How about working 72 hours a week?
Forget about the good ol’ 40, 50 or even 60-hour work week. In the new networked economy where 24/7 access to information is the norm, executives, managers, and professionals are connected to their jobs up to 72 hours a week.
Here is the thing: we don’t mind being connected to work for more than eight hours a day. But we are upset when companies use 24/7 connectedness to compensate for organizational inefficiencies: useless meetings and emails, inadequate technology, disorganized or incompetent C-suites, and unclear decision-making authority.
A beautifully written analysis of what prevents great ideas from spreading. Insightful, scientific, and yet very human. Take your time to read it, well worth it!
“In our era of electronic communications, we’ve come to expect that important innovations will spread quickly. Plenty do: think of in-vitro fertilization, genomics, and communications technologies themselves. But there’s an equally long list of vital innovations that have failed to catch on. The puzzle is why.”
Social by nature
Enterprise social networks are not just about sharing knowledge or improving communications. Human beings are born within networks of families, cities, societies. Aristotle believed that we could not fully develop our human potential without the support of our social networks.
Why should this stop at the office door? Enterprise social networks are a manifestation of our human nature.
How to put social tools to work at your company
Enterprise social networking is just at the beginning. There is often a big gap between its great potential and the reality of medium and large corporations. Most companies say they want a more open and collaborative culture, but have structures and policies in place that actually prevent it. Yammer’s Bryony Cole knows what she is talking about and has advice to share.
No matter how extended our online networks are, they are no match for the real thing. Listen to what Marshall Davis Jones has to say about it.