I posted this earlier today under Sara's blog, but I believe it should stand for itself in the Panasonic Breakthrough blog I set up some days ago. Here is what I wrote:
Let's take this to another stage! Have you seen "The Social Network"? How does Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg solve his challenge to write a paper about some modern art paintings? Well, he posts the pictures of these on his Facebook-Account and then has experts/friends/fellow students give him hints and ideas on how to interpret the paintings.
Let's take this to another stage! Have you seen "The Social Network"? How does Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg solve his challenge to write a paper about some modern art paintings? Well, he posts the pictures of these on his Facebook-Account and then has experts/friends/fellow students give him hints and ideas on how to interpret the paintings.
Panasonic is also a social network, but technically we do not offer our employees an elegant solution to INTERNALLY keep in touch as many of them do externally via Facebook, Linkedin, XING and the likes.
Lotus Notes does not count! ;-)
In my opinion, we are losing a lot of problem solving capability and creative potential, by not actively encouraging our staff to keep in touch and ask questions across organizational boundaries. Thus we might tend to come up with solutions and ideas created in the same "silo" as always. Will this spark a giant leap ahead? You know the answer. RARELY! What we are lacking is a functioning, internal social network (IT-based).
EXAMPLE:
Everyone of us will have experienced the following and will experience it again in Lausanne: You go to an international Panasonic training, meet great and inspiring people and often enough learn, that there are quite a lot of people working on the same issues or who are able to challenge your "silo" perspective from a different angle. So far, so great, BUT how do we keep in touch? How do we make use of these different perspectives afterwards...? Answer for yourself.
Everyone of us will have experienced the following and will experience it again in Lausanne: You go to an international Panasonic training, meet great and inspiring people and often enough learn, that there are quite a lot of people working on the same issues or who are able to challenge your "silo" perspective from a different angle. So far, so great, BUT how do we keep in touch? How do we make use of these different perspectives afterwards...? Answer for yourself.
After my SMDP course in 2010 I wanted to set up an SMDP group under my Facebook account, but failed because a clear separation of private (Facebook account) and business (SMDP group under my profile) could not be set up. How great would it have been to keep this global network alive in the light and easy Facebook way within Panasonic.
SOLUTION:
Get a Panasonic branded internal (closed!) Social Media Platform with functionalities comparable to Facebook. This could be integrated in KMP as a personal networking page for each employee globally. Does Facebook offer such corporate networks? To be checked and ISM to be considered of course.
Get a Panasonic branded internal (closed!) Social Media Platform with functionalities comparable to Facebook. This could be integrated in KMP as a personal networking page for each employee globally. Does Facebook offer such corporate networks? To be checked and ISM to be considered of course.
After the IMD course we could add each other as friends/mentors/buddies/colleagues (you name it) and keep informed about things that are moving us and support each other with our challenges to come. And then you go to the next course, the next big meeting and you add more people, and more, and more...
I like this idea - one of the best parts of the courses ws we go on is meeting other Panasonic people, keeping in touch easily would be great. [Comment by Liz Moore]
ReplyDeleteI likt this as well. In my experiences from different mgt training s in the past is that I keep in touch only with a few individuals. A social network is much more convenient and effective compared to individual emails.
ReplyDeleteJozef Hricov (PEDEU SK)- Maybe an idea is to create projects on which can participate employee from different Panasonic companies and in this way expand and keep alive "Panasonic network"
ReplyDeleteWhat is the real problem with using Linkedin and creating an IMD alumini? Please don't just say because its not allowed :-)
ReplyDeleteDave Gibson
@Dave: LinkedIn is an option. The issue I see is that it will require that everyone creates an account there. Same story as with Facebook if used as an "outside solution".
ReplyDeleteI suspect that due to that fact, we would lose a lot of networking potential.
The beautiful thing about an "internal facebook" would be that everyone is automatically "registered" and can easily be invited by others to join a group, become mentor, friend, peer... (Andreas Kleist @ PME)