Infor wanted to increase open and transparent communication between employees, partners, customers, prospects and even competitors. Using new social tools, the objectives were improved relationships, giving a voice to everyone, driving innovation, improving efficiencies and increasing revenues.
Because each of these groups has distinct needs, reservations, and intentions, the first step was to spend a lot of time listening and asking questions.
One of the primary barriers was people felt they needed permission to lead open communication. Many people were predisposed to managing or being managed, so a cultural shift needed to occur. Armed with these insights, a strategy formulated ‘Engage, Educate, and Enable,’ using both a top down as well as a bottom up methodology.
A central group was formed to oversee this strategy, though this group did not manage or dictate policy. It had a hub and spoke structure to empower others to ‘own’ and execute the communications.
Guidelines and best practices were formulated – staying away from policy – and then a series of technology platforms were chosen: Yammer for employees, LinkedIn for partners and customers, and Twitter for other external audiences, especially thought leaders. Launch was May 2010, with a strong employee focus.
The implementation: leaders by example
Using a top down as well as bottom up approach was invaluable since both groups demonstrated different forms of leadership.
For the bottom up approach Infor enlisted the help of young, socially savvy new hires to start sharing and leading by example. They used an existing program for the new starters, called ‘Green Beans’ and held sessions on social media where a process of mutual learning took place.
The new personnel welcomed the opportunity to engage with industry veterans, where their ideas were debated in an open dialogue. Younger people don’t have the baggage of communication conventions, and use technology that they grew up with. This leadership is infectious and drives others to experiment and engage. This has changed attitudes within various pockets of the business.
From a top down perspective, executives were enlisted, including the CEO to create short videos, encouraging employees to engage on our various channels. Given that many were C-level within the organisation, this participation opened the door to others who were afraid to engage.
A month long campaign was also run that included an online scavenger hunt, where employees would visit our various social platforms, discover conversations, and answer a series of questions about them. At the end of the month, four entrants, selected at random from around the world won a prize. This was designed to introduce best practices, as well as expose employees to the open communication. This began via Yammer and LinkedIn, with discussion of the campaign and then engaging with partners and customers.
In June began focused education sessions for employees and partners on how to leverage open communication for their business goals. Each department or team had different needs and levels of expertise, so training was tailored to each. This is currently ongoing, with specific training on tools and techniques on different platforms.
Results: change and development
With this strong foundation, a profound cultural shift can be seen. New types of relationships are being encouraged through openness, sharing, and a greater sense of trust. Tools like Yammer and LinkedIn are accelerating this shift and there is no turning back now.
This program was one of the most effective Infor has ever undertaken. Everyone in the organisation was exposed to the campaign and ultimately one third of all employees connected via Yammer, with a significant subset on LinkedIn connecting with customers and partners. Total connections on LinkedIn increased by 160 per cent, and connections via Twitter grew by 50 per cent.
Yammer activity has increased from about 1,500 to around 7,000 posts a month (a 367 per cent increase) over the past six months. These posts come from the most entry level positions all the way to senior management.
The company continues to see about a 10 per cent per month increase in the adoption of these channels and using what it has learnt, has redesigned its website to increase engagement by visitors, including employees.
Qualitatively, these impacts have created a closer organisation. Various teams now create new blogs, Twitter profiles and engage in other social channels in a more authentic way.
One of the biggest obstacles along the way was in changing people’s perceptions and fear by encouraging them to express and share ideas. One of the ways this was overcome was by keeping the strategy itself very open and transparent. Employees, partners, and customers all had a voice in how the campaign was shaped. For example, using Yammer, employees gave immediate feedback on what was (and was not) working with video communications. Future communication was modified based on this feedback, keeping everything open and transparent. Any initial errors were overshadowed by how we responded and took action.
This has changed the way Infor looked at ‘failure’ – seeing it now as another opportunity to learn and further refine what it does.
