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Summary

To conclude, Peter Taylor describes the Socially Mature Organization. He observes that:[25]

"Organizations need to cultivate a culture where 'social' drives better communication and collaboration, and is not just a distraction — for the greater good of project success."

And he goes on to quote Gartner:[26]

"Being a social organization goes beyond experimenting with social media technology tools — the 'provide and pray' approach. In fact, it's not about the technology at all.

A social organization addresses significant business challenges and opportunities using the social media platform to create mass collaboration — what Gartner predicts will be the next evolutionary pillar defining how work gets done around the world."[27]

And further quotes Gartner:[28]

"A social organization is one that strategically applies mass collaboration to address significant business challenges and opportunities. Its leaders recognize that becoming a social enterprise is not about incremental improvement. They know it demands a new way of thinking, so that they're moving on beyond tactical, one-time grassroots efforts and pushing for greater business impact through a thoughtful, planned approach to applying social media."

And in that we sincerely trust that these "social organizations" duly divest themselves of the idea that anyone can do it — all it takes is to tell someone to do it. And then promptly appoint some technological expert who would much rather be engaged in the actual doing of product development rather than the orchestration of social connections.

This sort of change requires people with a dedication to this type of change, and the necessary training to implement it effectively.

R. Max Wideman
Fellow, PMI

Downside

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