It’s official; companies are finally recognising that outlawing social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook in the office is unlikely to work. Moreover, not only is it a futile task, but it also represents a massively missed opportunity to improve the efficiency of an organisation - and the quality of employee experience.
For many years the office watercooler has been the focal point for social encounters in the office. Now, in the age of Web 2.0, we are seeing a steady revolution in our corporate social lives. Degrees of connectivity within organisations are on the up - and not across traditional lines of the corporate communication structure. Instead we are forming links between points previously left unconnected, all thanks to the corporate social network.
Facebook and Myspace may have laid the groundwork in familiarising users with social networking principles, and habitualised use - but the inherent security vulnerabilities (plus productivity concerns) rendered many businesses reluctant to jump on their bandwagon. There was an understandable lack of desire to tether operational practices to a service owned by another party (Murdoch, Zuckerberg et al). The workplace needs its own applications and, now that work-orientated services are becoming available, businesses are leaping at the chance to sign up. Here’s a few reasons why:
- The Corporate social network fosters far greater levels of cross-lateral communication within an organisation than has been the case to date. Previous models of operating all too often saw communication go upwards, across, and then downwards again - as different company departments came together for a particular task. This traditional procedure is often unnecessarily time-consuming and inefficient. The cross-lateral connections enabled by corporate social networking solve this problem so that higher management can be freed for other work - but because of the online nature of the network, management still follows and can oversee operations at every stage.
- A corporate social network is the most accessible form of knowledge management database. Plain and simple; it is the quickest and easiest way to log and identify who has what skills and experience within a company. Previous knowledge management applications have usually been ignored in favour of using personal contacts and experience to find the qualified employees for a particular job. The social network removes the boundary between the two, and we now get the best of both worlds.
- Ultimately work can be done quicker, due to the quick exchange of information and knowledge enabled by the network, thereby offsetting some employers’ concerns that the distractions of social networking would impact negatively on productivity. No doubt workers will spend more time socialising than before - but the time required for particular tasks will also decrease.
- It is likely that many workers will work more out of hours. With social networks occupying much of our leisure time, work will get done in the course of off-hours socialising. Linking work more closely to our social lives blurs the lines, and it is likely many will not view working off-hours with the same dread as before.
In short, corporate social networks offer a way to transcend the limits placed on communication by the layout and functioning of a typical office. In doing so they open up more freedom in terms of approaching management strategy, and integrate employees more fully into the organisation, which can only be a positive thing for both employee satisfaction and productivity. The challenges no longer lie in convincing businesses that such networks are a good idea - but in creating and providing the most effective solutions.
Dejan Levi
(Note: This is the first in a series of forthcoming short articles on the subject).