Almost every modern organization has experienced it by now. Perhaps it was someone who signed up on Yammer two years ago and invited everyone to join. Maybe it was a corporate-wide implementation of Jive, Socialcast, or IBM Connections? At some point, the microblog was introduced. After seeing a few of these launches over time, it becomes apparent that there are elements of sociology and group identity at play. Each microblogging community seems to go through a series of distinct phases as it matures into a fully realized and functioning group. Each step in maturity adds exponential value to the organization, so there is tremendous value in moving through the stages as quickly as possible.
With a tip of the hat to Carnegie Mellon and Dr. Bruce Tuckman, here are the stages of maturity for a microblogging community.
1. Forming
Invitations are sent out. The page is blank. Nobody knows what to say, or wants to be the first to say anything. Smart community managers seed the chatter a bit to break the ice. Why are we here? It’s like the wild west, so people break existing processes and use the microblog to do things like request password changes. The formation stage is a great time to support chatter about the reason for using the tool, and the best ways to get the most benefit from it.
Typical message themes: “Hello World!” “Testing out this new thing.” “Why are we all here?”
2. Storming
Now that the dust has settled a bit, it’s time to establish some social norms. There are clearly appointed leaders, such as community managers, but de facto leaders will emerge. Most conversation is neutral and non-threatening. Chances are nobody’s really talking about business yet. One of my colleagues compares this phase to a Seinfeld episode.
Typical message themes: “You’re awesome.” “No, you’re awesome!” “High Five!” “Great job.”
3. Norming
As sub-groups begin to form, and people get more comfortable with established roles and norms, they realize it’s time to get down to business and get some value from this tool. People seek out experts, and look for help and advice with all types of challanges. Even some fun sub-groups emerge around non-work topics. This is typically the phase where some people are comfortable enough to challenge statements, hypothesis, and suppositions made in the chat stream. With that comes the first signs of disagreements between people, and they are out in the open. Positive resolutions will enable the next phase where the organization is in the “performing” state.
Typical message themes: “Does anybody know someone at company X?” “Can someone help out with an important proposal?” “Have we ever sold into industry Y before?”
4. Performing
This final stage is the business value nirvana that everyone hopes to achieve. Emergent outcomes are manifesting themselves in various aspects of the business. Another sign of the performing microblogging environment is transparency around constructive organizational dialog. In a video interview with Giam Swiegers, CEO of Deloitte in Australia, he relates a story where a low-level employee talks about his dislike of a new company policy. Giam has an opportunity to engage with him on the microblog, and come to a positive conclusion on the issue.
What stage are you in?
