I am beyond honored that Lindy and Maddie have invited me to do a regular guest post on the SocialFish blog. The three of us have been kicking around ideas related to the impact Social Media has on organizations and the way we work, so that will be the focus of my monthly column, called “The Social Organization.” The first post I did last month examined whether or not your organization is human enough for social media. Today’s looks at the intersection of social media, organizational culture, and learning. I think people are becoming more aware that incorporating social media into your organization is more than just adding some communication tools to your kit. It can impact the culture. I retweeted that during the #UnTech10 conference. 
But culture is a big concept. It’s hard to get your hands around, and if you go to your boss and say “we’re going to have to change our culture if we do social media,” you’ll get—at best—a blank stare (I won’t go into the “at worst” scenarios). You’ll want to get specific—spell out some actual challenges that are going to emerge that relate to the goings on in the office that you and your boss can tangibly understand and discuss together. I can’t tell you what the specifics are. They will be unique to your organization. But if you want to discover those specifics, then I suggest you take a look at learning in your organization. I’ve always felt that the number one value I get from Twitter is learning. Back in the days of the “I don’t care what you had for lunch” criticisms, I would tell people over and over all the things that I learned on Twitter, from people that I didn’t actually know. Through the quick, easy, and diverse set of interactions, links, and stories I found on Twitter, I could emerge with some really new or developed understandings of important issues. That’s learning. That’s at the heart of my personal love of social media. So look at your organization: where do you learn? Take your time, I’ll wait. Most organizations are not very good at learning. We’re good at doing, mostly. The “data driven” among us might even be good at measuring, though I am not convinced the measurement is always translated into valuable learning. Why? Lots of reasons, but here is a big one: learning is turbocharged in environments with lots of diversity, less hierarchy, and strong relationships (three things your organization probably doesn’t do well). Social media rocks those three things. As you engage in social media, it’s possible the people involved will start outpacing the organization itself in terms of learning. Volunteer groups figure things out before staff does. People outside your department knowing more about what’s going on in your area than “your” people. This can easily translate into official resistance to social media. But if you can boost the learning capacity internally (outside of social media efforts), then the difference won’t be as stark. Voilla! Cultural fit! So the sooner you address the learning issues in your organization, the more easily your culture will accept social media. (photo credit)
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31 responses to "Social Media, Organizational Culture, and Learning"
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Socialfishing: Social Media, Organizational Culture, and Learning (http://bit.ly/ctmVyb) #socialfish http://bit.ly/ctmVyb
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Social Media, Organizational Culture, and Learning:
I am beyond honored that Lindy and Maddie have invited me to … http://bit.ly/9LrdAo
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You got it Maggie. Right on.
This has been my exact experience – the ability to integrate social media is inextricably linked to the ability to change the culture. A culture of fear that resists social media is almost always manifesting itself in other ways – they’re the same cultures that resist people-friendly policies, resist interpretations of procedure, oppress diversity of thought, and generally embrace a top-down model of leadership. It takes a lot of effort to move those people who subscribe to and derive benefit from those structures. When an individual “starts outpacing the organization in terms of learning,” you then have a real problem. At some point the individual will take themselves to an organization that can keep up.
The extent to which we can institute a learning culture is critical, because, ultimately something in the “great social media” experiment, something will fail. And an organization that embraces learning understands that, figures out what it can learn from the failure and tries something new. That is what learning is all about. And it also means that people who are doing social media have to be able to model the desired behaviors. “Be the change you want to see.”
Funny – I somehow assumed Maggie was the author – and it is Jamie! Sorry about that!
My guest post on the SocialFish blog: Social Media, Org Culture, and Learning. http://tinyurl.com/yztmoof
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RT @jamienotter My guest post on the SocialFish blog: Social Media, Org Culture, and Learning. http://tinyurl.com/yztmoof
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Unfortunately, I think for many organizations, it’s going to take radical change to go from a fear-based to learning-based culture. Leaders don’t change overnight, and where a leader has built his/her comfort zone based on control/fear, it’s folly to expect to be able to move that person to a free-form, sm-based learning culture over the course of a few conversations. As soon as that boss realizes that there is simply no way to get in front of the conversation—ever—expect for their to be a (possibly Draconian) backlash. Or, expect someone in HR to get assigned to study/design/roll-out an approved/whitewashed/internal only solution.
"…look at your organization: where do you learn?" Great post, @jamienotter! http://ow.ly/1aLEh #socialfish
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I am assuming, but aren’t the usual readers of this blog the ones that don’t need to hear this? I’m gladly emailing this link to my boss although fortunately for FSAE I don’t get the blank stare, however, it does occasionally come from a board member.
I am proposing this subject as one of our biggest discussed topics for our upcoming Spring strategic planning meeting. Change and culture change are inevitable, but who is driving it and who is willing to ride the culture change train? I agree completely, to the non-Twitter-user AND open-minded, it usually takes a quick ROI or relationship story to unfold the amazing world of Twitter.
Kudos on a relevant (popular word these days) blog!
RT @jamienotter: My guest post on the SocialFish blog: Social Media, Org Culture, and Learning. http://tinyurl.com/yztmoof
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RT @maddiegrant: Socialfishing: Social Media, Organizational Culture, and Learning http://bit.ly/ctmVyb #socialfish
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RT @npmaven: RT @maddiegrant: Socialfishing: Soc Media, Organizational Culture, and Learning http://bit.ly/ctmVyb //Gr8 post by @jamienotter
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Reading: Social Media, Organizational Culture, and Learning http://bit.ly/ctmVyb #socialfish
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Insightful post on Social Media, Organizational Culture & Learning by @jamienotter – http://bit.ly/dwT2DM
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I agree-RT @deirdrereid Insightful post on Social Media, Organizational Culture & Learning by @jamienotter – http://bit.ly/dwT2DM
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Great thinking Jamie and the 2 best statements that I know I’ll repeat are “learning is turbocharged in environments with lots of diversity, less hierarchy, and strong relationships” and “But if you can boost the learning capacity internally (outside of social media efforts), then the difference won’t be as stark.”
What I really like about this is the idea of starting the conversation not with why do we need social media but what is learning.
Insightful post on Social Media, Organizational Culture & Learning (RT @deirdrereid; @jamienotter) #sm | http://ow.ly/1b9mt
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RT @AMAnet: Insightful post on Social Media, Organizational Culture & Learning (RT @deirdrereid; @jamienotter) #sm | http://ow.ly/1b9mt
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RT @AMAnet: Insightful post on Social Media, Organizational Culture & Learning (RT @deirdrereid; @jamienotter) #sm | http://ow.ly/1b9mt
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Jamie, very thought provoking post! I also like your point about “learning being turbocharged”. My initial thought was – yeah, but why would you need social media to accomplish that? There are other ways to get there as long as the culture is in place. But then I thought about how I’ve seen many introverts come out of their shell and really contribute once they had social media tools in their arsenal. I think social media allows for more participation and deeper collaboration. It gets us beyond Type A’s monopolizing the conversation.
Social Media, Organizational Culture, and Learning – http://is.gd/9utOf
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#nism
Social Media, Organizational Culture, and Learning
http://www.socialfish.org/2010/02/social-media-and-organizational-culture.html
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