Page 96 - Harvard Business Review (November-December, 2017)

rapport across geographic and cultural borders. Many them in fresh ways to create new products or pro-
global employees report that internal social tools give cesses. A clear example of innovation comes from the
them a window onto broader organizational discourse financial services firm we studied. Tim, an employee
that is otherwise unavailable to them. As Sam, who in the consumer finance division, was working out
works for the e-commerce company, explained, “I get the details of a new loan program. He couldn’t quite
a feel for what everyone’s doing over there [at head- figure out how to make his idea work. But then inspi-
quarters], the types of projects, and how they’re do- ration struck: “I suddenly remembered that I’d seen
ing. So I definitely feel more connected.” Others at the a communication exchanged between these two
company echoed Sam’s sentiment, saying, “I feel like I guys….One of them, Joe Franklin, who’s in the pric-
am part of the family” and “We’re the same company. ing department, mentioned something—I forget the
We’re the same people. We look different, we might context—about rate variation depending upon risk
sound different, but we’re doing the same thing at the factors. That caught my eye, so I read the history of
end of the day.” In a dynamic and global marketplace, the conversation he had, and it turns out that there
far-flung employees value this sense of belonging. was some flexibility in rate assignment based on risk
Preventing duplication of work. Social tools allow class. I sent him an e-mail to see if I could learn more
employees to learn about existing projects and initia- about it, and it made sense. So I developed the pro-
tives that overlap with their own and to coordinate gram around it, and it’s been pretty successful so far—
efforts. This can reduce work duplication and free up really innovative, so it made me proud.”
time and money to generate new knowledge. At the Tim’s director was very happy too. The product
insurance company we studied, one employee, Sheila, came in on time and under budget, and carved out a
was asked by her manager to put a hold on her current new niche for the company in a crowded market.
project and perform an urgent analysis for a new ver- Social tools bring the greatest benefits when em-
tical market. She told her manager that the analysis ployees are exposed to ideas and insights from peo-
would most likely take two weeks, pushing her current ple across the organization—particularly people they
project past the deadline and over budget. The manager wouldn’t normally encounter. The challenge, how-
was willing to pay that price. As Sheila began to dig into ever, is that focusing attention on content coming
the problem, she remembered a series of exchanges on from multiple departments—many of which have
the internal social tool among colleagues in another de- different goals and may seem unrelated to one’s own
partment about a project they were working on in that work—is difficult. For this reason, organizations tend
same vertical market. With this metaknowledge, she to deploy social tools within departments. But if pat-
sent them a note asking if they could suggest where to terns of communication are too insular, the expanded
start. They replied that they had completed a market network that these tools promise won’t materialize.
analysis and asked if she would like to see it. Sheila said Once you’ve defined your organization’s key
that when she received the report, “I couldn’t believe purpose and made a plan for deploying social tools,
it. It was exactly what my boss asked me to do. This just clearly articulate all that through internal marketing
saved me two weeks, and it saved my project over a mil- campaigns, messaging from the top, and one-on-one
lion dollars. I had no idea they were working on this. or group training sessions to focus employees’ efforts.
Neither did my boss.” Strengthen ambient awareness. Whatever pur-
Increasing innovation. With the help of social tools, pose you define, you’ll be more likely to achieve it
employees can sometimes borrow ideas and solutions if you allow the tools to hone employees’ “ambient
from other parts of the organization and combine awareness”—a social-science term for awareness of

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