Tag: Organizational Effectiveness
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Digital DIY: Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?
For a host of reasons, many organizations have been taking a Digital DIY (Do It Yourself) approach to pursuing technology initiatives, both externally and internally. Though the motivations for these approaches are understandable and seem logical on the surface, more often than not they are suboptimal strategies that aren’t in an organization’s best interests. A…
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Social and Digital Engagement: You Can’t Outsource Leadership
Effective social and digital engagement requires informed and active involvement from the top of the organization. Although it may be appropriate to outsource and delegate some responsibility and many activities, it’s not in an organization’s best interests to outsource leadership. To achieve the best results, leaders must educate themselves, develop a strategic, integrated approach to…
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What Factors are Relevant to Becoming a Social Enterprise?
Many leaders are still trying to figure out whether, when and how they should begin to transform their organization into a “social enterprise.” This post addresses the organizational and workforce characteristics that should be considered in making that decision and taking the necessary actions by addressing three sets of factors: those that matter less than…
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Social Media Reality Check: Four Mental Shifts Leaders Need to Make
This Social Media Reality Check addresses four key mental shifts organizational leaders must make to accept new Digital Era realities and move forward. These shifts include recognizing changes in the balance of power, accepting loss of control, developing new perspectives on productivity, and viewing social technology integration as mandatory rather than optional.
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Social Media Ownership: Recommendations for Employers
As individuals become more engaged with social media in their professional lives, employers are increasingly recognizing the need to address new challenges with respect to protecting their brand and commercial interests. Though it’s tempting to develop one-sided, draconian approaches, they are not usually in an organization’s long-term best interests. This post offers recommendations for developing…
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Employee Research in the Digital Era: Future Trends
Developments in social technologies, increased frustration with traditional survey methods and a general movement towards mass transparency reflect society’s growing preferences in the Digital Era. In light of these changes, Silverman Research conducted a study using a collaborative, online tool to assess how the public view the changing face of employee opinion research – in…
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The New Digital Divide: Thoughts for Leaders and Laggards
The digital divide has increasingly become about knowledge and adoption of new technologies rather than access. Which side of the divide are you on – are you a leader or a laggard? This post offers insights into the factors contributing to the growing chasm between those who have embraced and leveraged new technologies and those…
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5 Main Barriers to Digital Engagement
There are five main barriers to digital engagement by organizations, their leaders, and other senior professionals. This post describes those barriers – including lack of knowledge and understanding, framing that leads to risk aversion, poor/no roadmaps, and inadequate resource allocation – as well as the factors that will help break them down. Additional insights are…
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Digital Leadership: Opportunities for Cities, States, and Regions
What does it mean for a city (or state or region) to be a digital leader? This post provides ideas to stimulate thinking and discussion by promoting a focus that is broader than the technologies themselves, specific applications like consumer marketing, high-tech start-ups, and the digital sector. Advocating a more strategic and holistic approach, it…
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Social Media Management: From Novelty to Utility
Social media is still a novelty to many professionals, especially those in leadership positions. Rather than viewing social and digital technologies as a radical departure from traditional communication approaches, however, it’s better to think of them as “new tools for doing old things” and to remember they are facilitators and enablers, not an end unto…
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Social Software Platforms: High-Level Guidance for Organizations
This article offers high-level guidance for organizations looking to acquire and implement a social software solution to facilitate communication and collaboration in a secure environment via a private digital network (e.g., an enterprise 2.0 or social business platform, a social intranet, a digital community). It provides considerations for getting started, selecting a social software product…
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Private Social Networks: Every Organization Needs Them
This article highlights the risks associated with public social media platforms and describes how private social networks (aka private digital networks) can reduce those risks while also enhancing communication and collaboration among organizational stakeholders. It counters the main points of resistance offered by organizational leaders and articulates the importance of being prepared to establish a…
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Reducing the Role of Email in Organizations: Change is Overdue
Although social technology advocates have been calling for the death of email for several years, it’s still the dominant digital channel by which people in organizations communicate and collaborate. The role of email in our work lives should be reduced, however, both because of its own inefficiencies and the increased availability of better tools. Effective…
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10 Digital Era Truths (that still must be realized)
This post reminds readers – especially technology hold outs – of ten Digital Era truths that individuals, organizations, and communities must accept and (eventually) embrace. Other truths are welcome.
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It’s Time to Get Serious about Digital Technology
Even though we’re in the sixth decade (or more) of the Digital Era, many organizational leaders and other senior professionals have still not fully grasped what that means in terms of their own digital technology awareness, literacy, and engagement. This post offers seven recommended actions that leaders (and others) should commit to immediately and indefinitely.
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Empowered Employees Increase Productivity
A smart and well-designed social intranet enables empowered employees to communicate and collaborate more efficiently and effectively, which in turn can make them more productive and enhance an organization’s ability to achieve its goals and objectives. This post discusses four factors that help create the right environment and facilitate engagement: implementing the right media blend,…