Comments on: Social media & change management

By: Matt Moore

Matt Moore — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:29:13 +0000

Moving the focus of your business planning from technology to people should address these issues.

I am convinced it will. I think we have to change the way do we business planning – esp. in the public sector. What is your take on complexity theory?

By: Jason Ryan

Jason Ryan — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:17:26 +0000

Thanks Matt. I think that it is important that we do integrate social media into our business planning process, as part of our overall communications planning. The solution isn't just more structure per se; it is about driving the cultural and behavioural changes in the organization – essentially Kotter's first 6 steps that you mention in your post.

I agree about the failure of most change management around old school IT; but I see that as symptomatic of a wider failure. Moving the focus of your business planning from technology to people should address these issues.

By: Matt Moore

Matt Moore — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:09:37 +0000

I think "change management" is needed - and I agree that it will include much of what you write about (I esp. like the audit, champion & seizing opportunities bits). The overall tone of the post worries me a bit though - "if only we had a plan with more structure, everything will be OK". I think the first thing to acknowledge is that social software isn't like trad IT and a lot of old skool change management stuff (that we used when we bunged in PeopleSoft or had a restructure) won't work with it (not that it always worked that well then). My own thoughts on change management can be found here and here. So I think using the language of public sector managers (wot have MBAs n stuff) is a canny move, I'd be careful that it doesn't bring a whole bunch of baggage with it. It doesn’t hurt, however, to have these conversations in a language that managers are comfortable with and connects more purposefully with the organizational goals – rather than focusing on the technology or the tools. Yes indeed - the focus is on new behaviours and capabilities - not Facebook vs MySpace.

By: Jason Ryan

Jason Ryan — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:55:54 +0000

Che, a lot of the cultural stuff can, as usual in hierarchical organizations, be managed with good governance – having a senior manager as a sponsor 'legitimizes' the activity. Having an owner is also important, as is dedicated accountabilities for maintenance and editorial and content creation.

With regard to content generation, it might be helpful to think of it in terms of the sales funnel: get as many people as possible through the induction process (people have to be shown how to use the tool & have the T&C explained and agreed to) on the basis that not all will create, and not many will create consistently.

One important point to note: people won't engage with the product, they will engage with the people and the content on the platform. So, like all communications efforts, 90% of the focus should be on those two areas.

As I said a couple of weeks back, looking forward to the case study.

By: che tibby

che tibby — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:42:06 +0000

i agree, and it’s your feb 07 post that’s been guiding us in rolling out an internal product here.

what we’re currently investigating though is, why would people engage with the product? are their particular social processes that will prevent people from utilising social media within our organisation (e.g. “managerial disapproval”)? does the culture of our organisation allow or prevent this type of media from being adopted? do we need to make it guerilla and ‘cool’ to get buy-in from our users? who will be our content generators (not everyone is a generator, some are only users)?

it’s a big set of questions.

By: Jason Ryan

Jason Ryan — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:05:44 +0000

Thanks Che. You are right, the key to social media is to engage internally before launching on an unsuspecting public.

Trial it. Set up a blog as part of an internal communications programme. Think about podcasts as a potential channel for your internal comms. Try using a wiki for your next collaborative initiative. If the channel is strictly internal it will give you (and management) the confidence to see how it works and to identify the benefits and the risks specific to your business. February 2007

I wouldn't think people would need too much encouragement, just the choice to engage using those channels...

By: che tibby

che tibby — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:29:29 +0000

good post jason. the only thing i see missing is the mechanism to encourage staff to engage with their agency’s social media.
most people willingly engage with social media “in the wild” because it has social outcomes. agencies need to consider how this social engagement will work internally. my agency is working through this at the moment, and it’s not an easy process to establish.

By: iJump.co.nz » Helpful Links » links for 2008-04-29

iJump.co.nz » Helpful Links » links for 2008-04-29 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:35:13 +0000

[...] Social media & change management | NPSC Blog Jason Ryan has a great view on the inside of government and how it’s being transformed by social media. Here are his thoughts on how to start that change management. (tags: change changemanagement socialmedia government) [...]