The idea of becoming a truly social business isn’t as “blue sky” as it was a year ago – the market is starting to shift. More people are talking about the benefits of engaging with consumers and collaborating internally. We’ve even heard of corporate mandates from the C-suite: “Social is happening; get the company up to speed.”
We realize that it sounds easier than it actually is – there are many moving pieces to consider, not the least of which is your employees. Assumptions are made that because people have a Facebook profile or a Twitter account, they get it. Not true. Often, small teams of digital and social practitioners are left to explain strategy to the company – to people who do not really understand and to naysayers who still don’t see the point.
We don’t see social as merely a form of media, another outlet to use for broadcasting; instead, we see it as a cultural change. We’re advocating for a whole new mode of business, which will require a massive shift in thinking for most organizations. You must build a strong backbone to support that cultural change.
Training is a critical step on the road to culture change. If your organization is to become truly social, people need to know what that means, both for themselves personally and for the company at large. Uncertainty breeds tension – use training to help stakeholders understand how you plan to get from Point A to Point B.
In programs we create, we recommend a few things:
- Think globally: make training content regionally applicable. Invest extra effort and resources to customize content per region. Include cross-regional examples and statistics – help employees understand what their global counterparts are doing, and promote best practice sharing.
- Create different tracks and consider your internal audiences:
- What knowledge will help your management team make informed decisions?
- What information will help your practitioners do their jobs better? What information will help them take your efforts to the next level?
- To raise overall corporate social IQ, what is the baseline knowledge base for all other employees?
- Create compelling, hands-on training content: there’s a difference between observing a Twitter account and actually tweeting. Likewise, there’s a difference between tweeting and understanding when and how to engage.
- Identify and recruit internal subject matter experts to help create and deliver training content: do you have a blogger outreach expert? Pull him/her in to approve content and embellish it with examples and case studies.
It is possible to achieve the “blue sky” vision, and training is a good place to start. Figure out what people are currently doing, what they should be doing differently, and what they will need to know to effectively change their behaviors. Then, design a training program that will engage employees as they get up to speed.
Does your company have a training program? How are you preparing your organization to embrace social?
I’m not sure where training is in the list of things needed to achieve cultural change, but I’m pretty sure it’s NOT first (i.e., the place to start).
If there’s one thing that drives people in organizations crazy about training programs, it’s the inability of the trainer to communicate WHY the program is being delivered, and how the skills that they are supposed to learn tie in to what they do, and what the company’s goals and strategies are.
There’s a LOT of work a firm needs to do in becoming “social” before even thinking about a training program.
Hi Ron – thanks for your comment. It sounds like I need to clarify – I’m not advocating that a company should go immediately from strategy planning to training. Not at all. Once a company has decided to invest the necessary resources in an overall social strategy, training is a major component to consider and will be critical for the culture change that social business demands.
Once the strategy is set, and to your point, the goals of the strategy are clear, then it’s time to evaluate current behaviors and consider what people will need to know in order to successfully support and execute on the strategy. Then, you design a program that speaks to those needs. And I agree – the training should be hands-on and actionable.
I also agree with you that there’s a lot of work a firm needs to do to become social – training is just one part of that – but it’s an essential part, especially as it relates to culture change. Purposeful training will help get everyone on the same page about company strategy, goals, policy.
Excellent points. Social media, I’m looking at you here twitter…, works 24/7. If you’re not speaking to folks on the other side of the globe you’re missing half an audience.