Resistance
Our biggest struggle can be described as resistance. As in every organization, we have some people who resist change in their technology, their processes and their routines. Any organizational initiative encounters all of these. But saying that there is resistance doesn't really help us understand why, or how to overcome it.
Fear
There's a good bit of fear underlying some of the resistance, and fear can be tough to dispel, since it's not necessarily a rational response. But many fears are, indeed, grounded in solid experiences and so merit a thoughtful response.
What are some people afraid of? I think we can group the fears into several categories:
- theft, espionage, betrayal -- the tool will make us vulnerable
- legal liability -- people will use the tool in ways that expose us to legal penalties
- inaccuracy, errors, misleading information -- it will become a garbage heap
- chaos, disorder, sloppiness -- it will be inefficient and ineffective
- wasted time, idle chatter, not serious -- it will be a distraction
- making mistakes, being shown up, looking foolish -- it will expose people unflatteringly
Well, now that I have listed all of those out, that's a pretty scary list of fears! And there probably are more...
Lack of Resources and Time
One of the toughest struggles I face is the difficulty of getting people to commit resources and time when they are already stretched thin. It's a tough economy out there and we're running lean and mean like everyone these days. It takes time to learn to use new technology, more time to master advanced features and even more to really get the most out of it. And time is not something people have a lot of during their workday anymore.
It also takes resources to support this technology and develop online communities. Although we've found a clear correlation between having an effective community manager and getting real value from the system, we still have areas which have not committed sufficient resources to this role. That's holding back our overall adoption rate and the community's effectiveness for the enterprise. It's a tough challenge.
Misunderstanding and Misinformation
Another battle we're fighting is misunderstanding. Some people assume they know what social media is about, and that it has little to offer them. Some have "heard" one thing or another, assumed that was true, and have written off the significance of what we're trying to do as a result. But many others just don't have any idea what the full potential of this technology is, and lacking any experience with it or context to place it in, have simply tuned it out as yet another confusing computer system that may go away if they ignore it long enough.
Skepticism
I'm a skeptic, so I can relate to this sentiment. It's over-hyped. It's a fad. What's the catch? This too shall pass. It's not proven. And so on.
Just Don't Like It
Let's make one more catch-all category, even broader than resistance. It's not a very actionable category -- hard to know how to address people in this group -- but there are some people who simply don't like using the technology. It's not productive to call them names (Luddites!), and it's a real challenge to win them over, but they are out there. Some don't like aspects of the particular technology we've chosen (it's too slow, too confusing, it doesn't do this or that, etc.), but some wouldn't like any technology we selected for this purpose. I think it's fair and reasonable to say that social media technology simply is not for everyone.
All right, that's a longer and more comprehensive list of our struggles than I've ever come up with before. It's not as much fun to talk about the obstacles we're facing, but it's a necessary step in overcoming them. Time to get to work on addressing each of these!
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