Part IV. Feeling Good About Being Social

This is part four in the multi part mini-series and follow up to Part III. Creating The Common Treasury

Measuring Success

The real value question remained, however: how did one effectively manage the metrics associated with the management, cost, expense, and deployment of many of the collaboration suites? What were the metrics that provided value to the executives and what provided value to the participants?

It is this last statement that I want to key in on. There was often a focus on providing real qualitative and analytical data feedback to support the social software initiatives to the executives but is this the area that you should really be spending time analyzing? Think about the success of any collaboration platform and ask who it is that really derives, and subsequently as a result, provides the benefit.

Should you not be measuring the success of the participants of the collaboration more than measuring the platform itself?

Evaluating the Growth

There is a base assumption that we must make – that employees represent a quality asset and provide returns to our investment. How often have you heard from management that “our people are our best asset?” Well, if this is the case, then the judgment of those employees should suffice for the entirety of the feedback. This measurement should be as simple as we can define for each tool we consider a part of the suite.

1. Are you aware of the following software? Yes/No
2. Have you participated in anyway using the following software? Yes/No
3. Has the Software has been of Value to you Personally? Yes/No
4. Has the Software has been of Value to you in your Course of Work? Yes/No
   
5. Would the loss of the Software have a significantly negative impact? Yes/No
   

Please continue to provide specific feedback through your continued participation.

Participation is encouraged by all management.

But why this simple? Why can’t we do better to measure the overall organization improvements?

The truth of the matter is that if you believe the content of the question is what mattered in the above then you are mistaken.  Employees rarely tell the truth in questionnaires unless there’s a compelling reason to and when there is not compelling reason they invent one. What matters is that the participation is encouraged.  In many ways the questions are irrelevant to the goal of creating opportunity for creative use of the platform.

Institutionalization of metrics and measurements destroys the very organic nature of ideas and creative and critical thinking. There is a striking parallel between organic food and the organic nature of ideas. Organic food has, for the most part, a higher cost burden but the reward comes in an enriched flavor and health benefits (allegedly)…but that’s not the parallel.

The parallel is the feel good factor of organic produce.