Polly Pearson discusses how companies can unleash engagement through social media at work. She outlines a 3 step process: 1) Make sharing non-confidential information safe to shift perceptions; 2) Business content will emerge from employees; 3) Employees will feel ready to engage externally. Companies that empower employees through internal social networks see benefits like higher profits, customer loyalty, and lower recruitment costs. EMC is highlighted as a case study where social media engagement improved employee satisfaction, innovation, and financial results.
2. The Big Border Disappearing Act
Employees Customers,
Prospects, Communities
We are at a rare inflection point.
Challenge or Opportunity?
Ideas
Time
Innovation Success
Hierarchies
Geographies
Age
Race
Degrees
Leadership & Action
5. “It is very hard
to know what you
take for granted,
because you
take it for granted.”
- Sir Ken Robinson
6. “Leadership at Every Level”
“Connection & Collaboration”
The Networked, Knowledge Era Model
Adults
Educated
Diverse
Global
7. “Leadership at Every Level”
Hierarchy of Employee Traits
for the Creative Economy
Passion
Creativity
Initiative
Intellect
Diligence
Obedience
Cannot
Command
(won’t commoditize)
Commodities
Illustration: Gary Hamel
Net New Value
10. Hierarchical Connected & Collaborative
From Command to Connection
Assigned roles and
responsibilities
Applied, shared interests
and passions
PURE
GOLD!
12. Step 1.
Make it safe for people to share.
“Non-business,” “Fluff” is good.
Set the expectation that this is part of
the proficiency journey.
Goal: “Workforce Proficiency”
with “social” tools & behavior
15. People Begin To Share More
“Day in the Life”
Photo Sharing
Event
Hundreds photos
shared from employees in
Russia, Japan, Utah, Boston,
and more
Free.
16. “The Working Mother Experience” Book
EMC.com; http://www.workingmotherexperience.com Personal Stories
from EMC
Working “Moms”
15 countries
96 women
1 man
And a living blog:
www.workingmotherexperience.com
. . . and, Courageously, Even More
17. Step 2.
Business content will emerge rapidly
from the trenches.
Have influential voices participate,
engage.
Goal: “Workforce Proficiency”
19. Innovation Idea Contest
“The Country Cup”
Grass Roots
Global
Peer voting
fosters connection
with others, ideas
Vetted ideas
merge with
passionate teams
and time to
market.
Free.
Turning Ideas into Passion and Revenue
20. The Community Weighs in …
New Policies [vacation]
Dynamics in the Industry [pay cuts]
Strategy [top down; bottom up]
… Management Benefits
21. “Constructive ideas to
save money?”
400 + ideas
30,000 + views
CFO reporting back
Ideas being put to use;
employees feel heard
Company saving money
Free.
Turning "Critical Thinking" into Advantage
22. Executives Catch On –
Sharing with a Genuine, Human Voice
Internal “reality TV”
Free.
23. Step 3.
Employees will feel ready to go
“outside the firewall.”
Launch a friendly, peer-based
“mentoring” system as a safety valve.
Goal: “Workforce Proficiency”
24. 2010 (year 3):
Dozens of bloggers;
hundreds of micro-bloggers
And thousands of
employees
who suddenly feel
welcomed to share
that they care
Free.
Organic Brand Ambassadors Emerge:
Enthusiastic, Expert Voices
25. Ambassadors Engage
with Customers, Developers, Partners
• Building relationships
• Honoring “rock stars”
• Developing products
• Increasing revenue
• Improving service
• Reducing support
costs
• Providing certification
on products
• Building loyalty
Free.
30. Free.
Expanding Your Network to Millions
Your People are doing your branding.
… are helping you do your job – better, faster, with more scale.
… are building invaluable trust-based relationships.
… are having fun doing it.
31. Blogs on EMC Culture & Careers
Free.
Facebook: EMC Careers
TWITTER: EMC Careers
Engagement Opportunities
Become Like Viral Fly Paper Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
33. $18,600
more market value
per employee
$3,800
more profits
per employee
$80,000–120,000
additional revenue
per month
Higher
profitability
Higher
customer loyalty
Recruitment
costs 55% lower
Fortune 500 Companies with
Engaged Employees Report:
Growth in employee productivity
Source: Impact of Engaged Employees on Business Outcomes. Ongoing Employee Engagement Research, Hewitt Associates
Source: Impact of Engaged Employees on Business Outcomes. Ongoing
Employee Engagement Research, Hewitt Associates
34. “. . . and those on the
inside will know that this
is the ultimate place to
be.”
— Polly Pearson
— Dr. John Sullivan
For Smart Talent,
“Work” is a B2C Proposition
38. New Tricks
1. Lead with Trust
100% of your employees are adults; 99.9% do not want to be fired
2. Listen to the conversations and tone of web 2.0
behavior
Supportive, collaborative, peer-to-peer mentoring, idea rich
3. Share information openly internally
Question why not share this? Why not ask the company community
help with this?
. . . and watch people be inspired, while they help you!
42. “Lessons” from the Journey
Inside out
Get good behind the firewall, then go outside
A “coalition of the willing”
Cross-functional, global
Clearly defined “corporate champions”
All initiatives need a “face” and a “voice”
The “3 Es” – Enablement, Empowerment and Encouragement
avoid corporate mandates, over-control, and urge to be harsh
Use “Situations” as Training Opportunities
This is new for everyone; real-time, customized learning
Lightweight governance
Use it sparingly, (e.g., “guidelines” vs. “policies”)
Have patience
It takes time for perceptions and behaviors to change
43. Helpful Task Tool Box
1. Inform your BOD/Execs about the new era ROI
Don’t assume they know. Get there first.
2. Focus on Behavior Change vs. the Tech
Behavior is close to free. Timelines help.
3. Discover Your True Employment Brand
Your people are your best ad agency.
44. “The Duty to Think Anew” Harper’s Magazine
“The dogmas of the quiet
past are inadequate to the
stormy present. The
occasion is piled high with
difficulty, and we must rise
— with the occasion.
As our case is new, so we
must think anew, and act
anew. We must disenthrall
ourselves, and then we
shall save our country.
Abraham Lincoln
1862
What did we do?
The backdrop at the time had, in my opinion, two pivotal books.
Thomas Friedman’s “The World Is Flat,” which spoke to the high-speed wired world and the new access to an intelligent workforce located around the globe, which would be game changing, and,
Don Tapscott’s Wikinomics, which spoke to the opportunity of open sourcing everything and how innovation and productivity can suddenly happen by people not in your facilities, and, even, not on your payroll. Look at the FireFox browser, for an example. Look at Wikipedeia – which, pundits now say is more reliable than Merriam Webster. Game Changing.
The backdrop also had an increasing number of employees and, to a degree, EMC leaders, who “got this new world” and began the process of transformation at EMC.
According to Peter Drucker in the book “The Essential Drucker,” The practice of management was born around 1850 – when companies suddenly had 300 or more employees. They had to figure out how to manage productivity at that scale. The only model to replicate at that time, was the command & control model used by the military. … a model that directed legions of uneducated workers. A model that predates the wired world.
Today, we’re in the knowledge era, a time when our people and their ideas are our route to productivity and business value. To enable the best results in this dynamic of an educated and diligent workforce, companies must unlock passion, creativity and initiative of their people. Results come from new innovations and ideas, and connections to engage hearts & minds in action.
Companies are re-wiring behavior models and tools today to enable global agility, and innovation. They’re increasingly looking to “Collaboration and Connection” business models.
-- Gary Hamel is an author and speaker and currently considered a top authority according to WSJ and FORTUNE on business strategy and management models.
Today, we’re in the knowledge era, a time when our people and their ideas are our route to productivity and business value. To enable the best results in this dynamic of an educated and diligent workforce, companies must unlock passion, creativity and initiative of their people. Results come from new innovations and ideas, and connections to engage hearts & minds in action.
Companies are re-wiring behavior models and tools today to enable global agility, and innovation. They’re increasingly looking to “Collaboration and Connection” business models.
-- Gary Hamel is an author and speaker and currently considered a top authority according to WSJ and FORTUNE on business strategy and management models.
By 2006, EMC’s revenues exceeded the levels of the pre-recession level. And yet, “It did not feel hot in the hallways.”
Throughout the company, departments and functional leaders were seeking ways to address multiple new challenges. Budgets and headcount allocation remained tight, so answers needed to be found largely without the luxury of new resources.
When we shift from today’s hierarchical norm of assigned roles & responsibilities to one where people can apply shared interests and passions to the job – a connected and collaborative culture – this is where we see pure gold.
Building Communities to Build Relationships
Over 30 active communities and Labs for customers and partners to collaborate with EMC and several others in development
Over 16,000 members, representing 151 countries, have joined in the first 9 months
1000 new members joining each month...and growing
Developing new, and improving existing products … such as the RSA key fob code as an app on the iPhone and Blackberry
In the “Labs,” product teams provide customers with early access to innovate with EMC in building better products. Collaboration occurs in every phase of product development from inception through announcement
Creating new Channels and increasing revenues
In the Solution Gallery, those developing solutions on EMC products engage prospective customers with reviews, ratings, demos and generate qualified sales leads
Meeting Developers & Inventors of Products created by EMC
Customers are given unfettered access to those who develop and support our products, providing both with valuable insights
Improving service and reducing support costs with technical forums
Not just engineers, but customers, too, provide answers to each other’s questions, and these answers are available to thousands of others, reducing the number of expensive one-on-one calls to Customer Support
Providing Certification & education on products & solutions
Several thousand “EMC Proven” customers, partners and employees share best practices and tips with the most knowledgeable, certified storage professionals in the world
Building Communities to build relationships
Developers congregate in the Developer Network downloading free code and sharing tips and tricks. Partners have their own communities but also mingle with others in user groups, understanding customer pain points and improving solutions, business users network with others who face similar challenges.
The bottom line, communities enable customers to maximize the investment they’ve already made in EMC solutions, generating increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
And let’s remind ourselves of another change today. No longer can we say “If you don’t like it here, leave.” The right talent is critical. And for smart talent, “work” is now a B2C (business-to-consumer) proposition. They evaluate their fit and desire to be part of an organization like they might evaluate a car, a college, or a vacation destination. It has to work for them.
If your company does not “fit them” – and allow for things like their ideas to be heard – they will move on to an option with a better value proposition.
I love how Dr. John Sullivan defines a strong employment brand value proposition. He says it is similar to a night club’s red velvet rope – “the experience behind which talent will line up clamoring for an opportunity to be let inside.” I added to that by saying “and those on the inside will know that this is the ultimate place to be.”
This, anyway, is how we look at the goal for EMC. To have an environment so compelling that Talent clamors for the opportunity to be there.
The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.