Becoming a Social Organization

I’ve been considering how best to expand my social organization in a way that will be of the best benefit to my department (Retail Marketing) and in doing the reading this week I think I can tap in to Chatter to expand my visibility to the field sales team and create a better dialogue with those working outside the office. At this point in time Chatter is generally only used to post pictures of beer displays or events we are participating in. Most of the current images posted are done by the field sales representative and is pretty much the place they have “bragging rights” to show what they’re independently working on around the country.

My role in my company is the management of all point-of-sale items, which means one day I’m sourcing a neon sign and t-shirts, and next day searching for a new suite of coasters and glassware for a bar promotion. I have admittedly underutilized the Chatter feature of Sharepoint as a visual communication tool and I want to become more proactive in the sales and placement of the POS, as opposed to be reactive when the outside sales force contacts me. In The Social Organization, Bradley and McDonald offer a section on how to develop an organizational vision for community collaboration, and I’ll filter my plans for collaborations improvement through the four activities outlined on page 31:

• Understand when community collaboration is appropriate
• Know where community collaboration is more likely to deliver value
• Apply and understanding of your organization’s goals and culture
• Craft an organizational vision for community collaboration 

I can see the value in utilizing Chatter to promote the Retail Marketing items, and helping sales fulfills the 2014 organizational goals of growing top and bottom line growth. With this new direction I spent time this morning logging in to Chatter – something I haven’t done in AT LEAST six months – and followed every person in my company, from the CEO down to the replenishment planners and graphic designers. My plan is to spend the next week logging in to Chatter and really looking and cataloging what people are posting. There is a section for “What the Competition is Doing” and that will be a good place for me to get ideas for new products. Once I’ve had a chance to review what is being posted, I will start doing some posting myself. Every week – if not daily – I have new point-of-sale items I can post a picture of, which will let the sales team know these items are out there and help create interest. Further, I can use this as an outlet to push some of the older, slower selling items I have collecting dust on the warehouse shelves . I am also going to review this with my manager and see if there is a solid platform to create a Retail Marketing Group in Chatter, and get the support of the field managers to encourage their team to follow us. I think this can turn in to a pretty awesome organizational collaboration tool.

In a way, it’s sad this hasn't been done already because it seems like such a fast and easy, non-intrusive way to communicate to the field and help move items that help sell beer.

References:
Bradley, A., & McDonald, M. (2011). The social organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.