{"id":215,"date":"2010-08-06T14:29:23","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T19:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steveholt.com\/home\/?p=215"},"modified":"2019-05-06T13:08:33","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T18:08:33","slug":"social-networking-glue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steveholt.com\/home\/?p=215","title":{"rendered":"Social Networking Glue"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I stated in my last post<\/a>, blocking social media tools\/sites from your employees just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense nowadays.\u00a0 You have to manage the process, yes, but there are more benefits than drawbacks in my opinion.\u00a0 Here are the various reasons why you need to not only stop blocking social networking from your staff, but embrace social networking with open arms.\u00a0 Embrace these concepts and it will become the ‘glue’ that holds your organization, and more specifically your employees, together.<\/p>\n

Breaking down silos<\/strong> \u2013 When you have a pool of knowledge about your company’s products\/services\/information segregated in separate departments or individuals, you essentially have a \u2018silo\u2019 of knowledge.\u00a0 Accounting doesn’t know what Sales is doing.\u00a0 IT has no idea what is going with PR.\u00a0 And so on.\u00a0 And often these silos don\u2019t communicate with each other, especially if they are geographically separated.\u00a0 Social networking tools can get those silos talking and sharing.<\/p>\n

Connecting a distributed workforce (presence)<\/strong> \u2013 I have talked about this before<\/a>.\u00a0 Knowing what is going on inside the company, especially with people geographically distributed, can be extremely valuable. No more phone calls trying to find out what is going on.\u00a0 No more wondering if that key individual is in the office right now.\u00a0 You\u2019ll know.<\/p>\n

Understanding progress<\/strong> \u2013 Knowing the status of other departments and what is happening inside those departments can be solved by social networking.\u00a0 Is mortgage processing backed up today?\u00a0 Is the IT department being slammed today?\u00a0 Is the entire Marketing department out at a conference this week?<\/p>\n

Connecting on related activities<\/strong> \u2013 Knowing what others are doing allows you to connect with them if there is a benefit.\u00a0 For example, if you see that\u00a0a fellow employee is preparing for a\u00a0meeting\/conference call that would help you or that you would like to participate in, then with social networking you’ll know about it.<\/p>\n

Knowing history<\/strong> \u2013 there is a record of activity with\u00a0social networking\u00a0tools.\u00a0 Whatever happened with that project\/meeting\/issue?\u00a0 Don\u2019t guess, go look!<\/p>\n

Building community<\/strong> \u2013 Don\u2019t underestimate the power of your employees getting to know each other better.\u00a0 Social networking allows co-workers to learn more about each other and their personal lives as well.\u00a0 And if you are a friend with someone then you’re more likely to work better with them and share information with them.\u00a0 Never, ever, underestimate the power of building community among your staff.<\/p>\n

So there you go.\u00a0 My mom always told me not to play with the glue.\u00a0 Sorry mom, can’t do it.\u00a0 It’s just too darn important now!<\/p>\n