The Networked Community. In a decade-long engagement, we recommend, design, and carry out initiatives that promote a more "networked community" at a Global 10 enterprise. Four years ago, we introduced OrgScope there to analyze the organization design from a network perspective. Findings enabled the company to redefine its cross-organization leadership forum, simplify its communication strategy, and truly map the extent of its service groups.
Building a global software network. NetAge spent a year with one technology icon establishing its first truly global software organization. Before that, unconnected teams worked in each country -- Japan, China, India, Ireland, France, and the U.S. At our first meeting, we asked the client to sketch his network on the whiteboard; he covered a 20-foot wall. Together, we designed a plan to connect the nodes on his map. We built a network of teams across the sites and launched a rolling series of meetings in North America, Asia, and Europe. The network held through many corporate reorganizations and the key nodes in it remain connected eight years later.
Advising senior government officials on networked organizations. We get invited to meetings, some short, some as long as a week, where we're asked to put on our "network glasses," talk to people, reflect on what they're saying, then present our findings and recommendations. Often, we're invited to give a talk at a longer meeting then remain as participants, eventually launching more networks within the organization.
The first “Jam” outside IBM. When a European company asked us to identify the most creative collaboration experiment we could find, we recommended an IBM-style Jam, the pioneering "massively parallel conversation," where thousands of people tackle enterprise-sensitive issues in a couple of days online. For more on IBM's Jams see “Leading Change When Business is Good” in Harvard Business Review. With our client, we designed, conducted, and analyzed a two-day online conversation. Invitations went to the whole company of 5000. Their most recent employee survey provided the key topics. About 1000 people checked in during the jam. Intense conversations surfaced good ideas from all over the company. They implemented the easy ones and added the more complex to their long-term plan. Our thanks to IBM for its help with this project. To get the whole organization talking, we recommend Jams.
