Command and Control Enterprise ... I'd like you to meet UGC.

Trawling the net over the weekend - and thinking about one of my pet hobby horses - the seemingly contradictory idea of empowering the enterprise with these wacky and way-out concepts of blogs and wikis and 'UGC' and IM and You Tube and Facebook and and and ...

Except I don't think it is contradictory - it is what will happen - and in some lucky enterprises - IS happening.

A couple of posts caught my eye ....

ZDNet reporting on John Chambers from Cisco talking about the importance of collaboration to 'all things Enterprise.'

In fact the article even opens with

“The future is all about the power of “we” and how to collaborate with Web 2.0,” said Cisco CEO John Chambers,

Pretty straight forward huh ? However - read on and you will see that he highlights the essence of the challenge ....

"However, breaking down those hierarchies won't happen overnight. Organizations managed by command and control aren't about to give the keys to the kingdom to the IM, Facebook generation."

So here's the thing. One of the companies I am working with is Expert Alumni. Check them out.

In their words ...

"As half of the current workforce is planning retirement over the next 10 years, an experience gap is being created. This is not a short fall but according to industry observers, consultants, strategists and business leaders alike, it is a gap of unprecedented proportions.

In the past 40 years, corporations have enjoyed a balanced workforce at every level, with succession occurring fairly naturally.  People have been moving through the system and as individuals leave or retire, their replacements have not only brought the same level of experience, but have added value. This is no longer happening.

We now understand that the experience gap is too big to fill naturally and that the ad-hoc succession planning of the past is not enough. This situation is worsening as Baby Boomers retire."

The point is that those 'old' guys at the top - and in the middle - and at the bottom are retiring. They are retiring at a rate that is unprecedented. The skills gap is extraordinary. Talk to the Energy industry about the shortage of people they have. Or wonder who will keep - all the old computers going when the people that know how they work have retired - and the new guys are only learning about mash-ups and XML and ROR ... you get the point.

You see - I think that the "Organizations managed by command and control (who) aren't about to give the keys to the kingdom to the IM, Facebook generation" ... need to understand that if they don't those Gen Ys will simply go somewhere else that they are understood - or even start it up from scratch - they sure aren't going to spend their time sitting in the cubicles that their 'forefathers' sat in ....

Which brings me to the point - why wouldn't a C and C organisation try out a little bit of self organising collaboration. What do they have to lose?

Everything I would suggest - if they don't.