You Can’t Just Flip the Switch - Internal Social Media Challenges
According to the latest Facebook research1, there are more than 800 million active users, with over 50% who log in every day and have an average of 130 friends. In another Social Media survey focused on workplace usage (2011), it was found that more than half (51%) of workers surveyed claim to engage with external social networking sites while at work. Almost a third (30%) of workers use sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn on a daily basis, while more than 5% do so several times an hour.2 There is no question that social media has a committed following.
Given this, it’s not hard to understand the enticement for organizations to want the benefit of social media internally for improving communication and collaboration. The statistics have already proved that social media tools work for this purpose. However, few companies are ready to tactical the complexity of implementing these tools and dealing with their impact on current work procedures, communication styles, and employee productively.
The challenge for organizations implementing social media is figuring out how to leverage it without letting it destroy your employee productivity and negatively impacting your overall operations. As with any change, adoption is a key success factor. Yet organizations continue to implement these programs without the support of organizational change programs to ensure that their workforce of tomorrow is ready to tackle the challenges of social media today.
Having the right approach and support for social media implementation is critical. It's not as simple as sending communications out introducing the new social media tool and giving a couple of training sessions; you can't assume that everyone will be happy to use this new tool or understand how to balance it usage to ensure their performance isn’t compromised.
The utilization of social media will fundamentally change a worker’s daily routines and their behaviors around communication. No longer will communications be pushed out through emails, communication becomes virtual; workers will need to obtain company updates themselves, setup and maintain communities, and keep abreast of changes that may impact their daily work while keeping their current performance as the required level by management. It’s more than flipping a switch.
Implementing social media requires fundamental rethinking how your workforce behaves. This is the biggest organizational behavioral communication challenge since the implementation of e-mail. Don’t take it lightly!
Collaborative understands the challenges you face when changing the way your organization works. We can provide an organizational change program to meet your social media implementation challenges. We work with you to identify your organization’s readiness, analyze the change impact and develop the right program for your workplace environment.
Collaborative’s proven approach to Organization Change Management Assessment & Strategy, as depicted below, provides the right program to address your social media change challenges.
In short, by implementing a change management program, senior executives can boost the odds of getting a return on their social media investment. Collaborative brings their expertise to you providing a personalized strategy and approach to manage your adoption challenges.
1 source: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
2source: Protiviti Risk and Business Management Internal Audits
