I read an article recently about how to improve “engagement” in Facebook’s enterprise social platform Workplace. It was rich with approaches one could use and referenced the idea that in Workplace you need strong “group leaders”. There was nothing wrong with the post and frankly it had decent value but honestly there was NOTHING new here either. Seriously, this post could have been written in 2011 about Yammer or in 2013, swapping the tool Jive into the title. These tips and approaches are still being touted and yet we still hear that 80+ ESN efforts fail!
So, it’s not the tools obviously, they all do the same things. And frankly it’s not that the approaches are wrong, these ones make a lot of sense if your organization is ready. And there’s the rub, most aren’t ready for tech that amplifies and exposes. Simply, the problem resides in the culture and well, “culture” is a nebulous word anyway, everyone says it but nobody really gets it – it’s complex. I’d argue that what we really mean is habits (individual and organizational). These habit loops (cues->routines->rewards) around communication, sharing and collaboration need to be examined, and this analysis takes time. However I’d start with basic questions at all levels:
- How do we communicate?
- Why and When do we communicate? When is it triggered?
- Where does it happen?
- How does information move in our organization? How is it “packaged”
- Is it controlled? And if yes by whom and why?
The issue is really about org psychology and sociology and this needs to be accepted well before technology is purchased. You knew this though, your leaders know this but that’s another habit loop to be examined – Need change -> Buy a tool-> Avoid painful cultural realities.
