By Stacy Wilson, ABC, Eloquor Consulting, Inc.
Many executives still don’t appreciate the business value of using social technology inside the organization. In some cases, you need to use different language when you talk to them about social technology. While sometimes this is necessitated by a lack of experience or even technology fear, most of the time it is due to the fact that leaders focus on results. They need to see a connection to business goals.
I often do not use the common vernacular of social advocates: social media, blog, wiki, tweets, Facebook. Instead, I translate into language that drives home the business opportunity.
One thing you will notice right away is that the business way uses more words. The business way paints a picture, but it also drives at business needs such as:
- Capture of intellectual capital
- Elimination of duplication and leverage of resources
- Recognition and retention of high value employees
- Creating efficiencies
- Improving productivity
- Saving money
Zeroing in on the data and the business need is usually your best bet. Keeping it simple along the way is also important. Be patient, as it can take many months to bring some executives along.
For a couple of great examples of how to reframe the topic of social with executives, see my post on Getting Your Executives to the Social Table.
If you are interested in learning more about intranets, their governance and social technology use inside organizations, I’ll be teaching at two upcoming events:
- IABC’s Southern Region Conference in Denver in October
- American Bankers Association’s Marketing and Retail Conference also in Denver in October
You might also be interested in attending an upcoming Intranet & Digital Workplace conference, hosted by Advanced Learning Institute:
- Intranets, Content, & Collaboration in Las Vegas in December 2015
- Transitioning to a Digital Workplace in Atlanta in February 2016
Stacy Wilson, ABC, Eloquor Consulting, helps companies communicate more effectively with employees in the digital workplace. Her specialty is supporting governance, usability, content and adoption for digital workplaces/intranets, along with change communication for technology change such as ERP implementations. Connect with Stacy at LinkedIn or on Twitter, or with Eloquor on Facebook.