I love the fact that the comments my readers leave on the BrandBuilder blog are an endless source of topics for me to write about. I am seriously considering devoting one or two posts per week to either giving your brilliant opinions more exposure and/or answering your questions. And in that vein, why not start today, right now?
Company/organizational culture is something I love getting into and am still learning a lot about.
One point of interest that intrigues me – and what you mentioned – is empowering your employees. Giving them not only the tools and structure to succeed, but empowerment and reinforcement from internal leaders – the attitude that not only spreads throughout the company but outside of the office also (as we all know, work/life intermingle so much). I say it’s intriguing because it’s such an integral part in making this culture change and a P2P business a success.
The biggest thing that companies will be asking though when reading this post, let alone your upcoming book, is ‘how the hell do we accomplish this?’ It sounds/is great, as how businesses function – internally and externally – is evolving, quick. But there’s definitely got to be a huge buy-in and sense of what a P2P culture looks and feels like.
The best way I know how to answer that question: Don’t sell “change”. Ever. Instead, sell results. That’s what execs really want anyway.
As always, the old adage about leading horses to water stands firm. First, you have to realize that “companies” aren’t what you’re working with. What you’re really dealing with are people. In other words, companies don’t make decisions. People make decisions. Particularly, leaders in this instance. If the leadership within a company refuses to commit to the type of change that will yield greater success for their business in the future (and starting immediately), I can’t help them. Heck, even Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar and Dr. Phil can’t help them.
What’s important here isn’t to sell change. Nobody likes change. It’s scary, it’s risky, it’s unpredictable. You’ll never get very far selling fear, risk and uncertainty. Especially to that crowd. So you have to approach change from a very different angle: From the end result. From what they actually want to accomplish.
First things first: Uncovering the true objectives of an organization’s leadership team
Before you do anything, you want to uncover the organization’s specific objectives and then create a picture of what the company (as an organization) should look like once the objectives are met. This takes more work than it sounds. You would be amazed how many senior executives have no clear idea where they really want their organization to be in 5 years. Occasionally, you will run into a CEO eager to throw around a number that sounds good to Wall Street but isn’t based in reality, like… “We’re at $8.3B in revenue this year. I want to be at $12B by 2012.” Because $12B in 2012 is catchy, easy to rally behind, and the investors will love it. And while the number may be attainable, the process by which it was chosen is more about swagger than reality.
Worse yet, in cases where targets were set based on random factors, when you ask some CEOs how they intend to get there, you may get a vague answer along the lines of “we’ll sell more stuff” or “we’ll expand into new markets” or some other generalization. No specifics. No action plan. Nothing of substance. This lack of specificity and clarity can be both dangerous to morale and counterproductive when it comes to actually delivering on the promise of that target.
The faster everyone is off the cowboy plan, the faster you can get back to reality: Goals have to be specific. Real strategy sessions aren’t about impressing anyone. They’re about getting down to business, which starts with setting aside theory, and creating workable action plans.
If a CEO wants to hit $12B by 2012, fine. Work your way backwards from that. What’s it going to take? Probably some key acquisitions, first and foremost. Is that even possible? Is the company in a position to pull it off without risking too much exposure? Does it even make sense to try and grow that quickly? What else needs to happen: Look for strategic partnerships? Expand distribution? Capture more market share? All of the above? Okay, you have 24 months. Show me on a 24-month schedule/timeline how you currently plan to accomplish that.
And guess what: Most of the time, that plan doesn’t actually exist. It got as far as being turned into a few bullet points on a slide in someone’s powerpoint presentation six months ago, so you have to start from scratch and see what’s realistic and what isn’t. You have to work out all of the contingencies. It isn’t rocket science, but it takes work. And it takes organization. And it takes commitment.
Before you can even get to how a company is going to address empowering their employees through a real cultural change, before a company is ready to actually pull this off across all of its departments as a matter of policy, it has to know exactly where it wants to go and what it will take to get there. Not only that, but the leadership team has to both understand and accept that such empowerment is one of the ways they will get there.
Second: Mapping out the start, the “finish” and everything in between
Growth, change and success are hard. You have to map it all out, starting with where you are, where you want to go, and all the points in between if you want to have a shot at actually pulling it off. So change management, which is really what we’re talking about here, starts with that process. And that process starts with painting a crystal clear picture of what you want the organization to look like at the end of the process. (More like a milestone than a finish line, but that’s a topic for another day.)
Now, in order to hit the numbers the CEO threw at you, you really have to be able to create a detailed snapshot of the company in this specific future. What it looks like. Where it operates. How it operates. How it is structured. How it executes on its activities. You have to not only create a snapshot of what it looks like on the outside, but also on the inside, layer by layer, like a CAT scan.
Understanding changes in cultural dynamics and the evolution of technology, you can then zoom in from the portrait/snapshot of the company to its structure, then to its processes, then to the skills of its members. From there, you can reverse-engineer the adaptive phases that the company needs to go through. To be realistic, the example I gave you (24 months) may be too short when it comes to true cultural change for a company that didn’t have much of a culture to begin with. It takes time for organizations, especially large ones, to develop the kind of social and emotional sophistication to do this well. It takes maturity, and maturity takes time. It isn’t something you can accelerate or optimize with a tool.
In this example then, the company’s strategy would focus a lot more on acquisitions and partnerships than growth through cultural change. But it isn’t to say that a cultural evolution couldn’t begin to happen during that time period. In order for the strategic changes to be a success, a lot of internal work needs to ensure that these changes won’t become a liability when it comes to simple things like customer service, customer experiences, internal communications between divisions, brand erosion, etc. You can’t divorce culture from infrastructure. Companies that don’t understand that always fail at creating efficient (and sustainable) versions of either. This is as true of Social Media integration as any shift in operational management.
Basic Lessons to keep in mind:
The most important thing when trying to get buy-in is to help clarify exactly where the company wants to be in 5, 10, 20 years. Not pie-in-the-sky generalizations, but specifics. Once you have that, you can paint a clear picture of what the future of the company NEEDS to look like. Now you’ve flipped change on its head. Instead of selling uncertainty, you’re selling clarity.
Change for the sake of improvement always trumps change for the sake of change. The first has value. The latter offers none.
Knowing where you’re going is 90% of getting there. Most company execs are so focused on meeting numbers this month and this quarter that they just aren’t able to look beyond the here and now long enough to actually drive their businesses anywhere. They’re too busy reacting to the next pothole or turn ahead. By helping them see 1 year into the future, then 2, then 5, than 10, you can help them impact their numbers now, this quarter, this half, this fiscal year, by giving their performance context in relation to where they want to actually take their business.
Everything has to start with that. Before you can get to cultural change management, you have to make sure the leadership team knows where it wants to go and what it needs to do to get there.
We’ll be covering some of this in greater detail – as it relates to Social Media integration in PR, Advertising, Marketing, Customer Service, HR, legal and business development in Portland next month.
Sign up now if you haven’t already.
See you in Pdx!
“One point you made in the video (above) I’d like to highlight. You mentioned Frank at Comcast who has taken his knowledge of customer service and social media and meshed them together. This is key. EVERY professional needs to understand social media in their own context so they can *interpret* it into their profession and job. This by the way should be part of a social media director’s job – educating.
I must take you to task on one point however. I think you fall into a common trap in your definition of “first type” using “recognized thought leader” as a criteria to be considered “first tier.” I see this generalization of “celebrity” in social media equating to “first tier” as an equally disturbing problem in the social media profession.
I have the privilege of working with many professionals who equal or often out-think those “thought leaders” every day, who have been evolving with the web culture longer, who deeply understand and interpret social media in a broader business context, and who are plodding away profoundly changing the way businesses run, understand and interact. They are behind the scenes, quietly affecting change. They engage with the tools to understand consumer trends and cultural shifts, then interpret them for the business.
I applaud your list of competencies (marketing focused as they are), as they get at the heart of how to identify these “invisible giants.”
In my world view, a Social Media Director needs to be able to broadly address your point about cross-functional impacts – marketing is only one application of social media.”
Brilliant. I love it.
So, two points:
1. Social Media “thought leaders” and rock stars have their place, sure… and I have to tread lightly since I might have a toe or two planted on that side of the fence, but beware the “blogger-turned-Social Media genius” syndrome. It’s one thing to evangelize Social Media, even if you do it extremely well, but another COMPLETELY to work within an organization at the Director or VP level actually INTEGRATING and OPERATIONALIZING Social Media (or anything, for that matter).
Before you can be a Social Media Director within a Marketing department, you first have to be a Marketing Director. Before you can be a Social Media Director in a PR department, you first have to be a PR Director. Same with HR, Business Development, IT, etc. See where I am going with this? An individual with “extensive” Social Media experience (please forgive my liberal use of the term “extensive”) cannot function at the Director level without prior experience at that level outside of “Social Media.”
Your knowledge of the function of a department (or group of departments) takes precedence over your knowledge of Social Media.
Why? Because the function(s) of one or more department don’t change when you add a social component to the mix. How they go about doing their work, sure, Social changes the strategies and tactics, but not the function. Look at it this way: Social ENHANCES Marketing, Customer Service, HR, IT, Sales and PR the same way that web and mobile do. If you don’t understand how a Marketing or PR or Sales department works – from the perspective of a Marketing/PR/Sales Director or VP – you aren’t ready to be a Director in that department, no matter how comfortable you think you are with FaceBook, Twitter, Radian6 and ScoutLabs. This is a FACT. You need a rich blend of both worlds – “Traditional” and “New/Social” – if you are to be successful in this space at the Senior level.
Hiring a Social Media “rock star” who understands how to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendfeed, Google Buzz and a dozen other tools and has a really good blog about it but has ZERO experience working as a Director in the type of environment you expect them to operate in is a disaster waiting to happen: Nothing will ever get done. Politics will turn every project into a time-suck. Nothing will click. Your Social Media experiment will be all pain, no gain, with your rock star complaining about how you need to “chaaaaange” and “let go of your oooooold ways,” and how he “just can’t function in that kind of environment.”
Apparent knowledge of Social Media (the ability to talk at length about Social Media) doesn’t trump operational expertise (the ability to actually turn knowledge into action – and successful action at that).
First, as Linda brought up in her comment, there is a HUGE difference between Social Media Evangelists and Trained executives with a practical understanding of Social Media integration and management.
Second, there is also a huge difference between Social Media practitioners who can operate at the junior level, and Social Media practitioners who can operate at the senior/executive level. Huge. Massive. Humongous. (Category 1 vs. Category 2 in my previous post.)
How do you tell them all apart? Simple:
1) Establish that they do in fact know what they are talking about in SM (Google them, read their blog, see where they are in SM and what they do there, how they behave, what they talk about, if their content is their own or a constant rehash of someone else’s work, etc. Don’t forget to see HOW LONG they have been in the space. A self-professed “Guru” with all but three months of activity on Twitter, no blog to speak of and a network of twenty people on LinkedIn, for example probably shouldn’t move on to the next step in your selection.
2) Dive deeper into their content. Are they really a master of their trade, or are they little more than a cultural evangelist inspired by other people’s blogs? (Is their advice practical or theoretical? … assuming they provide advice at all.) Do they actually solve problems, or muse about what could be? Are they truly THINKING about Social Media from a strategic or tactical standpoint, or just yapping about the latest tool they read about on Mashable?
3) You’re going to laugh, but yeah, look at their CV/Resume. (I know, it’s old school, but bear with me.) Where have they worked? What have they done? What level of management have they reached? Just because someone understands Social Media through and through (and shows tremendous promise for your organization) doesn’t mean they are experienced enough to be given a Director level position. Could they be mentored and fast-tracked into the position after some time? Sure! Make them a Social Media advisor to the CMO if that works. An in-house consultant, even. But BE CAREFUL how quickly you promote or hire someone for a key leadership position with a) P&L and staff responsibilities, and b) a need for a tremendous amount of change management savvy (which comes with a need for serious political Kung Fu skills). Even someone with lots of community management experience isn’t necessarily ready for a Director-level role.
Among the things you should look for in their CV/Resume, apart from their Social Media savvy: Director-Level experience or above, change management experience at the corporate level, a capacity for adaptation, solid leadership experience, crisis management experience.
I have said it before and I will say it again: Social Media is an integration piece. It needs to be embedded in the organization. If it isn’t, it won’t do a damn bit of good to anybody. Can you outsource some elements of it? Yes. All of it? No. You don’t outsource your email, do you? Everyone still has a phone on their desks too, right? Okay. This is no different. Agencies can handle some of this for you, but the kernel has to be managed within, and someone with operational savvy has to help you build a framework to do just that.
Consult with with Social Media rock star bloggers if you must (and there are some great ones out there who can help you out,) but when it comes to HIRING a Social Media Director (who will take you from “talking” to “doing”, look for folks with REAL EXPERIENCE in the corporate world, who have figured out how to bring Social Media into their field(s) of expertise. Those are the folks who will actually make Social media work for your organization. The folks who will put it into practice and into action. Those are your “invisible giants.” (Though be ready: They won’t stay invisible long.)
2. If you still think that Social Media is a Marketing function, start over from the beginning. You still don’t understand how this space fits into your business or the way your customers expect it to fit into their lives… and we need to get you back on track fast.
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Incidentally (and please forgive the self-promotion since I am behind these events), if you are still curious about how to plug social media into your organization or business, Red Chair training events are launching in the US this year, starting with Portland, OR. These events are usually broken down into two sessions:
Day 1 – “Red Chair: Executive” is a one-day course specifically designed to teach CMOs, CEOs, executives, VPs, Director level professionals and senior-level consultants how to properly build, integrate, manage and measure Social media programs across their organization.
Day 2 – “Red Chair: Studio” is a half day course specifically designed to teach Department Managers, account-level managers and junior consultants how to build, manage and grow specific social media programs based on their specific departmental needs.
Unlike the types of presentations you usually sit through at conferences or via webinar, Red Chair training is designed to teach you how to actually plan for and manage your Social Media infrastructure. This is the real thing. No evangelizing, no rehashed theory, no Facebook 101 junk… Real training for real world applications, from the perspective of running a business.
Stop Number one is in Portland on March 11 and 12. If you or someone you know in the Portland/Seattle area is interested in actually having someone show you how to do this properly, consider registering. (If you want to fly in from another part of the country, that’s cool too.) Go register now.
