Hi Readers, I’m delighted today to send you a guest blog from a colleague of mine, Tom LaPlante. His contact info is below.  I hope you enjoy his insights as much as I did!

Recently I attended the Austin Tech Fair, which was hosted and planned by Matt Genovee’s Door 64 and Austin Technology Council.  Excellent gathering of central Texas technology companies and individuals.  The main topic of the panel discussions centered around Social Media — in terms of hiring, what it means for a company’s policies, the legal issues (many of which are yet to even be identified) and how employees are using various types of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in, etc.) at and during work hours.

The last panel session of the day was “Today’s Technology Tools and Social Media to Growing Business.” This session was supposed to last 50 minutes, however after almost 2 hours many attendees were still having a “Q & A” with the panel members — highlighting the importance, confusion and multitude of issues facing corporations in how these companies are in many cases NOT dealing with social media in the workplace.

The most alarming piece of information given by one of the panel members was, “fully 40% of companies surveyed do not have and do not yet plan to publish any internal policies or guidelines” on social media usage within their company.   It almost seemed that many leaders (including CIO’s) didn’t want to be “bothered” by this latest trend — Social Media — and maybe, just maybe, think this is a fad that will go away.

This attitude and approach reminds me of the early days of the internet explosion and email adoption. Many executives didn’t want to “get in front” and lead the way, but wanted to control or even suppress these “new fangled toys”.  Just further examples of the Defend and Extend mentality that company leaders oftentimes take.  Some thought that the internet and email would distract employees, lower productivity and weren’t sure how it would help their business.  Those that led and “got in front” of these new tools did realize productivity gains and developed new markets and channels because of them.  Seems silly looking back now that corporations actually tried to suppress the use of these two examples.

Granted, I’m sure there were cases of misuse by employees and that some individuals did have lower productivity in certain cases.  But those companies that created and communicated clear guidelines on proper and effective use of the internet and email were better enterprises than those that did not.  Any new technology, tool, or process requires leadership and communication from management of what’s to be expected as appropriate usage/behavior.  This is an opportunity for leaders to engage their workforce, see what makes sense, determine policies that are appropriate and create a more streamlined work environment.  However, it doesn’t just happen, leaders must actually lead and engage to make the most effective use of this and anything else new. 

So what’s going to be YOUR approach in regards to Social Media in the workplace?  Are you going to try to limit it, control it or suppress it altogether?  Guess what?  This approach will not work in today’s marketplace and workplace.  Whether you’re a fan of Facebook or not, Facebook appears that it’s here to stay.  Even if Facebook were to be displaced by another platform, social media is NOT going away.

Today’s economy and marketplace shifts are happening at an ever faster pace.  Technology trends seem to “suddenly” popup out of nowhere.  Your employees and customers are going to utilize this “new stuff”.  Now the choice is yours.  Do you get in front of this and lead your companies policies on appropriate and effective social media usage or do you wait to see the dust clear?   We recommend that company leaders start now to publish company guidelines if you don’t have any, review and update the ones you do have, and re-visit these at least semi-annually to gauge the relevancy of your social media Policy.  If you don’t then your employees will develop their de-facto policies.

Great stuff Tom. Connect with Tom via Twitter – find him @ Tomlap.  Or connect with him on Facebook Tom Laplante.  or look for him on Linked-in Tom LaPlante. 

If any readers would like to guest blog, just let me know.  I’m always interested in new insights – and enjoy hearing from colleagues who want to help businesses grow!