Good morning evereyone from Santa Fe. I am out here doing seminars for two companies this week. Great Mexican food last night.
Many organizations are restricing the use of social sites by their employees. This is a typical “we can control people” issue. You can not control people. Just look around the world at governments that tried to control the actions of their people. The more you try to control people the more they resist and find loop-holes. This policy is like telling people they can not use the telephone at work to check on their kids or make a doctors appointment.
The article below says it well. Educate your team members on how to use social sites responsible and then deal with only the ones that don’t. They all have their own devices in their pockets so they can use the social sites all day long without using their organizations computers. Social sites and the internet are the new telephone so lets all get used to how to use it and how not to use it and get on with being leaders and not controllers. You control things and lead people……Lee
“Sanborn and Associates” …From FeedBlitz
The Ideal Two Word Policy
While reading Charlene Li’s book, Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead, I was struck by the simplicity of an idea. She includes “the openness audit” and one assessment statement is “Employees and executives are free to blog and participate publicly in social media as long as they act responsibly.” Note the last two words: act responsibly.
That may be the best two word policy statement I can think of. You might be aware of Nordstrom’s famous policy statement, known for its simplicity, “use your best judgment at all times.” “Act responsibly” is shorter but just as instructive.
The C-level executives I advise often ask for suggestions about policy around social media. I believe Charlene Li has captured it with the idea of acting responsibly.
Of course that raises the question: how do employees learn to act responsibly? In a perfect world everyone would enter the workforce with that ability. In the real world “acting responsbibly” needs to be taught and modeled. Leaders need to create a culture where employees are clear on their responsibilities to each other, customers and shareholders. Values need to be lived, not just espoused. And critically important, those who lead must exemplify acting responsibly each day.