Three Steps to Introduce Social Software to Your Employer
May 11th, 2007 (6:00am) Stephen Collins 15 CommentsTweet This
For web workers inside businesses, gaining access to social computing tools can be a significant uphill battle against a world that seems not only to not know or care about del.icio.us, LinkedIn, corporate blogging and wikis but to be actively against their introduction to the workplace. This might be frustrating, but there are things that you can do as a web worker in cube-world.
First, treat yourself as an intrapreneur – an entrepreneur inside the wall – a cubicle commando. Take yourself and your goals seriously, and be truly passionate about them. The can’t-doers who want to kill your ideas will push back, but with the right attitude you can probably bring them around.
Second, consider management’s point of view - this is a high emotional intelligence approach and is likely to be a big plus on your side. It doesn’t matter that you understand the benefits to you of social computing. What matters is that you understand how to communicate the benefits to management. Make sure you:
- address management goals – change that offers improvements to existing processes and boosts productivity is more likely to win support than change to the way the business is managed;
- suggest slow and measured adoption – the softly, softly approach where tools are adopted by small self-selecting groups who then socialize the benefits to other parts of the business by word of mouth drives bottom-up “groundswell” adoption;
- reduce risk - potential threats to business will scare management off in a second. Keeping adoption within the business while acceptance and understanding grow can benefit in the long run when tools must eventually break through to the outside world;
- get IT on your side – you’re going to need to play with these folks eventually and they may end up being the implementers of your quiet revolution. With IT on your team, you have another ally in the fight.
Third, research as much as you can. There are lots of great articles and academic research on the benefits of social computing in business – usually termed Enterprise 2.0. Read the latest work on approaches to take and the benefits realized by businesses who have done the work before you. Organizations like IBM, Sun, The New York Times and a big business favorite, SAP, have all undertaken significant social computing initiatives in recent years that have resulted in measurable positive change. Knowing that what you propose isn’t as radical as it might seem can be very reassuring to management. Thinkers like Harvard Business School’s Dr Andrew McAfee, ZDNet and Web 2.0 Journal’s Dion Hinchcliffe and IBM’s Luis Suarez are all doing excellent work in this area and should be on your required reading list.
There’s no need for the push to introduce social computing to your company need be a hard, unpleasant fight. Go in armed with the right attitude and an understanding of the benefits and you might just be corporate blogger #1 by the end of the year.
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
Also, look sideways – who are the teams that have the most to gain from introducing social software or even engaging with (gasp) the outside world? Try the recruitment people or marketing department. Or new business – networking is supposed to be their lifeblood, after all.
Would predictive markets be considered social software?
Stephen, I really enjoyed this post. It offers a pragmatic perspective and down to earth advice for adoption which is often overlooked.
I would hold that most of the times “easy does it best”, slowly building up acceptance and adoption, gaining traction by good example and viral marketing.
And yes, there’s no point in playing the revolutionary (especially when dealing with risk averse players): Instead of fighting endless battles that are doomed (as the incumbents are well entrenched), it’s better to go with the flow and adopt one’s language and arguments to those who decide after all …
Well, and Howard, I guess it depends on who you talk to … my take would be that it’s perfectly possible to interpret PM from the perspectives of social software, especially when you think of it as a social media aiming at employee engagement …
@Michael – Couldn’t agree more. My wife, who works in HR, longs desperately for good social computing tools to help her with the knowledge worker aspects of her work.
Social software has an important role to play as one of several in a suite of tools in use by knowledge workers. Those tools aren’t all necessarily systems based, but they are all about people. Business is learning that in the 21st Century, engagement of people within and external to your organisation is a critical factor in ongoing success.
You can have all the greatest systems in the world, but if they don’t facilitate the engagement of people in collaborative work, they are likely to be ultimately unsuccessful. Which is what Martin said, above.
Good article Stephen, particularly as a bottom-up approach to getting social software tools for knowledge workers.
If you’re wanting to get your hands on social software, your friendly-neighbourhood knowledge manager and your comms manager might be your best allies.
M
Touching on the last point, research, I am currently about to undertake some with a corporate client, government and university based consortium (in the UK) and have posted a rough outline on my blog here. I’d appreciate any input since by definition, we would like to canvass very broad based participation.
It’s a nice way to learn more and results will be shared with valid contributors…
Stephen:
Great post. One of the best and succinct outlines I have seen on this subject.
There has been a lot of debate on whether to bypass IT or involve them. We have been firm believers that IT should be involved right from the begining.