Social Media at the workplace HAS to be the biggest dilemma facing CEOs today. Are these to be viewed as a bane or should they be embraced as superb tools for collaboration.
There are too many questions and not many easy answers.
For one, what should the policy be on use of Facebook at the workplace? If permitted, should usage be monitored? If not, is this a policy that can be enforced? And do you risk alienating employees rather than boosting their productivity?
What about Linked-in? How do you view employee profiles? Are these threats to the organisation or are they marketing tools that showcase your company and its talent?
The collaborative powers of social media in cultural and marketing contexts are well known and do not require reiterating here. That it can unleash the true potential of an organisation through seamless collaboration and sharing between employees is an idea that's biding its time.
While companies are increasingly articulating their social media strategy for customers, not enough attention has yet been given to social media for employees.
A Report by McKinsey Global Institute argues that companies could improve productivity of "interaction workers" by 20 - 25% through improved collaboration and communication using social technologies. To my mind, however, there are some basic building blocks in getting there:
1. Does the organisation have a truly open and trusting culture and does it have the bandwidth to engage with employees in a democratic setup?
2. Is social media an entrenched management and communication tool within the company or just another dashboard available on the company's intranet?
3. Does the top management truly embrace social media or looks at it only as an internal "PR" tool?
So where are you on all of this? Do you have the stomach for it???
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