The enemy within
I use the word 'enemy' loosely in reference to dis-engaged employees but as the saying goes;
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
So should an organisation focus it's efforts on the engaged, dis-engaged or don't knows? Or are they all just as important?
Of course, they are all important but potentially the dis-engaged are the most vocal with negative views and in turn have the greatest (negative) impact on the other people. So, how does an organisation get to the dis-engaged in order to try and identify their issues? Or will these people even state their issues?
Through a social media application such as a blog or internal social network (community) there is every chance the dis-engaged will voice their opinions. And their opinions may actually be of value. Maybe not communicated tactfully but either way, still communicated. But, there is of course risk with this approach and many organisations are just not comfortable with being this open. So how could they start?
Ideally, the organisation will have an idea as to who some of the dis-engaged are but if not, it doesn't matter too much at this stage. Consider the use of an internal social network.
- A controlled launch should be implemented across a specific area of the business.
- Only the Community Manager can add content such as posts.
- All comments to the post to be moderated initially.
- Any negative discussions should be allowed rather than stamped out.
- Dialogue should be encouraged to identify suggestions for improvement.
- A review should take place at the end of an initial period e.g. 6-8 weeks.
- Face-to-face meetings or conference calls to agree next stages and how to progress using some of the feedback as necessary.
The above is of course common sense but for those organisations who are initially 'fearful' of what might happen, this gives them an opportunity to find out first hand if their fears are real or not. It also allows them to get a better understanding around the mechanics of the network whilst learning in a controlled environment.
If you really want to connect with employees, suppliers, and/or customers then sometimes a trial will avoid too much procrastination and subsequent lost opportunity.
