Year in Review & Global Evolution – 2010 brought with it a strong awareness in global online communities and two words truly stood out for us.
Engagement and Authenticity.
image courtesy of Madhavan M - India
Some of what we observed:
- Social media transformed from geek-fun to mainstream as online communities grew at rapid rates.
- News of natural disasters arrived on our desktops and mobile devices in real-time, thanks to Twitter, Facebook and other online community sharing.
- Customers felt comfortable sharing their good and bad experiences with thousands of online connections as companies discovered their carefully thought-out and executed customer service departments failed in customer service satisfaction.
- YouTube grew as the #2 search engine running closely behind Google, sending the message that visual is important to consumers.
- Small Businesses discovered a global audience online as they stumbled through figuring out how to leverage new online tools and software expanding their reach to potential customers.
- Politicians and Large Corporate discovered people want truth, action and disclosure – in several uncomfortable ways – Wikileaks being one of them.
- Slow growth and less disposable spending ushered in a call for creating greater levels of consumer satisfaction – on a grand scale.
The repetitive word was ‘Engage’ and engaging with authenticity and integrity was the theme we heard loud and clear in all areas, both online and in person, especially from employees.
If Engage was the word for 2010 we believe Evolve will be the word for 2011
Evolve for flexible change in transformational times.
Companies who focus on culture and build a team excelling in co-creation, collaboration and sharing will begin to own their markets. Here are some ways smart companies will evolve in 2011:
- Through partnering in unique ways to create exciting projects and connect employees, vendors, developers and customers.
- Utilizing experts through virtual services and building a transparent model of collaboration.
- Leveraging the diversity of knowledge using the crowd, transforming top-down leadership organizations into flexible and collaborative decision making companies.
- Developing software with open development practices and shared knowledge.
We believe engagement and authenticity will drive this evolution of engagement in the coming year, and the push to change will come from the crowd, rather than organizations themselves. We are witnessing transformation on a global scale where the everyday citizen’s voice is now more powerful because of the collective gathering of ideas and thoughts enhanced with so many new technologies and platforms. Companies who evolve to meet the challenges offered them by that collective will be the winners – changing the face of leadership entirely.
Patti is a strategic advisor in Leadership, Customer Service and Cultural integration through Mergers and Acquisition. You can book her to speak at her personal page.
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Everything here is true. Obviously, we can see the manifestations everywhere. I think that it will take more time for the internet to stretch to its full potential because I think that it’s starting to gather larger crowds now (and look at the outcome) and will continue to do so as the years go on, until everyone will have access to it will be at the very core of their lives. The possibilities found here will eventually evolve into many more possibilities. Thanks!