Let Folks Contribute
1+714.449.1040 www.mixnerstrategy.com
Scott Cook, the co-founder of Intuit, talks about a very specific add-on to the TurboTax website that some of his managers didn't expect to work very well. It was simple, actually, a Q&A community built in the the 2007 version of TurboTax on-line (Cook, 67).
Five weeks into the Q&A's test period, they were ready to score it a success. In 2008, they added another section to the site, a user review section. Expectations were for complaints. Didn't happen. The vast bulk of the responses were positive (Cook, 67). Good news.
Why do folks contribute (Cook, 68)?
- They don't realize they are.
- They want their practical solutions implemented quickly.
- Interaction is its own reward.
- Reputation enhancement.
- Expression
- Give back to your community.
Finally, what are the keys to making you community enhanced site work better - or to get your at-work community to happily contribute (Cook, 69)?
- Take your time.
- Don't expect a lot early on
- Celebrate your successes
- Use the process to experiment
- Let folks "vote" on what they like best and find most useful.
- This could be a bottom-up process - seek buy-in from the whole organization only after you've had some successes.
We're thinking of applying this process to two opportunities:
- Creating a red team web site to respond to economic development opportunities where no response is a normal response.
- Creating a community of communities who are inundated with abandoned homes because of the mortgage crisis with the ultimate goal of managing the sales process of abandoned homes so they end up being owner occupied, not renter occupied. This ensures that the community will grow healthy - and more valuable - more quickly (See Rundle).
What opportunities do you see?
References
Cook, Scott. The Contribution Revolution. Letting Volunteers Build Your Business. Harvard Business Review. October 2008. 60.
Rundle, Rhonda L. California Officials Try to Avoid Second Housing Hit. Wall Street Journal. 7 October 2008. A8. http://www.wsj.com/article/SB122334317101810201.html