Today I had the great fortune to attend the Center for Information Management Studies (CIMS) program at Babson College.  I almost didn’t go – having just returned from the Enterprise 2.0 conference, I was feeling a bit “full” of talk on collaboration and technology. But luckily three things coerced me into attending.

1. The event was being produced by Kavin Moody of CIMS, who I had worked with a few weeks back on a similar symposium at Olin Innovation Lab (Olin College of Engineering), and was impressed with the group and his work.

2.  The speaker, Karen Sobel Loeski was highly recommended by my colleague Joe Wehr, whose opinion I respect and value greatly.

3. The topic was just a bit left of center – Leading the Virtual Workforce.

So I decided to go. WOW – OMG am I glad I did.

Karen Sobel Loeski was not only a dynamic, engaging and entertaining speaker, but her message was fascinating.  As those of you who follow my work know, when I address collaboration and knowledge management audits I utilize an 8-dimension model. Using a variety of techniques I measure the effectiveness of (and obstacles caused by) these 9 facets.

In performing these assessments leadership style is assessed – as part of team structure, communication and structure. But, Karen’s work focuses deeply  on leadership.

While I  pontificate on the value of leadership and best practices in leading collaborative teams – and the need for a different approaches when teams are virtual – Karen actually has come up with something called the virtual distance, an approach by which one can measure the reach or gap that exists amongst a virtual team.

I will not go into her talk and work in detail here. I recommend that you buy her 2 books – really.

I will summarize my favorite points.

1. The need to address the issue of virtual distance is critical in this era of Enterprise 2.0.  One of the biggest value propositions of E2.0 is the ability to support and facilitate effective team-based collaboration regardless of time and distance between team members. This is empowering, but as we migrate to a virtual workforce, we need to realize that the approach and role of team management needs to be adapted. All too often we hear that E2.0 is about collaboration without leadership, anarchy, and the destruction of business management. Karen (and I) averts that this simply is not so. Teams – virtually any team (no pun intended) – begs for leadership – of some sort. The leader of a virtual team faces different challenges and requires different sensitivities and skills but is as critical as a “traditional” team leader.

2. Although typically associated with geographically dispersed teams, virtual distance can occur between 2 people sitting in the same car (you had to be there to appreciate this comment). Virtual distance is a cognitive and psychological distance as well as a physical distance. Karen provides a 10-dimension model to assess the virtual distance of a team.

The Virtual Distance Index^TM

3.  Glocalization of our workforces has changed many issues for business – not just leadership style. We need to reexamine how we evaluate the value of our workers and the work they perform. ROI models steeped in “cost/time of widgets produced” models simply do not work any longer.  Karen offered many great examples; one:  Adobe Reader makes no money directly for Adobe, so it has no value right? – We all know the answer is “wrong” – it is “new value”.  Although “its not about the technology” – technology is changing the economic models of the past.

Interestingly enough, I was speaking with Michael Idinopulos of SocialText the other day. SocialText  provides a host of services (including assessments) along with their E2.0 technology, because (as a virtual company themselves) they appreciate that the value derived from technologies that enable virtual collaboration and teaming is only maximized if the culture AND LEADERSHIP associated with the technology usage are specifically adapted to leverage the technologies and the environments they create. Michael addresses the issue of “leaderless collaboration” very well in his post Transparency, not Anarchy.

I think part of the reason we are having such a difficult time getting through this transition is partially based in our lexicon. Perhaps we need to think of another term for technology-enabled teams and collaboration  that transcend time and distance.  We call them virtual – but there is NOTHING virtual about them.  They are very real, and they are very powerful.  I’ll wrap this somewhat lengthy post up by stealing a quote from Karen’s presentation – she quoted Albert Einstein “We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.”

While much of the work that we do is focused on the application of technology to business workers, we’ll depart from that theme in this interview, to address issues around personal development, team-based working, and the “strengths movement” coming out of Positive Psychology – along with the re-invention of the publishing industry in the form of Manga-style books, blogs, twitter, and more.

The interview today with best-selling author Dan Pink, who you may know from his books Free Agent Nation, A Whole New Mind, or the topic of today’s conversation, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.

While there are 6 major points covered in the Business Manga Novel “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko“  – we hone in on two of the six that I had felt were the most important to the conversations I have with my clients the and work that I do.

Those are:

1. Think strengths, not weaknesses
2. It’s not about you

We discuss how the implications of this book are most certainly useful for individuals to focus on their own careers and growth paths, but how the larger ramifications of fully engaging in these behaviors is at the root of what seem to be the complete OPPOSITE of these ideals – as embodied in the big, slow-moving, and currently floundering automotive and airline industries.

As always, a brief discussion as to what Twitter means to Dan in his work as an author and speaker, and a bit of a diversion on crowdsourcing efforts that Dan and his publisher used in order to uncover the prize-winning 7th secret piece of career advice, out of field of over one thousand entries, as narrowed by Dan, and ultimately, chosen by the crowd.

Any and all feedback welcomed – and if you have an innovation story that needs to be shared, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, either by commenting, or contacting me directly – dk[at]informationArchitected[dot]com or 617-933-9655.

Dan Pink can be found on Twitter as @danielpink, and as always, I’m @dankeldsen .

Is your Information Architected for Innovation? for Collaboration? to leverage the strengths of the workers and teams within the organization?

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Listen to the Interview: IAM Talking with Dan Pink

Is your Information Architected for Innovation? for Collaboration? to leverage the strengths of the workers and teams within the organization?

Contact us at 
617-933-9655 to discuss how you can put in place systematic tools, techniques and yes, technology to make the most of the strengths of the people within your organization

More details on our practices related to Innovation can be found at:

• Innovation Management Workshops and Coaching/Consulting

Several weeks ago, I spent 5 days in Portland, OR, most of that time spent working and learning along side a scrappy group of people from a ~150 person manufacturing company.

The topics we were wrestling with? Innovation and creative problem solving.

Now, these days, particularly in the United States, two dirty words/phrases are manufacturing (due to close tie to automotive manufacturing sector) and banking (’nuff said). So, color me surprised to meet some of the most innovative, and frankly, incredible people in a company who may be the most incredibly well poised for current and future success of any team I’ve ever encountered.

Theories Don’t Do Diddly… Action is Required

What I found most fascinating is that this company has taken the best of the best of “management theories” – whether it be Six Sigma for quality in their processes, Lean in streamlining manufacturing and in actively (and always) engaging their customers through “Voice of the Customer” or in systematically engaging ALL employees (absolutely EVERYONE from the receptionist to machinists to business managers and up to the CEO) in innovation and creative problem solving on a daily basis.

All the management theories that people seem to write off (Six Sigma is a fad, Lean is only for Japan, innovation can’t be taught let alone done by “normal” business people) – they are LIVING and DOING every day. Theory is “just a theory” if you don’t actually USE the theory, and being aware of theory is entirely different from using it every day.

Fascinating – and incredibly inspiring.

Double-down or Hunker-down?

While so many organizations are hunkering down and simply hoping for better days, or cutting to the bone, this team has more than doubled-down and has made an investment not only in the company as a profit-generating entity, and a commitment to excellence with their customers, but a literal investment in each and every employee that not only benefits the company and the employees TODAY, but is likely to have significant benefits for them for the rest of the careers, regardless of where that might be.

Even the Government Gets It

Through the local (to New England) cable news network NECN.com, I ran across a video clip of US Vice President Joe Biden discussing how the need for innovation exists across ALL industries, and that, as I’d mentioned above, American manufacturing has beaten down in recent years, that it’s not ALL bad news. Manufacturing innovation exists in many other areas, and many (certainly not ALL, of course) of the displaced workers from the auto industry have found work in manufacturing-related fields – alternative energy – wind turbine production, for example, solar panels, and many more.

Interesting presentation by the VP – I encourage you to take a look/listen and would appreciate hearing your thoughts, whether on the state of innovation at large, or as relates to manufacturing specifically. (Warning: beyond my control, but there is an insurance ad baked into this clip that front-ends the speech).

(jump below the video to continue this entry)

(if video isn’t loading – appears to be a NECN issue – go direct to the source clip)

Interested in taking Innovation to the next level in YOUR career and organization?

Carl and I have been involved in a course on innovation and creative problem solving for many years, beginning back when we (while at Delphi Group) had been acquired by Perot Systems (in 2004) and shortly thereafter, re-branded and focused as the Innovation Lab of Perot Systems.

Fast-forward through the work we’ve done extending Knowledge Management into Innovation Management (and back again), being judges for two years in a row in the Innovation Challenges run by Idea Crossing (sponsored by such companies as Hilton Hotels, American Express, Harley-Davidson, Whirlpool, General Electric, Shell, Lexmark, Red Hat – very interesting project), extending our ongoing research into innovation through over 50 podcasts with innovators around the world for the last 3 years, in speaking at one of the largest business focused innovation events in the US, the Front End of Innovation, or participating in the creation of a new book on Business Model Innovation…

Whew… it’s been an interesting few years – why not share in the benefits of what we’ve seen and done in the last five years? Innovation isn’t just for the well funded or the giant companies of the world – it’s far more accessible than you might think.

Can you afford to spend a day improving your innovation skills?

Let’s flip that around actually…

How can you NOT afford to spend a day improving your innovation skills?

In all seriousness, if you would like to experience a single-day, rapid-fire, immersive experience that I can guarantee will expand your innovation toolkit, change the way you attack problems, solve problems, put together teams, leverage your own problem solving and decision making strengths, and leverage the brains in your organization – then I highly recommend considering the 1-day innovation course we’ve just unveiled.

Take a look at the details of the 1-day course, and if you have any questions, I’d be happy to discuss the program. Whether your organization is large or small, based in Boston or Belarus… this training materials can be (and have been) used across a huge variety of organizations, regions, and industries.

Equip the brains in your organization to invent the future, one idea at a time…

The journey starts now – but only if you get off the sidelines and jump into the fray.

- Dan Keldsen, Co-founder