Learning how to do useful things with a new application is like learning a new language. For example, if I just want to see if I like it, I can try picking up the Italian language for free online. If I want to put some skin in the game, say, because I’ll be vacationing in Italy for a couple of months, maybe I’d spring for the $549 Rosetta Stone Italian series. If learning this language is strategic to my life’s goals – maybe I’m moving to Milan for two years to apprentice at Roberto Cavalli – then, I’d probably pay several thousand to immerse myself in the language and culture by living six weeks with a Milanian family.

That’s the problem: a particular E2.0 solution isn’t necessarily strategic to an enterprise right away. That means they are either looking to kick tires for free, or are willing to put a little skin in the game. That’s where an adoption starter pack – the E2.0 Rosetta Stone, if you will – comes into play. (And really, trying to use some E2.0 solutions out there today is like trying to decipher hieroglyphics.)

Here’s my theory:

People hire consultants when they realize two things. One, that they can’t do it themselves, and two, they can admit that to their management team. With the task of promoting E2.0 adoption, there is a sense that, “hey, this isn’t rocket science,” and, “we should be able to figure this out ourselves, for crying out loud.”

The truth is that, if we were just given a recipe about how to implement an E2.0 adoption strategy, we could probably muddle through it the first time, and refine our strategy as we go.

Recipe, Rosetta Stone – I never said I was wicked awesome at analogies.

Anyway.

My point is that, there should be some sort of relatively inexpensive E2.0 adoption starter pack included with every vendor’s solution that includes at least the following:

• How to pick the right pilot groups
• “Here’s how you did it then, here’s how you do it with this software” videos
• “Here are totally new capabilities that don’t map to anything you’re familiar with today” videos
• Materials to be used in a company’s existing education program
• Internal marketing materials and recommendations
• Typical metrics to shoot for within the first six months

The biggest thing that needs to be included, though, is time. Time from those who have the breadth of experience across multiple implementations, and time from those who are trying to implement. It’s all well and good to throw best practices at people like beads during Mardi Gras. But, what people need is someone who will spend time with them, listening, providing ideas and advice, being an experienced sounding board. All for the low low price of cheap.

At Jive, we have status (aka “what are you doing?”) wars. Here’s an example:

• Gia changed status to “is dragging ass.”
• Derek changed status to “is dragging even more ass.”
• Gia changed status to “is dragging ass so low she has asphalt up her butt.”

It’s a different kind of competition, and a bit more fun than accumulating reputation points.

(Incidentally, I posted this same observation inside Jive a week ago, and a conversation about “asphalt” vs. “ass fault” and “ripter scales” ensued. I work with a bunch of comedians.)

I talked with a Jive Clearspace customer last week about adoption struggles (I get to do this for a living now, and frankly, I’m in my dream job). They have what I think is probably a very typical adoption obstacle. Actually, two very typical obstacles.

The first one was a theme at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston in June 2008. The CEO loves social software, worker bees are adopting it like crazy, but mid-level managers are having what-the-hell moments, because they weren’t properly introduced to the business benefits of social software. They’re putting a stop to all this “social nonsense” until they get a better handle on it.

My advice: Figure out what gives them ulcers at night. Maybe it’s, “how do I meet my management chain’s objectives?” Then, figure out how to explain how your social software solution will help them achieve those objectives better, faster, smarter. For example, one of our customers tied their Jive Clearspace ROI to making critical business processes more efficient (requires registration). Discussing this with mid-level managers who care about more efficient critical business processes would probably be quite effective.

…

The second obstacle was that a few of the strategic pilot groups were approaching the new Clearspace experience from an old file-centric SharePoint paradigm. “Is this where we put our files now?” The result was a repeat of old file folder hierarchies, which, of course, doesn’t promote cross-enterprise conversations. Note that at this company, constantly increasing efficiency is critical.

So, we talked about the following good practices:

Show how they’re doing their work now, and point out any inefficiencies. These folks would send an Excel spreadsheet around via email. Each person would then upload their modified version into individual SharePoint folders, then someone would consolidate them all into a single file again. (I know! OMG!)

Show how your social software solution replaces that behavior, while making them more efficient in the process. Folks can co-edit a rich table within a Clearspace page, with complete versioning and rollback capabilities. They can create author comments and general user comments to capture the collaborative conversations about the data, and even create some team projects, tasks, or even a blog to capture status reports or the like. The idea is to do the, “and that’s not all!” pitch, once you’ve neutralized the Old Way Of Doing Things.

Address the Fear of Sharing Too Soon. This is the harder, and most critical part. In most organizations, people don’t “put their stuff out there” until it’s pretty much done. All the conversations and collaboration happens before they share, via emails, IMs, phone calls, and in-person meetings.

Here’s the problem: many folks don’t WANT to share their stuff until it’s pretty much done.

• “My colleagues and my manager will think I’m a doofus if I put something half-baked out there!”
• “I don’t want anyone stealing my half-baked idea, fleshing it out and taking credit for it.”

My advice? Implement a slow behavior migration. Give those people a private, secure space or group to share their half-baked stuff so that REAL collaboration can take place. The end result won’t be an individual contribution, of course, so help them understand the meaning of co-ownership. Once they’re comfy co-baking with the people they already trust, encourage them to open those private spaces up to more people, or perhaps make them public to the organization, if appropriate.

You’re on a conference call. You’re “multitasking” – the word we all use to describe all the work we’re doing while the blah blah blah is going on over the phone.

Your attention is precious.

What kind of things would you want to see in your online experience throughout the day? Check out Sam’s The 5 Futures of Attention for some ideas…

A customer once told me they needed to get Super Awesome Highly Visible Group involved in their pilot social software environment, so that Guy Who Could Pay For The Whole Thing With a Wave of His Big Toe would see their success and haul out his checkbook. And then, of course, everyone else would want a piece of that social experience.

This reminded me of high school. Whatever the popular kids were wearing, doing, and saying, the rest of us would try to mimic. Classic The Tipping Point fare (I actually wore Hush Puppies in high school in the mid-80s. Omigod, you should’ve seen my hair).

So, who are the popular kids where you work, the ones with a bunch of organizational power? Maybe they’re the ones who bring in the most revenue. Maybe they’re so strategic to the company that if they all got hit by a bus tomorrow, your stock price would faint. You know who they are.

If you’re the woman responsible for a successful social software pilot, figure out how to romance that popular jock. Figure out the answer to, “What’s in it for me?” for them. Explain how your chosen social software solution can solve one of their current problems. If you can get them into your pilot, and it actually does help solve that problem, then poof! You’ve got the best case study you could possibly have. Use it to advertise the wonderment of your social software pilot to the rest of your organization, most especially that guy with the powerful big toe.