Why No One Uses the Corporate Social Network
▻https://hbr.org/2015/04/why-no-one-uses-the-corporate-social-network
I recently spoke with the leadership team of a top Silicon Valley technology firm that had installed an internal enterprise collaboration platform for its employee engagement and collaboration efforts. After an initial spike in adoption, usage slowly dwindled. It was a disappointing outcome and they wanted to know how to fix it, or if they should maybe just toss it out and invest in a new platform.
As I stood in front of the executive team I posed an opening question: “How many of you have been on the platform in the past week?”
Only a single hand went up – the administrator of the platform.
The problem was simple and obvious – because the top executives didn’t see collaboration and engagement as a good use of their time, employees quickly learned that they shouldn’t either.
More than anything else, they fear that engaging will close the power distance between them and their employees, thereby lessening their ability to command and control.