Connecting Organizational Silos: Taking Knowledge Flow Management to the Next Level with Social Media

EXECUTIVE PARTICIPATION: NOT JUST BUY-IN

Introducing a social media platform is likely to impact a large part of the organization, especially if it is really planned and executed as an enterprise social media platform. Social media lives from scaling and wide distribution, so do not plan it for a niche of your organization. The most powerful ESN efforts aim to include the majority of the people. Even if not everyone participates in the end, targeting them all is a good way to reach the diversity and breadth of ideas that you are after.

If something is to influence the whole organization, it seems clear that you will need a certain level of buy-in and consent from your executive leadership team; however, it is more than just buy-in that is needed. If such a system is for every employee, it should also be for the executives, and this presents a chance to bridge a few gaps between executives and frontline employees. Communication between different levels can be difficult sometimes, and to overcome a we-versus-them feeling, there needs to be ongoing communication. So beyond buy-in (“I see the sense in creating something like this for employees to better communicate, exchange ideas, and share knowledge”) you also need participation (“I want a platform that literally every employee, including myself and my executive management team, will use to communicate better”).

Buy-in is the minimal requirement that you will need to launch the platform at an organization-wide level. Some of those ...