In a recent benchmark study, I discovered that a major differentiator between the organizations that had the greatest success with social media and those that didn’t was how they behaved internally. The two big pillars? Culture and Governance.
Culture is a large umbrella for how people work together, how they behave, interact, and engage with the organization and with each other.
Governance is how the organization manages and makes decisions.
Culture is the more ambiguous and amorphous of the two. Recognizing different cultures is easy; defining the differences is hard. Changing a culture is even harder.
Some of our benchmark participants were younger companies (relatively speaking); a social media culture is part of their DNA. I remember reading many years ago that Nordstrom explained their famous customer service by saying that they “hire the smile;” they could teach skills. Today, best practice companies in social media such as Zappos similarly hire for cultural fit. They hire people who are open, sharing, socially adept. The Zappos interview process includes a self-assessment on a weirdness scale (I won’t reveal what score they think fits best with the Zappos culture). Everyone talks to customers, and there are guidelines and policies, but no scripts or hard and fast rules. So how come customers get the same service and decisions regardless of the employee? If a person doesn’t “fit,” they don’t stay long.
The new age social companies provide a good blueprint. More mature companies that are among the best practice organizations for social media also hire to fit the culture they want. They also work to change the established culture. Some ideas on how to make the change next.
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