There aren't many things I'll drag myself out of bed before 6am for, but I'm happy to say that the combination of an interesting interview subject and a 10 hour time difference conspired to make that happen.
I was lucky enough to interview Stephen Collins, who is the “founder and chief troublemaker” at acidlabs. acidlabs promises to provide you with “the right approach to web strategy, the knowledge economy and social media.” Stephen is one of the leading online strategy consultants in Australia and has extensive experience working with both government and a range of industries. He's also a member of the Social Media Collective and the Information Architecture Institute (amongst a few other organisations). In addition to his business interests Stephen is currently undertaking his masters in Knowledge Management from the university of Canberra as well.
In a nutshell, and as he explained it to me, he specialises in helping companies communicate using the social Web, whether this be internally through tools like wiki's or externally through tools like outward facing blogs. Knowledge management indeed.
The conversation covered a number of topics, but the main focus was of course on the question of how a real conversation can take place between companies and customers in the light of business processes and requirements. While online tools make it possible and easier, there are still a few kinks to be ironed out – which is where Stephen Collins comes in.
Stephen pointed out that while most companies understand the importance of internal communications, they often approach it badly in a way that can be restrictive. “Companies tend to push messages out through the wall, but what they need to do is engage with people inside the wall”. Creating channels within the company allows for a situation where more people can jump in and solve problems – this is often the area where Stephen chooses to start.
The ability to then communicate externally does become easier when there are open channels within an organisation. Allowing all employees the oportunity to speak is also really important.
“Only 10 percent of your employees will want to engage”, he pointed out, which for a large organisation, makes monitoring what gets said easier to manage. Smaller companies or agencies tend to be hungrier – and so more staff would engage and innovate.
Once channels have been set up, it's understandable that companies would worry about the lack of control they would have over a few voices speaking from within their company. So how much freedom should employees be given?
“People should be given as much freedom as they can be given,” in other words, as much as is reasonable. While he'd love to say complete open communication is the way to go, Stephen does acknowledge that letting all control go is also not necessarily the best idea. It's therefore necessary to set up some fair and relevant rules for your brand.
“Things like Sun Microsystems and the UK public sector have really good but not restrictive rules. For example, the same rules apply whether someone is blogging internally or externally. It boils down to respect and common sense; don’t comment on something you’re not qualified for. Rather find the person who is.”
If an employee does step out of line or act out of malice, the only solution is to speak openly as a brand. Set the record straight. One should also realise that “if people gripe they're going to gripe anyway.” The point and benefit of a public forum is that your brand can react in a human and direct way.
On the flip side of the control issue, companies also need to consider that employees can and should be developing their personal brands outside of the companies that employ them. “It used to be restricted to top level executives, but the ability to do it now is so much easier. If you're good at something you're nuts not to talk about it.”
Something else Stephen is often asked is how social involvement like this can be measured in terms of return on investment. “I normally tell clients not to worry about it for the first 6 months...but I understand that people need ongoing budget, there is an ongoing cost in terms of the number of hours or dedicated staffing needed”. The solution that Stephen suggests here is to set a certain number of specific measurement goals that would be applicable and valuable to your business.
Stephen Collins
He suggests you watch your brand perception and customer satisfaction. “Look for client satisfaction, specifically check your call centres. If the amount of time it takes to solve a problem has diminished because more people are accessible and available, then that contributes to the bottom line.”
He mentioned one great example of an organisation that uses the onlne networking site Get Satisfaction, that allows people to post queries and questions about companies or products, and respond in kind. “The great case study for this is a software company called SAP, they created their developer network...with the SAP staff getting involved as well...here you’ve got a self perpetuating community of 1.2 million people. Some are non-SAP staff, but they're still experts. It's amazingly functional, solves the problem and saves the SAP a huge amount of money.”
Open company communication thus empowers your employees, your customers, makes problems easier to solve and provides you with a “critical mass” of information that can be an incredibly valuable resource. What are you waiting for?
Stephen's own company blog can be found here, and offers some great reading, so check it out.
He was kind enough to list a few of his own favourite blogs for us below as well:
- Tara Hunt HorsePigCow.com
- Louis Suarez Elsua.net
- Laurel Papworth (Australian) Silkcharm.blogspot.com
- Susan Scrupski ITSinsider
- Andrew McAfee - Professor at the Harvard Business School
- Micheal Wesh from the University of Kansas, Digital Ethnography
"As I spent a lot of years working in government, I track a few government bloggers as well":
- Craig Thomler
- Jason Ryan in New Zealand is my equivalent,
- Justin Ker Stevens Extended Reach
