Breakfast briefing: collaboration and social business, London, UK, May 2012

Citation

Crawford, N. (2013), "Breakfast briefing: collaboration and social business, London, UK, May 2012", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 12 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2013.37212aaa.012

Breakfast briefing: collaboration and social business, London, UK, May 2012

Article Type: Resources From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 1

London-based consultancy Engage, which specializes in end-to-end employee and stakeholder engagement, held a breakfast briefing in May for senior HR and internal communications professionals. Delegates examined the complex and growing area of collaboration and social business as a tool to drive engagement, productivity and performance across their organizations.

The event at the Haymarket Hotel, London was attended by a wide variety of organizations, all keen to learn how these technologies can drive real productivity growth. It was run by Nick Crawford, Engage’s head of Collaboration and Social Business, and the man behind Bupa’s “Live” platform for 52,000 employees worldwide.

The delegates’ initial understanding of the term “collaboration” in a business context was mainly its use to create a single culture, although the definitions were broad. Those volunteered were focused largely on the collaborative activity aspect and less on the strategic outcomes of the organization, such as increased productivity, driving cost savings and improving their clients’ experience. This highlighted a gap in commercial knowledge; most are unable to see the business advantages and therefore are reluctant to raise the issue with senior decision makers.

Identifying and overcoming key challenges

Difficulties faced by delegates in implementing a collaborative platform ranged from security issues and lack of IT knowledge, to having too few champions and not understanding the process to apply the new technologies. Time was another factor that organizations envisioned as a challenge; however the biggest issue was getting management figures on board.

Attendees learnt that having the support of leadership figures is the most important influence in getting a social collaboration initiative up and running. Education is also needed; staff need to get used to breaking down the office walls and know that communicating directly with senior management is not forbidden. Collaboration should become a key part of personal development to build a better culture, and not just a side project.

The group identified key priority areas they would take action on to get social collaboration up and running within their organizations: leadership backing; making it part of everyday work; managers taking the lead in discussions; and linking directly to business objectives.

Summary

Few companies are doing this successfully. In fact, many internal communications and HR professionals are only just starting to introduce social platforms to drive employee communication. This shows that true company-wide, performance-led collaboration is still in its infancy and organizations can still successfully reap the benefits.

Nick CrawfordSenior consultant at Engage.

For more information

This event was one of series of exclusive, complimentary learning and networking events for innovative leaders and HR directors. For more information visit: www.engagegroup.co.uk.