Here at Ascentum, we use social media in a variety of ways. Not only do we help our clients engage their stakeholders through various social media platforms, but we are also constantly tapped into these outlets, publishing weekly blog posts, posting hourly twitter updates and moderating topical Facebook conversations.
Brought up using social media tools to interact with friends and family, I would expect these tools to be put to use in the workplace to engage with colleagues. However, the reality is that many places have ignored the social revolution. This makes me think, how valuable is social media to an organization?
I recently read an interview with Peter Williams, CEO of Deloitte Digital and one of Australia’s leaders in the digital world. As an advocate for social innovation, Williams believes that this Cultural Revolution generates a compelling chance for companies. He says though it may be scary, “if you don’t embrace change, and understand how you can leverage it, you will just fall behind”.
Williams also expresses frustration at the managers who use the clichéd idea that “our staff is our greatest asset” but then block their staff from using social media at work. He says that a truly enlightened leader encourages communication and the wholesale sharing of ideas within their organization.
This concept of social media participation in the workplace has given birth to a handy little tool known as Yammer, a free social network for the workplace. Access to an organization’s Yammer network is determined by a user’s Internet Domain, so only those with the same email addresses may join their respective networks. It’s like moving the conversation from the water cooler to the web – but throwing in the popularly used Facebook “like” function and the option to create fun, informative surveys.
When asked how Yammer got started in his company, Williams recalls kicking ideas around in the innovation team, when someone simply said, ‘why don’t we give this a go.’ “I think that is the first lesson about adoption of social media,” he says. And he’s right. It’s worth a try. Why? Because it’s free, designed to be simple, and you have nothing to lose.
In early February, Ascentum started using Yammer, and it seems to have taken off naturally. Many have commented on how convenient it is to know what others are working on, and to feel “in touch” with colleagues even amidst the busy work hours when chats by the water cooler are infrequent and cut short. It fulfills the same purpose all social media aims to achieve – an extra branch of communication that keeps the conversation going.
While Yammer has been a hit, Williams says that companies who use these tools are still in a minority. He noticed that the default position of most organizations is to resist the use of social media in the workplace, at the fear of misbalancing hierarchy. But he digresses, “Anyone wanting a highly rigid hierarchy or to be in a controlling position will find himself increasingly under threat from active social networks.”
What’s the bottom line here? Well I can say that it feels good to work in an environment that has not only embraced the social revolution, but has manipulated it into a strategic tool for engagement. I think it’s clear that whatever your organization does, you should be exploring the ways you could leverage these new tools. Social media is not frivolous, and it is not a fad. It’s an opportunity. As Williams so accurately puts it “Leaders either see the light – or feel the heat”.
-Holly Clark-
Ascentum’s 9th Anniversary – Interview with Joseph Peters
Monday, April 16th, 2012
Ascentum recently celebrated its 9th anniversary! To mark this exciting occasion, Holly Clark sat down with Ascentum co-founder Joseph Peters to reflect, reminisce and discuss plans for the future of public participation.
Video Transcription
Holly: Joe, what was the biggest adjustment that Ascentum has had to make? How did we overcome this challenge? And what did we learn from it?
Joe: One of the biggest challenges that we’ve had to deal with over the past nine years is really adapting to new technologies. The software we used nine years ago and the software that we’re using today are fundamentally different. I think that’s where we’ve had to adapt and I think that’s where we’ve adapted very well.
Holly: In the past nine years, what would you describe as Ascentum’s biggest success? Or most exciting moment?
Joe: That’s a tough question. It’s pretty funny to think about that and all the things that we’ve accomplished over these past nine years. But one of my favorite memories, and I’ll never forget, is the party that we had for employees and clients when we first moved into our offices at 30 Rosemount. It really was a fantastic event. Put down a marker in all of our experiences to say that we had arrived, we were an organization, we were a firm, we had our fancy offices with the giant Ascentum logo on the wall. I’ll never forget that day.
Holly: What was your most interesting project?
Joe: I’ve been involved in over 100 projects, maybe even closer to 150 in the last 9-10 years so asking me which is my favourite project or which is the most interesting project is very difficult. They’re all like little children to me in a way that you start out with them, you build them, you grow them, and you watch them leave you when you’ve wrapped up the project. All of them are near and dear to my heart. One of the most interesting and most challenging initiatives was one I was involved with on the last year on Childhood Obesity. Both professionally and personally, it was an outstanding initiative. I learned a lot, I got to meet some fantastic Canadians all across the country from Vancouver to St. John’s to Aklavik in the Northwest Territories. It was fantastic to hear the different perspectives and hope that the outputs of this initiative could really help affect change and make a difference, because childhood obesity is an issue that affects so many Canadians and sets them up for their health outcomes for the rest of their life.
Holly: How do you think the world of public participation has evolved in the past nine years? How do you think Ascentum has adjusted to this evolution?
Joe: This is an easy one to answer. When I look at how public participation has transformed over the last nine years, the factor that has had the greatest influence on this has to be is social media. We used to spend a lot of time and effort trying to get people to come to you, to come to your website, to come to your event. With Facebook and Twitter now, we can go to where people are. That’s fundamentally transformed that relationship in terms of a pull to people, or a push out to people. That’s been the biggest difference and I think we’re just beginning to see the influence that social media can have on public participation, and it will continue to transform in the years to come.
Holly: What do you see for the future of public participation?
Joe: I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can tell you for sure that social media is going to have an influence on it. The way that we’re using technology today and how we’re going to use it in ten years from now is going to be different. I think that we probably have more virtual meetings. We’re beginning to see webinars, web-conferencing, video conferencing really coming into their own and being effective channels for engagement. I only hope that in nine or ten years, we start to see improvements in that area, and really an online supported technology can make public participation online seem closer to what we experience in a face to face meeting. Hopefully we will see that change in the next nine years.
Holly: What do you hope to achieve in the next nine years at Ascentum?
Joe: Well it’d be really nice if I had a crystal ball that would let me know where we would be in 9 years from now. What I can tell you is that what we’d like to achieve over the next nine years is investigating new markets. We’ve got our finger on the pulse of some emerging areas that we’d like to be involved in as we look to new markets, and it’d be also interesting to have some different Ascentum offices. We have our small office in Toronto and our virtual presences in California and Washington, but it would be nice to have another small office across the pond in the EU. It’d be great to do some work there. So I think in the next nine years, I see only good things for Ascentum. Only continued growth. It’ll be great to have new people on board. We know we’ll have to deal with change; change is a part of life. But I look forward to the next nine years. It’s been an outstanding first nine, and I only hope that the next nine are as rewarding as our first nine years.
Holly: Thanks for tuning in, and make sure to follow us @ascentum on Twitter.
-Holly Clark-
Tags: 9th birthday, Joe Peters, Public Participation
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