As I stare out of my hotel window at the aged, white boxes of the Amman skyline submersed in the passing clouds, my thoughts wander to my latest assignment. I am in Jordan to start a project focused on merging three separate IT organizations into a single, private, shared service provider. During the upcoming years, a team comprised of expatriate and local consultants will aim to build the people, processes, and technologies of a government ministry toward world-class standards. 

The project began with the age-old tradition of gathering all of the soon to be affected for a kickoff meeting. Slowly they arrived in a room sized for triple the number invited, cautious not to sit to close the front, to the back, to the other departments. With some jovial goading from the presenter, the crowd eventually moved toward the first row. I stood at stage right, watching the fluctuating social dynamics ripple through audience, attempting my best “I am here to help” face.

The meeting went as all kickoff meetings go. There was a presentation that by all accounts was a touch too long, followed by pointed questions with answers that were a touch too short.  However, the overall theme of the project was presented in no uncertain terms. The change you asked for, and need in order to function, begins today.

Just as the integrity of buildings and roads is tested during a rare storm in Amman, this emerging IT department will also undergo a unique and infrequent event that tests their mettle. The change they seek will not come without the equivalent of leaky windows being exposed or unplanned infrastructure causing floods. As a fellow “IT guy” who has done his fair share of trench work, I can understand what my brothers and sisters are going through. Change is hard. Change can be painful. But change is necessary. Change must happen in order to survive. 

We think Enterprise 2.0 can help. Is your organization ready for the rain? 

I jest, but I believe this phenomenon represents a perspective unique to my age group (24-32). Furthermore, I believe we have an interesting psychological advantage in the fight to take E2 to the masses. Especially in arbitrating the impending conflict between the younger demographic, steeped in Web 2.0 as their primary information interaction paradigm, and the older demographic, seemingly arc-welded to email and hierarchical document management masquerading as collaboration. Roughly speaking, these two sides represent the past and future of the knowledge management approach (whatever that means). Holding all else equal, and assuming that neither side will be all too keen to change, my age group stands in the middle with a leg in both pools. We are the veritable swing-workers, emerging from college and joining the workforce at the perfect time to position us now with enough decision making power affect middle management, but also with enough youth to have had our formative years influenced by the rise of Web 2.0.

The generation to the right, while some of them may embrace and understand the advantages of E2, will have to re-wire their corporate DNA in order to fully adopt the model. Their ability to leverage E2 is directly proportional to their ability to change. Their personalities were formed using information exchange models relevant for the past 15 years or so. Similarly, in order for the folks to the left to connect and interact with the people in power, they too will have to re-wire their respective DNA, and seek to understand the models of the past. The sub-24 crowd’s collective personalities were also formed, but through the disruptive and novel models of Web 2.0.

I posit that if these two forces can not effectively collaborate through a viable middle ground, the transaction costs of basic management will increase. This is an overly simplified example, but imagine if you sent an email to your new intern, asking him to make some coffee, and his reply was “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?” via his Twitter account. That is no bueno my sleepy friend. Not only are you unaware of the frustrated labor, but good luck remembering the TPS report cover sheet through the brain fog of caffeine withdrawal.

So in this mental melee, my generational comrades and I serve an important role. We have DNA formed by both models. We were still in college long enough to have our minds altered by FaceBook (or its predecessors), but can also function within the current corporate operating system of email and thick client apps. It’s not that either side can’t learn each other’s respective ways; it’s that neither side was immersed in both simultaneously at a time in their lives when the concrete was still wet. This is our advantage in climbing the corporate mountain with E2 upon our backs. We are interlopers. We are fence-sitters. We are the Venn diagram intersection. We can not only connect the leadership of today with the workforce of tomorrow, but we inherently understand their respective rationale. This understanding is paramount to change and positions us as powerful and convincing agents in the mainstreaming of Enterprise 2.0

Ok…time for the disclaimers.

• I know next to nothing about sociology, psychology, DNA, or dragon-slaying magic. This is just a guess, based on very little (0 to be exact), scientific research or personal credibility.
• The age ranges are representative, not actual. If you are 33 and all fired up because you feel left off of the E2 change management kickball team, take a deep breath. Relax. You’re in. You just might not be a starter.
• The use of semicolon in the preceding paragraph was suggested by the grammar checking capabilities of MS Word 2003. I have no idea if it is actually grammatically correct. I am just blame-shifting in case I look like a moron. Then again, that ship may have sailed a while ago.
• Look at that…I just proved my point. I wrote this post using a thick client app. And an old version at that!
• I heart lawyers.