Model for NASA-look at GM and how they are connecting with customers
GM is connecting with their existing and previous customers using a wiki. This is my all time favorite (my only one actually) use of a wiki. In very few situations have I seen the benefit for an organization to have a “wiki.” But this one takes the cake and frosting too!
I think this is an awesome model for NASA. Think about all the people in the public that have sometime in their lives had a NASA encounter, a NASA love, or is or have been part of the NASA mission. What great stories to add to the NASA history.
So here is what GM is doing…GM developed GMnext online community with the tag line – “Driving Change.” Great tag line says the psychologist. From there people are asked to be part of creating GM living history wiki The reason…”General Motors has touched the lives of millions of people all over the world: why not take advantage of this unique site and add your story to theirs.” “Visitors to the Wiki are constantly adding new stories about favorite cars, career highlights, and other GM milestones that have affected them and their communities.” There are sections titled “I was there” and “Tell us your story.”
I can’t help but think how awesome it would be to have someone like Jack Boyd at NASA Ames Research Center (been there like 40 years, probably not accurate forgive me Jack), talking to a younger generation about what it was like when “I was there.” On a personal note, I remember taking my son and daughter to view the “Return to Flight” launch at the NASA Ames Exploration Center. That was an amazing “I was there” story because, not only did NASA over come tremendous hurdles for the launch, but also because that launch seems to have inspired my son’s interest in space and space exploration.
NASA has touched and inspired so many people around the world why not take advantage of it.
6 Responses to “Model for NASA-look at GM and how they are connecting with customers”
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Nick Skytland on February 26th, 2009
I worked for GM in college as an intern, the summer before I came to NASA. It was one of the best experiences of my life. We did some amazing work and even thought GM has a bad rap right now in the media, I can personally tell you that it is truly an inspirational company to work for. Granted, I worked on the development of concept cars and thus was predisposed to a pretty imaginative workforce. However, I do think that the company works hard to connect people and I see that creativity manifested here again. A particular example of what that looked like back then was that GM hosted a pretty unique event for their summer interns. I’m not sure if they still do this or not, but they would fly everyone (thousands of people from everywhere, including overseas) to Detroit and would have essentially a leadership conference for them. It was an amazing experience where the interns got to test drive the cars, enter for chances to win GM products, and participate in training events. For those of you just tuning in, this is EXACTLY what we are hoping NASA will do for young leaders. Test driving cars was GM’s way to tie even the lowest level employees to their ultimate mission. Chances to win things was a really cool way to incentivize the workforce. The training activities for interns were really forward thinking – the one that sticks with me is a class on “networking”, they taught us the value of a firm handshake. GM actively worked to see their interns and human capital as an investment, which left a lasting impression in me. I still keep in touch with my mentor from that summer program, as well as a few of the engineers and designers that I met.
Celeste Merryman on February 27th, 2009
Right Nick. People make personal, life changing, and long-lasting connections to businesses, employers, and organizations all the time. I have heard so many people in the general public say they love NASA. A few years ago several of us from NASA Ames marched in the SF LGBT parade. It was unbelievable to hear how many people shout out “I love NASA.” People connect with NASA in ways we don’t even know. Story telling is one way to share.
rquintanilla on March 6th, 2009
Celeste I really like the idea behind what GM is doing. The phrase “Driving Change” fits perfectly for GM. It would be great if NASA could do this too. I had a discussion with one my fellow co-workers once. I stated “it is easier to understand the American/global system than it is to understand the NASA system.” The reason is because if you read the news you could use it to read between the lines and understand the system. NASA however does not have journalist that monitor the daily activities — making it difficult for the regular workers to know what is going on. Using the wiki to catalog stories and experiences would be a great way to give everyone access to what NASA is really about.
Nick, your experience at GM is highly dependent on the group you worked for. I won’t knock GM, because I don’t know much about the work environment. In any organization, it isn’t how things work in the best groups but how things work in the average groups. I bet that even Google has some bad groups, but I believe that their average is much better than that of the average organization — and that is what makes them great.
Sean Wilson on March 9th, 2009
rquintanilla, NASA HQ actually does have a company that tracks daily media activities. Check out www dot bulletinnews dot com/nasa. This only tracks media coverage at a national level, though. It would be great if each center had access to a service like this to let employees know that the media is interested and what is being said. However, I’ve been at NASA for 11 years and didn’t know of its existence until I came to the public affairs office last year. Of course, internal communication (or lack thereof) is a whole other issue entirely.
L. Delheimer on March 10th, 2009
My personal belief about media is that if you are interested in something, you will locate sources of information that suit your needs. I found a link to the NASA daily news summary within my first week onsite. Motivation has a lot to do with it – not that NASA couldn’t do a better job of media saturation. Granted, I’m a bit of a news junkie, but it didn’t take me long to find solid sources of good data. It’s obviously easier within firewalls, since there’s more quality information, not slanted by PAO, etc. (they do a fine job, but let’s face it – they aren’t technicians.) Our job is to find the public’s motivation for wanting to know what we do and exploit it – we, as taxpayers, should insist that the latest media technology is utilized to spread the word. Wikis, Twitter, Image of the Day, they all have their place, but we need more of this type of media coverage, or people will lose interest. As an example, think about how many cell phones you have been through since they first came out. Now the Iphone, etc., the technology changes faster than most of us can afford. NASA needs to keep up by setting a new standard.
Steve on April 7th, 2009
Customer facing wiki pages and websites were plentiful years before GM picked up on the concept. Perhaps one can identify a better role model than a corporation has been losing money and market share for twenty years and fast approaches bankruptcy.
But this raises a more troubling question. Is NASA so far out of touch with technology and modern business practice, that GM is closer to the cutting edge? If so, this web site is most certainly needed to help show them they way to the 21st century.