Those of you who follow me regularly know that it is out of the ordinary for me to go this long without a post, but I have not been without ideas, just very, very busy. Between my late nights working on my Web Conference and CCL Staff Retreat presentations, I have fit in some other activities fo interest.
One such such activity is CBC Radio's Spark podcast. They interviewed Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody". (By coincidence Mark Greenfield also mentioned this book at the Web Conference.) He talked about what he calls a "cognitive surplus" in our society. Technology has enabled us to have more free time. In the past, most people used this time on passive activities, like watching television. With social media, people can participate in activities that interest them.
So what am I doing with my cognitive surplus, other listening to the podcast? Well, I've also finally gotten my hands on a copy of Mavericks at Work by Polly LaBarre and Bill Taylor. (You'll recall that Polly was the inspiration for my series on Jargon Monoxide.) I'm not very far in the book but am enjoying it. Thus far, the book is similar to the work of Jim Collins in that it looks for common practices in successful businesses and nonprofits. Examples include Southwest Airlines, ING Direct, and Google.
In the first chapter, "Not Just a Company, a Cause: Strategy as Advocacy", they discuss the need for everyone to feel engaged in a cause. With all due respect to mission statements and vision statements, I have yet to find one formed by committee that really engaged the entire population by itself. That said, people need to have a cause clearly articulated to them so they can get on board (or be counseled out).
In addition to having a central cause, allowing people to take on individual personal causes that support the overarching mission/vision/cause does wonders for motivation. It gets people to expend their "cognitive surplus" at 11:23 PM on a work night blogging about work for colleagues. After all, real innovation probably won't happen in the typical hours of the workday when people are putting out fires.
I hope you're joining the Robin2go/cstubbs book club...I'd love to read the Mavericks book when you're finished. ;)
Michelle, I officially joined and added the book to the list! :)
There are so few places that really understand how to communicate their missions clearly enough for staff to feel comfortable standing behind the mission.