I have long subscribed to the notion that the success of the so-called “enterprise 2.0” movement will come from changes in culture and behavior moreso than from advances in technology. One of the biggest changes that needs to happen is for organizational leaders to let lose the reigns and allow employees freely think and interact.

Jim Haudan wrote a great post yesterday over at My Global career, called Engage Workers by Letting Them Think. He starts off by says:

…many employee engagement approaches are still one-way communication efforts on steroids that fail to tap into the ability of employees to think and act differently.  At a time when study after study confirms that only about 20% of employees are engaged in their current work, it’s hard not to conclude that something’s not working!

I think that E2.0 community should look more at the HR and Strategy community to get a better understanding of how this great new tool set we have can really impact business operations. Employee Engagement will be one of the three big levers for making the business case for E2.0 implementations.

If we continue listening to what Jim says, I think we will hear a lot of parallels to what we are trying to accomplish with wikis, blogs, social networks, etc.

You can’t possibly be engaged if someone else is trying to draw your conclusions for you.  You need the “emotional aha.”  You need to feel like you’re totally in the game by really feeling what the business needs, figuring out how you can help, and realizing why you make a difference.

This type of personal, emotional connection is why we all believe that creating the connected enterprise is so worthwhile. This connection and freedom to act brings engagement, passion and ultimately innovation, effectiveness and productivity.