Imagine, for a moment, that you are on a remote site doing work. To get work done, we are increasingly learning, that means working with others. Other people, and other information.
So, for example, you might need to find the answer to a question. It might be work related, or even personal but impacting your effectiveness. However, at the site, they don’t use the same information tools you do. So you might not be as effective, or effective at all, in terms of getting the answers you need.
Similarly, what if their social tools are different? Your network might not be accessible, and while received wisdom from a search is one part of the knowledge ecosystem, so is what is in the heads of your colleagues. The situation might be unique or new enough not to have a recorded answer. The answer might be within a few nodes of connection, but you can’t reach it. Again, if you can’t connect to the shared wisdom, you are limiting your ability to succeed.
For ideas to advance, for innovation to occur, you need access to information and others. If you filter it or shut it down, you are limiting the chances to improve. While internally you may be very effective, there’s still more outside you could benefit from. You’re missing out on the opportunity to be as agile as increasingly we need to be.
If you’re not connected to the broadest opportunities, you could be missing out on the ‘adjacent possible’ that’s a key component to innovation. Your tools may be even quite good, but they’re still not optimal. You’re quite literally, out of touch. And, on that note, I’ll be ‘out of touch’ for a few more days, so understand if you haven’t ‘seen’ me around. Email is best.
Leave a Reply