The Social Management of Work Whitepaper: Connecting Employee Management to Operational Performance Management

1. breaking silos to
improve performance
the social
management
of work
Rolf E. Kleiner and charles Bedard

2. 03 Introduction
04 Why we need social management practices
07 Why it works
08 Linear management processes don’t work
09 Perpetual processes are enabled by social management
10 It’s new technology and a new mindset
15 Which technology?
18 Conclusion
contents

3. introduction
People are inherently social. The trouble is, organizations typically do not
harness this natural inclination well. Rather, they create barriers that hinder how
employees engage with one another, and limit agility in how they collaborate
and make decisions.
They do this by forming complex hierarchies and reporting structures,
excessively layering new processes and controls without reviewing or
removing existing ones, as well as creating functional silos with defined
yet competing interests.
In an effort to control and converge the way people work, organizations have
hindered their productivity and increased bureaucracy—so much so that
traditional management think is no longer working. Employees and employers
alike are looking for a new way of interacting that’s more productive, more
efficient and more responsive to what’s happening here and now—not what
was happening when all these processes and hierarchies were created.
By redefining how we manage, and by striving to better reflect how people
want to work in an information-based knowledge economy, we can improve
communication and collaboration, and eliminate waste. This is what social
management at work is all about and we’re already doing it ourselves.
In the next few pages, we will take you through our thinking, our approach and
show you why “social” is the next evolution in good management practice.
Rolf E. Kleiner Charles Bedard
3

4. From the outside, we perceive companies as unified wholes.
In reality they are often a series of silos, each with their own
objectives, management practices and ways of operating.
Why we need social
management practices
The challenge every large organization faces is to move from being a group
of fragmented silos working in parallel, to becoming a unified ecosystem. And
unfortunately, many of the controls and processes managers have used to
improve employee functioning have, in fact, inhibited it.
The silos present in many traditional business structures have the effect of limiting
access to critical communication—not only vertically but also horizontally. This is
problematic for four reasons:
1. Only top leaders can give strategic communications the appropriate
weight, yet few employees receive this thanks to hierarchical “cascading”
communication styles.
2. Strategy involves trade-offs, which are more easily accepted when put in a
broad perspective, without parochial filters.
3. Messages passed from person to person seldom arrive intact—so employees
are left operating without the key information they need.
4. Critical messages from the “frontline” do not filter back up the management
line effectively or efficiently. Often, key customer insights are lost because
cascading doesn’t work in reverse.
The “social management” of work is about effectively communicating and
managing at least these two things:
1. The operational goals of the corporation; and
2. The impact individuals have on operations.
4

5. Traditional management approaches often concentrate heavily on achieving
the first point, but do not have the technology, processes or management
practices to deliver on the second.
At their core, social management practices aim to recognize and harness the
symbiotic relationship of the organization and the individual. When executed
properly, the outcomes are:
• increased workforce engagement
• lower turnover
• better governance of process
• improved efficiency and effectiveness
• better financial results
• establishment of a performance culture and, ultimately,
• successful execution of strategy.
While some hierarchy is necessary—the buck has to stop somewhere—social
management ignores the idea that “cascades” must only occur within silos.
Instead, it embraces a more transparent and flattened business structure,
facilitated by perpetual (rather than linear) processes, and by social technology.
Why we need social management practices
5
What we think happens What really happens
A unified collective A series of silos
One goal Many goals, different objectives, competing interests
One way of operating Multiple operating practices and management routines
Working collaboratively Disjointed, in conflict
Information flows/”cascades” as needed from
one layer of the organization to the next
Information tends to “pool” rather than “flow”—some areas
have access to too much, while others have access to too little
Employees are well connected to their
managers and understand the objectives
Employees are disconnected from managers and do not always
know how they are performing against the plan

6. 6
The cost of disengaged employees to U.S. employers per year1
:
$370b
The percentage of return on the salary of a disengaged employee2
:
60%
The percentage of return on the salary of a fully engaged employee:
120%
The average proportion of employees that return high engagement scores:
12%
1
Blacksmith, N., & Harter, J. (2011, October 28). Gallup wellbeing. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/150383/
majority-american-workers-not-engaged-jobs.aspx
2
www.blessingwhite.com/.../blessingwhite_2011_ee_report.pdf
We need to
do better

7. Social technology is in its infancy. As it becomes more
popular, business leaders can use this dynamic change to
break down the silos and create unity in their businesses,
thereby allowing every person to contribute to success.
why it works
Social technology is changing the way we work and manage because of the
following reasons:
1. Community networks are inherently social and create an opportunity to
streamline hierarchical processes, resulting in flatter organizational structures
that are more agile, responsive, collaborative and aligned.
2. It is replacing laggard reporting with real-time or near-real-time alerts and KPI
dashboards. This allows current feedback, not post-event, reactionary data.
3. It allows organizations to connect employee performance with operations
management.
“Social management” capitalizes on the gains made by performance
management and moves a step forward, bringing the constant communication
of the modern world to bear on the business. This continuous communication,
when combined with a clear focus on business goals and personal responsibility,
can help leadership teams create a thriving, high-performance business.
However, this growth will not be spontaneous—business leaders must control
and monitor the successful transition. As social technology changes the way we
work, perpetual (not linear) management processes must be implemented to
maximize the gains.
7

8. 8
Organizations spend a lot of time creating elaborate processes for
their staff to follow. These are meant to guide and intentionally
restrict who does what, when they do it, where they do it and why.
Linear management
processes don’t work
This is roughly what a linear management style looks:
On the surface, this may seem like the responsible way to run a large
organization. Yet, the key problems with this approach are:
• All steps/processes are manual so the process itself becomes are burden/drain
on productivity
• Version control of documentation is onerous and ineffective
• All decisions are made on past/historical information
• Analysis is hampered because key data is held inside forms, not transparent,
accessible systems
While we all want to reduce risk and effectively manage resources, these complex
and lengthy process maps haven’t always achieved the ends we hoped they
would. And there have been other costs along the way.
HR Employee Manager HR executives
Process Initiation Completing Review Form Collecting Data Analyzing Results
Conduct environmental
analysis
project
initiation
develop, revise & align
strategic plan
integrate planning,
develop tactics & measures
implement, monitor,
evaluate & adjust

9. 9
Perpetual management processes are rather different to linear processes. They take a
company’s strategy and create information and communication process flows to each
team and individual. With each communication cycle, work becomes more efficient.
Perpetual processes are enabled
by social management
This is how a perpetual management works:
HR team can look at skill
strengths and gaps; and
use this information to
plan workforce training
and recruiting
Managers can use skills
captured during process to
help staff projects
Executives get timely
feedback from HR on
alignment of workforce
with corporate priorities
Employee goals are
linked to manager goals
and corporate goals
Employees
executives
HRManager
strategically
aligned
organization
perpetual
management
process
Goal
setting
Activity & KPI
monitoring
Communication &
collaboration
feedback &
recognition
learning &
Strategy

10. 10
The benefits of perpetual management include the following:
• Employees are given continuous, real-time (rather than periodic) feedback,
recognition, engagement and goal setting.
• Employees’ goals and objectives are aligned to that of the organization.
• A single, unified understanding of the operating performance.
• Improved awareness and alignment—better alignment between strategy
and execution.
• Simpler management structure and flatter management hierarchies.
Perpetual processes are enabled by social management

11. Company
interactions are
becoming less
linear anyway
11
The boundaries between employees, vendors and customers will blur
Teams will self-organize
Decisions will be based primarily on the examination of data
rather than reliance on opinion and experience
The organization’s formal hierarchy will become much flatter or disappear altogether
Data used for decision-making will mostly be collected through experiments
Financial transparency will increase dramatically
Internal markets or other voting mechanisms will be used
to allocate resources (eg, talent, capital, ideas)
Strategic priorities will be set from the bottom up
Individual performance will be evaluated by peers rather than by managers
Employees will have much more discretion in choosing which tasks to work on
Employees will play a much greater role in selecting leaders
Large companies and/or business units will disaggregate
Compensation decisions will be made by peers rather than by managers
35
32
32
27
20
19
18
17
14
12
10
9
3
Likeliest organization changes in next 3–5 years, without constraints
% of respondents,3
n=4.261
3
Respondents who answered “none of the above” or “don’t know” are not shown.

12. 12
The adoption of social technology as a business tool
has happened mostly in the last three years.
It’s new technology
and a new mindset
In a recent study by McKinsey and Company, researchers discovered that
organizations with the most widely utilized social applications were those most
likely to see success, while those that implemented social tools only in select
business processes or departments saw inconsistent and often short-lived results.
McKinsey’s research shows that: “Respondents affiliated with fully networked
organizations say that they continue to realize competitive gains and performance
improvements...Integrating social technologies into the workflow and using them
to optimize internal processes will, these results suggest, provide additional
competitive benefits.”4
Central to McKinsey’s findings was the idea that silos are no longer working, and
businesses must make the decision at the executive level about social technology
to experience the maximum benefits. This transition from silos to a unified
organization is a simplification of the way work is done. The multiple agendas
and divergent business strategies of the past are eliminated as the corporation
is able to move toward one agenda and a common goal. Truly holistic, perpetual
management is now possible when facilitated by the connection of social
technology with social management monitoring tools.
Businesses willing to implement social technology and to adopt the mindset
necessary to support its complete adoption have seen the greatest gains. Those
that implemented social technology in one vertical only, or for just one process,
have seen fluctuating gains and inconsistencies. According to the McKinsey
report, “Executives at internally networked organizations note the highest
improvement in benefits from interactions with employees; those at externally
networked organizations, from interactions with customers, partners, and
suppliers. Executives at fully networked organizations report greater benefits from
both internal and external interactions.”
4
Bughin, J. (2012, November). How social technologies are extending the organization. Retrieved from
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_social_technologies_are_extending_the_organization_2888

13. 13
Perpetual management processes, aided by social technology, allow
organizations and managers to augment event management with process
management.
In an organization that follows an event management approach, the goal is
business as usual, and only the exceptions are exceptional. However, in an
organization driven by a perpetual management approach, the goal is continuous
improvement on every front. When social technology is integrated into this
approach, the gains can increase productivity up to 25 percent.
However, the danger of social technology is similar to any other technology—
companies that see the tool as the solution will stumble. It is critical that
innovation and advancement occur simultaneously. Organizations that are
interested in seeing the benefits that McKinsey & Company predicts must be bold
enough to bring both the social technology and the management tools to their
employees in parallel.
It’s new technology and a new mindset

14. % of
average
workweek
Improved communication and collaboration through social technologies could
raise the productivity of interaction between workers by 20 to 25 percent.
14
25–35%
10–15%
20-25%
30–35%
25–30%
Productivity
improvement
Reading and answering emails
Searching and gathering information
Communicating and
collaborating internally
Role-specific tasks
Total
28
19
14
39
100
Interaction with
workers’ tasks
7.0–8.0
5.5–6.5
3.5–5.0
4.0–6.0
20-25%
Increased value-
added time
Source: International Data Corporation (IDC); McKinsey Global Institute analysis

15. 15
Technology alone cannot deliver the benefits of a “social management”
approach to work. Instead, businesses must align their processes, their
mindset/culture and implement the right technology alongside each other.
Which technology?
Once the organization as a whole has decided to implement a more holistic
approach to management, aided by social technology, the benefits are tangible
and definitive.
Readily available, cloud-based tools (SaaS) enable users to integrate
performance and operational management in a very simple “dashboard”
application—effectively connecting employee performance with operations. In
this way, social management tools effectively automate execution.
Social management monitoring is a key component to utilizing social technology
properly in a business context, as it bases activities on outcomes and metrics.
For example, social performance management monitoring tools allow executives
and managers to capture and record:
• Time: employee productivity, downtime.
• Output: Each employee’s work can be directly tied to the bottom line.
• Social currency: The value of influencers, networks and other
communications will become part of the key value of a new hire or
promotion.
• Product feedback: Social technologies can be used to derive customer
insights and interactions during and after development.
• Marketing and sales: Social technologies can be used to generate and foster
sales leads; for social commerce.
• Customer service: Social technologies can be used to provide customer care
across multiple mediums (chat, email, telephone, kiosk, video, etc.).

16. 16
Whichever technology you choose for your business (and there are many) it
should include each of these capabilities to ensure you capture all of the critical
information in one place. Its key purpose should be to replace manual, error-
prone reporting with accessible KPI dashboards that improve governance and
provide direct (real-time) feedback to employees and their teams. Ideally, you
should be able to:
Go from this: To this:
which technology?
As the old saying goes: what gets measured gets improved, and good
technology should facilitate this objective.

17. Social supply chain Social recruitment
Two-thirds of
companies already
use a social solution
of some kind.
5
17
5
Harvard Business Review. (2010). Sas business analytics and business intelligence software. Retrieved
from http://www.sas.com/resources/whitepaper/wp_23348.pdf
It makes sense to integrate these and apply the same logic and processes across all areas.
Social marketing and sales Social CRM and support Social product development

18. In an incredibly brief nine years, social technology has expanded and morphed
into a major game-changer for the business world. The way we work is
changing, and businesses must be ready to tailor social technology to their own
needs; integrate that technology into their business processes; and manage the
people, the technology and outcomes effectively.
Instead of holding fast to linear, control-driven ways of working and managing,
organizations must find ways to integrate social technologies across all areas
of their business. They are now being challenged to manage differently, and in
a way that better reflects how people want to work in an information-based,
knowledge economy.
Ultimately, social management—and the technology that facilitates it—is about
improving communication and collaboration and eliminating waste. It’s about
finding ways to make better business decisions, to engage employees in the
strategic intent of the organization and to improve performance.
Social management has worked for us and for many of our clients. If you’d like
to know more, please get in touch.
conclusion
18

19. About the Authors
ROLF E. KLEINER is the Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of
Kelly Services. In this role he is responsible for fostering disruptive innovation
efforts, innovation strategy, innovation culture development and idea
management at a corporation-wide level.
This information may not be published, broadcast, sold, or otherwise distributed without prior written permission from the authorized party.
All trademarks are property of their respective owners. An Equal Opportunity Employer. © 2013 Kelly Services, Inc.
Charles BEDARD is Vice President of Global Strategy, BullseyeEvaluation and has
extensive knowledge of technology and outsourcing options for today’s business.
He serves as a Strategic Advisor, Chief Strategy Officer, and Global Strategist to
B2B technology and outsourcing providers. Previously, Charles served as a Director
for multiple fast-growth companies in BPO, IT, HR/Human Capital/HRO,
Technology/Software, and Professional Services. He earned his Bachelor of Arts
from Southwestern University and his Masters of Business Administration from
Texas Christian University.
About Kelly Services®
Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: KELYA, KELYB) is a leader in providing workforce solutions.
Kelly®
offers a comprehensive array of outsourcing and consulting services as well as world-class
staffing on a temporary, temporary-to-hire, and direct-hire basis. Serving clients around the
globe, Kelly provides employment to more than 560,000 employees annually. Revenue in 2012
was $5.5 billion. Visit kellyservices.com and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Download The Talent Project, a free iPad app by Kelly Services.