Image Credit: Dachis Corp & David Armano
“And once you start thinking about using social tools as campaign support, you’re thinking in terms of one-night stands with your customers, not building long-term relationships.” – Peter Kim
Now we’re talking. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of thinking of these social tools merely as a new and inexpensive way to market your product. So what’s next then? Well for one, using these social tools to change the way we work, to build social businesses.
That’s what Dachis Corporation has been working on for some time now.
So what is social business design?
It’s a shift in thinking—less about media and more about tapping the benefits of being a social business in a purposeful way, (Armano). It is a mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive way of considering how a corporation, business unit, or project can create and capture value from today’s emerging technologies and evolving operating environment, (Kim).
To be more explicit, it is using what you think of as social media and other shiny new technologies to create a social infrastructure within a business where everyone is connected and able to contribute in an effort to produce emergent outcomes.
The team at Dachis Corporation has discussed what this looks like and what this potentially means for organizations, but what about individual employees within these companies? Most of us are resistant to change so what should they expect?
Social Business Design + Employees
In truth, I’m not sure. This is all very new, but it’s something I’ve been giving some thought to so please humor me as I explore some of these possibilities at a more micro level:
1.) Bosses will have to be more accountable. With a social business employees should be able to witness many of their bosses’ contributions. And while I don’t suspect they’ll all be on display, the days of a superior shutting the door to their office and spending 3 straight hours on Tweetdeck while an intense strategy discussion rages on in real-time are over.
2.) Along the same lines, employees can expect less political bull shit. That person who puts their coat on the back of their chair and takes a 2-hour lunch won’t get away with it anymore. No contributions in the last 2 hours? Now everyone knows. Social business will make everyone immediately more accountable because if you’re not an active participant in the ecosystem you’re probably not doing your job.
3.) Employees who can extract value, connect ideas and decipher complicated analysis will rise to the top. With the metafilter in place businesses will see not only when, but how people used the resources, put the pieces together and came to a conclusion. This also lets other employees learn from the standout, pulling the middle of the pack up (instead of public education’s current approach.)
4.) “Nicer” people will be more successful. I don’t necessarily mean nicer as in the way your Grandma is nice, but in the sense that people that can work well together in the hivemind will have a leg up on those trying to draw conclusions by themselves (the way we typically do in our current silos.) The marketing guy who understands the way his engineers work will now have the systems in place to leverage that connection for the greater good of the company, in an increasingly more efficient manner I might add.
What are some additional ways employees will be affected by social business design? People that see the big picture and have the ability to weave intricate ideas across various verticals (a combination of a couple from above?) Employees that process and react quickly, with the caveat that they’re providing solid value of course?
What does this all mean for relationship marketing?
In a social business I think it will be more about the work you do than the games you play, the office politics and behind closed doors meetings. It will also make sense to cross verticals and to become more in tune with what other people in your company are doing, are capable of. Sure you have your crew at the water cooler, but now fostering relationships with employees outside your inner circle will help you understand their approach and how your ideas can extend theirs, your bosses, etc.
Obviously this is a relatively new concept, and as such my thoughts on the subject are pretty raw, but please chime in and tell me where you think I’m off. I’ve been debating holding this post until it’s significantly more polished, but I think that would limit the conversation. Instead, please agree/disagree/challenge what I’ve initially laid out and I’ll keep updating this post fleshing out new thoughts and ideas as the discussion progresses.
How will social business impact employees? How does this deviate from our current model? What kind of person will succeed with this type of architecture in place? What other thoughts do you have?
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