THE BLOG

Why is HR late for social collaboration?

This is part two of a three-part series on the theme “Is HR the missing player we are waiting for in the digital workplace?”

1. What’s different when HR co-leads the digital workplace?
2. Why is HR late in social collaboration?
3. Call to action for HR professionals

HR says “engagement and belong” are primary goals for the DW

“Engagement and belonging” was defined as: help empower people, build trust across the organization, provide a place for people to “meet”, facilitate initiatives, recognize and celebrate accomplishments of people and of the organization.

So why is HR late to internal social media?

In July 2011 I wrote a post asking “Who has responsibility for social media in the digital workplace?” The low and late involvement of HR is startling to say the least. The data (from the second part of 2010) shows that the role of HR rises slowly as the enterprise gains experience in social and collaborative tools. However, even in organizations with 4 to 5 years experience in internal social media, fewer than 30 percent had HR involvement in 2010. It’s clear that HR is not a leader, at least, not two years ago. (more…)

Is HR the missing player we are waiting for in the digital workplace?

What’s different when HR co-leads the digital workplace?

This is part one of a three-part series on the theme of “Is HR the missing player we are waiting for in the digital workplace?”

1. What’s different when HR co-leads the digital workplace?
2. Why is HR late in social collaboration?
3. Call to action for HR professionals

I studied the 15 organizations represented by HR professionals in the digital workplace survey of Q3 of 2012 that served as the basis for “Digital Workplace Trends 2013”. This sampling of 15 organizations is representative of the full survey population in terms of range in size of workforce, wide variety of different industries, different international footprints and a mix of “desk-office” and “floor-field” organizations.

The only difference between these 15 organizations and the others is that the organization was represented by an HR professional rather than a Communication or IT professional (who make up the large majority of the survey respondents).

All survey respondents are key digital workplace players in their own organizations and, given the HR participation in the survey, I have assumed that HR co-leads digital workplace initiatives in these 15 organizations.

At a strategic tipping point

Organizations with digital workplaces that are co-led by HR are at a tipping point where their actions are on the verge of elevating the digital workplace into a strategic position.

Three data points stand out:

• The digital workplace is more often positioned as part of an organizational transformation program.

40 percent of the organizations represented in the survey by HR report that “the digital workplace initiative is an official part of a higher level organizational-wide change program”.  This is much higher than the 10 percent of organizations represented by IT and the 12 percent represented by Communication. (The survey average was 20 percent.) (more…)

Manifesto for “self expression” inside organizations

Half of organizations do not facilitate self expression

There are some basic human rights of self-expression that are still out of reach for employees in over half the organizations if we base ourselves on what they can do in their digital workplace.

Organizations with the entire workforce co-located are rare. Most organizations have people in different sites and many have people in different countries. Digital capabilities therefore key way to communicating and collaborating.

Let’s take 4 very basic examples of what a person might need.

“I should be able to…

• Describe myself, share information about myself with others in the organization,
• Share my information and my ideas openly,
• React to ideas of other people openly,
• Participate openly in developing new ideas and innovations.”

These are pretty basic human rights! I’ve looked at my data from 7 years of research about intranets and digital workplaces and have seen that these capabilities still do not exist in the digital workplace of nearly half the organizations today.

Inching forward to reach stagnation?

We have seen some progress over the years, but seem to have arrived at a point of stagnation. Note that the figures below represent the responses “available enterprise-wide” and “available in some parts of the organization” and are survey averages for the full survey populations of the years listed. They do not reflect early adopters. The reference year is the year the data was collected. (more…)

3 keys to social collaboration with business value

Quick read: Waiting too long is risky!

Organizations that have not yet made a significant move towards a more collaborative way of working are running a number of risks. Information is increasingly scattered over different platforms and tools as people build their own solutions. The essential distinction between managed, validated information and “work in progress” gets blurred unless there are some fundamental governance guidelines in place. Business and customer actions may be taken (or not) on the basis out-of-date or incomplete information.

People need specific capabilities in order to collaborate with each other. Recent data shows adoption of social collaborative capabilities is far from widespread, there is still resistance and fear in most organizations and it often comes from management. (Data included in the article).

In this article I look at two real cases and share three fundamental principles for implementing social collaboration to alleviate business risks. The two cases are radically different, the two organizations have very different cultures and priorities, but the principles (inspired by John Paul Kotter‘s work) are the same.

• One: Build urgency statements and relate them to business risks.
• Two: Empower people to act.
• Three: Blend short and mid-term actions through quick wins and process improvement.

In a nutshell, people need a reason to change, the power to act, and visible results from their actions. (more…)

5 reasons social intranets have not taken off

At the European Enterprise 2.0 Summit this afternoon,  I gave a 15-minute talk about social intranets:

• Why social intranets disrupt organizations.
• Five reasons why social intranets have not taken off and what to do about it.

In a nutshell:

1. Lack of urgency
2. Middle management forgotten
3. No real empowerment
4. Fragmented digital environments
5. A lot to learn about change

Take a look at the presentation and tell me what you think. (more…)

Teams that reach out perform better

Social starts inside. Social business is not just for “customers”.

It’s becoming clear that outward-looking teams get better results than those that are inward-focused. What does this mean for the digital workplace? It means social starts inside.

Social business is for everyone in an organization. After all, why does an organization exist? To serve its customers, be they commercial customers, distributors, members, citizens or the public.

Rawn Shah, Forbes contributor and social business strategist in IBM Collaboration Solutions, reports back from the Dachis Group Social Business Summit 2013 in Austin  on digging deeper into social data and how it improves team performance. (more…)

The state of the social intranet at Enterprise 2.0 Summit in Paris

• What is the state of the social intranet evolution?
• What is the social intranet compared to Enterprise 2.0 initiatives? Are there differences?
• What are the challenges of the transition of Intranet projects into the social world?
• How do these projects differ from “E20 from the scratch/sandbox” projects?

I’ve been asked to give a 15-minute talk about the state of the “Social Intranet” evolution – as the “new” maturity stage for Intranets. I’ll be sharing data and insights from “Digital Workplace Trends 2013” report. We’ll then spend 25 minutes discussing the key questions among panel members and  participants. (more…)

“Digital Workplace Trends 2013″ buy now!

A big thank you to all those of you who have reviewed this year’s Digital Workplace Trends report.

The report is available for purchase. You can read full reviews and the table of contents. You can also download a free sample.

Excerpts from some of the reviews:

• Susan Scrupski, CEO and Founder, Change Agents Worldwide: “At $530, this is the most undervalued research product in the market.” (more…)

Disruptive digital workplace: 3 approaches

 Key ideas from my presentation at IntraTeamEvent 2013.

The digital workplace is disruptive for 3 major reasons:

• It breaks silos and structures.
• It challenges the traditional roles of HR, Communication and IT.
• It empowers people.

Concerns and approaches?  Take a look at the presentation below. (more…)

Trust, dialogue and the digital workplace

Are organizational cultures different in early adopters of the digital workplace?

The answer is a resounding yes. There is more trust. There is more dialogue.  Both are fundamental to transforming how people work.

• Nearly 80 percent of early adopters say they have cultures where there is great trust across their organization even with people who do not know each other personally.
• Half say management consults people on certain issues before making decisions.
• Sixty percent say people in their organization are free to express their opinions even if they disagree with official policies and strategies.

The figures are far lower for the majority of organizations as the chart below shows. (more…)