A social organization is a more collaborative, open and transparent organization. That’s a given, but how we approach becoming one is debatable. In my opinion there are two ways; one being Push and the other Pull. Pushing social, might be seen as incongruent; something natural being forced unnaturally. And yet, in the social/collaboration space, this is the road most often taken.
Pushing Social
Organizations will often start their journey to improved communication, cooperation and collaborations by initiating social efforts such as supporting CoPs, instituting team huddles, using ideas take from Agile project management, etc and then move to collaborative tools. It’s here they purchase an ESN or a chat platform and begin to engage in rollout campaigns, gamification and other external motivators to increase use. Many times they forego the non-tech and just buy a platform. These efforts are “pushing social”, it’s slow, steady and comfortable for the status quo. And some studies (Forrester being a famous one) have indicated that some 80 to 84% of social efforts fail. A 16-20% success rate.
Pulling Social
There is another way. It is a more sincere commitment to the idea of the social organization but it can cause some stress especially in more established firms. It’s pulling social which means changing the organization to make it more conducive, even welcoming of true open collaborative behavior. Pulling social is basically pulling down the barriers; the systems and structures that are really the reason most social efforts fail. If systems of rewards shift to recognize the processes that lead to success over the product, people open up. If CoPs work out loud they invite new participants and healthy criticism, if leadership accepts the powerful undercurrent of communication (the Wirearchy) exists and can support hierarchies, social thrives. Tools and platforms come next (not first) to amplify the healthy openness that now exists, the new normal, and serve as the power source going forward.
The challenge today is for social practitioners to stop leading with social and for organizational leaders to accept that their organizational design needs to be severely shaken up.
