The enterprise isn't ready for people

A few weeks ago JP Rangaswami wrote some bullet points about groups. The penultimate of ten points was the following:

9. The people aren’t ready for enterprises. And the enterprises aren’t ready for the people.

Engagement is about opening up the discussion so that employees can do what the generally want to do - provide efficient support internally and externally, and great customer service. Maybe people are ready for the enterprise to give them real influence, but most people most days will have a thought or an idea about how an aspect of the job could be improved. I think the people are ready for the enterprise.

Among the comments to JP's muse was the following from Stephen Collins: "I see enterprises...trying to treat people as if the dark satanic mill was a possibility in the 21st Century, expecting them to come in and work mindlessly and unquestioningly in their cubes for eight hours a day."

So what remains is the latter statement from JP. The myriad ways that messages are distributed now means that the conversation has already opened up from an employee perspective. The question following from JP's statement is, 'How can companies credibly and permanently become a voice in that discussion?'