Internet Time Group is surveying corporations to gauge their application and openness to web 2.0 and informal learning. I recognize how little I know when people tell me their organization restricts access to the net or that employee blogs are not allowed. (I take these as inalienable rights: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, internet access).
I’ve got a starter-list of questions on web 2.0 and on enlightened business practice. Please help me add to the list. Or subtract from it. Give me a few ideas; I’ll share my findings with you.
Most of these will use a Likert scale from “Never” or “Always”.
Web 2.0
- Our workers have unlimited access to the internet.
Our organization monitors our online activity and/or email.
Our corporate policy forbids blogging on the net.
We use blogs or wikis for sharing information in-house.
We record and share lessons learned.
Our sales people have on-line access to how deals are being closed and competition.
Some of our training material is un-narrated PowerPoint files.
We have an on-line, in-house Yellow Pages (directory) of employees, their phone numbers, emails, and areas of expertise.
We use social software to foster communities of practice.
Someone is always responsible for moderating our online groups.
It’s simple to set up an online meeting here.
We use online FAQs and user’s guides to avoid re-inventing the wheel.
Our organization uses social bookmarking services and folksonomies.
It’s easy for anyone to set up a blog or website at our company.
Inspired workers are empowered to created social communities/sites.
Our enterprise e-mail applications is easy to search.
Informal Learning
-
My team often talks about the trends and forces that drive our business.
Relationships between departments here are cooperative and effective.
People understand how their work is linked to the overall performance of the organization.
The formal training our company offers is superb.
Following a major success or failure, we take time to reflect on what we’ve learned from it.
People here are encouraged to network outside of the company in order to grow professionally.
Many of our customers are don’t know how to get the most from our products and services.
Our partners/distributors are well-informed and know what they’re talking about.
Our company is slow to change, even when it would be in our best interest.
People in our company are not learning and growing fast enough to keep up with the needs of our business.
New ideas here come from management, not from workers who interact with customers.
We learn something from every interaction with a customer.
We believe in transparency and openness; it’s best to show customers what we do.
Do your people (aside from the call center) talk directly with customers?
Leave a comment below. Or, if you prefer, edit the list on Internet Time Wiki.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Our workers have unlimited access to the internet.
Too vague. Does ‘unlimited’ mean ‘all the time’ or ‘all the websites’? Some people may even thing it refers to bandwidth.
Our corporate policy forbids blogging on the net.
Forbids blogging. ‘on the net’ is redundant.
Some of our training material is un-narrated PowerPoint files.
Drop the word ’some’. The response “Never” or “Always” is a quantifier – you don’t want another quantifier in the question (because then the answer would be logically equivalent to ‘Always some…’)
We use online FAQs and user’s guides to avoid re-inventing the wheel.
Drop ‘to avoid re-inventing the wheel’. This may or may not be why the FAQs and user guides were developed.
Inspired workers are empowered to created social communities/sites.
Drop the word ‘inspired’. The policy presumably applies to all workers, even those who are dullards.
Our enterprise e-mail applications is easy to search.
Replace ‘enterprise e-mail applications’ with ‘email’ because some companies might not use enterprise email applications.
People here are encouraged to network outside of the company in order to grow professionally.
Replace ‘in order to grow professionally’, as it confuses a motive with a policy.
Many of our customers are don’t know how to get the most from our products and services.
Drop the word ‘many’ – again, this is a quantifier in a question that wants a quantifier in response.
We believe in transparency and openness; it’s best to show customers what we do.
I would drop everything after the semi-colon – this is a survey, not a ‘how-to’ guide.
Hope this helps.
(sorry, I had nice spacing, but it vanished in the formating)
I think Stephen is right on the money about losing quantifiers in the question that might duplicate, contradict or scramble the quantifiers in the answer, and he has missed one or two, so you might want to revise the whole list with that in mind.
Aside from that, I got a bit depressed reading the list and looking ahead to how my wider organisation would score!
Thanks, guys, I’ll take all these suggestions. Others? What am I missing??
On the Web 2.0 one maybe add something about integration – use of widgets and add-ons instead of complex all-encompassing integration (I’m sure you can word it better than me, hopefully know what I mean). Maybe something about use of mashups – RSS+mapping type things. Maybe podcasting seeing as its RSS.
With the online directory, think it needs to have something about searchability and profiling (how can you find people with specific areas of expertise, is there something built in to display that information such as tag clouds) etc in there too somehow
Some thoughts
–
I can access company white papers, presentations, interviews, wherever/whenever.
We consider the total customer experience
We’ve a suite of resources to help us excel in our work
Our full work context is supported
Experimentation and innovation is encouraged
Taking time to reflect is considered unproductive
I know how my work affects my company’s mission and vision
The ’silos’ between different departments interfere with effectiveness
–
Could be a nice assessment tool.
Just some thoughts, — Clark
You might also consider phrases that include supportive evidence eg. “I’ve seen __________ rewarded.” “I participate in regularly occurring _______________.” “There is a process for submitting ____________.”
Clark’s suggestions seem right on target in addition to being succinct. I think he’s helped capture the essence of how many respondents will not know what it is that they don’t know eg. PowerPoints ithout narration. You might also inquire about respondent’s general Web knowledge-base as an indicator of their general understanding.
Hope this helps.
Ellen