Obstacles

Just got back from a great two-day seminar. I spent the first half inspired by the simple online tools we could use to promote better two-way communication in the organization I work for, and the second half despondent at the limitations that will prevent us from implementing them.

I'm responsible for electronic communications, if “responsible” is defined as “the one who must futilely plead with the IT department to support projects I want to implement, then bang my head against a wall in frustration.”

Corporate communications is beginning to use blogs, wikis, and podcasts to engage employees who would much rather be sneaking glances at celebrity news or sports scores than reading the Intranet. It's an exciting trend seeing some great successes. We have the ideas, we have the motivation, we have the talent. We just don't have the control over our own website. We can't do any of them internally. Screw "challenge" and "opportunity," those PR buzzwords. This is a "problem."

Ironic that technologies popularized by average Joes in their basements are beyond the reach of even some large organizations. Time to get creative. Or take a seminar in the Art of Effective Pleading.

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."
- Voltaire