Communication & Culture

Encountering resistance to innovative ideas, is nothing new for intranet managers.  I often hear a frustrated, “Arghhhh, why can’t they see the benefits of this?” (and instead just focus on the risks).

So how do you deal with this? After all, it is of significant importance for the successful development of an intranet to overcome such resistance in a quick – and ideally lasting -  manner.

In my experience, being able to show examples of other organisations that have already implemented those ideas (successfully) is one of the best way to deal with this kind of resistance. Think about it: for them your concepts are just plain new, they typically cannot envision what it would really be like to have it implemented, what it would mean for them personally  in terms of change, risk and benefit. How many other intranets have people outside of the intranet department seen or used in their lives? Typically not many and if they have the are rarely very good ones.

Learning by seeing as enabler for intranet innovation.

And that’s what I like most about the upcoming IBF 24 global online event focussing on intranet innovation: with IBF 24 you can actually show other people from inside your company what leading intranets look like and what kind of value they deliver to their respective organisations.

Getting your CIO, sponsor in senior management, Head of Communications or HR to physically attend a conference in a city somewhere on intranet topics might be impossible. Getting them (or any other stakeholders) to join you in a meeting room in your own company to have a look at the intranets of IBM, SAP, Nokia, Nissan, IKEA, Mircosoft (or any other of the presenting companies) might be far more likely to be crowned by success.
And if they like what they see there and have their doubts resolved by the intranet managers of those companies, then chances are good that from this point on resistance to change diminishes.

To find out more about the event and to register – please visit www.ibforum.com/ibf24. We have also recently loaded an interview with Paul Miller, IBF Founder and Chairman to the www.ibforum.com where Paul talks about the history of the event, what’s new on the agenda and why as an intranet manager you shouldn’t miss out on this years event.