As a child my parents used to draw a line near the door to track my growth, centimeter after centimeter. That small increase every week or two stood as a direction. Any small change was a step. Many lines together separated childhood from maturity.
That same maturity is what quite all the organizations I know are looking for when it comes to Social Collaboration. A maturity that could be reached through a number of ingredients such as more predictable roll-out strategies, stronger competencies, technology that is easier to use or an organizational culture that is more conducive of an open sharing and innovation. A higher readiness equates to more intense business results with a smaller investment in a shorter timeframe.
Can Social Collaboration maturity be objectively evaluated and compared?
I’m convinced it can and actually it should. That’s why together with Stefano Besana, we have put together the Social Collaboration Index, a readiness score based on 8 dimensions that can be applied both to individual organizations and entire industries:
Based on our recent Social Collaboration Survey, the Social Collaboration Maturity Framework above encapsulates the critical dimensions for success including clear business objectives, culture, adoption, governance, cultivation, measurement, integration to operational processes, technology.
More information regarding the framework will be provided in the coming weeks on the initiative site but, in a nudge, what distinguishes our perspective from the excellent work done for example by Rachel Happe with The Community Maturity Model or Jane McConnell with her Digital Workplace Framework, is:
- A strict focus on employee social networks, instead of a broader look to any kind of community or collaborative intranets
- An explicit progression from participation, the first era of employee engagement, to business value, the only possible future (but still seriously lacking) state for collaboration
- An outside-in perspective of the organization that eventually reorients any action and decision around customer-centric outcomes
In an attempt to help Social Collaboration initiatives move forward and have a deeper impact, the Index is aimed at:
- Suggesting a customer-driven but employee centric end-state for organizations against which establishing their ambition
- Providing a common, quantitative and detailed framework to analyze crucial characteristics of Social Collaboration initiatives
- Focusing the attention on what really affects how much value Social Collaboration is able to generate
- Building a maturity score for major industrial sectors as to allow every organization to compare itself against direct peers
- Facilitating cross-industry dialogue based on the circulation of best practices, strategies and insights
The research is only at its launch and yet a long list of global leaders in Banking, Insurance, Pharma, Telecoms, Manufacturing and Consumer Products is already enthusiastically taking part to it.
If you are not participating yet, we strongly encourage you to do so, especially if your firm is international and has at least 1.000 employees. Please candidate yourself by reading the details on the site and filling up the participation form.
The study is free, open and done in our spare time as a giveback to the community. Its final report will made available online and participating organizations will receive their personalized positioning.
We are looking forward to talk with you!
