Before you implement enterprise social technology or a strategy to use what you have, don’t make the mistake of starting with gimmicky activities that only get you to phase one, adoption. Remember, the goal is adaptation; adaption to a new level of connectedness, openness and working collaboratively. Changing behaviors is key but it doesn’t start with behaviors directly, you can’t train social. It starts with understanding the beliefs and addressing the visible and invisible systems in your organization that influence/guide behaviors.
Beliefs/Attitudes
Questions to ask yourself:
What do employees believe about the mission?
What do they believe about the products or services your company offers?
What do they believe about the work they do each and every day?
What do they believe about moving up and how to do that?
What do they believe matters to their success – doing good work or playing politics?
Sure, you can ask them but you might be better off watching them.
Behaviors/Activities
Observations to make:
How do they work?
Who do they work with and share with?
How do they act with peers versus leaders and managers?
Are they looking to improve? how do you know?
Are they finding short cuts and more importantly are they sharing these?
Are the open about challenges and applaud each other’s successes?
Are they singing the praises of your company in public spaces?
These are the behaviors that matter. Actions speak so much louder than words don’t they? And if you don’t like what you are seeing, why are they the norm and not the exception? What are the systems you have in play that are guiding those behaviors and ultimately creating the beliefs behind them?
Rules/Values (Systems)
Systems to analyze:
Do leaders give lip service to all but an inner circle?
Are leaders actions matching their words?
Are only certain voices included?
Are there channels for cross organization communication?
Are inputs rewarded as much as outcomes?
Are people left puzzled by organizational decisions?
Are managers measured on growing people or just growing profits?
Is the path forward clear and obvious?
If your org desires increased engagement, lower turn-over, innovation and creativity… all those things that are a result of greater connection, you need to change the mindsets (beliefs). You don’t change these by hanging posters or giving rah-rah speeches, and you don’t do this with latte machines, contests and pizza parties either. You do this by first looking close at the actions (behaviors) – the way work gets done. If it’s not easy for them to access information and people, if they have no skin in the game (decision-making), if individualism is recognized over interdependence, if only outputs and outcomes are rewarded, and if errors are discouraged or punished, you need to adjust your systems that sustain those policies, procedures and unwritten rules.
Your systems drive the behaviors. Repeated behaviors create beliefs. The beliefs are made visible in the behaviors and the systems maintain them.
