Management 2.0 developing social capital

Oh, meant to add: this is, I think, why unconferen...

2012-03-10T05:58:17.077-08:00

Oh, meant to add: this is, I think, why unconferences work so well - the environment (lack of hierarchy) helps people connect (become plm's) and this enables learning to take place.

Also see: http://mervyndinnen.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/is-the-key-to-social-learning-in-the-social-not-the-learning/

Thanks Barry, I appreciate the comment, and its ch...

2012-03-09T07:22:03.690-08:00

Thanks Barry, I appreciate the comment, and its challenging nature. As I said yesterday, it's important 'social' doesn't mean 'nice'(not that this is nasty) - we need to be able to have robust debates in this media.

Re your first point, I do disagree. I think social media opens people up to a whole new world of influences - obviously depending upon how they use it, but I see more of this than the other.

And yes, regarding your second point, it is of course possible to learn from these influences.

But although this is what I wrote above (though not what I believe I said in my opening), it's not quite what I meant.

What I was really trying to get to is that we're going to struggle to learn WITH (rather than FROM), ie socially.

We can learn based upon what people say. We can use what people say to challenge our own thinking and learn from this reflection.

But I still suspect we're not going to be able to learn with them effectively - to learn through conversation, or to learn together - unless we have the sorts of relationships I've referred to in my post.

I will say however, that I've not thought about this much before, and as I wrote, I don't know of any research that supports (or challenges) my conclusions (it'd be a different research area from whether people look for sources that reinforce their existing views).

So I do reserve the right to change my mind on this and I am very much trying to engage in the social behaviour I talked about at the conference - of sharing ideas for social input before they're fully formed.

I still currently think I'm at least partly right in my suggestion though!

I'm not denying that the trend to trust 'p...

2012-03-09T00:21:35.164-08:00

I'm not denying that the trend to trust 'people like me' is something real and growing, and as @shackletonjones tweeted - this behaviour is definitely a feature of social networks; but a feature is not necessarily a benefit.

This area has been well researched, extends far beyond social media and social networks and existed long before they did. You only have to think about newspaper choices to see the way that people look for sources that reinforce their existing views and prejudices. What social media has done, as it has with so many other things, is make it easier to find like minded people and to find them in ever smaller groups (cliques?) which they can join.

Of course it can be very beneficial to use social networks to connect with peers that you would not otherwise have been able to.

However, there is a problem that I see manifested in social networks (Twitter in particular) every day; the social media echo chamber. By finding, following and interacting with 'people like me', I can say what I already believe to be true and I know that my 'tribe' will give me plenty of positive reinforcement.

I'm horrified by the suggestion that in order to learn we need to 'transform people like them into people like us'. I don't need to like, trust or be like someone in order to learn from them; I do need to respect them, no matter how different they are to me.

Not much more on broader social business (vs just ...

2012-02-15T10:09:30.040-08:00

Not much more on broader social business (vs just social media) in the debate either. But the write up is here: http://wearelikeminds.com/live/the-future-of-social-media-in-business

Interesting thoughts about social employee profile...

2011-11-22T23:05:48.276-08:00

Interesting thoughts about social employee profiles. I was thinking along the same lines when considering what's now possible with the Workday/Chatter integration (http://blog.appirio.com/2011/11/social-hcm-why-workdays-chatter.html). Great to see more of this social HCM thinking!

Thanks Gareth, I appreciate the comment and the s...

2011-11-21T00:30:07.670-08:00

Thanks Gareth, I appreciate the comment and the support for my perspective n this matter. I'm not how far you, me and Natalie are agreeing on this, but I think we probably all agree that it's a pretty awful situation to be in. One of the things someone said at the Demos meeting was that this was a useful report because it wasn 't all about the government doing something. But I think my conclusion was the government probably does need to intervene before we're going to see much response from business. But I do agree with you Natalie that efforts by individual companies should be aplauded.

Jon, Natalie - I can see both sides of this argume...

2011-11-19T16:25:31.324-08:00

Jon, Natalie - I can see both sides of this argument and I think you are both saying the same thing to be honest. I think Jon's comment:

I’d also like to see organisations loosing some of their focus on individual talent management and putting a bit more effort into building collaborative organisations (ah, back to that again!). I think social mobility, and just generally better performance, would be a natural consequence of this sort of shift as well.

Is spot on. I also think that whilst its applaudable that the executive you mention Natalie took 25 of their high potentials to india. Why high potentials? I think the shake up that you desire has to cut at the core of the bollox organisations peddle about talent. Why didnt she take 25 random people or even those that might have been on the "not trying hard enough list".

The hierarchical organisation reflects a hierarchical society. If we want to encourage social mobility, we have to move away from the existing model of organisations.

Interesting debate. The round table sounded good although i fear for demos if they are asking questions like:

‘how can the government up-skill HR professionals to implement more effective social mobility strategies in the workplace’

I mean, please.

back again jon! "using the not very smart org...

2011-11-18T07:39:51.285-08:00

back again jon! "using the not very smart organisation models that most businesses have, I can see why organisations don't feel investing in social mobility is something they can do."

this is the perfect opportunity for leaders to shake up the board, re-evaluate their values, think how to connect to their people more and the communities they serve.

organisations are ripe to change, it just takes one brave leader to have the courage to reach out to their people (employees) and ask them how they want to re-shape their company culture. in some organisations, I imagine the board would get a massive wake-up call.

i recently sat next to an executive leader of a multinational organisation. she told me that she'd just come back from a recent visit in India where she'd taken 25 of their high potentials to meet street kids and a female refuge. these experiences are life changing and employees come back feeling more connected to their employer than ever.

anyway, i could go on, but even small businesses can do their bit and provide all sorts of mentoring opportunities. yes there is upfront costs of allowing employees time off to volunteer but let's think long-term, not short-term. the big issue is that leaders have to be authentic and believe in what they do...you will be able to measure employee engagement, loyalty, retention, sickness absence, increase in productivity, because those organisations who are already or turning themselves into forces for good, can prove it.

I've had a comment on this post on another pos...

2011-11-18T06:52:19.710-08:00

I've had a comment on this post on another post over at Strategic HCM: http://strategic-hcm.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-favourite-post-from-cipd11-was.html.

In response to this I want to provide a bit more context about the meeting, which I should have added before (except that if I had the post would never have gone out at all).

One of the main themes of the session was whether social immobility is a market failure or a social failure. If it's the first - if there's a business case, then government largely just needs to get out of the way. If it's the second, if there isn't a real business case, meaning that it's a social failure, then the government needs to do something about this.

My reading of the group was that most people seemed to think there was a social failure ie that the market is largely doing what it should - meaning what is logical for it do to - and that the issue is social class (eg that 'high social mobility' parents have done well out of the system and they want their children - even the dim Tims - to do well as well. So there's no incentive for the people who run the system to change.

There was less agreement on whether, under the current social system, there's a business case, but given chatham house rules I can't really go into this. But from my personal perspective, based upon what we discussed in the rountable, I didn't think there is. This doesn't mean that I don't think organisations shouldn't invest in social mobility - I think they should. And if I ran an organisation I definitely would. It's just that under the current socially broken system, and using the not very smart organisation models that most businesses have, I can see why organisations don't feel investing in social mobility is something they can do.

Hi Leon, yes I like Quad too (see http://blog.soc...

2011-07-21T05:12:07.905-07:00

Hi Leon, yes I like Quad too (see

http://blog.social-advantage.com/2010/06/enterprise-20-cisco-and-human-network.html

http://blog.social-advantage.com/2010/06/enterprise-20-sharepoint-all-or-nothing.html

Sounds like a great project!

Thanks for commenting.

Jon.

Jon - I'm working with Cisco to pilot their gr...

2011-07-16T06:30:03.093-07:00

Jon - I'm working with Cisco to pilot their ground breaking Enterprise 2.0 platform called Quad with one of their clients (a Flexible Working Pilot). I think it's a game changer in terms of bringing about the kind of collaboration we see in the open source community.

Samuel, he's still starting with the social to...

2011-03-26T08:13:58.477-07:00

Samuel, he's still starting with the social tools though (at least in this presentation). In fact the whole conference, and Dachis' whole approach, fall into the same trap. They all understand the use of social tools need to be combined with other enablers. But the all focus on using these to enable the social tools. To me, it's just the wrong starting point and focus.

Tony, yes, I agree, although the opportunities for managing weak ties still only part of the full picture. People, and their organisations, need to focus much more on developing the right connections, relationships and conversations.

Doing this might require social tools, and it might not. That's the point I was trying to make, and I don't think it's the same as what Hagel said.

Thanks for you post, Jon. I don't get your com...

2011-03-25T14:13:15.329-07:00

Thanks for you post, Jon. I don't get your comment though. I think your comment is in line with what Hagel said. He says: social tools is not enough. When you start to use them, start slowly and consider using social tools in organization can have huge effects on the long run, but usually don't on the short term.

Great (and fast!) post Jon. I am reading #Powerof...

2011-03-24T04:31:29.232-07:00

Great (and fast!) post Jon. I am reading #PowerofPull now and thrilled to see Jeff Dachis tweet back resonating on a key theme in the book, "shaping serendipity" See http://twitter.com/jeffdachis/status/50863827964788736 from my http://twitter.com/hollingsworth/status/50863328410615808

I think this is a key point for businesses: imagine the benefits if serendipity could be "shaped" within companies for their success!

Cheers Jon
Tony

It never amazes me how many people don't tap i...

2011-03-01T14:21:08.582-08:00

It never amazes me how many people don't tap into the vast education available in blogs via RSS. There is so much great content out there for the taking.

Being the parent of an ADHD child that is hooked o...

2011-02-19T15:43:25.891-08:00

Being the parent of an ADHD child that is hooked on video games, I have to say that we need to consider the addictiveness of games in addition to the skills they teach. Do online games teach social skills or make them worse? Will we all work from home in a game environment in 20 years? - I doubht it.

Jim F from Florida
www.dsptn.com

You said "I think there are other books that ...

2011-01-27T07:11:12.050-08:00

You said "I think there are other books that provide better advice on this (and it’s a subject I’d love to return to and post on again myself)."

I was woundering if you could post some of the titles of the books as I would like to read them

Timely post - time for change, now!

2011-01-22T13:13:35.578-08:00

Timely post - time for change, now!

Hi Jon - I look forward to your posts about the Ju...

2010-10-11T15:00:31.959-07:00

Hi Jon - I look forward to your posts about the June conference. Looking at the one coming up, it seems there is a lot related to the company I work for, Rypple. But, I'd like to hear from people who have experienced it for more context.

As an enterprise community manager, I believe gett...

2010-09-05T09:07:49.993-07:00

As an enterprise community manager, I
believe getting HR involved closely in Enterprise 2.0 implementations greatly increases the likelihood of their success. With HR on board, the great body of the unconvinced and the disinterested will see that social business skills will be part of the future of work. HR will be instrumental in giving recognition to those who collaborate, network and share knowledge.

What utter nonsense and total humbug. Football pl...

2010-07-23T04:32:39.074-07:00

What utter nonsense and total humbug.

Football players _choose_ to play for a team. They move as easily from one team to another as people in democratic (non-socialist) countries move from one country to another.

Real socialism is when the players have no free choice.

Please don't confuse socialism (the enforcement of belonging to a group) with liberalism (the freedom to choose the group you wish to belong to).

Great post Jon. Our data actually says otherwise r...

2010-07-16T10:31:42.146-07:00

Great post Jon. Our data actually says otherwise re the IT/LOB split at the conference. For several years now, our audience has been more weighted to the lines of business than IT. 60/40 in fact. That said, I think we're all in agreement that HR specifically needs to be more strongly represented at the conference. Of all functional areas of the enterprise, HR needs to have a big stake in this. I could also argue that IT needs to have a big stake otherwise E2.0 projects will remain fragmented and separate from core business systems. Jon, I look forward to connecting on this next week and Susan, let's discuss next time we speak. Great stuff!

Thanks Susan, Great to hear from you and to see y...

2010-07-16T02:20:42.531-07:00

Thanks Susan,

Great to hear from you and to see you, if not meet you, in Boston. I'd definitely like to talk face-to-face in Santa Clara.

Also thanks for your support. To be fair, I should mention that the conference director, Steve Wylie, has backed my HR 2.0 proposal: http://santaclara2010.e2conf.spigit.com/Idea/View?ideaid=1416.

So I do think they understand the need to change.

Yikes. Blogger makes it so difficult to leave a c...

2010-07-15T08:42:11.703-07:00

Yikes. Blogger makes it so difficult to leave a comment! That said, this is a great post, Jon. I'd love to see you speak in Santa Clara. I agree with you wholeheartedly, and have always argued HR should play a much more strategic role at the 2.0 planning table.

TechWeb/UBM who hosts #e2conf is primarily an IT-oriented powerhouse, so that explains the concentration of IT speak and sessions (and sponsors). Also, we've found in the Council that technology companies are more apt to adopt these tools and philosophies, as their workforce already has this "tech DNA" embedded in its culture. We have so many tech companies in the Council, I've slowed down on on-ramping them, in fact.

I very much look forward to your next post. Please alert me to it if I miss it?

Thanks for the inclusion. The carnival of trust I...

2010-07-12T14:33:12.530-07:00

Thanks for the inclusion.

The carnival of trust I hosted recently is at: http://blog.social-advantage.com/2010/01/carnival-of-trust-january-2010.html