When I think about the State Department, the first image that pops into my mind is the gi-normous building, just a few blocks from my office at GW. And for some reason, gi-normous buildings make me think about -- forgive me -- bureaucracy. The kind of bureaucracy that drives people who read Kafka's The Trial crazy (that big building, by the way, is only the tip of the iceberg. Think about all the annexes, all the offices abroad, etc).
Sure, the State Department has big buildings, but as I discovered yesterday morning at the State Department's conference on Leveraging Mobile Technology for Public Diplomacy, the people who work there have created a community of innovation and experimentation when it comes to adapting new technologies to their mission.
At the end of my lecture, I talked about some of the things that I think are important when using the web to communicate and build support:
1. Tinker - Play around with technology a little bit every day. See what's out there. Experiment (and be prepared to fail sometimes).
2. Do unto others - Think about the kinds of things you like to do and receive online and on mobile, and don't send people the kinds of things you delete or hate.
3. Endeavor to be open and transparent.
4. Listen - And use your listening abilities to provide better customer service, drive the innovation process, and build relationships with people.
Each of these points is old hat for many of the people attending the conference that. I was mostly irrelevant.
The folks at State get it. And they've found ways to work within the bureaucratic mazes that inevitably exist in a government organization that large. Working groups meet regular to talk about what works. People arebeginning to ask questions about cloud computing! When was the last time someone in your organization asked you about cloud computing? They are already do the things we beg our bosses to do, like blogging and tweeting. They were even on Second Life two years ago when we were all talking on and on about Second Life. Most of the people there already understood all the capabilities of the web. We didn't have to sell them on looking at the web as a platform. They were already asking questions about the best ways to use the web to build platforms, tools, and applications that people all over the world can use to connect to each other, learn, and communicate.
And -- please excuse the giddiness that I know I feel as I write this -- they have even developed a game for mobile phones and the web. The game attempts to teach English by putting avatars into situations they will encounter when coming to America, like finding their way through the Philadelphia airport and arriving at a university. They have developed two levels already (I heard that the 4th and final level involves becoming an American business person and promoting a band).
The State Department doesn't need me to cheer-lead for them. They have their act together. They get it. I'm including at least 3 slides on them in my next presentation. But I don't want to just brag about what they are doing. There is something to the process they have developed. Something that other big, old organizations don't always know how to do: create an environment in which innovation is encouraged, even if you need the approval of a dozen people along the way.
Here are some of the lessons I learned from my friends at the Department of State.
- Never underestimate the value of internal communications. They have these weekly meetings, and those meetings have build a culture ofcamaraderie , in which people in similar positions across the agency brainstorm with each other, provide a support structure, and cheer each other on.
- Let people experiment. And sometimes fail. That's ok too.
- Recruit good people from the very beginning.
- Invite people, like outside experts, into the organization to talk about what they are doing and how it applies to the organization.
