Enterprise 2.0: Social Media, Collaboration and Innovation in

Organizational Context

Assumptions• The knowledge of the practice (expertise) resides in the minds

of its members—within the community (not necessarily in a data base, with the top leaders, or with a proponent organization)

• Connecting leaders in conversation enables them to share their experience, create new knowledge, and improve the practice

• Responsibility for expert knowledge resides with the practitioners (organizational focus then shifts to development of the network and a professional identity of participation and learning)

• Conversations, Content and Connections are the “life-blood” of a community of practice

• Leaders learn the most from their experience and want more than just an answer to their questions (knowledge is dynamic, personal, and contextual)

Case Example:CompanyCommand

Communities of Practice

Groups that share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and... deepen their knowledge and

expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.

Cultivating Communities of PracticeEtienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William Snyder

Highly dynamic environment

A Highly Influential “Practice”

Decentralized Operations

Where strategy is

operationalized

High Level of Authority &

Responsibility

Every Soldier is in a

company— about 120

soldiers per company

Complex, rapidly evolving enemy

Implementing agent on all policies that impact on, or

include soldiers

Slide 4

CC FOUNDING STORY• Front-porch conversation focused on learning &

becoming more effective leaders• Grounded in relationships• Team of volunteers, fresh out of command—driven

to pass on learning to the next generation of commanders.

• Point Man Concept• Evolving form, with a laser-beam focus on serving

company commanders• Senior Army leaders recognize potential & help

resource the initiative

Purpose, Values, Envisioned Future

Team Purpose and Values

To improve the effectiveness of company commanders, and to advance

the practice of company command.

• “Positive Voice” with a focus on solutions• Passion for Quality • Committed to the Army• Innovative & Creative•“Grass Roots”

Targeting the Learning Curve

Time

Effectiveness

Learning Curve withCommunity of Practice

Effectiveness six months later

Effectiveness in a new experience

X

X

Learning Curve withoutCommunity of Practice

Time

Effectiveness

Learning Curve with

Effectiveness six months later

Effectiveness in a new experience

X

Learning Curve without

Envisioned Future

Vision: Every company-level leader—past, present, & future—connected in a vibrant conversation about

building and leading combat-ready teams.

Innovation Video Clip

“We’re up against evolving threats, we have evolving foes.”

“We have to have a living, thinking, breathing, dynamic organization—from top to bottom.”

Innovation Video Clip

The Model

Knowledge Silos

Branch Branch Unit Unit

SchoolHouse

Field

Manual TransfersDepartmental BarriersInefficientLag

Integrative Learning Model

Community

of Practice

Hierarchical

Formal, Explicit

Emergent

Informal, Tacit

Assumption:The Leader/Organization know what the most effective practice is and tell the field to implement

Assumption:The “touch points” of the enterprise know what the most effective practice is.

The power to transform the organization happens when you bring the formal and the informal together!

Distributed Community Space Online

Community space is organized around the main functions of the practice of command. If commanders do these well, they will be effective.

Each section is facilitated and developed by a topic lead who is an experienced commander and has a depth of experience and passion in the specific topic he or she is a lead for.

Everything in the community space is targeted towards the effective practice of company command.

Most recent conversations are brought forward and highlighted on the front page to create the effect of an ongoing professional conversation

Featuring members introduces the community to itself and facilitates professional connections.

The leadership team writes a community of practice monthly newsletter that is emailed out to all members. The newsletter has links to new content and conversations and also contains a thought piece on leadership.

Leader 2 Leader (L2L)Face to Face Gatherings

Leader 2 Leader

One strategy that invigorates the distributed community is a gathering of leaders who come together face-to-face to share their

knowledge and lessons learned, and to talk about things that matter when it comes to leading and building combat-ready teams.

In the

Experience

Coming out of the

experience

Preparing for the experience

Preparing for Afghanistan

1. Professional reading

Afghan Cdr Strategy

2. Afghan Cdr Lessons Learned BookPackaged input from officers with Afghanistan command experience into a book, and hand delivered it to commanders preparing to deploy.

3. Leader 2 Leader Connections Commanders who led in Afghanistan flew to

the unit preparing to deploy there. They spent three days in small-group seminars and informal interactions, sharing their hard-earned knowledge.

4. Sub-Community Formed in Online Space

In the

Experience

Coming out of the

experience

Preparing for the experience

L2L: Prep for Afghanistan

In the

Experience

Coming out of the

experience

Preparing for the experience

Six leaders who commanded in Afghanistan spent three

days in working sessions with company commanders

preparing to deploy there.

Leader Challenge

Leader Challenge

Based on feedback from members of the

community, we can almost guarantee at some point in your deployment you will have to make a call to …

Leader Challenge

iLink

“Amazon.com like” Recommendations

Non iLink Users, after two months

iLink Users, after two months

Collective Intelligence: Enabling Knowledge Creation

Inward Facing: CompanyCommand.army.mil

Externally Facing: EPA’s Puget Sound

Information Challenge wiki

Where the Army is Going …

milSuite – Locate, Share, Connect

Military suite of Web 2.0 technologies behind the firewall. Uses AKO/DKO authentication with restrictions on account

types and AKO/DKO’s identity management service.

• milWiki is a Military encyclopedia and home to TRADOC’s Army Doctrine portal for conversion of Army Field Manuals

into Army Tactic Techniques and Procedures.

• milBook is a professional networking site with hundreds of collaborative groups and an enterprise platform for the

DoD’s Business Transformation Agency.

•milBlog is a community-wide blog for sharing news and events and an essential tool in the sharing of information

related to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).

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Professional Networking

• Share and Connect– Follow People and

Activities– Provide Status Updates– Track activities in your

network• Advanced Profiles and

Personalized View• Publish Content

– Blogs– Documents (wikis)– Discussions

• Get Organized– Public and Private

Groups– Customizable

Communities of Interest

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Community Broadcasts

• Share Knowledge – Announcements– Updates to

Processes– News and Alerts– Events– Achievements/

Awards• Provide Feedback• Showcase

– Columnists– Communities

• Discover– Discoverable Content– Monthly Archives– Tags – Categories

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Military Encyclopedia

• Online Publishing– Units/ Organizations– Processes, Regs, SOPs– Systems/ Technologies– Lessons Learned, Best

Practices

• Leverage Community Knowledge– Wiki Portals– Community Projects – Gardening Efforts– Semantic wiki capabilities

• Define the Standard– Article Templates– Categories– InfoBoxes

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Video Communications

• Broadcast videos – Announcements– Vignettes– Training and Guidance– News and Features– Interviews– Promote tools, sites,

projects and achievements

• Establish Channels– Organize and share

videos– Provide face to the

community • Discover content

– Custom search options

– Embedded video throughout milSuite sites Coming Soon…

Orion

Conclusion