More fundamentally, the success of chalk talks and of similar talk-show formats reflects the inadequacies of the old command-and-control communication approach, in which information typically flows up and down (mostly down) within confined hierarchies or corporate silos. Projects are conducted and reviewed within the same discipline or group, with little opportunity for outside analysis. The silo model is bad news for any organization that needs to capitalize on all of its talent. But it's especially detrimental to an organization that is dependent on innovation -- such as HPL. Chalk talks change the internal conversation within a company, cutting across the organizational grain, rupturing silos, undermining hierarchy, and creating interaction across disciplines and ranks.
Local talk shows may appear to be spontaneous, but to succeed, they require carefully managed conditions. First, local talk shows need to develop from the ground up. All of HPL's grassroots forums, for example, coalesced around questions or issues that employees genuinely cared about. Chalk talks tapped into researchers' natural tendency to highlight their own triumphs and capitalized on their curiosity about what others are up to.
Second, despite their "outlaw" attitude, local talk shows can't survive without at least the tacit approval of senior management. At HPL, top managers have made it clear that they consider the forums to be worthwhile. As a result, skeptical middle managers do not actively thwart the chalk talks.
Third, local talk shows need ways to feed their discussions back into the company. Discussions initiated by Patel's Cool Team, for example, led hp to reexamine and then to improve the way it designs cooling systems for high-end servers. More often, however, the value created by the talk shows is less direct: Managers who depend on informal authority attend a forum on new styles of teamwork and apply the newly learned lessons to their work.
Fourth, local talk shows need their own "ratings." Even the most supportive manager has to be convinced that these time-consuming forums help the bottom line. The challenge: knowing where to look for payoffs and having the patience to wait when results take longer to materialize than you expect.
The next time you're tuning into your favorite talk show, pause to consider that you're also looking at the corporate-communication model of the future. For all the lowbrow theatrics and celebrity obsession that mark the worst of today's TV talk shows, even the lowest of the low manages to disseminate information and to get audiences thinking -- and it does so with an effectiveness that most companies can only dream about. Wouldn't it be great if all of your meetings were that interesting? That informative? That edutaining? Maybe it's time to get behind that prop desk, in front of that fake New York skyline, beside those comfy guest chairs, alongside that handpicked orchestra and those plastic potted palms, and kick off your own corporate talk show: "Live from your desk! It's the company talk show!"
Paul Roberts (proberts@nwi.net) is a frequent contributor to Fast Company.
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