Rogier Noort, Author at Rogier Noort

Should we let employees socialise?

Yes!

It’s almost a silly question to ask. Of course, we want employees to socialise, we even encourage it. There are company parties, at Christmas and New Years for instance. There’s the birthdays where we eat cake and have a chuckle or two.

In some cases employees are even encouraged to communicate with each other.., and very rarely, this even happens during office hours. But, not too long though, after all, how can you get any work done if you’re talking to somebody else.

I apologize for the sarcasm, I know it’s an easy way to poke at something. But, this still is, in many cases the daily order of business. You come to work to work, not to have fun, not be social, not to have a life other than the one dictated by HR and management.

And yet, by now, we know this is counter productive.

Flanders, Belgium

SD Worx (Dutch link) investigated and found that barely 1 in 3 employers lets its employees make use of Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. A quarter of employees isn’t even able to email outside work.

Dirk Van Bastelaere states, correctly, that the digitisation of the workplace is not keeping up with the rest of society. Folks, this is Social Business one-on-one.

Ironically, when it comes to controlling employees, digital is a favourite way to go. Time tracking (digitally) is implemented at over half of these companies, according to SD Worx.

Your Digital Self

Then there is your digital footprint, an irrevocable reflection of who you are. This is an excellent source for employers to keep an eye on their employees (those who call in sick should mind what they post on Facebook). It can even be in a very intrusive way for employers to check out potential applicants, which in some cases goes completely beyond any rational behaviour.

The trend seems to be that if a company can directly benefit from your social activity, it will not hesitate to do so. And when it feels there’s no upside, it will put up a Chinese Wall, just to keep things under control.

Either way, it’s about control. Or more to the point, fear of giving an employee too much freedom.

Backwards

From a societal and Social Business point of view, this is exactly the opposite of what we want to achieve.

There are arguments to be made for both opinions. However, a quick search favours opening up these platforms, research is being done on the subject.

However, I don’t want to go into a debate about statistics, I want to raise the point of the future of business.

Forwards

The point of a (truly) Social Business is keeping up with trends and developments in society, technology and work.

You, as a business, do not get to choose. You, as a business, get to adept.

Meaning, as a business, you do not create these trends and developments, at least, most businesses don’t. A company like IBM is setting the trend on how to be a social business. However, they do no control society or technological developments, they adept to them.

For a business to stay relevant in an ever changing society and faster technological advancements, you need to keep up. You need to embrace and implement changes.

Pitfalls

Sure, there are plenty.

Some employees will spend to much time on social platforms.
Some employees will infect their PC with malware.
Some employees will cyber bully a colleague.
Some employees will (inadvertently) leak sensitive material.

And so on…

But, let’s face it, this is nothing new. With every new development there is a potential downside. This doesn’t mean you block it or worse, ignore it. No, you adept to it.

History shows that companies which do not adept quickly enough, die.
The flip side; companies which do adept, thrive.

Guidance

In my opinion, companies should open up. Employees should be able to use their social networks, professional and personal. For starters, one makes them more valuable, the other happier.

But, I strongly encourage to provide as much guidance as possible.

Not everybody gets social. They might not see the big picture, do not understand what consequences their actions might have. A single Tweet can be very destructive.

Instructing employees on the proper use of social can stimulate them in building a stronger professional network (i.e. use LinkedIn or start blogging). Or, be more effective in keeping their use under control (i.e. teach them how to use Hootsuite).

Social platforms are very powerful tools. Tools which more and more people use, some very effectively. When a business ignores this, shunts it, it will miss out on the most powerful and fundamental change our society is going through since we figured out how to tell a story.

I could go on, but a decade from now, the term Social Business won’t exist any more. It’ll just be Business. And either you still exist, or you don’t. It really is up to you.

Pressure

A dam is build to take a tremendous amount of pressure. It’s designed to do this. However, to much pressure and the dam brakes.

Modern society is putting a lot of pressure on current business and its leaders. A whole lot. It’s not easy, in fact, quite the opposite, it’s hard.
This time is one of the most difficult for (top)managers. You cannot ignore the future, you can’t shut it out.

You have to acknowledge the heavy rain that is filling up your reservoir, and a controlled trickle is far better than an uncontrolled deluge. At some point you have to adept, change, open up.

If you don’t.., the dam will burst.

Social Business done right. Valuable Lessons Learned.

I was going through some photo’s of 2013’s Enterprise 2.0 Summit, for my previous post, and came across this little gem. No, not the louvre, but a slide of Van Marcke’s Phillipe Borremans.

Last March, in Paris (hence the image above), he gave a talk about the social business journey he choreographed for Van Marcke. This particular slide is his “Lessons Learned” slide, a mandatory slide to have I’d say. I enjoyed Philippe’s talk a lot, it was down to earth, realistic and not just theoretical.

These lessons learned are a product of that (now) clear path, and I wanted to share them with you, and dissect their meaning.

Lessons Learned

Audit

Audit the situation before you start makes perfect sense (as do most points on this list). You have to know what you’re up against. You have to know what assets you have, what you can work with. What are the problems (if any, but usually they’re plenty of them, once you start digging).

Creating an inventory of assets and problems will lay the foundation for the rest of the journey. You can create a map of where you want to go and how you plan to get there.

The C-Suite

You can have change without C-level support. But, you have to start as a disruptor, at the bottom and in obscurity. Fight your way up and into the light. As an individual you might be able to change your way of working, and maybe even your team or department. However, changing the company is almost entirely impossible.

Besides, the changes and plans we’re talking about can only begin at the absolute top. Top management needs to want this change, they need to give the green light, provide you with the necessary means. Meaning time, people, money and other assets.

Plus, they have to engage. Just getting a Go from the CEO is not enough, he or she needs to be part of the change, all the way. I wrote about what happens if they don’t on {grow}.

Long Term Commitment

Social business is not a fad, a trend or a buzz-word. It is inevitable and quite permanent. The sooner you (we, CEO’s) realize this, the better.

Therefore, we plan for the long haul. We plan for the ongoing education and transformation. New employees get trained right away into the new ways, and the process of getting everybody within the company ‘on board’ will be an ongoing process until all have joined.

It sounds diabolical, new world order-ish, but this is the scope we’re dealing with.

Customized

Social is a custom business. Also something we need to get out of the way. All business are created unequal. There are no two alike. There are simply to many variables to consider in any one company.

Yes, we can have best practises and a set of ground rules, like Dion Hinchecliffe’s Ten Tenets. But, they are just that, ground rules, a guide. Something you can shape your transformation around. When taking the first point (Audit) into consideration, you can imagine that what you find during an audit is different within every company. Heck, it’s even different if you audit that same company a year later.

This is a challenge for SocBiz professionals too, every time they come to a new business, they have to start from scratch. A broad experience in different cultures, disciplines and industries is almost a must.

Generation Y

An often brought up topic. I bring them up often enough. We (on a company level) have to prepare ourselves for the inevitable coming of this generation. They’ve grown up with the Internet, it’s always been there (when I was young we 2 channels black & white TV, just to put things in perspective).

But, Gen.Y will not drive the change we seek. They’ll make use of it, they’ll expect it, but they can’t spearhead the change itself. According to Philippe’s findings, you need experience to lead the change, to be the change.

People are your most valuable asset (without them there is no change, or a company for that matter), and your champions are the most valuable people. They are the ones others look to for leadership and guidance. They are the Trojan Mice you plant throughout the company to work from within.

IT No Longer Rules

Traditionally there has always been a huge gap between IT and The Business. Communicating needs and wants between the two has always been difficult. Simply because both speak a different language and see the world in a different light.

There was a time where IT (or ICT) ruled the world. The techies knew and had it all. Heck, when I was an IT Professional it was fun. We practically did what we wanted, ran our own servers and had our won sub networks and proper Internet speeds. Nobody knew, because nobody had a clue as to what we did. As long as their data was available and the PC’s and printers worked, no questions were asked.

And when new software (which we picked) had to be implemented we had the mandate to do it, employees just had to give up their PC and we changed or updated it, put it back and wished them a nice day.

This is no longer the case. ICT supports the business, it puts them in a though spot, but it is the right place to be.

Instead of asking IT what software we need to do a certain job, we now find the software to solve a set of very specific issues. It is completely supportive to the business and it’s employees. The business goals are the mandate, not the perceived reality of a department less in touch with the business.

Good Lessons

As I said, these are a few very good lessons learned. When you think about them, they seem very obvious, but they are not. Many a business just jumps into the fray. Like with Social Media, ticking of the boxes on a list they found on the Web, or having an intern just do their social. Social business is something most will want, they might even understand why they want it.

But many will make exactly those mistakes we try to avoid.

Don’t waste your time and money. When you choose to start your Social Business journey. Do it right.

Enterprise 2.0 Summit 2014: First case studies confirmed. #e20s

The preparations for the upcoming Enterprise 2.0 Summit 2014 are in full swing. Kongress Media, the organising company, is planning the event for 11 -12 February, again in Paris (we do not mind that).

And, according to Björn Negelmann, this the Summit will have a bit more of a French flavour. Meaning, some sessions will be in French. This is choice is made, in part, to serve the local (French) market a bit more.

This is a good thing, as I need to work on my French anyway.

The confirmed cases are presented by the following people:

Olivier Amprimo (L’Oreal)
Celine Schillinger (Sanofi)
Dan Florescu (ING)

Although the topics are not yet available (it’s still a while until Februari), the speakers are very interesting. And judging from their position and the firms they work for, we (i.e. you) can make an educated guess.

Olivier Amprimo

Olivier can be found “at the junction of management, technology & culture, to maximize knowledge work & make organizations more competitive.”

I love that one-liner. Very well thought out and explaining exactly what you can expect from him.

Olivier is a Parisian, so you can expect this talk to be in French. He is director of collaborative development at L’Oreal and share’s his thoughts on VeniVidiLuxi.

Celine Schillinger

Celine has been featured on this blog before. She’s an Engagement and Social Collaboration Leader. She’s the embodiment of The Disruptor.

Working at Sanofi Pastuer she kicked of a movement (read: revolution) for more equality within the workplace. There’s a fair chance Ceiline will share that story. I hope so, it’s captivating.

Celine is director/stakeholder Engagement at Sanofi Pasteur, has her own blog (WeNeedSocial.com) and is very active on Twitter.

Dan Florescu

Dan is the Intranet Product Manager at ING. A Romanian born, working in the Netherlands at ING for over 3 years now.

He’s an alumni from the Politehnica University of Bucharest.