Failure #2: Not Creating a Powerful Guiding Coalition for Social Media

Social media and marketing transformation programs within organizations often start small.  Often times, I see one or two people from an organization attending and AMA event like TechnoMarketing or Social Media Bootcamp or Advanced or B2B Social Media, and they get fired up and are ready to go back to their organization to bring social media to the masses.  If their efforts stop with the two of them, they’re going to lose.

Major change, the type required to embrace a more social business model and strategy, certainly needs support from the top, but it also needs support from each silo, department, line of business and functional area that will be affected by social media’s reach into the organization. Most situations that I’ve seen have involved anywhere from 8 to 40 people across an enterprise (depending on the size) and they all are in support of social media in one way or another.  It becomes a collaborative effort that everyone wants to see succeed.  Once you have skin in the game from the major players, it’s hard for them to back down from the charge.

If you’re looking to change the way you market, including the use of social media, here are a few thoughts on creating a guiding coalition:

1. The team needs to be comprised of leaders and front-line people from each functional department or line of business. If that means 4 people X 15 departments, then so be it.  If that means 5 people X 20 departments, then so be it.  There’s something to be said about small and lean teams, but if coalition is what you seek, now is not the time to skimp.
2. A guiding coalition can be comprised of many levels, but I’ve seen them include the CEO, senior management, front line sales people, members of the board of directors, customers, staff members from all levels of the organization and even strategic partners or vendors, when it’s appropriate.
3. Members need to be free to share, push and pull ideas and agree or disagree without feeling as though their boss is going to pull rank (which may happen anyway in the long run) to ensure that the ideas, concerns and perspectives required to help the project succeed are all on the table to fall to see.
4. A shared sense of urgency must permeate the group (see Failure #1 if you still need this) so that everyone gives this coalition the time, attention and energy necessary for it’s long-term success.
5. Carve out specific working times for the coalition. Some organizations will form internal or external retreats to learn about and strategize on social media while others will set a standing working group that meets regularly to push the organization forward.

Failing at the guiding coalition stage of change management usually leads to an overall neutered strategy which fails to penetrate the entirety of the organization and delivers far less than the original champions envisioned it would. 

Tomorrow we’ll cover the concept of “Lacking a Vision”…