Stop With the Excuses Not to Be Social

I am asked this question a lot “How do you get executive management buy-in to bring social into the organisation“? The answer is simple – I don’t…

This sounds like an arrogant response but it’s not intended to be. Let’s be honest here, in these particular tough times your executive management won’t particularly care about being social in their organisation, they care about increased revenue, better margins and keeping costs to a minimum.

If you can prove that being social in the workplace can have a direct impact on your revenue, margins and costs then you have a good argument to go into that boardroom and sell them the concept.  The problem is that it is extremely difficult to find a direct linkage.

So how can you make being social in the organisation actually work?

The answer is simple – approach it from the bottom up!

Whilst your executive management could try to enforce it in their organisation, it’s actually the people on the ground that really need to take advantage of the benefits and it is these people that you have to sell the concept to. Prove it works to them and your executive management will have to sit up and take notice.

But remember, being social in the workplace is an evolutionary thing combining both traditional and social working methods in how we interact and engage with one another. It’s about working smarter, being more effective and increasing efficiency, but more importantly than that it is about the change in mindset.

Whilst I was presenting to an executive board recently one of the board members made a great point:

“Social technologies can really help but it comes down to fundamentals of our sales people wanting to share knowledge across the social network. As David said, it’s about the change in mindset that we have to address, the technology can only facilitate the process”

So don’t get too focused on acquiring executive management buy-in before starting the social movement in your organisation as the chances are they will not understand it or support it. Instead focus on your vision and the benefits that a better socially connected organisation can bring and start building it from the bottom up. You might just be surprised at the reaction and the results…