It’s difficult to be heard if you aren’t speaking to your listener’s values.

What these different audiences might not understand — and what you can help them realize — is that what they have to gain from enterprise social media is directly related to what their coworkers, their managers and company executives have to gain. In the first of this two-part blog series, I’m covering three of six fundamental ways enterprise social media is valuable to adopters at every level of your company.

1.    Knowledge silos come tumbling down.

In a recent interview, Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the MIT Center for Digital Business, recalls a memorable line from Lew Platt, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. As the story goes, Platt looked out across his well-run, highly respected company and said, “If only HP knew what HP knows, we’d be three times more productive.”

When people representing different departments, locations, disciplines and ranks in your company aren’t sharing what they know, opportunities are missed and inefficiencies result. Enterprise social media removes the knowledge silos that inhibit free-flowing communication and engages everyone to create their own knowledge collection.

Instead of relying on a knowledge management team — which is often stuck within certain corporate silos, unable to fully integrate and then disseminate needed information — to create information to be shared, employees are the creators and sharers. Enterprise social media puts the responsibility not on a small group but on all of a company’s employees to put their knowledge in a social, shareable, format that is accessible to all. Everyone is essentially part of the knowledge management team and has access to that shared information.

2.    Employee engagement grows.

Jennifer Sniderman, Sprint’s Manager of Employee Communications Channels and Editorial Strategies, says the company’s intranet and social media platform are driving knowledge of the Sprint brand and its strategic decisions from the inside out. Employees who receive a more personal explanation of the “why” behind corporate’s decisions tend to have more trust in those decisions, she says. Sprint’s internal “Sprint Space” includes 1,300 employee-produced blogs, where hot topics and perspectives are regularly shared. Enterprise social media empowers Sprint employees to participate in the company’s internal conversations, directly supporting its employee engagement.

Employees who are producing their best work see a value and purpose in their jobs. They feel like they are contributing to the greater good. They are happier on the job because they don’t feel powerless. They are a real part of the big picture. This is the heart of employee engagement. Deepening relationships between management and employees is key to growing this kind of collaboration, and enterprise social media helps facilitate it.

3.    Top talent recruitment and retention are supported.

As an employer, you want to retain top talent. As an employee, you want to work for an employer that engages you and provides you with the best tools to succeed. To better understand the value of social media in the workplace, APCO Worldwide and Gagen MacDonald recently surveyed 1,000 U.S. employees. Its findings regarding internal social media (ISM) include:

• 58% of employees would rather work at a company that uses ISM effectively, and 86% would refer others for employment
• 60% of employees say use of internal social media demonstrates innovation
• 61% of employees say their companies’ social media tools help them collaborate
• 39% of employees are more likely to recommend their company’s products and services
• 60% of employees are more likely to support their company when in crisis, and 67% are more likely to support the company’s public policy priorities

The emerging workforce’s expectations of how communication will be handled and information will be shared have a strikingly “social” approach. Because you, as a business owner or human resources executive, have invested time and money in recruiting, hiring and training your team, you want to keep them and promote their growth. The last thing you want is for them to take what they’ve learned from your company and apply it on behalf of another employer. The research indicates that enterprise social can be a valuable tool to engage these top talents so that they will recommend your company’s products and services, support you in crisis and support your public policy priorities.

Check back next week for Part 2 of “How Enterprise Social Media is Valuable to Every Level of Your Company.”

Download a free copy of the white paper.

Our sincere thanks to Ephraim Freed and Chris McGrath at ThoughtFarmer for inviting us to be included in this research. It is always flattering to be quoted alongside Shel Holtz.

For more episodes of 60 Insights, please visit our YouTube channel.

For more episodes of 60 Insights, please visit our YouTube channel.

Andy’s presentation is a live repeat of his popular session from the 2011 Social Intranet Summit.

Extract of the presentation

Inspired by Tony Hsieh’s best selling, Delivering Happiness Book and Jenn Lim’s groundbreaking Delivering Happiness Movement, Andy combines current Positive Psychology research with his many years of experience working with intranets to explore the link between intranets and employee happiness.

Hear about Andy’s presentation topic in his own words:

The Social Intranet Summit Webinar series is every third Wednesday of each month at 10:00am Pacific. Sign up for our newsletter to hear about future webinars.

PS Engage 2011, organized by Public Sector Engage, is a one-day learning and networking event designed to allow attendees to connect with thought leaders and change agents who care about building a Public Service around people and knowledge. One of the conference’s objectives is to bring together a diverse set of people and perspectives relevant to building the Canadian version of “Gov 2.0”.  It is being held at the impressive Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, Ottawa, Ontario on the November 22, 2011.

Andy Jankowski said, “I’m very pleased that I’ve been invited to speak at PS Engage 2011. ‘Government 2.0’ is a fascinating field and I’m looking forward to many discussions on the progress that this being made in Canada.”

Jankowski continued “Intranets have a very important role to play in engaging and connecting employees in Public Service, but they are changing.  I will be speaking about how the traditional ‘top down’ intranet dominated by organizational news is evolving into the digital workplace. This is something much wider in scope that is truly essential for organizations, with a broad range of tools and functions enterprise social and mobile applications.  I’ll also be introducing IBF’s framework for assessing digital environments that delegates can use help their own organizations on this journey.”

PS Engage 2011 is the last speaking engagement of a very busy fall for Jankowski.  He has spoken at the Social Intranet Summit in Vancouver, KMWorld 2011 and the Ragan Communications 2011 Intranet Summit.

To register for PS Engage 2011 please visit http://www.psengage.org

You can also read an interview with Andy Jankowski about his forthcoming presentation at PS Engage by visiting  http://bit.ly/tUOFO3.

About Andy Jankowski

Andy Jankowski is a Global Director of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum.  Over the past 16 years he has served as an advisor for Oracle, JPMorgan Chase, Ernst & Young and Andersen in the area of enterprise collaboration. He is a frequent conference speaker and an avid road cyclist. Andy enjoys connecting people and dots.

Andy holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Hanover College and is currently studying positive psychology.

You can follow Andy Jankowski on Twitter at @andyjankowski.

About PS Engage 2011

PS Engage is a thought-provoking one-day learning and networking event that will provide you with the opportunity to learn from and connect with change-agents and thought-leaders that care about building a Public Service around people and knowledge.

Public Service organizations everywhere are faced with new and dynamic challenges in an environment characterized by limited resources and demographic shifts. To prosper in a sustainable way we will have to make the most of what we know and forge new partnerships. PS Engage weaves together the themes of knowledge sharing, collaboration and mobility with an understanding that it will take many different perspectives to build a culture of collaboration across the Public Sector.

With a pressing need to collaborate and innovate in the public service it has never been more important to learn from others. PS Engage brings thought leaders from around the world together to share their stories of mobilization and success for government 2.0 initiatives. This is an exceptional opportunity to learn key lessons and successful approaches as we shape a unique vision for the application of Web 2.0 technologies and approaches here in Canada.

Conference objectives:

• Put you together with the knowledge and people that can help you create positive change and collaboration
• Bring together a diverse set of people and perspectives relevant to building the Canadian version of Gov 2.0.
• Profile examples of radical change in public service organizations
• Demonstrate the potential for collective learning and mobile networks
• Provide examples of specific techniques in knowledge management collaboration and change

For more information about PS Engage 2011 please visit www.psengage.org

The Conference Board Council on Corporate Communications Strategy is a peer-to-peer network of senior communications and public relations executives. Their latest meeting takes place from 16^th thru 18^thNovember at the Duke Energy Center, Charlotte, NC.

Andy Jankowski said, “I’m honored to be speaking at the next Conference Board Council on Corporate Communications Strategy event.  They’ve organized an amazing line-up of speakers and discussions.  It’s going to be an excellent place for senior corporate communications people to share insights and learn from each other.“

Jankowski continued, “My presentation is titled ‘Intranet Communications and Trends in the Digital Workplace.’  Intranets were the first digital channel for internal communications, but they’re now evolving into something much wider which incorporates other enterprise social and mobile applications.  This is impacting how internal communications operate.  I’ll be talking about some of the trends we’re seeing in leading edge global organizations, as well as IBF’s own framework for assessing digital environments and helping organizations think about where they are on this journey.”

The Conference Board Council is the latest speaking engagement in an extremely busy fall for Jankowski.  His six scheduled conferences and events include appearances at KM World 2011, Social Intranet Summit and a keynote at the Ragan Communications 2011 Intranet Summit.

About Andy Jankowski

Andy Jankowski is a Global Director of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum.  Over the past 16 years he has served as an advisor for Oracle, JPMorgan Chase, Ernst & Young and Andersen in the areas of enterprise communication and collaboration. He is a frequent conference speaker and an avid road cyclist. Andy enjoys connecting people and dots.

Andy holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Hanover College and is currently studying positive psychology.

You can follow Andy Jankowski on Twitter at @andyjankowski

About the Conference Board Council on Corporate Communications Strategy

The Conference Board Council on Corporate Communications Strategy is a peer-to-peer network for senior communications and public relations executives.

The Conference Board Councils bring together professional peers in confidential, dynamic, cross-industry communities to learn from each other’s experiences, draw on the group’s collective insight and our renowned expertise, and collaboratively explore solutions to members’ most pressing business challenges.

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world’s leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

The 2011 Intranet Summit, organized by Ragan Communications, is a one-day conference which brings together thought leaders in the intranet space.  The conference explores various themes including how organisations can fundamentally improve their intranet and integrate social tools. It takes place at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center in Chicago on November 15, 2011.

Andy Jankowski said, “I’m honored to be delivering the opening keynote at such a prestigious event.  When it comes to communication, Ragan are number one and it’s no surprise that they’ve assembled such an excellent line-up including Becky Graebe from SAS and Blair Klein from AT&T.”

Jankowski continued “Social tools are transforming intranets and internal communications. The home page is no longer just a place to publish corporate news. It’s about facilitating real conversations and surfacing content that comes directly from employees.  I’ll be talking about the Intranet Benchmarking Forum’s own Digital Workplace Maturity Model. Based on years of experience benchmarking the world’s leading intranets, this tool can help intranet teams and internal communication functions think strategically about their intranet.  At last you really can use your intranet to deliver more effective messages, increase employee engagement and improve internal processes.”

The keynote at the Ragan Communications 2011 Intranet Summit is the third speaking engagement in a very busy fall for Jankowski. Having already spoken at the Social Intranet Summit and KMWorld 2011, further presentations include an appearance at PS Engage 2011.

To register for the Ragan Communications 2011 Intranet Summit please visit http://bit.ly/qLolfm

About Andy Jankowski

Andy Jankowski is a Global Director of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum.  Over the past 16 years he has served as an advisor for Oracle, JPMorgan Chase, Ernst & Young and Andersen in the areas of enterprise communication and collaboration. He is a frequent conference speaker and an avid road cyclist. Andy enjoys connecting people and dots.

Andy holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Hanover College and is currently studying positive psychology.

You can follow Andy Jankowski on Twitter at @andyjankowski

About the Ragan Communications 2011 Intranet Summit

The Summit takes place on the November 15th at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Centre, Chicago, IL.  Delegates who attend will be able to know how to:

• Establish a governance model that doesn’t stifle employee freedom
• Mature your intranet: know what the modern intranet offers
• Recruit younger workers to “reverse-mentor” leaders on what social business really means
• Create a content calendar that will keep the intranet fresh and up-to-date
• Write good online content—it takes longer than you think
• Pull your organization out of the unproductive, reply-all email pit
• Engage employees through personal connections on workplace social networks
• Get intensified employee engagement: Create gaming and rewards on your intranet
• Integrate critical enterprise applications into your intranet in a way that engages users
• And so much more!

You can find out more information at http://bit.ly/qLolfm