Category: Social Enterprise
Social networking and media articles.
For the past several years my partner Karl Meinhardt has been developing a practice in social enterprise leadership. His background in information technology and his passion and skill as a leader have made this an ideal focus area for Karl. Karl is leading a social enterprise revolution for Albertsons LLC. A revolution that is chronicled in Progressive Grocer. Check out his work.
Authenticity. Even the word feels weighty. And when combined with the word “leadership” it gets even more intense. Over the last decade authentic leadership has been the focus and target of many leadership models. For good reason; authentic leaders hold the keys to establishing inspired, motivated, and passionate organizations. Ask any leader you meet: Do you want an inspired organization? Do you want your workforce to be passionate and motivated? Unequivocally the answers will be “YES!”
In my book The Leaders New Clothes: The Naked Truths of Leadership there are seven Naked Truths of Authentic Leadership. The first and most important is about how you are perceived as a leader by those you lead. It states that: “Perception is all there is – you are the leader you are perceived to be.” How you are perceived by your employees affects the culture inside the organization. Imagine being more than just perceived as but instead KNOWN to be an engaged leader that listens to, interacts with, and learns from the employees in the organization! That is the definition of authentic leadership. The impact of such authenticity would be far reaching and better than any perception of one as a leader. So here’s a good question: Do you even know how you are perceived by your employees? For many of us the answer is “No, we really don’t know.” By the way you can go ahead and read that as, “I am naked.”
Yes. Yes you are!
Now more than ever there are great social enterprise networking tools that can create and nourish a connection with those we lead. Along with mobile access, these internal social networks afford leaders amazing a real time, all-the-time connection to their employees, to the issues facing the business, to new product ideas, and to every aspect of the business. What an amazing opportunity to build an authentic relationship with the groups, division, and employees in the company!
Make no mistake about it however, there is risk. Entering into an authentic relationship requires new levels of transparency from the front-line to the C-suite. This is exactly why we see many leaders commit to providing the social network for the rest of the organization but exclude themselves from the conversation. They are content with providing transparency for the rest of the organization. This is more risky than actually engaging and setting the tone, direction, and authenticity of the conversation.
As they have with Social Media in general, leaders ask “What’s the ROI on the time commitment and costs?” And while that is a fair question, unfortunately ROI is the wrong metric for relationships. Instead leaders should be seeking the Return on Relationship, or the ROR. What is the ROR on authentic leadership engagement in the social enterprise? It can be what all leaders seek: a motivated, inspired organization that is passionate about the company and its mission.
I firmly believe the ROR is worthy of the risk of engagement. Take a look at CEO’s that have embraced the concept and have seen huge benefits. Brian Dunn at Best Buy, Michael Dell, Tony Hsieh at Zappos, Gary Kelley at SouthWest and others engage socially with their employees and customers to foster a greater following inside and outside their companies. Consider Bill Marriott, CEO of Marriott, who wrote this on his blog, “What’s the big deal? This is just another way for me to talk to my customers and listen to my customers.” He knows that having a relationship with his customers keeps him on top of their feedback and interests. His relationship with customers and employees cultivates social influencers and evangelists.
It’s no secret that the way we communicate inside the organization is rapidly changing with advent of social organizations. Leaders can authentically participate for a maximum ROR or they can be naked: perceived as disconnected, uninterested, or not present. Just remember that if you start down the authentic relationship path you must commit to it. Otherwise you will be in violation of Naked Truth of Leadership number three: “If you are not ready to act, don’t ask!”
As enterprises look at social networks for collaboration and mindshare inside the organization, there is a desire to collect and leverage it as a repository for knowledge and experience. Many companies have knowledge experts that have valuable experience and they have new hires ready to participate in the organization’s push into the new millennia.
Internal social networks have been touted as way to engage the company into a conversation that can provide a vehicle for knowledge transfer, idea crowdsourcing and cross functional education and training. And indeed they are. When designed and implemented with upper management support, a well-defined strategy and a commitment to creating a threat free social environment, an internal social network stands to be an amazing asset to the organization.
However, many times organizations overlook the key ingredient to social enterprise success: authentic leadership engagement. Sounds like a big commitment just by the phrase, “authentic leadership engagement.” And it is. In the minds of many leaders internal social networks are there for the workforce. They believe endorsing “the spend” and providing the tools is all that is required of their commitment to the organizational social endeavor. “Go forth and be social!” is the thought. This rarely works.
Leaders today need to engage in the social project regularly and authentically. And they need to do so in a way that guides the conversation to productive insights. No proxy or ghost posters will do. Employees in an organization have amazing “BS detectors” and in the social networking environment they can easily sense when a leader has a proxy. Once detected they can lose all credibility. And let’s be honest, for many organizational leaders social networking is new and intimidating.
Much the same as in real life the rules of engagement for authentic leaders in enterprise social networks are a matter of character. My partner Phil Eastman has, as many of you know, written a book entitled, “The Character of Leadership: An Ancient Model for a Quantum Age” that extolls seven elements of character that are required for leaders to effective. They are: Courage, Justice, Temperance, Hope, Wisdom, Love, and Faith. These seven elements are what define your character as a leader in a face to face conversation or relationship. In the social enterprise it is no different. To garner respect and direct the social conversation to authentic levels of interaction leaders must have authentic character.
The Character of Leadership Model is even more important in the modern age of virtual teams and social enterprise. In essence, the Character of Leadership Model is the lens by which employees will view and measure the authenticity of their leaders in the virtual age. And it is only through authentic leadership engagement that a leader’s character will be the guiding force behind a productive social enterprise conversation.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, by now you should have heard the call to “join the social media conversation!” Brands both personal and commercial are trying to figure out how to exist in the biggest conversation since the beginning of time (at least on our planet). We’ve seen the toe in the water approach, the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid jump off the cliff approach, and we still see those that are waiting to enter or denying the conversation has value or even exists.
While the social conversation has its differences from real-life conversations there are some concepts that are very much the same. Most conversations have at least two participants. And generally there is an exchange of ideas or information as part of that conversation.
But what is it that makes a conversation interesting or even engaging? Well in my humble opinion it’s the personalities involved. Personalities shape the way stories are told and the way information is delivered. They affect our timing and our approach to the situation of the conversation. Our personality is what connects us to others.
Dictionary.com defines personality as: the visible aspect of one’s character as it impresses others. In the social conversation the visible aspect of our character is what we share, how we share it, and how we respond with others. Creating and maintaining an engaging, interesting personality takes time, effort and well, personality!
When we look at the social enterprise and the concept of leadership, then personality becomes even more strategic. For many employees in larger organizations, the social personality of corporate leaders is the only version of those leaders they will ever interact with. And for this reason, it is crucial for social enterprise leaders to create engaging and effective social personalities. This personality can (and will) set the tone for the internal social conversation of the enterprise.
The younger generation of workers now hitting the workforce want to “know” who they are following and why. The social enterprise is the perfect vehicle for leaders to connect with a greater segment of their employees. And in return, social enterprise leaders will reap great rewards from connection with employees over the enterprise social channel. My favorite example is John Chambers of Cisco. The youTube video of his duck call instruction is a great example of using social tools to create deeper dimensions to his social personality. Fun, interesting, cool, and maybe… someone with whom they can connect.
So what’s your social personality going to “feel” like. How will it connect with those who follow you or your employees? The social conversation is not just about posting or selling. It’s about creating a personality for others to connect with or follow.
Cult of Personality
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, by now you should have heard the call to “join the social media conversation!” Brands both personal and commercial are trying to figure out how to exist in the biggest conversation since the beginning of time (at least on our planet). We’ve seen the toe in the water approach, the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid jump off the cliff approach, and we still see those that are waiting to enter or denying the conversation has value or even exists.
While the social conversation has its differences from real-life conversations there are some concepts that are very much the same. Most conversations have at least two participants. And generally there is an exchange of ideas or information as part of that conversation.
But what is it that makes a conversation interesting or even engaging? Well in my humble opinion it’s the personalities involved. Personalities shape the way stories are told and the way information is delivered. They affect our timing and our approach to the situation of the conversation. Our personality is what connects us to others.
Dictionary.com defines personality as: the visible aspect of one’s character as it impresses others. In the social conversation the visible aspect of our character is what we share, how we share it, and how we respond with others. Creating and maintaining an engaging, interesting personality takes time, effort and well, personality!
When we look at the social enterprise and the concept of leadership, then personality becomes even more strategic. For many employees in larger organizations, the social personality of corporate leaders is the only version of those leaders they will ever interact with. And for this reason, it is crucial for social enterprise leaders to create engaging and effective social personalities. This personality can (and will) set the tone for the internal social conversation of the enterprise.
The younger generation of workers now hitting the workforce want to “know” who they are following and why. The social enterprise is the perfect vehicle for leaders to connect with a greater segment of their employees. And in return, social enterprise leaders will reap great rewards from connection with employees over the enterprise social channel. My favorite example is John Chambers of Cisco. The youTube video of his duck call instruction are a great example of using social tools to create deeper dimensions to his social personality. Fun, interesting, cool, and maybe… someone they can connect with.
So what’s your social personality going to “feel” like. The social conversation is not just about posting or selling. It’s about creating a personality for others to connect with or follow.
This is THE pervasive question from the many people to whom I’ve spoken with about utilizing social media for their business. “What if someone posts something bad about my brand?! Everyone will see it!” is the fear that continues to derail many businesses from getting into the social conversation. Read More…
We are all familiar with the maxim of avoidance that warns us to “Hear no evil, speak no evil, and see no evil.” Even though its origins are in 8th century Asia their meaning has passed on from generation to generation, and sure enough is still as popular as ever in our digital age. I continue to run into the Three Wise Monkeys “philosophy” when it comes to organizational strategies on social media.
Influence is the most valuable quality a leader can demonstrate – far more valuable than any position, authority, or ownership. Influence is the key to moving a group of people toward a common goal or mission. Without it neither leader nor organization will have lasting success. Read More…
Leadership Advisers Group partner Karl Meinhardt on the KTVB Noon News explaining how social is transforming eCommerce into sCommerce or Social Commerce. The power of influence caused by the endorsement (or detraction) by digital friends and followers combined with the immediacy of smartphones is demonstrating the reach of social networking.
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