I just read a Discussion thread on LinkedIn regarding Social Media which I found interesting. The essence of the original discussion point was that Social Media can create risk inside an organization and that companies should build effective policies to manage the risk. I agree. Whether you want to “police” Social Media activity inside your organization or create policy, that’s not enough. Risk comes in many forms and employees can successfully bypass the written policy or an IT lockdown. Companies need to find ways to drive the right organizational behaviors that allow them to reduce risk and optimize the opportunities that Social Media offers.
I’ve been researching what gets shared online and there is a wide range of likes, dislikes, observations, experiences, photos and videos that gets shared online. Some of them could be your employees—individuals who are well-intentioned, some who are not and others who just don’t know better…
Here are some things to think about. Policy clearly defines Company expectations and the consequences of non-compliance. It should be tied to existing policies such as Conduct, Company Issued Equipment, Respect in the Workplace, etc. But policy doesn’t change the fact that “content” is often driven by behaviors inside your company or the behaviors themselves (without getting published) create risk.
The second point is that internal processes don’t always reinforce the desired behavior. For example, I have heard from multiple sources that their company distributes Policy Updates several times per month via electronic means. The purpose is to ensure compliance and understanding by providing an online review and Q&A. Depending upon the Policy, this can take 10-20 minutes at a minimum. Now ask yourself, how many times have you gone through the motions just to complete the task but had little recall on the information? How many times did you find a shortcut—or perhaps someone else—to take care of the task for you? In other words, convenient processes are not always convenient nor effective.
The third consideration is creating awareness to drive behavioral change, allowing you to keep up with the changes in the workplace. Technology facilitates real-time publishing and sometimes it will offer “hard to dispute” story telling. These “stories” can set precedent or create risk. Odds are, you won’t know which it is until it is too late—and it doesn’t mean that your employee meant harm. Training is a critical factor in creating awareness and driving meaningful change in your management and employee practices.
The fourth consideration is to find ways to create organizational change that embrace the potential of Social Media, but more importantly embrace the potential of your employees. To “police” Social Media by shutting down access simply means that employees will find other ways to access social networks. It doesn’t change behavior, it doesn’t encourage respect in the workplace and it doesn’t reduce risk.
