No matter the culture of the company, there are always those who embrace the new and those that claim they will never change. There’s quite a bit of angst about the never changers, managers talk carrots and sticks, and consultancies like Accenture collect bundles of cash to get large companies’ employees to actually use the SalesForce licenses they bought. Projects that start by trying to change the behavior of those that “will never change” rarely produce the results the company wants.

These employees feel they have a system that works for them and it’s extraordinarily difficult to talk them out of it. We’re big believers in not replacing anything that works. Seth Godin and others can rage on about the personal career dangers of not changing, but for us, it’s not about judgement, it’s about bringing the whole community together.

On the other side of the community are the early adopters, whose vision for new ways of connecting help drive the company forward. They need, and crave, the new and the shiny. There are stereotypes that these are the young folks, but that’s not what we see in our data – an early adopting mindset cuts across generations. Curious and playful are everywhere.

What’s needed then, is getting everyone onto one system in the way that works for them now. Getting all of the different usage patterns feeding into one system enables the most powerful leaver of behavioral change – peer norming – to take hold over time. This, more than consultants or training, is what will bend the usage curve towards the new thing.

Red Rover is out to make individuals more successful by organizing the community around them. The game of social software is to make the “organizing” part as painless as possible. For some people, painless means an interface that feels kind of Facebook-y. For others, in the same company, it means staying in email as much as possible.

From a product perspective, this means a focus as much on the interface of email as the interface of the web app. It means keeping list serve addresses and most list serve patterns in place for those that want them.

Companies are diverse, people have preferences. We love backbone.js and the new mobile workforce, but for those that love email, and claim they’ll never change, we love you too.

And then there are workplace resolutions. Did you resolve to increase the sales leads for your team, get involved in the company’s sustainability efforts, or communicate more effectively with management this year?

All of us would like to see things change for the better in our workplaces. It  may seem like those resolutions are the hardest to keep because so many others must be involved in the execution. Resolving to double your team’s customer service scores might make resolving to go to the gym look like a piece of cake, because one of those choices is completely up to you and there other one isn’t. But the flip side is that it’s oftentimes harder to motivate ourselves than it is to motivate others.

It takes the same sort of positive energy to do both, but I find that’s it easier to stick with a resolution if you focus on others – that will help you get outside of the world of excuses we all carry in our heads. Offer to help your colleagues with their professional resolutions, and involve others in yours. You’ll discover that the positivity you generate in your work life gets amplified by others, which makes it easier for you to take that home and apply it to your personal life. If you can rally people to success at work, you can rally yourself to get to the gym or wake up on time, or do whatever it is you resolved to do this year.

It’s easy to forget how captivating and contagious the human spirit can truly be when we’re mired in the tediousness of daily life. You can’t solve the company’s problems on your own, but your team can move mountains together when everyone gets out of their own heads and invests themselves in helping each other succeed. The positive energy everyone generates at work will be a great reminder of what each of you is cabable of achieving on your own as well.

Photo courtesy of John Haslam. 

The problem with industry buzzwords is that many people use them to sound like they know what they are talking about when they don’t. Buzzwords are not inherently bad or unprofessional. But, they are overused terms that unfortunately become industry-defining and mainstream, simply because everyone else is using them. Because of their prevalence in mainstream communication — meaning, everyone has “access” to this language — some industry professionals may be hypersensitive to buzzwords and may judge your use of them if you can’t back it up with a qualified understanding of their definitions and applications. Here are five ways to make sure you sound like you know your stuff, so you don’t get written off by potential industry contacts.

1. Back them up with data. Use infographics and industry reports to qualify the industry terms you are referencing. The goal here is to give them weight, otherwise it may seem like you just picked the trendiest words for your presentation. Do you think organizational engagement should be your company’s focus in 2012? Find the resources that bolster your claim and demonstrate why your team should head in that direction.
2. Don’t bundle them together in one sentence. It’s easy to sound like you know your stuff if you bundle a few buzzwords together and let them “define” each other. But, walk into a room with one person who actually knows what those words mean, and how they relate to your industry, and your thin veil of know-how falls away. Even if you do know what they mean, you’ll still sound like an amateur.
3. Focus on your action plan. Okay, so everyone’s buzzing about knowledge sharing technology, and now you are too. Great. But, how are you going to use what you know to make something positive happen at your organization? Lay out a real, actionable plan to back up the buzzwords and people will be less likely to doubt your use of them. Without the plan, those words become frothy and irrelevant.
4. Use the right ones. Using buzzwords can contextualize your ideas and connect it to a larger industry trend. Just make sure you are picking the ones that pack the most punch. Throwing in extra terms that are irrelevant to your work, but are equally trendy, will NOT make you look any better. In fact, that move could work against you if someone presses you for more information about your work. You’ll have to backpedal to answer to the empty claims you’ve made and redeem yourself.
5. Just don’t use them. Instead, be well-read on your topic and know what you are talking about. Buzzwords are tricky. They are trendy terms that can make you sound really cool if you use them properly, and in front of the right people. But user beware: people are so attuned to them, there’s a higher likelihood they’ll make you look really bad. Avoid setting yourself up for epic conversation failure, by avoiding them entirely. However, if you must use them, test out your buzzword-laden phrases with trusted colleagues and experienced advisors. They will tell you if you sound like a tool, and hopefully prevent you from embarrassing yourself in front of more discerning audiences.

Many organizations focus almost exclusively on top-down, or manager-to-employee, accountability measurements and processes, and it’s easy to argue that this approach is obvious and necessary – “of course, that’s what managers do… they are the ones who hold people accountable.” But, these same organizations may be missing opportunities to incorporate peer-to-peer accountability through incentivized collaboration and knowledge sharing, which can take employee productivity to the next level.

Red Rover newest feature is peer-to-peer recognition. Using our platform, employees can post “Sparks” and share what they’re learning as they complete assignments, which keeps others up to speed on their progress. Managers have the ability to monitor employees’ knowledge sharing and collaborative behavior, while also engaging and encouraging these individuals. What brings peer-to-peer accountability in Red Rover full circle is that both employees and managers can now publicly recognize each other for contributions to projects and campaigns.

In study after study on collaboration, accountability, incentivizing and engagement employees cite lack of recognition and lack of clear, just-in-time feedback (whether positive or negative) as reasons they feel disconnected from their jobs. And, accountability practices that are exclusively top-down can widen psychological divides that may already run deep between employees and managers or executives. If you are looking for a way to challenge team members to invest themselves in projects and deliver real results, peer-to-peer accountability is just as, if not more, effective. The goal is to get people saying and believing, “We’re all in this together,” and peer-to-peer recognition does just that.

Stay tuned for more updates on peer-to-peer recognition, and other soon-to-be-released Red Rover features. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

Social technology is about interconnectedness and recognition of members in the organization. If you want your employees (and this goes for customers, too) to feel and act like proud stakeholders in your brand who are willing to go to bat for you, then you need to clearly communicate your values, vision, company updates and product developments to them in ways that help them feel involved, and comfortable sharing feedback.

Either internal (like Red Rover) and external (like Twitter or Facebook) social technology are both incredibly useful for achieving these goals. But when they are used in tandem, the sum is far greater than either of the parts, and you’re likely to see way more employee engagement. Why? Because an internal network is great for recognizing employees for their work, sharing professional knowledge, hosting group discussions, and connecting employees to each other. But an external network is the place to share (appropriate) company updates with customers, and converse and receive feedback from them. Doing this in an earnest way demonstrates how much you value transparency across your company, and will engender trust and respect among employees.

An easy-to-use and vivacious internal network generates excitement in the workplace by creating a sense a community, and seeding new dialogues each day. It becomes not just a source of information but of inspiration for employees, motivating them to dig deeper into their work and to make more meaningful and educational connections with each other. People are way more productive when they feel inspired and connected to something or someone. Help your employees get there by making their work-life more social.

A new report titled, “Rebooting the Antisocial Network”, distributed by InformationWeek and written by Michael Healey cites a growing number of businesses are implementing social architecture and external social networking to maximize engagement, knowledge sharing and transparency across their companies. But in many cases, employees just aren’t buying it. Healy reports, “87% of the 452 respondents to our 2012 enterprise social networking survey have social networking tools, but most only see small pockets of use among employees.” Across the board, respondents, the majority of whom are IT staff or IT managers, overwhelmingly agreed that adoption, or achieving sustained usage, was the greatest challenge of implementation. The question is, how do you prevent your company from reverting back to its anti-social behavior when social technology is introduced? Based on the report findings, here are three ways to keep your company from becoming anti-social.

Get Executives On Board to Get Employees On Board

You don’t want employees adopting social software simply because a manager says everybody has to — they’ll use it begrudgingly. So it’s important for executives and managers to support the technology and be able to offer a compelling explanation of benefits to the organizational and the individual user. Change management methodology in IT implementation is finally catching on and is being utilized to promote adoption and sustained use, or what we refer to as “process + technology”. However, not everyone will be thrilled with the change right away, so it’s good to have executives involved from the start, or what Healey describes as ”a critical big stick when you need it”.

“Without continued executive support (including the occasional poke with a stick), groups may slip back to emails, long meetings or other old methods of collaborating. In other words, both IT and business leaders must stay engaged with the social networking site, and apply pressure when necessary.” (p.17)

Get Help Steering the Ship

In addition to executive buy-in, you also need proactive community managers with a vested interest in inviting users and keeping them active in the network. Many companies make the mistake of assigning these tasks to someone who already has a full set of unrelated responsibilities and doesn’t have the time to tend to the community as it grows. Then they wonder why users haven’t flocked to the network. Well, it’s like throwing a party without a host. It’s awkward. You need someone to invite everyone over and then manage things. Community managers should be responsible for moderating discussions, tracking usage trends through analytics, and keeping the conversation going through content development and sharing. This is a full-time job, and you’ll need someone taking these responsibilities seriously if you want your social network to thrive.

“Almost a quarter of our respondents don’t have any full-time re- sources dedicated to social media, and another 32% don’t know if they do (Figure 15).” (p. 16)

Give Them the Features They Want

A robust internal network for the office will have the features employees are likely to use in their personal life and therefore may already be comfortable using (look-books or directories, status updates, short-form messaging, blogs, etc.), and will connect to the tools they are already using (email and calendar integration, listservs, shared files, etc.). Healey explains what your network needs,

“It also needs a handful of core elements, including search, like/recommend, following of discussions or people, the ability to embed content such as photographs and videos, personal categorization/organization and easy sharing…. You must be able to offer tight integration with email, a requirement 42% of companies ignore… Email isn’t going away, and not linking it to the social platform is a critical flaw that will hinder adoption.” (p.12-13)

“How to Promote Knowledge Sharing in the Workplace” by Hafez Adel (guest blogger) from the BetterWorks Blog: Dedicated to Making Work More Rewarding

At Red Rover, we’re big advocates of empowering individuals and making work more satisfying and enjoyable, so it’s great to see companies adopting BetterWorks‘ creative approach to doing just that. Their blog offers great ideas for small and medium-sized business owners, and also has pieces covering general workplace topics like this one about knowledge sharing. The post is a general rundown of what needs to be implemented — from company values to resources/tools — in order to tap latent employee expertise, and promote sharing of knowledge, within your organization.

Important Takeaways:

“…it’s crucial to instill a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and humility in the office to establish the conditions in which knowledge sharing can thrive.”

“When tools like Google Docs and Yammer are introduced, there’s usually an initial rush of enthusiasm, followed by a rapid decline in usage. The most effective way to combat this trend is by embedding knowledge sharing into the company’s DNA and making it part of employees’ routines….it’s clear that promoting knowledge-sharing in the workplace is not a one-time event—it’s an ongoing process…”

“Majority of American Workers Not Engaged in Their Jobs” by by Nikki Blacksmith and Jim Harter at Gallup

Gallup has been running studies on workplace trends such as levels of employee engagement since 2000. Their researchers interview adults from all 50 states with a broad variety of backgrounds and income levels and measure multiple dynamics of employee and management experiences to get the most accurate picture of the American worker. What’s interesting about this study is that age, education/skill level, and gender are the top three factors affecting level of engagement in the workplace; annual income had very little, if any, affect on one’s level of engagement. The implications of this research for the U.S. economy cannot be ignored: decreasing engagement amongst highly skilled and educated middle-aged employees means high turnover and decreased productivity at those companies. Those employees are also less likely to recommend others to join their companies, even if they are hiring, meaning stunted recruiting and organizational development efforts at those firms.

Important Takeaways:

“Seventy-one percent of American workers are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” in their work, meaning they are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and are less likely to be productive.”

“The national engagement data reveal that businesses in the U.S. — and in turn, the U.S. economy as a whole — might not be reaching maximum worker performance because of the high percentage of not engaged and actively disengaged employees.”

 

“8 Ways to Avoid Social Media Culture Clash,” by Debra Donston-Miller, posted on InformationWeek’s The BrainYard

This BrainYard post provides solid advice on social technology usage and adoption in the enterprise. And that’s great because I’ve found that boosting social technology adoption and getting past what Donston-Miller calls “social culture clash” is one of the biggest hurdles on the way toward creating a more engaged and connected organization. Your employees are likely using so many enterprise tech resources already that adding engagement software on top of everything else can create a lot of unnecessary push back, often stemming from a lack of information or rationale from management. Avoid it by involving people across the organization, setting reasonable expectations, and keeping the rollout process transparent.

Important Takeaway

“People are much more likely to participate in social networking initiatives when they see that their own managers, not to mention the company CEO, are making use of the technology (and making note of who else in the company is, as well.)”

A couple of other great reads:

“Tech Startups Need Non-Techies to Succeed“, by Ndubuisi Ekekwe for the Harvard Business Review

“Creating a Sustainable Competitive Advantage Through Knowledge Sharing Technology“, by Professor Eric Y.H. Tsui for Human Resources iQ

“Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for — because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.”

Peter Marshall, Senate Chaplain (1902-1967)

These well-known words were originally spoken at the opening session of the US Senate in 1947. At a time when launching a startup business has become more feasible than ever before, this quote is as relevant for new companies (and their founders) today as it has been for individuals over the decades. It is so important to know what your business stands for and why it does what it does. Not knowing can lead to a loss of customers, brand appeal, or, at worst, your company.

Company principles are founders’ sentiments and beliefs that get infused into the organization and are then demonstrated across the enterprise, from the types of products sold to the way employees act with customers. Principles create a clear dividing line; they define what the company is and is not about. Without them, it’s easy to fall victim to the next product trend, potential customer, or buzzy marketing scheme that everybody else seems to be running toward because you have no way of justifying why your company should not jump on the bandwagon. If you do jump on and it takes your company in the wrong direction, previously loyal customers may begin to doubt your authenticity and your commitment to the brand and vision.

When a company stands for something and knows why it does what it does, justifying decisions (both large and small) becomes easy. Connecting with both customers and employees becomes easy too. People should love you for who you are, not whatever great deals you can offer them, it won’t engender any loyalty. In his book Start With Why, Simon Sinek writes, “If companies don’t know why their customers are their customers, odds are good that they don’t know why their employees are their employees either.”  If you don’t know what draws people to your business it’s a good indicator that you don’t know what your company is truly about. It’s a dangerous position to be in because as soon as a competitor comes along to poach your fans, figuring out how to keep them or bring them back will be an uphill battle.

Follow principles, not trends.

The fact of the matter is that all learning is social. Being in a classroom and learning among others is a social behavior. Reading a book is social; someone else wrote that for you to read, enjoy, and learn from. Searching for information online is social; someone uploaded that data knowing another person would benefit from having access to it. “Social learning” is just a buzzword to describe methods and practices that broaden and reinforce the social experiences that underpin all learning.

Glazing over the things that actually make learning more social, or avoiding definitive answers as to what it’s about (er, see infographic above), can be a costly mistake for any organization. Using social technology is rarely a plug-in-and-play experience; it takes time to foster a work environment in which your users will thrive. So, if you don’t take it seriously, it’s can turn into an expense that won’t deliver the ROI you were hoping for, guaranteeing disappointment in the results. However, when done properly its effects on the workplace are thoroughly rewarding.

Let’s get into some real talk about the very elusive term “social learning”, which is simply a reference to the types of technology that make learning even more social. Of course, this list is by no means complete, but it will hopefully begin an honest conversation about what it social learning and isn’t.

5 Things You Need to Know About “Social Learning”

1. It empowers people to recognize their own capacity to teach, and be taught by, others.
2. It reveals hidden talent and suppressed knowledge in the organization. It places the spotlight on individuals who may have never before seen their personal or professional experiences as having value to others, or the power to affect those around them.
3. It humanizes. Seeing your colleagues as fellow human beings maximizes team rapport and productivity by creating a new dynamic of professional accountability that could not have been generated through polices and procedures implemented by management.
4. It provides a set of tools that allow employees to contribute in ways they may not have otherwise considered. It inspires them to ask, “What skills/knowledge do I have to offer that will help my team complete this project? What might these people have to offer that could make me better at what I do?”
5. It promotes different styles of teaching and learning, allowing people to share and digest knowledge in ways that are most fitting for them.

This just in! Nucleus Research finally confirms that social media is going to be a big deal in the workplace.

Wow. Thanks guys, but we already figured that out a couple of years ago…

In their report last week,  Nucleus Research ranked social technology as No. 1 on their list of predictions for major trends shaping IT investments in 2012. Good news everyone, the IT research firm says social networking is no longer just for updating your friends on what you had for breakfast this morning. In fact, it can be used for so much more. It is a tool that, when used properly within organizations, has the power to engage and uplift employees like never before. In their argument for why social tech positively impacts the workplace, Nucleus touched on a few key points such as sharing of knowledge, efficient real-time communication, and collaborative networks. But, they missed the big ticket item that explains why it makes such a big splash in the office.

So, what is it about social tech that makes it so powerful? It provides an audience. 

Social networking on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr attracts us because there are people on the other end receiving and responding to whatever it is that we are sharing online. It makes us happy to know that someone — anyone! — read, watched, or laughed at what we posted. And, we’re even happier when we find that they were moved to share it with someone else. It is this real-time acknowledgement that drives us wild and keeps us coming back to those sites every day.

This is what people are experiencing online:

1. I created/discovered/learned something new.
2. I shared it with my network.
3. My network responded by liking, commenting and sharing it.
4. My opinion of what is cool/valuable/interesting information was validated.
5. I feel happy.
6. I am going to do this again.

But you don’t have to be on your couch, surfing YouTube for funny animal videos, to get this feeling. The most innovative organizations have already realized that employees can be in the office, studying markets and executing their work using this same cycle of engagement. We now have the opportunity to recreate the experience described above in the workplace. If we encourage employees to share their professional expertise, post relevant articles they find, and make new connections through their network, we can generate higher levels of enthusiasm, satisfaction, and productivity. But that’s only possible when employees feel valued and recognized for the information they create, discover, and share with others, so its about time we give them a place to do it.