Last updated: 13 January 2010
A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO SOCIAL LEARNING
How to deal with sceptical managers

Although some managers "get it" and understand the power of “social “, others view it as time-wasting or social NOT-working, so they will need to help to appreciate the value of a social and collaborative approach to learning and working. 

• Benefits: Focus on the business benefits rather than the technology and how "cool" the technology is.  See

  • Drivers for social learning

  • Examples of use of social learning in workplace

• Work or play? Differentiating between the two activities may be difficult if public, stand-alone social tools are adopted for organisation use, e.g. Facebook.  If managers want to limit time on social media tools, explain they should be more concerned with performance.  If productivity and performance suffer, then clearly the individual is not spending enough time on the relevant activities and working effectively.  The responsibility should lie with the individual to use the tools only as and when appropriate, not on the manager to control/manage it for them.

  • See The productivity myth: step away from Twitter - get back to work, Joshua.Michele Ross, O'Reilly Rader, 31 July 2009

• Manage objections: these may be

  • budget  -  a lot can be done for free

  • uncertainty  - start small and build out - although with social media you often need an optimum size for things to work successfully

  • information overload - 21st century life is information-heavy; it just needs to be handled

  • loss of control  - they never had control anyway, e.g. how do they control what's in emails or what people say to each other in the canteen - in fact this gives them MORE control - they can see and correct erroneous statements.

• Terminology: If you are opting for a social media platform of some sort, don't refer to it as "social networking" as this conjures up images of (the trivial side of) Facebook, but rather as a social learning or  collaboration platform.  Using the right "name" will be key.

• Demonstrate: Show  the value of social learning through use of social media tools for your own personal learning and for your team's learning and performance support, as well as demonsrate the use of social learning and collaboration in other organisations.  Demonstrate too how managers could benefit personally from using social media tools.  They will buy-in to the need to "keep up with the Joneses"!

  • Here's a list of external resources on How to sell social media to cynics, skeptics and luddites - tips, resources and advice (from Interactive Insights)

  • How to convince your skeptical boss social media has merit, Katya Anderson, Beth's blog

  • Here's 5 habits of successful executives on Twitter, Bruce Philip, Mashable, 12 June 2009