tma world mindline reappraising the collaborative benefits of social media in the borderless...
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New social and collaborative technologies are rapidly changing workplace communication and disrupting internal organizational culture. Approaches to creating borderless connectivity and collaboration will vary enormously between and within companies and industries. What works for one company will not necessarily work for another – but the fundamental mind and skill sets required to facilitate effective collaboration are human and all pervasive. This presentation offers best practice advice for communicating effectively through social media and collaborative technologies in the workplace. For more information, contact us: [email protected]TRANSCRIPT
Reappraising
the Collaborative Benefits
of Social Media in the
‘Borderless Workplace’
MindLines Steven Pritchard
TMA World │ Director Global Client Engagement
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
New social and collaborative technologies are rapidly changing workplace communication and disrupting
internal organizational culture. The adoption and usage patterns of such technologies vary across industry sectors.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Unsurprisingly the technology and electronics industries are the most active adopters of new technology, but even for laggards, the direction of travel towards a more ‘borderless workplace’ in which collaboration and communication is streamlined to flow easily across an organization’s silos, is fast becoming a realistic aspiration for many businesses.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
From a technical perspective historically, ‘collaborative technology’ and ‘Social Media’ have different origins and utilization, but with advances in software development they are merging to the point where it will be irrelevant to make a distinction between the two.
The
Convergence of
Technologies
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
The contribution that Social Media makes to borderless working is to digitally humanize, characterize and personalize the work environment in ways that previously collaborative technologies or groupware could not. This convergence has been primarily driven by the needs and vision of enterprise rather than social forces.
The
Convergence of
Technologies
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Technologies are no longer passive or merely functional, the growing influence and use of Social Media in the world of work is a trend that now significantly changes, reshapes and determines the character and nature of an organization’s internal culture for better or worse.
The
Convergence of
Technologies
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
For many organizations the term ‘Social Media’ has unhelpful connotations. Linguistically, the term ‘social’ is not commensurate with the idea of ‘work’ for some people.
Socializing
at Work
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Unfortunately, the social label distorts perceptions about the ways in which such technologies can be used to add value to the nature of tasks that employees under take at work.
Socializing
at Work
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
The idea of ‘social’ suggests informality, personality and even a lack or seriousness, which challenges traditional ideas of ‘work’ being conducted in a place that is formal, functional and sober.
Socializing
at Work
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
It’s becoming clear that many organizations have introduced Social Media without any real sense of its purpose, potential or practical application.
New
Horizons
but some False Starts
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Technologies have been introduced without a strategic perspective or real consideration of how they can add huge value to cross company collaboration or influence positive cultural change.
New
Horizons
but some False Starts
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
This has led to many ‘false starts’ in companies, who despite the well intended adoption of Social Media, have encountered negative experiences introducing it into the workplace.
New
Horizons
but some False Starts
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Some common negative or unplanned
experiences among early adopters are:
Access
Control
Analytics
Proportionality
Substitution
Preferences
Uneven Usage
Trivialization
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Access The inability to access and contribute to open source dialogue, for non-office based employees, leading to a sense of exclusion among some managers.
Analytics
The extent to which open source comments and links to third party sites are monitored and analyzed by the company and for what purpose.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Control Attempts by management to heavily moderate critical or potentially controversial contributions being perceived as over-controlling. Preferences The degree to which individual preferences govern the style and nature of participation in Social Media, with ‘digital introverts’ reluctant to have their comments brought to full public view, scrutiny and displayed in perpetuity.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Proportionality The disproportionate influence (positive and negative) of digitally vocal opinion formers distorting the shape and nature of dialogue around issues.
Substitution The idea that Social Media is a substitution for active face-to-face employee engagement by management.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Trivialization The trivialization or under valuing of open source networks in which employees offer only trivia rather than value creating contributions, or conversely over formalizing an informal communication medium and thus ‘killing the joy’ of it! Uneven Usage The non-participation of certain employee groups or segments creating an uneven landscape of organizational perspectives.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
No doubt the debate about the use and misuse of Social Media in the workplace will continue, however, before ‘bruised’ early adopters clamp down or even withdraw from using such technologies, it is worth recognizing two factors that have become apparent in the light of experience.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Organizational Communication
Virtual Leadership
Active Management for Success
The benefits of social technologies will certainly outweigh the risks for most companies as the latent potential of the collaborative advantages that they bring becomes evident, however, two counter measures reduce the risk of mismanaging their introduction:
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
It helps to have to have
enterprise-wide vision and
strategy for the role and use of
collaborative and social
technologies in the workplace, so
that employees know how to best
to engage and benefit from their
use.
Organizational Communication
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Managers equipped with the appropriate network leadership skills and capabilities are more likely to get better participation and engagement rates from contributors.
Idea
Comment
Comment
Comment
Comment
Comment Idea
Virtual Leadership
Many-to-many One-to-many
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
The most fundamental shift and liberating benefit that social technologies offer is in the slow death of ‘one-to-many’ dialogue (e.g. email) towards ‘many-to-many’ dialogue.
Idea
Comment
Comment
Comment
Comment
Comment Idea
Virtual Leadership
Many-to-many One-to-many
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Great virtual leadership assists in setting both the tone and tempo for meaningful online collaborative engagement in the workplace.
Idea
Comment
Comment
Comment
Comment
Comment Idea
Virtual Leadership
Many-to-many One-to-many
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
Approaches to creating
borderless
connectivity and
collaboration will vary
enormously between and
within companies and
industries.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
What works for one
company will not
necessarily work for
another – but the
fundamental mind and skill
sets required to facilitate
effective collaboration are
human and all pervasive.
Reappraising the Collaborative Benefits of Social Media in the ‘Borderless Workplace’
To learn more about how we can help your organization,
please contact us at
or visit
http://www.tmaworld.com/training-solutions/