If you think about an organization and the way that organisation "works" it is all about communication.
Sales is the easy example, as we have to talk to people to sell things. We might have to communicate with people if we market. We certainly have to communicate when we recruit people. We have to communicate with people through customer service. In procurement we have to communicate as well.
Communication is the backbone of the way we run our business. Regardless if it's in the analogue or digital world.
Humans are social animals. Every since the early days of humans on the Serengeti, we realised that to stop being eaten by a sabre tooth tigers involved us to communicate with other humans.
What we want as humans is a simple way of communicating or as people say a "frictionless" way of communicating. Today we have social media. We use it talk with friends across the world. We have networks of work colleagues, x work colleagues, prospects and customers.
Companies must stop being controlling and embrace this new way of working and activate their employees on social. This makes sense to reduce or stop the mistakes and it makes sense so that companies can harness the power of the employee on social.
(Note this isn't stuffing social with corporate content).
This is about empowering employees to talk, in their own voice on matters that impact them, their lives and the everyday work. The business issues they encounter within the clients and how they solve them. The changes that they see that need to take place in the clients to transform. The business case for those changes. Or whatever it is that takes their fancy, within the guidelines that you have given them.
Employees have the opportunity to makes those changes and employers need to provide employees with the support and activation as part of the employee experience and as part of a digital transformation
The organization of the future have activated employees that communication across barriers both internally and externally. They are sharing internally and externally and are not afraid to do so.
According to the Deloitte Millennial Survey, millennials will constitute 75 percent of the global work force by 2025. That's 75 percent! And they are all on social media. But it's not just millennials. In fact, 50 percent of all employees already post messages on social media about their employers. Even though these employees are proud to share messages about their companies, it's almost impossible for brands to get their employees approved, consistent content to share externally.
