Don't Be Anti-Social

Ty is a work management evangelist; "accidental" project manager and marketing veteran with over 25 years of experience.

  Communications Management   Knowledge Management   Lessons Learned   Talent Management   Teams   ProjectsAtWork  

When it comes to leveraging social media techniques on projects, the most important place to start is frame of mind. It’s not about mimicking Facebook in the workplace, but rather removing barriers to communication and information-sharing. Project leaders who do will improve team camaraderie and productivity.

Whenever I speak with someone about project management and social media I tend to get one of two reactions. They either see the value right away or they don’t get it at all, dismissing the social media metaphor as irrelevant to project management. After a few minutes of conversation, their negative appraisal seems to boil down to the following two arguments: 1) they are put off by what they consider the trivial nature of current social media like Facebook and Twitter, and/or 2) the democratizing of the project management process by encouraging a flow of dialog throughout the project team conflicts with their top-down management style.

Most of the angst about leveraging social techniques as part of the project management process comes from a lack of understanding. I agree with those who suggest that simply incorporating a Twitter-stream or mimicking Facebook isn’t a legitimate strategy. If that’s the sum total of your social project management execution, I don’t believe it will help accomplish much.

That being said, today’s …

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