I tell you this to establish her credibility for the rule she established at her companies that “all complaints be accompanied by at least one solution.” She had learned, as many of us have learned, that smart people find faults, &, without firm boundaries, will focus on these faults rather than on improving the situation.  We also know that people tend to put all problems into one big bucket that they stir & stir – with the end result that all problems are given equal weight, not many get effectively addressed, & the organizational culture descends into a toxic pit of low productivity & high pessism.

Margaret doesn’t talk about categorizing problems, so I will; face it, there 3 kinds of problems or “issues”:

1. those over which you have no control — so move on & focus your efforts where you can make a difference

2. those over which you have some control — deserve some attention, so find some allies & get to it

3. those over which you have total control — AH! the sweet spot – you have the POWER so use it & do something about it

And what do we have total control over? Ourselves — our attitude – our approach. And attitude is everything. Good problem-solvers are just that — solvers.

In “Stop the Whining: How to Stop Corrosive Complaining,” Margaret lays out why the rule of basically ‘let’s focus on what we want to fix & stop perpetuating the problem’ works:

1. it makes ppl think about what’s an important problem to be fixed & worth the cost of fixing – in otherwords, it helps ppl set priorities

2. it encourages ppl to work together & generate good ideas; rather than those in technical areas blaming the front-line or client-facing ppl, they work together to devise innovative solutions (remember, innovative doesn’t mean ground-shaking — it just means different & better)

3. it makes employees see the big picture & to take ownership for the organization — gains buy-in & employee engagement, since ppl can see that THEY make a difference, & not leave things at management’s door.

Heffernan’s advice is aimed at corporate settings, but I’m adjusting the aim towards libraries & those in information functions.  There are some REALLY fabulous libraries out there, and some fabulous information professionals. And, there are some incredibly smart information professionals out there who see the problems & loudly voice the problems, but don’t engage their own efforts or the efforts of their colleagues in solving those problems.  As Heffernan says, “So many companies become the walking dead when they focus on complaints rather than solutions. Does your company have a culture of complaint? If it does, what are you doing about it?” Does your library have a culture of complaint? If it does, what are you doing about it?

E2.0 Implementation Framework

A centrepiece of our [Ross'] recently launched Implementing Enterprise 2.0 report is an Implementing Enterprise 2.0 Framework…… download the Implementing Enterprise 2.0 Framework pdf, which includes references to the relevant chapters for each of the action steps. Some of the chapters referred to are available for download from the Implementing Enterprise 2.0 downloads page.

Great stuff, thanks Ross.  We hope you will come and talk about this at KMWorld 2010, Nov 15-18, Washington DC.

Wall at Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

Rosabeth Moss Kanter has such a fabulous way of saying things.  Her definition of insanity, “doing the same things over & over expecting different results,” is timeless and one that even our teenage daughter recites.  Her Change Master blog encouraging organizations to “dread” change is, again, bang on.  As she so rightly advises, “Get in touch with every negative aspect, all the things that could go wrong. Then figure out a way to get that negative force on your side. In short, “Dream your worst nightmare and invest in it.” In fact, identifying all the things that can go wrong allows you to build a practical implementation plan.

There’s a very old yet very useful tool for this that guides a group through the nightmare – or the potential barriers – to developing a plan that acknowledges & navigates potential landmines:

Vision: specify the changes you want in place – what’s going to be different in the future, whether that future is 3 months or 3 years away.

Barriers: ask everyone what hurdles & headaches they see preventing those changes from happening — “what’s giving you a pain in your stomach?” often gets very meaningful & honest responses

Influencing Factors: then have what may be a difficult but absolutely essential dialogue about which of those barriers you can actually do something about; which hurdles do you have some influence over? no influence over? or total influence over?  For example, how can you engage employees to help them see “what’s in it for them” to implement the changes? What relationships do you need to strengthen with key stakeholders, or vendors? etc.

Critical Success Factors: next, ask yourselves, what absolutely must be in place for us to realize what we’ve envisioned?

Strategies & Tactics: and, finally, match up those barriers that you can have some or total influence over with those factors critical to your success and build your plan.  That plan will be based on solving problems as you move forward, and knowing which problems you can turn away from, and which you need to stare down and do something about.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a very optimistic person and believe in powerful, positive visions of what change can bring.  And it’s the optimists in the group who will realize that the barriers are quite manageable once they are acknowledged.  As Moss Kanter says in her book Confidence,“It appears that optimists are less afraid of their nightmares than pessimists. Pessimists are more likely to deny or avoid negative information. Optimists are more likely to look at the dark side, because they have the confidence to feel that they can do something about it.”

“The strategy talks about an updated digital experience, a new learning model that helps people with their “lifelong learning journeys,” and the creation of a Smithsonian Commons—a new part of our digital presence dedicated to stimulating learning, creation, and innovation through open access to Smithsonian research, collections and communities.” Check out Edson’s post for more about the transparent process and to see more details of SI’s web & new media strategy.

The presentation is up here, but, in a nutshell critical thinking is really about unveiling and questioning assumptions and information that may not be valid.  Sounds easy, right? sounds reasonable.  Especially since so many decisions and problems we face are complex.  There’s often no obvious or even one right decision or solution.

BUT, it’s not easy or even reasonable in many circumstances to keep raising questions about people’s base “starting points” as they discuss potential options.  It can be downright risky to suggest to those making decisions that they “re-frame” how they see the situation, or that they set the “sunk costs” of a service or project aside as they examine options.  After all, very often we continue to ‘sink costs’ into a service/project even though it’s obviously past its prime or no longer working.  As Warren Buffet said, “When you find yourself in a hole, the best thing you can do is stop digging.”  So why do we continue to put money into non-strategic services? or why are we reluctant to identify our underlying assumptions? or keep asking what the REAL issue is that we’re facing? Among the many reasons are that we don’t want to risk that past decisions will be seen as “mistakes” or we don’t want to be perceived as “not knowing”, or we want to avoid conflict.

But the benefit of critical thinking is a productive dialogue that results in much more valid decisions that, yes, have been thought through and examined from new perspectives.  As Colin Powell kept saying in his speech to SLA last night, “it’s not the same.”  It’s not the same, so we’d better stop making decisions in the same way.

The other, I guess, “side-benefit” of critical thinking is that we can engage those who have been educated during the past 10-20 years – labelled gen xers or yers or digital natives – in this productive dialogue.  Why? because they’ve been educated to think critically — to question the assumptions — to look at situations & ask “why”.  Quite frankly, those of us over 45 (stop laughing – ok, over 50) weren’t even allowed to ask “why” until university, and then when we entered the work force we expected to  do what we were told.  Many of our generation (not all!) don’t know how to question or re-frame issues. Students are now educated to question the status quo and to look at information and say “oh yeah? says who?”  That’s what critical thinking is all about.  It’s about getting the perspective of those not involved in the situation and making sure the right solution is chosen because it’s right, not because it’s safe.

If you want to know more about critical thinking – or productive dialogue (since it is about discussion, discernment & getting to action) – check out The Critical Thinking Community or “The Hidden Traps in Decision Making” in Harvard Business Review January 2006 by John Hammond et al.  AND, most importantly, either engage those younger employees in the process, or get them to guide you through how to question the current thinking.

“Most organizational change initiatives fail spectacularly (at worst) or deliver lukewarm results (at best). In his international bestseller Leading Change, John Kotter revealed why change is so hard, and provided an actionable, eight-step process for implementing successful transformations. The book became the change bible for managers worldwide. Now, in Urgency, Kotter shines the spotlight on the crucial first step in his framework: creating a sense of urgency by getting people to actually see and feel the need for change. Why focus on urgency? Without it, any change effort is doomed. Kotter reveals the insidious nature of complacency in all its forms and guises. In this exciting new book, Kotter explains: How to go beyond “the business case” for change to overcome the fear and anger that can suppress urgency; Ways to ensure that your actions and behaviors — not just your words — communicate the need for change; How to keep fanning the flames of urgency even after your transformation effort has scored some early successes. Written in Kotter’s signature no-nonsense style, this concise and authoritative guide helps you set the stage for leading a successful transformation in your company. “