Is your company using Social Networking?

The more that I meet with clients and network, the more I realize the vastness of the implementation efforts of Social Networking that are out there.  Some have never heard of this (or think they have never heard of it until you probe a little more), some want to but don’t know where to start, some have the tools at their company but no one uses them at all or correctly, some have implemented with a bang and then fizzled and some are in there, doing it and doing it well.  I learn more and more every day on this journey!  Today, I want to ask for your comments and I would love to hear on specific questions…

• Has your company implemented a Social Networking Solution?
• Are the employees using it, shying away from it, testing the waters or going crazy using it?
• What tools and pieces are you using?
• What works and doesn’t work?
• Who are the “evangelizers” of it at your office?
• Do you see any benefit?
• Did anyone ask you what you wanted in the solution or did it just “appear” one day and you were told to use it?
• Is your performance appraisal linked into it– for instance you must have so many posts in a forum, or have your own blog, etc?

Just give me some feedback today.  I know what my opinions are BUT I find it fascinating to hear yours and it always amazes me to hear about the good, the bad and the ugly. It helps me to help you and my clients.  Happy Collaborating!

Cisco Telepresence

I have participated in a Cisco Telepresence meeting and the technology is fantastic.  It only took a few minutes for me to forget that it was a cross country meeting.  BUT this demonstration by Cisco on what is possible, is truly amazing.  It is about 4 minutes long and worth the time to view it.  It really makes you think out of the box!  This is amazing technology–it is green, it brings people from all over the world together and it is a piece of what the future holds in this collaborative space.  Happy viewing (and collaborating!)

Collaborative Intelligence

I am revisiting a topic that I wrote on in July regarding Collaborative Intelligence.  Today on WWPYCBW, Michael gives some great thoughts on collaboration and it made me think again on CQ or Collaborative Intelligence.  Realizing that others have something to contribute and that you have information worth sharing and ideas that need exploring with others is collaboration.  Even if you don’t have the latest technology, you can collaborate.  Using the “we don’t have xxxxx tool” so we can’t collaborate is just  a poor excuse.  Collaborating is a human skillset. Sure the tools can help (immensly!) but they cannot help if the culture and the collaborative nature of the humans involved is not present.  Picking up the phone, sending a letter (yep there is still the written note), attending or participating in a panel discussion, meeting for coffee if you are in close proximity, etc. open up the communications channels and open up for the sharing of ideas, feelings and knowledge.  Understanding that your thoughts and ideas get better when you share them and you add to them other’s inputs, is what collaboration is all about.  So whether you are chatting with a collegue, tweaking a document that your team is working on in SharePoint, adding to a wiki for a knowledge base or reading blogs and writing blogs, etc., you are increasing the CQ in your life and in the life of your team.  Happy collaborating today!

Marketing Social Media Inside

One of the questions I get frequently is “how do we get the users to see that using Social Media inside our corporation is a benefit?”  There are many tactics, but one I use is in a way like writing a commercial.  Before you have your own inhouse testimonies, you need to create some. 

I like to write scenerios for different business units using a probable situation that collaborating with the tools will

1. save time
2. save money
3. result in a solution better than ever imagined

They are not difficult to come up with if you have done your analysis right.  Take the challenges that a user has, their suggestions that would improve the situation and incorporate them into a scenerio.  Post these, display them and run an “inhouse marketing” campaign using these as one of the pieces.  When you plan your implementation, if you have done it well, you have the communications/marketing piece included and this can be a component of that.  Once the momentum is going, you will have “real” testimonies from the users themselves.  At that point, incorporate those and ask if you can use their name and department so it becomes a personal, grassroots testimonial/evangalism program for your newly found collaborative solutions!  Happy Collaborating.

Collaboration Implementation

I am working on a team that is implementing Social Media tools inhouse.  It has made me consider some best practice tips.

• Take advantage of what you’ve got!  So many corps now have collaboration tools in place or purchased.  Take inventory of what you have and leverage the functionality you already have rather than buying another tool.
• Don’t think the tool is going to make it happen!  Find your evangelists and let them help you kick this thing off the ground!
• So many initiatives in corporations are from the “top down.”  Use a grassroots approach.  Bring users in early to get their needs heard and fullfilled.  Ask what needs to happen to make their job easier rather than telling them later how some tool is going to make it easier.  See the difference in those approaches??
• Do pieces at a time.  This is the time to be agile and iterative.  If your company has not collaborated and communicated with these tools before take it a step at a time.  Have a long range plan and implement piece by piece.
• Let the users play with the tools before they are live.  Get them over the “wiki pause” by setting up areas where they can blog and wiki BUT it is not published.  Just get them to do it in what they see as “safe”.
• Get HR on board.  Make sure you know HR’s take– are they going to MAKE people use it and if they don’t knock them down on performance appraisal time? are they going to police it and get people fearful of  sharing anything? Make sure HR is behind the move in this direction and supportive.  A conversation about open and transparent tools is a good one to have BEFORE implementing.
• Some people are using social media tools at home when they are on the internet and do not even know they are using them.  I run into people like this daily.  Survey the employees to see what their social media saavyness is.  At the end of the survey ask for volunteers for your team–you will find your evangelists here!
• Understand how the tools are going to be used.  What is the goal for the business?  Communicate that well and over and over again.
• Figure out your measurements of success.  What are the metrics that you will be using if any.
• Talk about ground rules and governance.   I am not a proponent on a lot of rules around this space, but If you have to have some make them more general.  For example–posts should be clear and concise, posts should not simply repeat someone
• Are their business units within your organization that are using the tools really well?  Get them involved.
• People first! Tools second!

Happy collaborating.

Web 2.0 Hereos (the book)

I just finished Web 2.0 Heroes, Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers by Bradley L. Jones.  Great book and so interesting.  Each “hero” has a terrific story, things that motivated them and keeps them looking forward.  Many of the same questions are asked to each “hero” and it is facsinating to read the similarities and especially the differences in their answers regarding Web 2.0 past, present and future.  Highly recommend this one!  Happy Collaborating!

Working with wikis

James Matheson, from Custom Ware  shared great info on wikis and working with them.  Some highlights:

What’s a wiki?  An editable web page BUT more social, people have more control over the content than a traditional web site and it is EASY!

What’s the difference in using one on the internet vs. an enterprise wiki? Permissions, notifications, search, versioning, and more!

Use Cases for Enterprise Wikis-intranet replacement, project management, meeting agendas/notes/minutes, social interaction and knowledge base.

Adoption– Put some structure to it so people can see the overall organization of it, keep it open and allow editing, seach must be excellent!

See this full article that is posted on Michael Sampson’s Blog.

Telecommuting

In the July 25th print addition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle there was a great article regarding telecommuting.  Michael Dziak, COO of e-Work.com, Inc., was quoted as saying “Teleworking was a novelty in 1990, trendy in 2000 and now becoming very common. In 2015 it’s going to be a standard practice for everybody and if you don’t do this you’ll be in the Dark Ages.” 

Using technology of course is imperative for this—-BUT not just catching  a signal so that you can be on the internet.  The use of IM type tools insures that you are visible to others on your team and you in turn can see who on your team is available.  Do you and your team use this?  What about a virtual workspace to share documents and to collaborate on them?  Do you and your team use this?  How about a social networking tool where you can share what your expertise and experience is so others can seek you out?  If you and I are working on a similar project or initiative, do we know it?  Can we search on it?  As a manager how can you effectively manage folks you do not see sitting in a cube hour after hour? 

How about the trust part?  Communication? Getting to know one another?  Water cooler time and coffee breaks?  These are intregal parts of any team whether you are near or far from each other.  Do you  and your team use the tools mentioned above to connect with each other, build trust and loyalty?

I think whether it is telecommuting, a team that is spread across the globe or a team that sits next to each other, all of these questions are valid and should be acted upon.  Using collaboration tools to not only share knowledge and information but to also talk to one another in a quick efficient way AND also to find out something about each other–our background, interests, etc is all valid no matter what the team situation is.  The fact that a team is spread out geographically brings these issues to the forefront, but many of us have had teams that are close in proximity but still do not collaborate.

Collaborating is an attitude and must be desired to have it work no matter what your technology is.  It starts with a person then moves to the tool.  After that it doesn’t matter where my computer connects, I am connected with YOU!

Happy Collaborating!

Just pick up the phone would ya?

I had lunch today with an upper level manager from a large, global corporation.  The purpose of lunch was to collaborate on working with remote teams–challenges, what works, what doesn’t, where are the holes, etc.  He works for a technology company so having collaboration tools at his disposal is not an issue.  He has a plethora to choose from and admits that he has only scratched the surface here as there are so many available.  His team is global with a significant number out of the country and time zone!  He has done many things right in getting cohesiveness on his team like meeting with those that are remote to get to know them face to face, posting pictures on the intranet site, profiles are online, instant messanger products and conference calls are used to name a few things.  BUT when I asked what the biggest factor was in bringing his team together he said “the telephone!”  It made me think that too many people avoid the phone now and sometimes use email and the other online tools to avoid talking with folks.  If communication and trust are the foundation of collaboration, doesn’t the phone make sense?  He said he encounter resistance from his team at first, but he does practice what he preaches.  He commits 2, 1 hour phone calls a week to his team members that are on the other side of the globe.  He has his local team members do the same–they are required 1 hour of phone time with their counterpart once a week.  This has helped in many regards–starting to understand each other’s culture, overcoming language barriers and challenges and just basic clarification that everyone is understanding goals and projects the same.  The phone time has also become their “water cooler” time as I like to call it.  Over time they have evolved into developing relationships with one another and asking about each other’s lives.  Just like you do with those you are face to face with daily. This was a great reminder to me!  The telephone—”reach out and touch someone” as the Bell ad states!  Happy collaborating!

Introducing Social Networking at Work Part III (do we need it?)

When you did the analysis of your business processes you may have found that teams are spread out and/or work different hours.  It might look like the company below:

ABC Corp has 2000 employees, 12% of which work remote–meaning at home.  Since ABC Corp is spread out globally, the teams function as remote teams even though these team members are in an office of ABC Corp; some teams also have members from the 12% who work at home.  When looking at processes it is discovered that:

• The manager feels somewhat out of control; he/she is not sure always when his remote team members are on line.
• At home remote workers feel disconnected at times–they feel they are the “last to know” and do not have the same feeling of connectiveness as those in the office do as far as connecting with other ABC Corp employees–even if those employees work for different business units/projects.  It causes a feeling of insecurity within this group of employees.
• Too much email seems to be a consistent theme–since this seems to be the way people share information on projects they are working on, since they are spread out from each other and in different time zones, they email ALOT!  No one is quite sure what the latest document is.
• Expertise is spread out across the organization.  BUT when a team member hits a road block or challenge there is no way to tap into this expertise and to connect with someone that has knowledge in that area.
• There is no process for many things; each area has created their own.  No knowledgebase to research to inquire if another unit is doing a similar process.  So the “wheel is reinvented” over and over again.
• Trust and communication is an issue.  People feel more open to communicate and then to trust if there is face to face connections than when they know nothing about their team member.  Loyalty?  It barely exists.
• Job turnover is high on these remote teams.  Even with the members that like their job, they are not reaping the benefits of connecting with coworkers, so they seek out other job situations.
• It has been difficult in assigning tasks and tracking progress on those.  It is hard to talk to someone across the globe and during the day employees are left wondering what the status on project tasks are.

These are just a few of the things you may have discovered in doing the analysis on the user end.  Many holes and processes that are not quite working.  I am sure you can think of many more!  Share those in the comments and then let’s collaborate on a solution and buy in to that solution!  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!  Happy collaborating.