Gary Hamel’s blog post on the Wall Street Journal is titled The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500, but the issues contained within the post are ones that are going to touch upon all businesses and organizations, including libraries.
He lists 12 “work-relevant characteristics of online life” that will impact the workplace, including:
- All ideas compete on equal footing.
- Leaders serve rather than preside.
- Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
- Power comes from sharing information, nor hoarding it.
- Intrinsic rewards matter most.
All of these are features of organizations that are in a better position to survive, simply because members are motivated to be adaptive, communicative, and supportive. Think about groups and workplaces you have been a member of… most of your negative associations with them likely would be less critical if one or more of the ideas above were a greater part of the environment.
These ideas will slowly creep in, championed by those who have experienced the benefits a group/organization/business gains by applying them. Resistance will be the unspoken response by those whose power lies in control of information, expression, and rewards.
The mix of these ideas will affect different groups in different ways, but they will affect every group, including libraries, in a profound manner. The greatest benefits go to those who can successfully adopt the attitudes and behaviors that will ultimately succeed within that group.
Which of these offers the greatest opportunity for your situation? What can you do to begin/continue the transition? Think about this, because it is up to you to change your own approach, and encourage others to change theirs, as well.
found via Lorcan Demsey’s Weblog
