DISCUSSION TOPIC

Mapping Employee Collaboration - 2/3/09

TOPIC SUMMARY:

A mapping technique, called social-network analysis, is increasingly being used by corporations to understand how their workers communicate with each other. Under the rather simple method, employees are each asked who they turn to for help. A map is then drawn revealing dark patches around employees who work closely with others and lighter areas where there’s little interaction.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, companies are using such mapping techniques to understand weak points in internal networking activities. It also promises to help identify “unheralded stars” as it has been shown that the best collaborators in organizations aren’t discovered in performance reviews.

The article states that collaboration efficiency has become more important as workers are spread across the globe.

Discussion questions:  What are the best ways for managers to encourage employees to collaborate with each other? What do you think of the potential for mapping techniques around social-network analysis for organizations?

My post: 

My experience shows that “mapping” of employee behaviors is extremely limiting in drawing conclusions about employee communication tendencies.  The real issues lie in two areas:

First, a cohesive company vision or lack thereof determines the important behaviors of leaders and therefore impacts employee behaviors.  A scattered vision creates scattered leaders, which creates employees with erratic communication habits.

Second, and more importantly, people are who they are.  If an employee is naturally collaborative, they will create the networks and means to communicate that they need – whether or not the company puts in programs and systems to facilitate that behavior.  Likewise, an employee who is unsocial or quiet will not take advantage of company systems. 

Tools like “social-network analysis” are brilliant sounding products that consultants can sell to companies that lack a cohesive vision and/or fail to hire employees who naturally collaborate.

Mike Osorio, your Dare to be Contagious! ^TM strategist

www.OsorioGroup.com

————————————————-
Go to the full discussion at RetailWire.com:
http://www.retailwire.com/Discussions/Sngl_Discussion.cfm/13525

————————————————-

Thank you for visiting my blog!  Please subscribe using the RSS button and comment on my postings.  Comments are the life-blood of any blog and I appreciate yours!

Social Network Ignorance

DISCUSSION TOPIC:  Marketers Don’t Get Social Networks

TOPIC SUMMARY:

Social networks are all about relationship building. Yet marketers are continuing to use mainstream advertising ploys – including hammering home messages – in targeting the medium rather than just having conversations.

“Frequency of message is not the idea here,” Rick Murray, president of Edelman digital, told Advertising Age. “Frequency of contact is.”

Charlene Li, VP and principal analyst at Forrester Research, agreed that marketers haven’t seemed to figure out that this is a channel where consumers actually want to be spoken to.

“[Consumers] are asking questions on these sites that go unanswered,” she said. “You can’t ask for a better environment. And what do marketers do? They say nothing and put up another ad.”

Discussion questions:  What’s the difference between mainstream marketing techniques and efforts targeting MySpace and other social networking sites? How should mainstream advertising be tweaked to work on social networking sites?

My post:

Few retailers or brands have taken the time to research how to best use the social networks for marketing efforts.  Therefore, most efforts have been to slam their regular mainstream marketing onto these sites – a huge mistake.  Retailers and brands would do well to research the many quality “how-to” sites for social networking entrepreneurs. These sites provide excellent lessons on how to write compelling content for blogs, social networks, etc.  Key points:

• Remember: These are conversations not ads. Talk, engage, but don’t sell.
• Who will do the postings on blogs, MySpace, etc.? They must speak with an authentic voice, aligned with the company’s voice.
• Can you commit to regular updates? If not, don’t start.
• Have you prepared for the inevitable complaints and bad comments about your brand/product?
• Give stuff away. The way you gain trust with your audience and get them to buy your product eventually is to prove that your stuff is worthwhile. This method is used to great advantage in information marketing and should be utilized in product marketing.
• Test, test, test, and test some more. This medium is continuously evolving and the best are always looking to tweak their approach.

Mike Osorio, your Dare to be Contagious! ^TM strategist

http://www.osoriogroup.com/

————————————————-
GO TO THE FULL DISCUSSION AT RETAILWIRE.COM:
http://www.retailwire.com/Discussions/Sngl_Discussion.cfm/12828  

————————————————-

Thank you for visiting my blog!  Please subscribe using the RSS button and comment on my postings.  Comments are the life-blood of any blog and I appreciate yours!