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In the collection Strategy Seeding for Change: Preparing for a new way of working Need for Speed: Sharing news better and faster in a geographically dispersed organization.

Seeding for Change

Preparing for a new way of working

(Aug 2004, original version April 2002)

Moving to the web brings threatening changes for many people:

• Increased visibility, means that power shifts down; actions and decisions are taken at lower levels.
• Teams (cross functional, virtual, cross company) exert high influence, sometimes more than traditional, corporate-defined units.
• Internal and external boundaries shift, forcing more transparency with clients, suppliers and employees.
• Real time pressures result from faster reporting and communication.
• Customers expect round the clock service.
• Jobs are changing and new skills are required.

The real challenge in moving a company’s internal business to the intranet is not the strategy itself. It's making the strategy real. And that means getting people to work differently. It’s usually a question of attitude and preparation on the part of the company and the people.

Management needs to agree on strategic guidelines, principles that will underlie all actions and programs over the next few years. These principles must be strong, simple, limited in number. They must be easy to remember every time a manager makes a decision, defines a program, sets up a project.

Three strategic principles

 1. Teach survival skills:

Provide training to employees: web writing, usage of email and basic office tools, shared calendars, web search techniques, usage of team rooms or groupware.

 2. Work and think cross-functionally:

Recognize that multidisciplinary teams must think, plan and work together whatever the project. This means involving all key players in net initiatives. It is no longer possible for a single department to function alone.

 3. Aim for a "Net Attitude"

• Think "net": will this be useful if I put it on the intranet, the web, ...
  • Who else needs this? How can I make it available to them.
• Write "net": prepare all materials to be net-friendly, ...
  • Train people to prepare all documents and material for true multi-media usage
• Reward "net attitude"
  • Take a person's "net performance" into account in job descriptions and job performance assessments.

If managers remember these three principles each time they set up a project, work with their teams, define job objectives and conduct performance reviews, the company will gradually evolve to a different way of working. A way of doing business that integrates the net into daily work and brings true return on investment.

(Aug 2004, original version April 2002)

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