Build Coalitions of Support to Move Forward into Future

Shaun, you need to "back channel" on this. Are you working with a mentor, coach, sponsor? If you are, he or she is a logical starting point. Or, who do you know who has power, yes, power, to back you? It is the old New York street smarts. It is not who you are that counts. What counts is who sends you. You get the idea. You do not want to give away your project to folks in IT who can run with it and cut you out. You want to deal with somebody high up who has overall planning, budget powers. Academic deans come to mind. Also, social media vendors, actual and potential, can be good lobbyists, yes, the right word, lobbyist, for you, since your success gives them profits. You need to be careful not to create suspicion of getting kickbacks from vendors! That would kill your propspects. Rather, you need to have a probable vendor say, yes, Shaun is a go-ahead guy; he is going to put you on the map and track to compete in the future. We see the value of what he wants to do for and with you; for this reason, we are ready to offer you a special sweetheart discount deal on social media hardware and software, service, and financing. You get the idea. You need an internal champion, e.g. the dean. Then, carefully select and activate an external champion vendor. Be very careful to keep an ethical distance between you and the vendor. Believe me. You do not want project enemies to be able to accuse of you double-dealing kickbacks of any kind in any way. Start with the dean; discuss with him or her if leveraging a vendor to provide a discount for implementation and support would help. Go for it! You can see now why the politics, management of IT is crucial, and the focus of applied research in management and leadership.