Enterprise social tech does so much right.
- It’s easy to access
- It resembles consumer social platforms
- Intuitive and familiar features and functions
- Positive business positioning around collaboration, innovation, agility
These however are just the first 25.2 miles of the marathon; the tech is easy, engaging, familiar. What enterprise social doesn’t get right though is the last mile of the race and that has nothing to do with technology and further it is the reason why we’ve see an +/-80% failure rate according Gartner (a bit dated but I suspect similar today).
The last mile is not an organization culture issue however. Actually I’m tired of blaming culture and regret my own liberal use of the word. When we blame culture we are wrongly blaming people. To fix the business is not about directly fixing them. Rather, it’s about changing the design of the organization itself to really empower these tools do what they can do, what they are designed to do. Honestly, social technology will only really work in a social organization. And although I mentioned in a previous post that there are two ways forward (both with risk and reward), I believe the tech cannot transform a company on its own; it’s not plug and play. The systems of management, recognition, reward and communication need to be addressed. It really just takes a quick assessment:
- Are managers more focused on measuring people rather than developing them?
- Are employees rewarded for outputs rather than inputs and outcomes?
- Do employees openly question decisions?
- Is being really wrong, really OK?
- Is there time for practice? For experimenting? Are these encouraged?
- Are people given space and time to reflect and process?
- Are they encouraged to reflect openly, safely?
Yes? Start looking at social technology to extend and expand these qualities. No? Hold up. You have work to do.
If organizations choose not to change the “what” they are made of and look only to change the “who” they are made of, social technologies have little chance to do all they’re capable of; supporting openness and transparency… the elements of a social organization.
