Josh Bernoff

Ted Schadler

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">The Idea in Brief</h4>
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  <p>New technologies and social media have made it possible for a single dissatisfied customer to inflict lasting damage on a brand.</p>
  <p>But although horror stories abound, smart organizations have learned how to use these same technologies to avert problems and strengthen their brands.</p>
  <p>The key is to let employees experiment with technology, make high-profile decisions on the fly, build systems that customers can see, and publicly speak for the organization. Managers and IT leaders need to give these HEROes (“highly empowered and resourceful operatives”) guidance, help, and limits.</p>
  <p>A crucial part of the solution is the HERO Compact—a three-way agreement for managing technological innovation. In the compact, HEROes agree to innovate within a safe framework, managers agree to encourage innovation and manage risk, and IT agrees to support and scale up HERO projects.</p>
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</article-ideainbrief><p>Maybe you’ve heard about the musician Dave Carroll and his experience as a United Air Lines customer. He was so incensed that the company rejected his damage claim after its baggage handlers broke his guitar that he made a catchy <a href="http://www.youtube.com/" target="-new">YouTube</a> video, “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo" target="-new">United Breaks Guitars</a>.” Eight million people have already viewed this decidedly negative take on the United brand.</p>

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<p><span class="reprint">Reprint: R1007H</span></p>
<p>After his guitar was broken on a United Air Lines flight and the airline rejected his damage claim, musician Dave Carroll made the YouTube video &#8220;United Breaks Guitars,&#8221; which more than 8 million people have viewed. Carroll is far from alone in having employed social media to lambaste a company for poor customer service. For example, one popular blogger advised her million-plus followers on Twitter not to buy Maytag appliances.</p>
<p>But the very technologies that empower customers can also empower employees, write Bernoff and Schadler, of Forrester Research. Companies can build a strategy around freeing employees to experiment with new technologies, make high-profile decisions on the fly, and effectively speak for the organization in public. Companies that feel hesitant to give their employees such freedom can benefit from what the authors call the HERO Compact&#8212;whereby management, IT, and HEROes (for &#8220;highly empowered and resourceful operatives&#8221;) agree to work together to manage technological innovations. Management contracts to encourage innovation and manage risk, IT to support and scale employees&#8217; projects, and HEROes to innovate within a safe framework.</p>
<p>Best Buy, Black &#038; Decker, Vail Resorts, and Aflac are among the companies that have empowered their employees to take full advantage of social media. But it takes a while for corporate cultures to embrace this sort of innovation. In the meantime, managers can move forward on their own&#8212;building internal communities, looking outside the company for creative strategies, reviewing their hiring practices, and reaching out to customer-facing departments.</p>

Empowered

Reprint: R1007H After his guitar was broken on a United Air Lines flight and the airline rejected his damage claim, musician Dave Carroll made the YouTube video “United Breaks Guitars,” which more than 8 million people have viewed. Carroll is far from alone in having employed social media to lambaste a company for poor customer service. For example, one popular blogger advised her million-plus followers on Twitter not to buy Maytag appliances. But the very technologies that empower customers can also empower employees, write Bernoff and Schadler, of Forrester Research. Companies can build a strategy around freeing employees to experiment with new technologies, make high-profile decisions on the fly, and effectively speak for the organization in public. Companies that feel hesitant to give their employees such freedom can benefit from what the authors call the HERO Compact—whereby management, IT, and HEROes (for “highly empowered and resourceful operatives”) agree to work together to manage technological innovations. Management contracts to encourage innovation and manage risk, IT to support and scale employees’ projects, and HEROes to innovate within a safe framework. Best Buy, Black & Decker, Vail Resorts, and Aflac are among the companies that have empowered their employees to take full advantage of social media. But it takes a while for corporate cultures to embrace this sort of innovation. In the meantime, managers can move forward on their own—building internal communities, looking outside the company for creative strategies, reviewing their hiring practices, and reaching out to customer-facing departments.

Empowered

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