The enterprise collaboration technology market has changed significantly since I was IDC’s first social software market analyst in 2007. On the external/customer side, large social networks gobbled up the market, which reverted to a renewed emphasis on advertising vs engagement as social network operators squeezed out more revenue and profits. On the internal side, Microsoft
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Lack of accountability in the workplace is often framed as the responsibility of individuals or managers. It is seen as something created by bad actors; employees who are particularly toxic or manipulative. While there are no doubt plenty of people who are manipulative, they do not behave that way in a vacuum. The behavior persists
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The Language of Engagement is a communication style that invites response, collaboration, and different perspectives. It is common in education, non-profits, and therapy but used much less frequently in work and business environments. In fact, many best practices in corporate communications, leadership development, and business schools discourage it in favor of declarative language that makes
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Joyful workplaces are not generally strategic goals for senior executives. Engaged maybe. Efficient definitely… but joyful? Executives would do well to reconsider. At first blush, joy seems like a nice to have but it is actually a strategic strength; for employees it is compelling, addictive, and stress-reducing. For organizations, it is a driver of efficiency,
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The office of the future is a community center that mashes up space with services and makes a variety of collaborative behaviors easy in ways that make employees’ lives better rather than more complicated. Do that and employees will return again and again because it gives them more than it costs.
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Fostering culture change relies on understanding the individuals you hope to change and personas are a valuable starting point. Personas are an important tool used by strategists and product designers and are critical to understanding the people we are trying to engage. However, how these profiles are framed has a significant impact on the success
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My work with communities for the past decade was focused on how communities align ecosystems in a world of constant adaptation and that work is the foundation of Engaged Organizations’ Theory of Change. In a world of robots, automation, and AI work is changing at an accelerating pace and that means that organizations are changing
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Engagement is a hot word right now. But what does it mean? The answer likely lies in who is using the term, the context, and the orientation. It’s a word that is thrown around a lot. It is rarely clarified, creating the perception of alignment where it does not exist. It’s critical to unpack it
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Communities are the cultural frame in which individuals live. Community norms set expectations of baseline and exceptional behaviors.
Enterprise community programs can accelerate the knowledge supply chain while connecting employees, helping them feel seen, and giving them access to opportunities.
Engagement metrics are challenging to interpret because they are disconnected from business value; tracking behavior is the critical link.
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