Shower Curtains & Chatter

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Have you been traveling much recently? If so, you have probably noticed the propagation of those bulging shower curtains of late. Bathtubs are a pretty confining place to take a shower, especially when you throw in those nasty safety bars on the walls. However, somebody, who I hope has been very well rewarded, came up with the idea of the bowed curtain rod, virtually extending the width of the tub a few critical inches up high where it counts. It is a lot like getting that upgraded economy seat on a plane. That little bit of extra leg room really makes a difference.

Yet, not all is good. While the concept is fantastic, for most hotels the execution has been dismal. There are two primary problems. First is the shower curtain rod. The physics are different – the rod does not extend simply from point to point. Rather, the arc that the rod travels from wall to wall puts immense pressure on the wall mounts because of the lateral weight of the rod bowing out sideways. Simply stated, the rods in most hotels where I stay are barely hanging on, with screws pulling out of the walls ready for catastrophe. The maintenance folks replaced the new rods with a few screws pushed into the drywall and expected everything to be fine. Don’t be surprised if you have a shower curtain crash around you some morning while in the middle of an otherwise pleasant shower.

The second problem involves the curtain. The rod travels further away from the edge of the tub as it bows out, which requires that the curtain has to travel a further distance to safely drop into the tub, especially in the middle. Those same hotel maintenance folks who mounted the new rods placed them at the same height as the old rods to prevent splash and spray. However, if the hotel purchasing folks did not buy longer curtains when they acquired the new fangled rods, it is likely the old curtains don’t completely reach, or stay neatly tucked into the tub as they encounter a brisk shower spray. I you wake up to dripping from your hotel ceiling it just may be that the guest above you is not paying attention to this curtain deficit while showering.

Ultimately, this all boils down to the challenges of installing new technology onto an old structure. If you do not accommodate the requirements of integrating the old with the new, things may not work out all that well. When I see these new curtain rods in my hotel rooms I cannot help but think of Chatter, the new collaboration tool on the Salesforce.com CRM platform.

Mardi Gator

When a company turns on Chatter (or similar collaboration tools) it is much like installing these new rods – most of the time it involves new technology being placed within an old structure. And similar to the problems introduced by the new rods, Chatter as well does not always work out as intended, especially if the organization does not take appropriate steps to adopt the new technology to the old structure.

One of the big misconceptions surrounding the use of Chatter is with regard to the belief that all you have to do is turn it on and everyone will flock toward utilization with wonton abandon. This could not be further from reality. Yes, over the last decade, the general population has embraced many collaboration sites in the social ether-sphere. But this has been accomplished through the process of naturally affinity – people group together over common interests. Unless you form similar interest groups that fit your business users, your Chatter application will not be viewed by most users as useful or beneficial. This is like mounting the rod to the wall without taking into account the change in physics. You need to assemble it with the correct hardware, which in this case means that you need to introduce Chatter with the correct connections built in. You need to form groups from the start, such as customer accounts, target opportunities, or priority service cases. This leverages the natural affinity around which your people collaborate, and serves as a tool for easier collaboration, which drives utilization.

Additionally, the build-it-and-they-will-come mentality also leads to dissatisfaction because it assumes that people will not need attention for the proper use of Chatter. Yes, it is simple and intuitive, not something that one might expect will require a whole bunch of instruction. But, it does require direction. It requires expectations to be set uniformly. For example, if 75% of those who need to collaborate on a topic or issue use the tool, but 25% don’t, this will lead to 25% of the problem or task unsolved. Expectations for use need to be set, communicated, and reinforced with frequency. It cannot be a casual thing if you want success. This is a change after all, and, similar to the length of the shower curtain, if we do not make changes to the existing process, things will come up short.

The bottom line is that you cannot just turn on Chatter and expect great things. It requires a certain amount of intervention to get right – it needs to be properly connected to the old structure. It is worth the little bit of effort required, because the results can be powerful.

I truly like having the extra space in the shower these new rods provide, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that I am not the one who pulls back the curtain and ends up with a curved rod at my feet.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Matthew Johnson
Matthew E. Johnson, Ph.D is a business transformation consultant focused on the use of technology to enable customer relationship excellence.

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