1.
HuMan rEsourcEfulnEss
Reprinted from the November/December 2010 issue of The Financial Manager magazine
When Jackie Alcalde Marr and Mary Ellen
Kassotakis gave a presentation at Media Finance
Focus 2010, including an article about them in
this “Human Resourcefulness” special report
was a no brainer. Along with their colleague
Arthur Jue, they have coauthored the book
Social Media at Work – How Networking Tools
Propel Organizational Performance.
As the title suggests, they are bent on dispelling
the notion that social media is merely a
distraction, without any redeeming qualities
when it comes to workplace. They have all
kinds of ideas on
how companies can
benefit from tapping
into the special habits
and skills of the
Twitterati crowd.
The topic is a
natural for both of
them. Alcalde Marr
is the director of
JacKiE alcaldE Marr organization and
talent development
for Oracle, North
America. And she’s
an adjunct faculty
member at the
University of San
Francisco.
Kassotakis is director
of the Leadership
Center of Expertise
Mary EllEn KassotaKis within Oracle’s global
organization and
talent development group. Additionally, she
serves as an adjunct faculty member at Drexel
University.
Recently, TFM editor Janet Stilson traded
e-mails with the duo to dig down deeper than
the conference session, gleaning more insights
into social media’s workplace potential. An
edited transcript of their e-conversation follows.

2.
Social
Putting
networkS to work
How can a corporate version of Facebook connect and inspire
employees? A duo from Oracle say they know lots of answers to that.
Would you share an anecdote about how com-
pany blogs have helped resolve problems or
smoothed relationships?
One example of a how a corporate blog
can help shape a culture of trust, openness
and employee engagement comes from BT
Group (British Telecom).
BT provides communications solutions
and services to people around the world.
They’ve been growing their internal social
media footprint steadily since 2007. One of
the many events that contributed to that cul-
ture was when Ian Livingston was the CEO
of the retail division.
He saw a post on BT’s popular blog Cor-
porate Newsdesk and felt compelled to offer
his opinion. When employees saw his name,
they were expecting a corporate perspective,
but instead soon recognized that this was a
personal, individual [point of view] – just
like theirs.
That sort of individual and personal can-
dor is how blogs lend themselves to building
trust, innovation, and collaboration in orga-
nizations of all sizes.
is it very costly, or time consuming, for compa-
nies to create social networking platforms?
Depending on your internal technical
expertise, you can take advantage of social
networking quickly and easily. Because com-
panies vary widely in their internal technol-
ogy resources and desire to build rather than

3.
buy, the options are just as varied. if you were advising a media company that and ask you team to indicate “yes” or “no”
Organizations that want to experiment had limited resources for a social networking beside the options.
or collaborate and are not concerned with effort, what’s the first action you would sug- Another idea for those who want to dip
locking down their conversation may choose gest that they take? their toe in the social media water is to take a
to simply create a public social networking For media companies just starting out, quick poll of your team. To prepare for a key
site. There are many tools available to do so. Ning is a platform to consider for creat- decision, or to avoid an unnecessary debate
Ning.com is probably the most recognized ing your own social network. With Ning, during a meeting, ask your team to weigh in
and easiest. The cost is a minimal (a few dol- your social network can be for anything and on a key question like: “Where should we
lars a month). anyone. have the team [retreat] offsite? Denver or San
On the other end of the spectrum, large You start by naming your social network Francisco?” This activity gets your team on a
organizations with IT expertise, such as and choosing a combination of features social tool and allows them to have a simple
Oracle, craft their own social networking and successful experience.
platforms inside their firewalls with the confi- To maximize your investment [in
dence that conversations are held safely with- i understand that there are a
in their corporate walls. Many organizations social networks], it’s worthwhile to few different oracle social net-
are in between, using a combination of the ensure someone is looking after the working programs. Which ones
two or partnering with a third party such as conversation … We call this special are your favorites and why?
Social Text or Jive to customize a social net- Before we respond, we want
working platform that fits their needs, com- role the “gardener.” you to be aware that the views
pany culture and budget. we express are our own and do
But making the tools available to employ- (photos, videos, forums, events, etc.) from not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.
ees is only part of the story. To maximize an ever-growing list of options. After custom- Probably our favorite is our internal Ora-
your investment, it’s worthwhile to ensure izing, you can launch it. Ning used to be free. cle Connect product. Oracle Connect is a
someone is looking after the conversation – However, now there is a small monthly fee. service for employees that provides an easy
way to network with colleagues; collaborate
cHoosing tHE rigHt PartnEr in groups; aggregate and share vital informa-
tion, and discuss that information. Connect’s
main goal is to bring Oracle people together:
If a company wants to engage a business partner to develop a social to do work and collaborate, to share inter-
networking program, what are the key questions they should ask to determine ests and to get acquainted with each other.
if the partner is right for them? Here are some excerpts from the Connect
When choosing a partner to bring in a social networking platform, be sure to first be clear
about your objectives. Your social media approach should clearly assist in meeting your stra- Web site:
tegic objectives. It all starts with a profile. Use your profile to
If you are prepared to explain how the social networking tools will support your key strate- tell your colleagues what you do and what you
gies, the partner will be able to tailor a solution that best meets your needs. Without this clar- look like. Don’t be shy, the more you add about
ity, you may implement a suite of tools that look great, have loads of potential, but will not be yourself, the easier it will be for people to find
adopted in your organization since no one will have a clear need to use them. you. For example, if you worked at PeopleSoft,
Be sure the partner you select is a good fit for your organization. Look for their experience
implementing social media as well as their experience doing so in your industry. Check into
put that on your profile. When someone searches
the technical infrastructure as well. If they will be hosting the system, what are their security Connect for “peoplesoft,” your profile will pop
protocols and their backup and storage processes? And how will they work with your IT team up in the results.
to ensure a smooth implementation and sustained maintenance? Your profile lets you tell the company what
And finally, don’t underestimate the value of a strong rapport – will these partners be easy you do now, what you’ve done in the past, where
to work with over the long haul? you’ve worked before, what you like to do, etc.
Have you ever got one of those “would the rep
from x corp. please contact me?” A good profile
making sure it flows well; that comments are For many companies, the idea of using makes those go away for good.
visible to the right audiences, and glitches in social media tools may be so new that they Once you have a good profile, you can start
the system are fixed immediately. want to proceed slowly and try a few simple finding people, and they can find you.
We call this special role the “gardener” – ideas. One of the easiest ways to experiment That’s when the real collaboration begins.
someone (or a team) that tends to the con- and find immediate value is by using a wiki Build a network, join some groups, share ideas,
tent and the tools to ensure that fledgling to schedule a meeting with your team. ask questions, comment and exchange thoughts.
ideas are able to sprout, grow and bear fruit. We all experience the pain of exponential You can do all this on Connect.
Sure, the community may thrive without a e-mail when many options are available to a Make no mistake: Oracle does have a Social
gardener, but it’s always helpful to cultivate team of several people. Trying to get sched- Media Participation Policy that is distributed
the soil to accelerate growth and strong roots. ules aligned can seem like an impossible and to all employees and posted on Connect.
This kind of support enables your social net- lengthy process of back-and-forth e-mail
work to get off to a good start. exchange. Simply list the dates on a wiki, What about the social networking programs

4.
HuMan rEsourcEfulnEss
you’ve studied at other companies. Which during your presentation at the MfM confer- during the workday. E-mail is relatively passé
ones fascinated you, or excited you, the ence, one of the attendees mentioned they for them. That is, social media is not a dis-
most? created a battle book, an online sales network- traction to newer entrants; indeed, it’s the
We studied many types of companies in ing system, which allowed sales departments in converse. Social media is seen as an impera-
various industries. Collectively we identified different regions of the country to share ideas tive to stay connected.
five key areas in which social media has an on how to attract clients with special opportu- Think of instant messaging: if you don’t
impact within organizations. These five areas nities. do you see much of that going on? want to have it on because it’s a distraction,
are: attracting and retaining talent, innova- This type of tool is just now gaining trac- turn it off. Even with Outlook you can turn
tion, operational efficiency, employee engage- tion. However, our studies did not explore off the automatic notices of new e-mails and
ment and talent development. how companies are using social media to read them when it’s convenient.
One of our favorite examples is from attract clients. We expect that most company policies
Nokia, the mobile-device maker. Nokia For sales colleagues who want to share about the use of social media participation
engaged its 100,000+ global workforce with competitive strategies, intelligence about include statements about not allowing the
an internal competition to identify the Nokia potential clients and best practices in sales use of social media to interfere with one’s
“core values in action.” techniques, internal blogs, discussion work productivity, with personal activities
Employees submitted forums and wikis can taking place outside of work.
images and songs via their be great tools. Also,
mobile devices into various because some sales- are there any ways that social media is being
portals, and later employees people spend many used that are just emerging now -- something
voted on which ones best hours on the plane or really cutting edge and futuristic that you
capture Nokia values. Peo- in their cars, a podcast think will really catch fire with companies?
ple tapped into their cre- series enables them to Yes, as [the avatar portal] Second Life by
ativity and had fun doing hear that valuable infor- Linden Labs and competitors become more
so while also getting more mation while they’re on sophisticated, faster and more life-like, more
connected with colleagues the go. companies will jump on the bandwagon to
across the globe. use the technology.
do you have any exam- At IBM and other technology-oriented
Has oracle been able to ples of social networking companies, Second Life is being utilized for
measure how the social programs that didn’t work rapid on-boarding of new employees and
networking programs out – where the company talent development programs. Onboarding
h ave b e n e f i t e d t h e ran into some real issues? (i.e., getting new employees up-to-speed
company? if so, how did they resolve and fully productive in a company) typical-
We have not been offi- the problems? ly requires a multitude of transactions and
cially tracking the measurement of how social Some companies have a processes to be completed, spanning numer-
media programs have benefited the company. “closed” culture. That is, they are leery of hav- ous departments and IT systems – every-
Clearly, employees are able to stay connected ing information leek in an untimely way to thing from core HR and payroll systems to
in a global 24/7 world, and wikis have been competitors or to the public and/or they have company security.
helpful in innovation of new technologies. a tradition of “top-down” communication. Reducing the myriad transactions to some-
Most teams have their own wikis and chat. Also, companies are afraid of possible legal thing that new employees can grasp right
Getting a true measurement of the impact liabilities with employees sharing faulty infor- away is a common goal. Onboarding can
of social technologies would be a very diffi- mation. Imagine the implications if architec- also be a tool to inculcate company values
cult task, and one that we’re not sure is worth tural and engineering designs are based on and culture.
the academic effort. How do we measure the misinformation in the wikis. These are real In Second Life, people create an avatar for
impact that cell phones have on our produc- concerns. However, social media has flattened themselves (avatars are a graphic depiction of
tivity? E-mail? Coffee in the break room? the world, and “control” over information is how they would like to appear to others) and
We asked Richard Dennison, senior man- more challenging than ever before. to attend virtual meetings with other new
ager of social media at BT Group, the same Also, employee privacy is a real concern for recruits and IBM managers. Not surprising-
question, and he expressed the challenge well: most companies across the world. ly, most recruits choose to appear rather as
“It’s like opening the bonnet of a car, ripping they do in real life.
the pieces out, and asking about the return How does one manage employees’ use of Imagine that in future, employees will be
due to one component.” social media so that it doesn’t become a able to retain connections with colleagues,
At Oracle, our employees know the val- distraction? former colleagues, retirees, partners, etc.
ue of their social media tools. Discussion Younger entrants into the workforce have Considering how much information and
forums, blogs and wikis have become a com- grown up with a variety of technologies at expertise is lost when employees leave,
mon way to connect with colleagues to share their disposal, and yet they graduated from maintaining these links can help com-
ideas, answer questions and help each other college, had a variety of experiences and are panies retain information about a broad
get work done. now expecting to continue their connections range of issues. tfM