In my last blog on Enterprise Social Collaboration series, I was indicating about the benefits of how an employee profile could be a big starting point for organizations to begin their employee engagement programs. We live in a connected world where we are in touch with people constantly, share information with them like never before, whereas knowledge in the workplace often remains in silos or with individuals in their respective locations. This means that when the employee moves to another location or project or leaves the company, the knowledge goes along with him / her. This is a huge drawback for organizations as they are missing out a competitive edge (i.e., the experience and ideas of their employees). In order to maximize the success in workplaces, it is important to have the skill sets and accomplishments in one place and make it visible to the rest of the company.  This is where Employee Profile helps and leaves a starting point for collaboration to begin in the organization thereby helping to build and execute ideas.

Generally, Human mind wants to hear and be heard. If this is an emotional need of the people that organizations employ, are we giving the right engagement platform to people that addresses the following:

1. Are people encouraged to share what they know?
2. Are employees empowered with tools that allow them to socialize their experience to benefit the business?
3. How do business leaders share their vision and solicit feedback today?
4. Could the effectiveness of corporate or executive communications be improved?

It is in addressing these challenges, employee profiles becomes a starting point and this can be further strengthened by allowing the employees to build their own internal social network within the organization. In a way, it serves the emotional need of an employee to be visible amongst his / her colleagues. When employees are given a platform to communicate and collaborate, they are able to connect their knowledge with their colleagues and this often gives an opportunity for voices to be heard. Meeting this emotional need of employees increases collaboration, motivates them to perform and more importantly it meets the implied need of “I am heard”.

Here are the top three reasons to implement social network within an organization:

1.  Internal networks provide a forum for knowledge-sharing. An online network gives employees the opportunity to share key insight and best practices with the rest of the organization, increasing the reach of that knowledge and inspiring other employees to continue their own development. Ideas are no longer contained to employees’ own silos, but rather spread through the organization in a way that encourages individuals to expand on that knowledge, work with each other, and heightens employee engagement.

2.   Encourage status and project updates. With online networks, employees can amplify the reach of their accomplishments by broadcasting their wins and achievements on their wall. Even “unsung heroes” can highlight their accomplishments in a public way, allowing managers and peers to have a better understanding of top performers and provide recognition accordingly.

3. They encourage recognition that enforces the right behaviors. Now that accomplishments are in a public space, employees have the opportunity to thank and recognize their teammates for completed goals and wins that contribute to the company’s success, that they may otherwise not have had the chance to call out, inspiring continued performance and increasing employee engagement.

Increasing individual visibility isn’t about bragging – it’s about amplifying your company’s top performers’ experience, knowledge bases, and accomplishments, encouraging collaboration and recognition, which overall increases productivity and employee engagement.

Conclusion

As we have seen above, by introducing Social Networks within an organization can lead to so much benefits. This will be your second step of building an engaged workforce. In my next blog, let us cover how various other solutions in Enterprise Social Collaboration space benefit to employees and organizations.

Disclaimer: This is a contributed post. The statements, opinions and data contained are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of People Matters and the editor(s).