5 reasons internal social media beats old comms models

The world is changing, says Yammer’s co-founder. Why are so many organizations doing things the same old way? Here’s how organizations can save money—and innovate faster.

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When the Australian telecom Telstra was privatized after years as a government monopoly, the company was buffeted by change.

Chief Executive David Thodey decided to try something daring, says Yammer co-founder Adam Pisoni. Through the internal Yammer platform he invited employees to tell him which processes, policies and IT systems slow them down and keep them from doing their best for the company.

Within an hour he had 700 responses; he assigned his executive team to solve the top 10.

He wanted employees to feel empowered “to recognize the things that were slowing them down and to say something about it,” Pisoni says. “If they did, they would be rewarded and not punished.”

Pisoni tells the story in the Ragan Training session, “Turn disruption into an organizational plus: The responsive organization.” He encourages organizations to rethink their workplace and capitalize on the open flow of information through internal social platforms, asserting that these give them a competitive edge in the new era.

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