Getting Social in the Enterprise: Seven Things to Get Your Head Around

Of the five great technology disruptions currently under way—cloud, mobile, social, data science, and Internet of Things—social, especially in the context of enterprise IT, has been the hardest for CIOs to get their head around. Part of the problem is that most CIOS are not of the collaboration generation. Like me, when they went to school, collaboration was called cheating, and you were expelled for it. Our revolution was personal computing—one person, one machine, and may the best person win. But that’s not how people win today. Today it’s the teamwork of the Golden State Warriors, not the all-stars of the Cleveland Cavaliers, that have a 34 and 2 record. It’s time for a new playbook.

Here are seven principles to help get the ball rolling. (ALERT: Since the following is being written by a “digital social immigrant” who, not to put too fine a point on it, is old, there is a good chance that one or more of the following points is just plain wrong. That, however, has never stopped me in the past. What I would ask, however, is that you turn up the gain on your crap detector and, if you detect same, that you lob in a comment to get the dialog back on track. Thanks.)

1. Social is situational. The most obvious divides are between personal and business and between kids and parents. There are protocols unique to each side of these divides, so you have to be careful when you cross boundaries. In particular, the first generation of enterprise social networks, designed primarily to support internal collaboration by providing a much better intranet, were often either goofy or dorky because they could not get their tone right. The right tone is pragmatic, business-relevant and task oriented—with a separate track for personal social networking if desired. That said, no social is really anti-social, and that creates a distinctly out-of-date vibe.
2. Social is demographic. Collaborative work style is something that distinguishes the current generation of management from the preceding one. You cannot make people collaborative—we are who we are—but you can keep non-collaborative executives from holding the organization hostage. Collaboration is the way of the future, and enterprise IT infrastructure simply must support it. Of course, you also need to support the prior set of personal computing protocols for the foreseeable future as well—demographics cut both ways.
3. Social is efficient. There is no queueing in a social network. This means principals can connect directly peer to peer and get on with whatever it is they want to get on with. Among groups, it lets people opt in to eavesdrop on conversations that may have implications for their work. It also allows for the unexpected expert to surface unprompted with an insight or a solution to the problem no one else thought of. The opportunity cost is low, and the serendipity is high.
4. Social is economical. In a social network all contributions are voluntary—or should be. People like to share their expertise with people looking for help and to offer advice to people venting their frustrations. They don’t expect to get paid and often are offended when payment is offered. Acknowledgement is the currency that drives the social world. That’s something that takes time, talent, and attention—but not money.
5. Social is credible. People trust their peers and want to hear from them. Moreover, people closest to the problem often know best, but without a social communications channel, often their voices do not get heard. User-generated content at its best is superior to internally generated materials because it incorporates an outsider’s perspective with strong domain expertise. There really is a wisdom of crowds, and social lets you tap into it.
6. Social is democratic. As Arab Spring taught us, social networks bypass and even undermine command-and-control regimes, in business as in politics. That is their whole reason for being. On the Internet no one knows you’re a dog, and on a social network, no one cares what your job title is (well, unless you are the CEO). Conversation goes where it wants to. This is particularly true of brand-hosted communities who typically produce a mix of enthusiastic Likes with big old raspberries. It turns out both are helpful, once you can get your ego out of the way.
7. Social is viral. There are no circuit breakers in a social network. Once something gets out, it cannot be put back in the bottle. And the more controversial it is, the more likely it will spread like wildfire. So social in not without risk and must not be left unattended. That said, any problem that gets surfaced is easier to deal with than one that continues to fester unnoticed.

That’s what I think. What do you think?

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Geoffrey Moore | Zone to Win | Geoffrey Moore Twitter | Geoffrey Moore YouTube