For those of us who believe in connection, conversation, and collaboration, 2024 was both joyful and heartbreaking. There were tantalizing signs that people would come together and create new, joyful possibilities and too many indications that the mechanistic, controlling, and hierarchical orientation is still limiting what is possible. At the heart of it all is
read moreThe enterprise collaboration technology market has changed significantly since I was IDC’s first social software market analyst in 2007. On the external/customer side, large social networks gobbled up the market, which reverted to a renewed emphasis on advertising vs engagement as social network operators squeezed out more revenue and profits. On the internal side, Microsoft
read moreLack of accountability in the workplace is often framed as the responsibility of individuals or managers. It is seen as something created by bad actors; employees who are particularly toxic or manipulative. While there are no doubt plenty of people who are manipulative, they do not behave that way in a vacuum. The behavior persists
read moreMost executives do not think about the strategic cost of data, yet it is creating significant operational costs and adding immense friction for employees across organizations. With the move toward SaaS solutions that allow employees and departments to adopt software without centralized IT oversight, the quantity of organizational data has exploded. In the Marketing space,
read moreJoyful workplaces are not generally strategic goals for senior executives. Engaged maybe. Efficient definitely… but joyful? Executives would do well to reconsider. At first blush, joy seems like a nice to have but it is actually a strategic strength; for employees it is compelling, addictive, and stress-reducing. For organizations, it is a driver of efficiency,
read moreWe gathered 20 digital and collaborative workplace strategists to discuss the findings and recommendations included in our Hybrid Work Executive Brief. We also wanted to hear their perspectives and experiences on solutions that increase the effectiveness of hybrid work. These experts included individuals across sectors and in different roles and resulted in a rich and
read moreFostering culture change relies on understanding the individuals you hope to change and personas are a valuable starting point. Personas are an important tool used by strategists and product designers and are critical to understanding the people we are trying to engage. However, how these profiles are framed has a significant impact on the success
read moreMy work with communities for the past decade was focused on how communities align ecosystems in a world of constant adaptation and that work is the foundation of Engaged Organizations’ Theory of Change. In a world of robots, automation, and AI work is changing at an accelerating pace and that means that organizations are changing
read moreAI is Amazing Technology AI is not new but the release of ChatCPT has inserted AI into daily life. You know it’s mainstream when gardeners are using it for design and planning. It is a great way to fix HTML code. I have really appreciated they way it generates a structure and and draft of
read moreEngagement is a hot word right now. But what does it mean? The answer likely lies in who is using the term, the context, and the orientation. It’s a word that is thrown around a lot. It is rarely clarified, creating the perception of alignment where it does not exist. It’s critical to unpack it
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