Social Media part of the College graduate DNA
Kids that are entering the work force this year have been using social media in one form or another since they started high school. They grew up with MySpace always being a part of their vocabulary. The iPhone came out during their freshman year of college. Twitter to this generation is a tool for older folks although I think that’s changing. Theses kids have posted video’s to the web of teachers talking on the phone in class. They have recorded phone calls where parents have lost it and posted the audio. They know how easy it is to use multimedia and integrated it with social media to get buzz, publicity, notoriety, and make things happen. This group completed homework assignments through social network platforms and have even used it to cheat, although cheating will be considered collaboration now that they are in the work force.
So what does this mean for business? The younger workforce will continue to be more and more comfortable with social media, and building online brands, and collaborating together online. While some of the older generation does not feel you get to know people through social media, this generation knows that you are who you project yourself to be. This trait of projecting personalities can be very valuable to businesses if they take the opportunity to cultivate the values they want their employees to project. If your business wants to project honesty, commitment, hard work it’s very easy to do and a benefit to projecting these values through social media is that the values often manifest themselves in real life. It’s hard to project one set of values and live by another. I know personally I’ve become a much better person because of my projections.
The additional value collaborative tools provide is the ability to maximize the employee knowledge base. Collaboration through micro-blogging allows the community to see status on all projects that are currently in progress and provides the opportunity to provide input if the community has expertise to provide. Of course there need to be policies in place so that these tools are not abused but most people at work use the tools for work and if the larger community is using the tools correctly then they will police and moderate the community for you.
Finally on individual projects tools such as wiki’s provide the ability for a team to collaborate on documentation, decisions, and email like communication that should be captured via a company knowledge base. Tracking these communications via a wiki allows for the companies knowledge capital to be centralized and available. Now anyone can see why a decision was made even years later. This process allows future decisions to be better informed and made with all detail necessary. The best wiki tools search all attached documents as well as standard wiki pages and they allow you to convert or attach emails, documents, spread sheets and presentations to the wiki. This provides truly powerful knowledge content management and the new workforce is not only comfortable with it but will demand it from their employers.
Don’t forget that providing these tools helps to raise the moral of your work force by provide better communication and delivering on their expectations. Moving to Enterprise 2.0 technologies is no longer an option but a necessity. It’s only a matter of time if you haven’t started the process already.
How to evaluate a business
When a leg is removed from a 3 legged stool the stool can not stand. This is an analogy often used in business and should be considered when you research a business opportunity. While evaluating any opportunity you’ll want to see that the strength of each of the legs are balanced and have the strength to hold up the stool (Business).
What are the 3 legs of the business stool?
People
The number one most important part of a business is people. The people who work for the business; the people who work in the business; the people in the industry; the people who buy the business product and the owners of the business. They are all important considerations.
You must feel comfortable with the people you are working with and believe in them and act in a manor to make them believe in you.
You must understand who your customers are, what they want and where they are located. This is traditionally called developing your target market. Additionally when your target market comes in your door you must treat them with integrity and respect, and it never hurts to smile and be friendly.
Process
Processes create efficiency. When you perform a task in your business are you completing it in the most effective manor. Do you know the order in which you do your daily activities for your business. They should be as ingrained as waking up, brushing your teeth and washing your face. I previously worked for one of the most process focused companies in the world. UPS. They measure everything from how long it takes the driver to turn off the truck, turn and get out of his seat, find the key to open the back of the truck. They run all aspects of their business by measuring efficiency and focusing on making the process improvements to improve.
By the way if your processes are that ingrained then you should step back and look at them objectively to see if they can be improved.
When evaluating a business you must validate that the processes are in place. If they don’t exist then you will have to make them up as you go. If you are new to the business or industry then you’ll see then having processes in place will tremendously decrease the cost of your learning curve. If processes aren’t in place then you should probably toss that business aside since it will be costly and overwhelming to manage.
Technology
Technology is an important piece to every business but it’s important to recognize that even the best technology can not be helped without the best people and processes in place. Automating a bad process will drain a company of money quickly. However, when processes and people are in place technology will catapult your business to the highest levels possible. Technology can be leverage to help any business no matter how small and is an absolute must if you want your business to grow over the long term.
Finally no business venture will be successful if you don’t commit. There are many opportunities out there. You need to find one that fits your personality and lifestyle. But don’t forget to consider the 3 legged stool when evaluating your next business opportunity.
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