1. Beth Haley E Haley Inc Leadership & Social Networking
2. Three Wise Monkeys Philosophy I continue to run into the Three Wise Monkeys “philosophy” when it comes to organizational strategies on social media.
3. Reactions Reactions to social media are as varied as many organizations “Best thing since the iPad” “Evil that is best to be avoided” This is fully embracing the Three Wise Monkeys rule This philosophy of social isolation can be more than harmful to an organization
4. “Time Suck” Most common reason given by execs for limiting or denying access to social sites Employee productivity will decrease – they’ll be on Facebook, Twitter, blogs all day Sure - there are some employees who will take advantage My reaction: You don’t have a social problem, you have a leadership problem, a culture problem, or a hiring problem
5. “I don’t know what to say…” Every time I hear this… it’s a reason for social aversion Often leaders faced with the unknown It’s not a lack of what to say It’s a fear of what might be said Listen to what social media participants saying about your brand or company Starting point for conversations about your brand or company Opportunity to learn from others
6. “Lack of Funds” Some social media sights are free, others can cost a bundle! Word of mouth marketing through social networks is more prevalent and in fact, more powerful and more trusted Adoption increases exponentially Consider employees using “open” social media networks What do you want them to say – about the company, products, customers, to each other? Example: What if I told you that 50% of your employees were only going to speak Chinese from now on What would you do?
7. Social Media’s Impact on Business Challenge when using social media internally How to inject passion into the communities What doesn’t work? Linking participation to performance evaluations and financial rewards Knowledge Management Story Successful online communities have compelling and inspiring goals for their existence and their leaders are passionate about those goals
8. Social Media-Driven Learning Five levels of engagement regarding social media-driven learning Watching, sharing, commenting, producing and curating Trainers can focus their expertise on a learning style employees want Build dialogue through the use of social media tools to enhance social learning and to connect it to formal learning An anesthesiologist for a remote hospital used social media Procedure he had read about but had never see / done it himself Called his sister to say he figured out how to do it – via YouTube From a training perspective, his hospital hadn’t designed specific formal training to teach that Great example of how people can use social media to connect the dots of their formal & informal learning to improve performance
9. Training - Open Leadership Open leadership needed to support social learning Align training goals with the company’s business objectives Find a problem area where trust and open dialogue will help resolve it and enable it to occur Open leaders believe that if you give employees power, they’ll do well with it Companies have to embrace failure as well To be good at success, you have to be good at failure—embrace it and learn from it Be open and define clearly the boundaries and rules of play when it comes to adopting social media tools Define the consequences for not following these rules
10. Using Blogs Create a blog post asking learners to provide a 100-word recap of the critical takeaways from the past session. Post a link to an article, YouTube or CNN video clip (think customer service, conflict management, empowered employees) and invite learner responses. Facilitate comments to elicit further discussion among the participants. For a management development program, ask each Friday for a quick response to something critical to the course, such as, “List 5 things you caught people doing right this past week.”
11. Using Facebook Leverage Facebook's more robust discussion areas and built-in tools like photos and events To help maintain learning and community after training, create a fan page or group for graduates of your corporate Leadership Academy Start (or ask for volunteers) regularly scheduled discussions of topics relevant to all graduates Have learners enrolled in a course conduct an environmental scan, taking cell-phone photos of their worksites that support or conflict with the stated company mission
12. Using Wiki Use the wiki's inherent 'database' structure to start capturing collective knowledge within the organization Invite course participants to contribute tips for things like: Retaining top performers; improving existing processes; recruitment strategies; success stories Have workers create a map of an existing process, then work together to edit/create a new, better process
13. The Army? Using Social Media? Really? Army announced its 90-day "wiki" program, which invites about 140,000 soldiers of all ranks to make real-time wiki updates to the Army's tactics, techniques and procedures. The surprise was that the Army, the epitome of a hierarchical chain of command, was opening up policy-making to the rank and file. The Army is being very strategic It recognizes that social-networking media, including wikis -- which allow all users to edit and update Web-based information sites -- are the way of the future in the public and private sectors
14. Selling Social Media for Training So why should you incorporate social media into your business’ training and educational plan? Here’s why: Replace online procrastination with social education. Internet users are starting earlier and earlier. The expectation is that the world will spin in time with the Internet. Can you imagine what the expectation will be when those kids join your workforce in 10 years? Social media encourages collaboration instead of cliques. And collaboration is one very effective way to teach adults. Cell phones aren’t the enemy. Use them to their fullest capability and then your business may benefit, too.
15. Selling Social Media for Training Incorporating social media (continued)… Social media is not going away. So use it, instead of battle against it When people are engaged they learn better. You bet they do. Remember that class you hated in high school? I bet you weren’t engaged and don’t remember much about it Safe social media tools are available—and free Many companies have their own social media tools set up already, so start using them to educate your employees!
16. Parting Thoughts The wisdom of the Three Monkeys is sage advice for some but for those who need to acquire and engage customers and employees, their philosophy represents a huge risk; the Risk of Indifference, more commonly read as ROI. While that may not be the traditional definition of ROI, it is definitely the definition of the risk you take by not participating in the social conversation. Social media is the biggest conversation in the history of man. Does your company really want to not participate in it?
The reactions to social media as a form of communication are as varied as organizations “Best thing since TiVo”“Evil that is best to be avoided”The latter group is fully embracing the Three Wise Monkeys rule by limiting or denying access to social sites via the corporate networkThis philosophy of social isolation can be more than harmful to an organizationIt can be fatal
Those companies who hire intelligently, set employee expectations, create environments of trust and respect, and inspire employees with core values that ring true, the time suck fear is no reason for concern. Because regardless of access to social sites, employees are still required to execute their mission, deliver their deliverables, and perform their duties; as always. In fact for these employees social sites can provide a wealth of information and experience from which to learn, and which will help them do their job more efficiently and more effectively.Besides if you actually do have any of these issues, you can rest assured that employees are already wasting time on social sites via their smartphones (which you can’t track) or on something else.
We are charged with rallying the troops, inspiring the corps, convincing investors and analysts that our companies are sound and on the road to great success. So why the negative reaction to the social conversation?
An anesthesiologist for a remote hospital used social mediaHe had read and studied how to handle a particular procedure but had never seen it or done it himself. One day he called his sister to say he finally figured out how to do it—by watching a YouTube videoShe said, ‘I don’t know if I ever want to be your patient!’From a training perspective, his hospital hadn’t designed specific formal training to teach him that. This is a powerful example of how people can use social media tools to connect the dots of their formal and informal learning to improve their performance
