Have you heard of the Do Lectures? It’s all based on the idea that ‘people who go and do things can inspire the rest of us to go do things’…  and it came from a small but clever country called Wales. Each year they invite a bunch of interesting and inspiring people down to West Wales to tell their story. The talks are available online and what they have developed is a great resource that anyone and everyone can dip into.

I’ve been following a guy called Gerd Leonhard for some time now. He calls himself a media futurist, I buy into what he is saying and I like the way he says it. He spoke at the Do Lectures last year around what he calls ‘the journey from egosystem to ecosystem’. It’s worth watching.

Thinking about some of the things I am involved with right now – including the interesting and big challenge which is how to get a whole country behind sharing good quality content in pursuit of becoming a more attractive and successful travel destination – a lot of what he speaks about resonates with me. That includes the following … in his words plus some of mine (and I guess that’s the point).

We used to live in an egosystem. Everything was big. Big companies, big government and of course big budgets.  That has changed in so many ways. We are starting to figure out the value and benefit in small and the challenges and problems associated with big.  We have been hugely empowered and we are living in a hyper connected economy.

 Collaboration is increasingly becoming the business model of the future. Whilst not impossible, it is going to become increasingly difficult to achieve things on your own.  The smartest stuff is often ‘proudly found elsewhere’ and there is nothing wrong with that. Embrace it. Add to it.  Make it better. Success is increasingly dependent on return on engagement rather than return on investment. But in pursuit of that success we might have to give up some of the things we like and have become accustomed to. Including control.

 These days nothing is ever finished and things are in a constant state of evolution and flux. Being in permanent Beta can be stressful. We have to get used to it.

Interestingly enough much of this will happen in the developing world. Places which are less constrained by ‘the way we do things’ and the structures that exist around them.  Increasingly the wisdom of the crowd is driving new ways of doing things and a win win for all concerned.

Regarding that challenge I mentioned earlier these are exactly the sorts of things we are becoming acutely aware of where rising to that challenge is concerned. And I am pretty excited about it. More on that in the New Year so watch this space.

Tags: change, collaboration, future

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This post is kind of a Part II to my previous post – Digital Socialism – a very practical cultural change. It’s to do with looking a bit harder at the way that digital socialism behaves.

The book Here Comes Everyone by Clay Shirky (a very smart fella) considers the way digital social arrangements develop. Here’s a précis of his four steps.

Sharing

When we were kids learning to be a ‘good sharer’ was important. Initially we didn’t much like it but over time sharing made life much better in lots of ways. We interacted, we made friends, we played with those friends, we learnt from them and we felt bonded to them. Online we are creating and sharing lots of stuff – images, video, status updates and bookmarks to name but a few. Sharing is the starting point for cooperation.

Cooperation

We do stuff that makes it easier for the community to use the things we’ve made. We tag content with categories, labels and keywords. We do it because it makes life easier for everyone. It also strengthens the power and output of the community. Take Digg and Reditt as examples – their top stories can influence what we consume as much as any newspaper.

Collaboration

“Serious collaborators put in far more energy than they could ever get in return. This is why the sum out performs the parts”

Simply put I suppose collaboration is a more organised form of cooperation. It had baffled me for a long time why thousands of people would write code for open source software projects. Why do they invest their time and energy? The answer is a whole bunch of things; altruism, recognition from their peers, status, reputation, enjoyment, learning and satisfaction.

Collectivism

This is the thicker end of the stick. How are these communities held together in the long term? Who decides what the priorities are? How do they balance direction between the leaders and the rest of the community? While millions of people contribute to Wikipedia, where would it be without the circa 2,000 editors keeping it in check?

I tend to agree with Mr Shirky;

“In the past, constructing an organisation that exploited hierarchy yet maximised collectivism was nearly impossible. Now digital networking provides the necessary infrastructure. The internet empowers product focused organisations to function collectively while keeping hierarchy from taking over”.

Interesting.  I think this is a useful framework for working with groups and organisations in the offline world;

• Are we making life easier for each other?
• What are we getting out of the work we do?
• Are the people in charge mindful of the community?

That’s all for now, just some thoughts really …

Tags: collaboration, collectivism, cooperation, digital socialism, people management, sharing, wiki working

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