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9 Valuable Social Business Insights From My Visit to Lowe’s HQ

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Usually when I go to a company I give a keynote, participate in a panel, give a workshop or coach one or more people.  Yes, I learn from them, but usually I am the one doing the teaching and trying to energize them for the changes that are happening (or they want to happen) in their company.

Last week I spent two days at the Lowe’s HQ in North Carolina (the campus is beautiful, BTW!) and did all the same things.  This time I came away more energized by being with them.  It was a wonderful experience!

They brought in everyone on the “social” team, plus people from around the company – people who worked on the floor of a store, cashiers, people from HQ, those with managerial or regional responsibilities around the US – those who they felt were at the front of using collaborative technologies.  They also brought a few of us in to give them more ideas.  It was also a “Thanks!” to all those people as well.

I gained some great insights that couldn’t sit dormant.  THEY MUST BE SHARED!

1. Don’t Forget to Energize & Recognize

Whether it is full time or just part of your job, trying to work in a more open way using collaborative technologies is exhausting.  You WILL get beat up.  You often feel as if you are not making that much progress. Much of that is because you see all that can be done and how far away you are!

But, you don’t give up.  You fight the fight, wishing that it wasn’t a fight.

This group was brought together and learned that they were not alone!  They were validated and learn that they share the same struggles as others.  Then, they learned of ways to overcome those stuggles.  What a breath of fresh air!

Just to know you are not crazy is one thing, but there was almost a sense of relief.  In addition, there was a bit of Rocky motivation – you can do this!

2. Play is Good

At work?  Yes, at work.

I see that it does two things.  It helps everyone remember that they are humans with creativity, originality and feelings, not just cogs in the corporate machine.  THAT, in and of itself, is liberating!

But does that help the business?  Absolutely!  In this case, Lowe’s allowed a Zombie community.  If I remember correctly, it is one of the most popular communities.

Many would scoff and say, “No way!  That type of discussion wastes so much time!”  That is one way to look at it.

Another way would be to look at the discussion itself.  If you did you would find that it discussed ways to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse!  More waste of time?  No, not when it focused on preparations using materials you can find at Lowe’s.

Suddenly, you have side conversations saying, “Wait, I didn’t know we carried that!  How do I get that in my store?” or “You can do that with XXXX?  Really?!”  They were sharing and learning product knowledge from each other – information they would never have never learned through basic training.

3. Unadoption

I gave a workshop on the Adoption Index I created from the book Diffusion of Innovation by Everett Rogers.  We were talking about forcing adoption and Bryan Burleson mentioned “unadoption,” how we not only try to get them to do the new, but stop them from doing the old.

It is difficult to get groups to do something new, but getting them to quit the old, out dated habit might even be harder. Thus, “unadoption” becomes important as well.  Thanks, Bryan!

4. Botox Your Personality

When Victoria Labalme mentioned this, I thought about how this is something I do.  I want to fit the part, instead of being me.

Really, we need do both, but I err on the side of what others expect.

In fact, when packing for this trip I forgot to put in my belt.  I was all set to go on after Victoria and button up my jacket so no one noticed my faux pax.

But when I heard that, I thought, “Who cares!”  I went down on stage and left the jacket unbuttoned.  And do you know what it did?  It helped me be me – more comfortable on stage, rather than worrying about my belt (which wasn’t a big deal in the long run).  Thanks, Victoria!

5. Invite Royalty

As I mentioned, they invited those most active in the community – and they treated them (and us) like royalty.  I kept hearing, “We never get this treatment!  This is nice!”

What it did was show appreciation for something these employees didn’t NEED to do.  For most of them it is not in their job description, but they are putting the in effort.  How nice it was to be recognized!

I know it went a LONG way to energizing the group.  It also showed how much Lowe’s is dedicated to social business.

6. A Caring CEO

They had their CEO, Robert Niblock, come speak to them.  As busy as he is with a 200K+ employee company, he took the time to formally welcome them and tell the group how important this is to him and the company as a whole.

Then, although most did not know this, he was following up to see how the symposium was going.  He really cared about it and he showed it.

By the way, Robert is very active in their internal community.  He regularly blogs and comments.

One story I heard was that they had to close 20 stores.  Instead of hiding behind PR releases & an internal memo, he went on the internal community with the COO and talked about what was happening.  Not only a post, but commenting to the comments that were being made and interacting with the employees.

Instead of an internal nightmare, the response was overwhelmingly positive.  It shows what a caring CEO and true communication (not just informing) can do.

7. Guilty over Lack of Email

Kim Loeun, on the social business team, told me that as she used their internal tool, fewer emails came through.  Then a curious thing happened.

She felt GUILTY!

Why? In our corporate cultures, too many times the number of emails one receives is directly linked to how successful we feel!  She felt as if she was not being as productive because there were not as many emails coming through.  Then she realized that – hey – that’s a good thing!

Productivity is redefined!

She is right.  Too often we feel our sense of worth is based on our email – because that’s how we get work done, right?

Just because that is right, doesn’t mean it is right (catch my drift)?

8. Radical Ideas Scare People

OK, they are not all my original idea by any means.  But they are ideas that, surprisingly, few know about.  And they do scare many people.

In my keynote I challenged them to “think outside the bun.”  Ask questions about topics we take for granted.

For example, I asked the question, “Why do we have vacation and sick leave?  What would happen if we got rid of it and focused more on the actual work that needs to get done?”  That seemed to create a little stir immediately.

One person went back and asked other managers what they thought of the idea.  In her words…

“…it was…unsettling, to say the least.  The first reaction is concern about people “abusing” the system…taking a month of vacation or something along those lines.  My response was “who cares?” because the focus should be on the work that’s produced, not how much time someone’s taking.  If they aren’t doing their work, address it.  They couldn’t grasp the concept and towards the end of the conversation there was something very close to panic in their voices.  I mean, they PANICKED just thinking about someone taking more vacation time then what they thought was appropriate.  I almost felt bad for them.  Almost.”

Since then, she has been asking similar questions and watching the reaction – and it has been very enlightening (as well as fun to watch)!

What IF we didn’t work the way we are working now?  What if there was a better way?

Well, there is.  But that will have to wait until another post (actually, it is many future posts).

9. It’s About the People

Not that I didn’t know this, but the Lowe’s symposium once again drove it home.

Business is about people.

We get lost thinking it is about products, processes, competition, vendors, and the list goes on.  Sure, but what is at the base?  People.

And Lowe’s gets it.

Well done, Lowe’s.  If nothing else, you just created another loyal customer.

 

Age Decreases Usage: Social Business Failure #15

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Age: We hear it all the time.

“The young guys coming in – they all know how to use this stuff.  If we can get them on board we will have an easier time with people adopting our social tool.”

I agree.  And I fully disagree.

If you can get the younger workforce to adopt your tool, then (imagine this) more people will have adopted your tool.  But we can’t think that just because they are young means that they will use it – because that’s not necessarily true.

The example that sticks out most to me is a time when I was doing some analysis for a customer on who was using their social tool and who was not (back a few years ago when all of this was still young).  I found one fresh-out-of-college gal who never used it.  Why?  It didn’t have anything to do with her job.  On the opposite end I found a 55+ woman who swore by it.  She used it all the time.  Why?  Because how she used it was woven into how she did her job.

This can’t be said loudly enough: Age has very, very, very little to do with social technology adoption within an organization – it is age agnostic.  I have found that those who are younger are more willing to use it and those who are older (generally) are less willing to use it.  But when it comes to actual usage, I could not find a correlation.

The strongest correlation for adoption if it became a part of how they worked.  If it was an extra add-on responsibility, they didn’t use it, no matter the age.

 

Previous Social Business Failures:

Forget About the Human Experience: Social Business Failure #13

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Disney got the human experience right.  From the moment you walk up to Disneyland, you are in another world.  The environment is set to walk you through an experience.  From the layout of the streets, to the paths you walk, to the music, sights and colors.  There is a story behind it all and you are led fluidly from one experience to another.

Contrast this with a discussion I have had many times…

Me: “When employees log in to their computers, they should be able to open up this tool and automatically be logged in.”

Them: “We can’t do this. It is against policy.”

“If we don’t, they won’t use it.  If it is a pain to get to, they won’t use it.”

“But policy says, ‘blah blah blah.’  This is something we need to follow.  If they want to use the tool, they will follow these policies.”

“But the policies are based off of out dated assumptions.  The simple fact is, if it is not super easy to get to, adoption will suffer.  So we have a choice, either we change or ignore the policy or we abandon the effort.  Which is more important?”

This is one of many, many instances I have run across where we bang our head against the wall because what people want and what the company is willing to give them are very different.  We have all seen programs, incentives and tools go untouched simply because they don’t take the humans into account.

With software tools, we often talk about UX – or User eXperience.  When the user steps up to the tool, what kind of an experience will they have?

In a conversation on Google+, Rachel Happe and I came up with a new twist on UX, “HX  = Human eXperience, the art of creating, optimizing and enhancing experiences around ‘organizational identity, values and goals.'”

When we focus on the human and their relationship to the organization, everything else works out because we are focusing on that which changes – and we expect it.  In contrast, if we focus on the organization (something we try to optimize and keep steady) and try to mold the humans into it we find that it backfires.

In the end, what do we learn?  Remember the humans. Rather than viewing them as a necessary part of the organization, see them as the organization itself.

 

Social Business Failure #9: Make Policy Ugly

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Social Media Policy almost seems like an oxymoron.  Whereas “Social Media” is supposed to open, transparent, emergent and free flowing, policy is rigid, structured and often unforgiving.

I have read many social media policies.  Some are great, others are ugly.  The ones that are ugly forget that they are to be read by a human, not an autobot.  They are so lengthy and full of legalese that they pretty much guarantee that no one will read them.  And if no one reads them, what good are they except to be used as a force of punishment?

Hint #1: Write it in a way that will be read.  When done correctly the reader feels informed and empowered, not confused and stifled.

Many times a policy is not needed.  Why?  Because everything they need to say is already in other policy statements.  Sometimes all that is needed is direction.

Hint #2: Write guidelines and pull in policy from other places.  This way you don’t have to write everything all over again.

And Hint #3: Read other company policies and guidelines.  There are a TON out there.  Then (Hint #4) get someone who understands social business to write it.  Don’t let a generalist in legal, HR, or IT get their hands on it until after a good solid draft is done.

At that point run it by them and get their feedback.  They will most likely have some great insights.

You might even have a little fun with it…

Social Business Failure #8: Workflow Integration

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The NUMBER ONE way to best implement any internal social business initiative is to integrate it into the workflow.  I have been preaching this for years and cannot stress it enough.

This will be a short post because I want you to go read Laurie Buczek’s post, The Big Failure of Enterprise 2.0 Social Business.  Not only is it spot on, but her example is perfect.  I spoke with her about a month ago about her experiences and her frustrations and I recognized them all too well in what I have worked on.  But I really couldn’t share our phone conversation.  Thankfully, she did a fabulous job of it in this post.

I agree with Sameer Patel‘s comment on her post that the money phrase was, “Lack of cultural change is not social business’s biggest failure.  The biggest failure is the lack of workflow integration to drive culture change.”

Then, Dion Hinchcliffe added to it.  Well done yet again!

Go read these two.  Stop reading this.  Go!

Social Business Failure #7: Give Them Another Option

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Tomorrow I am speaking at the NASA IT Summit. Last night I saw an act that encapsulated the essence of this failure. The evening open reception had (my guess) over 1000 people. There was food, an open bar and tables and chairs. Most people were standing in small groups talking. The environment was set up to encourage mingling and discussion. But they scheduled a speaker during that time.

About 30 minutes into it, the emcee introduced the speaker. The speaker at the beginning asked for about five minutes of our time. No one stopped talking. About 30 seconds into it, she said, “Hello. Excuse me. Could I please have your attention? This is really important.” Then she kept talking and so did everyone else. About two minutes into it, emcee her took over and said, “Will you please give her your attention? Let’s show some courtesy and listen to the speaker.”

Nothing they could do stopped the talking and mingling. Why? They set the environment one way and then completely contradicted it. The audience chose the path of least resistance and ignored the speaker.

We do the same thing. We give multiple options to social business and then are disappointed when it doesn’t work. I have seen so many people take this shotgun approach to social business and it just doesn’t work.

I know of one CEO who started blogging in one place, then his IT team gave him another. Now his posts go to both places. Comments made on one blog don’t populate to the other. So the effect is only half as good.

I have seen teams say, “We want you to blog.” Then no one does and they are disappointed that “blogging” didn’t work. Of course it didn’t! They didn’t have a reason to blog.

KEY: You have to have a reason to do anything, including using social media. No reason = no use.

I once listened to a keynote speech by Tim O’Reilly (who made the term “WEB 2.0” popular). He said, in essence, “How do you get people to use Web 2.0? Force them.” At the time I thought it was harsh – but he is right. The more and more I thought about it, if you give options, people will take the path of least resistance.

What is normally that path? The status quo – what they are used to and comfortable with. Why would that team blog if they have email? Why would those at the reception stop talking?

So how do you “force them?” Take away other options. For example, you may ask a critical question of your team, but put it on a social business platform where, if they want to talk about it, they NEED to go there. Or put key information in a your platform. Make it a part of how you are doing business.

We don’t need to be harsh about this at all. Just make it easy to become engaged in social business.

Social Business Failure #6: Go Cheap

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Imagine this happy couple’s future wedding anniversary.   And imagine her excitement when he says, “I’ve got this one planned, honey (schnookums, poodle, whatever).

The day comes and he surprises his spouse with a trip to the local Golden Arches.  He gets a weird look shot at him and he respond with, “Ya, I know it’s cheap, but it IS dinner.  At least we are doing that!  But wait for the after dinner festivities!”

So, they slug through some Quarter Pounders with cheese, fries, a drink and of course a hot fudge sundae shared.  Then they leave with promises that the next adventure will be better.  They round the corner and the big SEARS signs welcomes them.  None too excited, she goes along with it.  They walk in and he says, ” I know you have always wanted a ___(fill in the blank)____ and now we can get one.”  She is excited!  They go over to the (FITB) section and she says, “Let’s get a sales guy to help us pick out the best one and learn how to use it.”

“Oh, no can do.  You see, I worked out a deal with them.  If I don’t ask for help we will get it for cheaper.”

“But how will we know which one to choose?  And how will we learn how to use it?”

“Ya, well, we will have to figure that one out on our own.  Sure, it will take longer, but think about the amount of money we are saving!”

It is about this time that we, as readers of the story, can take a step back and laugh, knowing that this would never happen in real life.

Oh, wait.

Companies do this constantly.  I have seen this so many times (and I am sure you have, too).  Can we expect this couple to stay happily married for long?  Probably not.  Why?  Where is his focus?  What about the relationship between company and employee?  Aren’t both the husband and company just looking out for the bottom line, doing what is best fiscally?  If that is truly all they can do, then that might be the sweetest gift.  Yet so many times we know that isn’t the case.

When we go cheap with social business we might look for the free software (at least on the front end) and not consider anything else.  Or maybe not put the technical resources behind it to make sure it runs well.  Or maybe not hire someone who knows how to help a company adopt it (hoping the “build it and they will come” might work).

But it never does.  Here is the low down.  It will take the money.  Remember, this is not about technology.  If you do it on the cheap it reflects on you.  Do it right.  If you decide to jump into social business, do it right.  Hire the right people.  Buy the right software. Put it on the right hardware.  Give the team the time and resources they need to do it right.  Not that you have to be extravagant, but put the commitment forth that will lead to success.  If you are throwing it out there just to appease, I would suggest not doing it at all.

Social Business Failure #3: Ignore Others Who Have Done This Before

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UPDATE: Join the discussion already in progress on G+

Let me be clear, using “social business” necessitates working in a new way.  And unless you do it, chances are you won’t fully understand it.  You MUST participate to “get it.”

You may understand this, but those who you may work for probably won’t.

Too many people think they get it and feel satisfied with their decision to ignore social technologies and working a new way.  During the E2.0 Conference a number of us met with Sandy Carter, VP of Social Business & Collaboration Solutions for IBM.  She told us that some executives have decided to “opt out.”  Clearly they don’t get it, even though they think they do.

This is like my kids who want so badly to drive.  They see how effortlessly my wife and I drive, they think they have judged the situation correctly and can drive as well.  But when they finally get behind the wheel, the game changes.  All the stimulus is overwhelming: the amount of pressure to apply to the gas or brake, where to look when, how quickly to turn the wheel, when to change gears, when to use the turn signal and change the radio volume at the same time as making sure they stay in the correct lane and don’t crash into the vehicle in front of them.  Suddenly, the chance for making a mistake skyrockets.

Even more dangerous than those who opt out of social business are those that think they get it, but don’t, but still want to move forward on their own without help.  Why?  If/When they fail, they may blame it on social technologies and not go back or it will put a sour taste in the mouths of the employees or customers.

Trust me, those who have been in the business for some time have made the mistakes and can help you avoid them.

Yet I still find myself going to organizations who tell me they are going to try to do something without asking if it will work.  For example, one organization said to me, “We are going to have an IT fair and there we will ask people what they think of social technologies.  From that we should find some pretty interesting information.  Then we can move forward.”  Not a horrible idea, but when the IT fair is 4 months away, it has been done before in the same mother organization and I could have told them exactly the feedback they were going to receive, they will have just wasted six precious months of non-delivery to their employees.

The lesson: Don’t try to do social business by yourself. Ask others who have done it before.  They have some experience and knowledge which may be able to help you.  They have seen what works and what does not – how to recognize and avoid the roadblocks and how to recognize opportunities you may not be able to see.

In reality, this advice could go with just about ANY aspect of business. It isn’t unique or new to social business.

 

 

Social Business Failure #2: Rely on Stats

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(THIS IS THE 2nd POST IN A WEEKLY THEME OF SOCIAL BUSINESS FAILURES WITH THE INTENT TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER. PLEASE ALLOW US TO LEARN FROM YOU BY POSTING YOUR COMMENTS BELOW.)

When I first tried to introduce social technologies to a company I learned one of my biggest lessons: Stats can only go so far.

I was asked to create a presentation for the Executives on social technologies and why we should use them. The charts focused on facts and figures: what social technology is, why we would benefit from it, the assumed ROI, etc. Honestly, it was a poor attempt because there were very little information about this working inside an organization. Coming up with numbers and facts was difficult.

Two (out of many) hurdles loomed in front of me: my boss and the Director of IT.

My boss thought it was a good idea, but he wasn’t sold.  At least until he experienced the value first hand.  At that point, I could have given him lousy stats and facts – it would not have mattered because he experienced it and knew for himself the value.

The Director of IT was against me during this whole process.  One day he came to me and said, “I was going to shut this whole project down yesterday (because it was not going as smooth as other IT projects).  But I decided to give it one more chance and I spent all night researching what you were trying to do.  I get it now and I am behind you 100 percent.  Tell me what you need me to do.”

From these experiences I learned that 1) experiences & 2) stories (in that order) are much more powerful than stats. Granted, we have to have the stats, but the heart will beat out numbers any day.  Stats don’t move us to action – our emotions do.  When we hear stories that resonate and when we have an experience, our emotions play a big part in how we will react.  Shoot for the heart, not only the mind.

Questions to answer:

  1. How can we capture stories?
  2. What should we do with the stories?
  3. What if an executive only wants the stats or only gives you time to present stats?
  4. How do you help people create their own experiences?

I’d love your feedback!