Getting Real About Creating Change
I wrote a while back about social media and culture shift. I continue to believe that the biggest obstacle to social media adoption and integration is a culture shift, not an operational one.
But there’s a subtle point to be made.
The culture issues that exist in these companies have been years – even decades – in the making.
So, social media didn’t cause the culture disparities. They’ve been there all along. But the new expectations for responsiveness, accountability, personality and human focus as a result of the potential and visibility of new communication have put a big, fat spotlight on where those values are missing.
Social media may be part of the indicator, folks, but it’s not the issue.
Change is.
And change isn’t instant, nor is it usually easy. We’re not really asking for companies to embrace social media. We don’t really care if they’re on Twitter or blogging. Those are just details.
What we’re asking is for them to take a good, hard look at why they’re doing business, for whom. We’re asking them to communicate better, more clearly, more genuinely. We’re asking them to spend the effort to rework the way they do business to make customers feel like they give a rip.
Social media is just the soapbox we’re using to ask for that change.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, of course. I’d be willing to bet that hundreds of businesses that we would identify as not putting their customers first will tell you all day long that yes, indeed, that’s what they aim to do. It’s the rare, ruthless business that would say they truly don’t care about people (and if that’s the case, we can’t help them anyway).
But what we’re NOT doing well – collectively – is really illustrating the disconnect points where organizations’ expressed positive values don’t line up with the way they do things at a functional level.
We’re telling them to get on Twitter, but we’re really asking them to have more immediate and responsive customer service channels because their call center is a nightmare to navigate.
We’re telling them to blog, but what we really want from them is to understand more about the people behind their business, and what they’re thinking and feeling and doing, and feel like they really want to share those things with us.
I’m getting hungrier and hungrier for the next phase of this blog, because that’s where it’s all focused. It’s discussion with all of you about how to communicate, architect, and implement change. Big and small. Operational and cultural. Social media is one of the vehicles, but what we’re really focusing on is far, far more fundamental than that.
It’s down at the roots of these businesses, and in the minds of the people that have build them. It’s in the intent, the approach, the thinking. That’s where the pivot point is.
The challenge for us is to get thoughtful and articulate about what we’re really asking for. There may not be a one-size-fits-all approach to creating change, but we sure as hell can do a better job of cutting some clearer paths through the jungle that aren’t regurgitating the same old generalized rhetoric.
I’m committed, and ready to tackle the tough stuff. Are you with me?
image credit: photofarmer
The Dots Need Connecting
Social media is grand, and yes, it’s proving to be valuable for customer service in some scenarios.
But it’s exposing a big disconnect: the companies embracing using things like Twitter or blogs aren’t necessarily taking those principles and applying them to their more traditional ideas of customer service and the operations that support it.
Best Buy’s Twelpforce
Yesterday, I had a small experience on that front with my local Best Buy store. I tried to call the store to find out if they had a product in stock. Four times. No one ever picked up the phone.
In typical social media fashion, I vented on Twitter, and headed out to the Apple store to find what I needed.
In rather short order, @Coral_BestBuy reached out to help. But of course, she couldn’t, at least immediately.
As awesome as Coral is (and she really was), she’s part of the corporate team, not the one at my local store that’s failing to answer their phone. She’s a couple of levels removed, and while she told me she was sending an email to store management, the problem is not of her construction. She can only rattle the cage on her end, apologize to me, and try to make things right the best she can.
(Aside: Let’s be clear. This was a minor inconvenience on my end. No one died. I don’t need anything to fix the problem. But to me it’s pointing to something bigger.)
The Disconnect
I love the potential of using things like Twitter for customer service. We at Radian6 use it too, and I’ve had some great experiences with folks like Coral, and the teams at Seesmic, Evernote, Comcast, and the Roger Smith Hotel.
Some of these companies are really taking the intent behind social media engagement – to improve their customers’ experience – and bringing it into the operations of their companies. Or, perhaps more accurately, they’re building companies that are equipped to deliver those kinds of customer experiences in the first place, and they’re deploying the social media tools as one way to do that.
The trouble happens when the companies are building something like a Twitter brigade as a surface treatment, or an isolated channel. The folks manning the accounts aren’t really empowered to do or change much operationally, and there are still some significant shortcomings in customer experience via the call center or the website..
It creates a disparate experience, and an inconsistent one that still doesn’t reflect well on the brand. It drives people to use Twitter, sure, but more because they are more certain of a response, and less because of deep affection for Twitter itself.
For the optimist, it can appear like they’re trying, but that the mainstream operations haven’t caught up to the new stuff.
To the cynic, it can look like they’re chasing the trendy tools, and ignoring the underlying problems they have, both culturally and operationally.
Life on the Front Lines
I live and breathe life in the social media trenches, along with a super kick-ass team. We are responding to and experiencing the front lines of social media on a daily basis. So I get it.
And we are fortunate, because our executive management team looks to us to actually inform process, operations, and product development to help align what we do with what our community tells us they need. But that’s not always the case.
How much are folks like Coral empowered to actually change the broken processes that are affecting customer experience? Can she really call up my local store and make sure they fix the phone answering problem, or does her authority end with a sternly worded email?
What happens when you just park an intern in front of the Twitter stream? The expectations for delivery on the part of the customer might not match the execution ability of that person.
I always talk about offering solutions instead of just pointing at problems, so I’m going to try and tackle the “so what can we do about it” question in a separate post. But do you see the problem here?
If we go about social media from the outside in, it’s going to have a really hard time taking root. If the intentions of social media are not wired into the function and purpose of a company, and if those manning the social media posts aren’t able to help inform and drive necessary change, it’s just veneer.
What Can We Change?
I’ll be thinking on this and delivering some ideas. But I want to hear from you too. Let’s talk in detail about not just that we need to bring social media into the operations, but how we’re going to do that.
Do you have thoughts and ideas to share? What do you think?
The New Court of Public Opinion
There’s an interesting characteristic of the online world that makes things sticky sometimes.
We can get opinions from anywhere.
The ubiquity of information means that not only can we comment or opine on anything, but it’s easy, and even widely accepted to do so.
It’s rather understood that if you put a statement, issue, opinion or action out there publicly, you are tacitly inviting commentary and opinion on same. (And if you choose to close your comments, that must mean you’re closed minded to others’ ideas, right? Anti-social? I think not.)
The more you share information, the more it’s reacted to. Sometimes you ask for opinions directly, but other times you don’t. Is simply publishing content of any kind an implied solicitation of input? Is that the price of being an unfettered publisher of ideas?
And when that happens, how do you figure out who to listen to? When you should put stock in something, and when not? When do you take heed of the stuff that’s not necessarily easy to hear, the criticisms that have merit, and when do you chalk it up to noise? Can you let any of the accolades act as a barometer either, or are they mostly empty, sycophantic ramblings? How to distinguish?
If you ignore it all, are you narrow minded? A snob? Or judicious about what input you entertain?
I’ve been called a snob for socializing with familiar faces in smaller groups instead of mingling among massive crowds. (There are reasons I don’t like crowds much). I’ve been accused of being elitist because someone offers an unsolicited opinion of what I’m doing wrong, or what I should write about, or how I should do my job, and I’ve chosen to do differently. I’ve seen friends, colleagues, and complete strangers come under fire for not responding in the way people want them to.
Should I care what you think?
The answer for me comes back to a constant: Trust.
Maybe more than just trust. Maybe it’s whether it feels like someone’s being thoughtful, or just asserting an opinion. (Julien Smith once gave me great constructive feedback about talking too fast in my speeches. What made me take that to heart?)
Maybe it’s whether that relationship feels like it has a reciprocal investment. Maybe it’s whether I have a sense of that person’s integrity, and their motivations for saying something in the first place.
For me, I’ve found a few ways to tap small groups of trusted advisors in my universe (thank you, Google Wave) for the kinds of questions I’d honestly be afraid to put out there in the public. The ones that show vulnerability or uncertainty on my end, that might give away the fact that I’m not made of armor. Or the ones that have a lot more to do with where I’m driving toward next.
I’ve found it amazingly helpful to have forged a few trusted affinities. They help offset the influx of impromptu commentary that’s much harder to filter.
But I’ve still got lots of questions about the expectations we’re setting for each other here. I’m as social as the next person, but that doesn’t mean everything I do or say is up for debate. Several people have been quoted as saying “What other people think of me is none of my business.”
Or… is it?
image credit: southerntabitha
My Best Of: Social Media Learning
Over the course of the last year or so, we’ve accumulated quite a few posts over here, many of which I think can really help you put some social media stuff in play for your business. Or at least, that’s what I’m trying to do.
The trick with blogging is that the posts don’t always come in a logical order, right? So I’ve put together some what I think are my best and most useful posts and ebooks here, organized more by topic areas that you might be focused on.
And this is helping me see some other areas where I might be able to offer a little more help and information, and I’m hoping you’ll share that input with me, too.
Culture & Adoption
Getting A Social Media Foothold
On Social Media And Culture Shift
Social Media and The Reality of Control
Social Media For the Risk Averse
7 Deadly Mistakes in Selling Social Media
20 Questions To Start a Social Media Discussion
Social Media Is Not the Disease
Planning & Strategy
Starting Social Media: Building on What You Have
10 Ways to Get Serious About Social Media
The Albert Einstein Guide to Social Media
Internal Social Media
Internal Social Media: Building A Case
Internal Social Media: Addressing The Fears
Internal Social Media: Building A Plan
Driving Social Media From Behind the Firewall
Engagement & Execution
Elements of Web 2.0 Communication Guidelines
Ebook: The Social Media Starter Kit
7 Sensible Strides Toward A Stronger Community
Productivity and Time Wasters in Social Media
Social Media Time Management: The Ebook
Social Media Roles & Responsibilities
25 Reasons Social Media Can (Should?) Be Anyone’s Job
Five Myths of Community Management
The Ultimate Community Management FAQ
The Unspoken Role in Community Management
Hiring for Social Media: The Ugly Side
Hiring For Social Media: Good Moves
Hiring For Social Media: What I’d Look For
Will The Business People Please Stand Up?
The Taboo (But Critical) Community Skill
Measurement, ROI and All That Jazz
The Dead Horse of ROI and Analysis Paralysis
The Difference Between Hard and Hard Work
How To Create Measurable Objectives
Wiring In Social Media Measurement
Practical Social Media Measurement: Awareness, Attention, Reach
Practical Social Media Measurement: Leads, Conversions, Sales
Practical Social Media Measurement: Cost Savings
So then. What have I missed? Where are the holes? What topics should we be covering, addressing, and talking about that we haven’t yet? (I see some more stuff we might do in strategic planning, for example). What do we need to look at through a new lens?
This blog is as much yours as mine, maybe more so. Let’s make it more useful for you, shall we? Comments belong to you.
image credit: Muffet
Social Media Needs Accountability
We’ve talked a lot here in the last few months about some of the nuts and bolts of social media strategy and execution.
Stuff like time management and goal setting and measurement.
But the real key to getting social media established in your organization isn’t just having the toolbelt of skills and tactics and ideas. You need to be accountable what you deliver, other than just a vision and crossed fingers.
Objectives and Strategy
If you don’t know what constitutes a measurable objective, it’s time to learn. And if your social media strategy is lacking, buckle down and make it better. If you want your social media efforts to be taken seriously , treat them as such. Approach them as you would any other business endeavor that requires investment of time, intellect, and resources.
Shortchange the planning piece, and you’re just tinkering. And good luck getting the boss or the board or the client to take you seriously.
Practical Measurement
Please stop telling me you can’t measure social media. Yes you can. You can measure it as well as we’ve ever been able to measure things that impact the sales channel but are not the sales channel themselves. Communications. Customer service. Business Development. Public relations. Marketing. Infrastructure impact. Cost savings. There are plenty of old ideas that are still applicable, and plenty of new things to try.
Lots of social media measurements are going to be correlative vs. causal. Meaning you’ll be able to show that your social media efforts align with progress toward other goals, but that you won’t usually be able to prove that social media is the only thing that drove that progress. But so too with any of the other things I mentioned. That’s the nature of business infrastructure. It’s all related and interdependent.
The problem is that this requires systems thinking, and dedicated work, and too many folks are stopping at the “this is hard and I don’t know how so I’m going to blame the medium”. But no one said you had to nail it perfectly out of the gate. Get in and get your hands dirty, and learn.
Behavior (and Consequences)
What you put on the internet stays on the internet. Do we really need more reminders of that? If you’re representing your company, your personal self, or a balance of both, it’s not social media’s fault if you screw that up. It’s yours.
The instantaneous nature of online communication means it’s far too easy to leave your filters at the door and just pop off about whatever’s on your noggin. But there are real people and businesses at the other end of your communications. And that goes for you as an individual, and you as a business. Just because you can put it out there in real time doesn’t mean you should. Good judgment is needed as much now as ever. Maybe more.
Rushing headlong into social media without any consideration for the culture, investment, risks, cost of success (yes, that’s real), resources, and other business implications is just plain silly. The web will still be here in a few months while you get your ducks in a row, okay?
Responsibility for Outcomes
It’s wonderful to be innovative. Creative. Experiment. I’m a huge proponent for those things, and always have been.
But that means you’ve got to own the results of your work, even if they’re not what you’d hoped for. It’s easy to own success. It takes courage and solid footing to own the “learning opportunities” that come with missing the mark. I’m not talking always about taking the personal blame (though sometimes that’s appropriate), but first owning up to mistakes or shortfalls, then the most important bit:
Making a commitment to do something about them.
Learning and Adjustment
Listening isn’t enough. Engaging isn’t enough. Measuring isn’t enough. You don’t win a prize for doing any of those things alone.
The entire point of all of this stuff is to absorb, learn, and glean insights about how to make your business better for both you and your customers. Listening begets engagement in order to shape information and experiences. Measuring helps you see how well you’re doing with either. But the real gold is a part that only a human can do, and in the part that’ll be unique to each business: figuring out how what you hear, say, and measure has an impact on your entire business. Not just the social media part.
That might require something as old-fashioned as a meeting, or a discussion. Some analysis and critical thinking, or getting help with that piece. That might require talking to people in other departments that you’ve never met. It might mean having a tough conversation with your boss to kill a poor performing initiative, or stick with a new one that’s not there yet, but shows promise.
A Court of Our Peers?
I happen to think we’d all be a bit better served if we stopped standing in such knee-jerk judgment of what everyone else is doing, and instead kept pushing each other to detail all of the above. To deliver the Almighty Case Study that isn’t just filled with shining examples of glory and success, but the ones that help chronicle what went wrong. The hard decisions and choices that came up. The trial and error. The real world learnings that help shape our decisions.
It’s awfully easy to say that someone should have done it differently until you’ve walked in their shoes, or offered a practical alternative yourself. There are so many opportunities for constructive accountability in social media that it utterly fills my mind some days.
We all have a vested interest in weaving social media into business as a legitimate endeavor. But that means we all have a responsibility, too, to model the change that we want. On the spreadsheet, and on the human end. To do the trench work, illustrate our learnings, and demonstrate why it makes sense.
Don’t we? What does accountability mean to you? What else would you add?
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