledge stocks—proprietary resources that no one else could access. The more the business environment changes, however, the faster the value of what you know at any point in time diminishes. In this world, success hinges on the ability to participate in a growing array of knowledge flows in order to rapidly refresh your knowledge stocks. For instance, when an organization tries to improve cycle times in a manufacturing process, it finds far more value in problem solving shaped by the diverse experiences, perspectives, and learning of a tightly knit team (shared through knowledge flows) than in a training manual (knowledge stocks) alone.

How does an organization adapt to become more transparent? Change the organizational framework from a hierarchy to a wirearchy, incorporating two-way flows of power and authority. According to Jay Cross & Jon Husband:

Intangibles travel via networks, and networks are the infrastructure for doing business in the future. An overarching caveat here: Strategist and practitioner Stuart Henshall said trust is critical. “It’s the one qualitative factor all networks depend upon.”

Without trust, human networks don’t work and without networks, businesses won’t succeed.

Even with an understanding of knowledge flows and networks, organizations are slow to discard training as the primary method of personnel development.  Charles Jennings sees a very limited role for formal training. “The evidence has been around for a long time that formal training on detailed task and process-based activities in advance of the need to carry out the task or use the process is essentially useless.”

The alternatives to formal training programs include the integration of collaborative working and learning using online social networks, and Jane Hart is an expert with many of these platforms, have used and tested a wide variety of them.

So that, in my opinion, is how to address the big shift: to be effective in a networked economy, individuals and organizations must integrate working and learning so that there is no longer a distinction between the two. As Jay Cross & Clark Quinn say, “In business, networks supplement, surround and challenge hierarchies. Sound vision and leadership will inspire, not control, workers. Managers, workers, customers and partners will recognise we’re all in this together.”

I’ve worked with quite a few non-profit associations and been a member of several non-profit associations. I’ve also let many of my memberships expire without renewal. In many cases I’ve felt that I could have better relationships through my own networks, via my blog, Twitter or a free social network, like LearnTrends. Associations put me on their listserv, sent me newsletters or maybe let me engage in an online discussion forum, but for the most part they weren’t focused on my specific professional development needs. After time I had moved beyond the core of the association, much as I found that many association conferences catered more to novices. I became more interested in unconferences, podcamps and meetups. I wanted to connect with other members from whom I could learn, not review what I already knew.

Clay Shirky says that associations need to seriously consider how they reinforce lateral line of communications (peer-peer) and not just information from the centre to the membership. David Wilcox covers Shirky’s interview on associations where he discusses the case of the ACLU and Wilcox uses this diagram to describe where associations need to go – from hierarchy to network.

I think many associations are facing challenges of declining enrollment and I’ve seen many conferences this year shrink in comparison to past years. However, I’ve also seen increases in local networking, tweetchats, free web conferences and anything else that lets people connect on their terms. The challenge is for associations to drop the hierarchical management model and figure out how to use a network model. It’s the same challenge that corporations and bureaucracies are, or will be, facing; with one key difference. In most associations the members get to vote with their dues every year. As more forms of web social media offer viable networking options, the days of the hierarchical membership association may soon be over. Which model would you rather be a member of?