Empower The Voice Within -- The Groundswell Inside Your Company

Everyday we are working with people (unless you work completely solo...Do you really?), co-workers, partner companies, even some manufactory workers all across the Pacific ocean that you have never met with. And when discussions among people or groups are necessary, we host meetings. But most of the time, Meetings Suck! Most of the time they are boring, time-wasting, chaotic gathering that end up with no result. Plus, if you've ever worked with people oversea and had video meeting with them online, you would know what I am talking about. The bigger the company or organization it is, the more difficult communication flows within.

But social media is here to solve the problem for you.

This is Yammer, the first and by far the most well-known ISM (Internal Social Media) in the States. And this is Salesforce Chatter, the ISM used by social media giant -Facebook:

Yes, they are similar. They are all ISM that are being used by enterprises like DHL, 7-Eleven, Delta Airline, Yamaha, GE, and so on. ISM platforms usually look similar to those social media that we are familiar with, especially Facebook. Yet instead of forming groups with your friends who shared a common interest, you form work groups or project groups on ISM; instead of sharing funny videos of kids and animals, you share work documents, ideas, and thoughts on ISM. As it's mentioned in the video, ISM is driving a culture of innovation and forming a better work relations in your company.

Li and Bernoff mentioned in their book Groundswell: Winning in A World Transformed by Social Technologies, that Best Buy's Blue Shirt Nation, which is created to listen to employees, has helped better connect its employees, accelerated problem solving, and formed an empowering company culture. Now ISM has provided you with a internal groundswell platform that you don't need to design for yourself. And here's what you can do to empower the voice within:


1. Listen. ISM like Yammer and Salesforce Chatter allows you to listen to what your employees have to say: new ideas, problems at work, suggestions, etc. And sometimes these thoughts could be problem solving or something bigger. By abandoning the traditional internal conversation pattern (from upper level down), and accepting what ISM brings into play (Let conversation flow!), you could be generating a new, cooperative, creative company culture.

2.Energizing. ISM like salesforce is user-friendly. You could create project timeline and group, you could monitor projects and tasks that you take interest in, you could share ideas with coworkers, and you could also motivate others by sharing your success, complimenting others for their accomplishments, and groundswell positive thinking.

3.Embracing. For ISM to work and successfully embed in your company, the executive lever must embrace it first and take part in the conversation. One of Yammer's best example (I think), is how the groundswell thinking helped solve the problem with Northwind Hotels' room keys: Executive lever identified the problem, created a group on Yammer and ask for ideas, employees from all levers brainstormed and shared ideas. (Click here to check the video.) See how this work? 

ISM is powerful, because it could foster a whole new conversation structure within your company that we would have never imagine 30 years ago. And technology has made it so easy for even international enterprise's employees to connect and cooperate with each other. Decisions could be made faster, communication is easier, and most importantly, employees are empowered.

So here's the question: are you ready for the groundswell within?