You Can't Really Know It If You Don't Do It

Some great advice from Charlie O'Donnell:

I think marketing & PR firms, VC firms, anyone who has any kind of business interest whatsover in social media needs to mandate that the decision makers on your staff, right on up to the top, all "walk the floor".   Maybe Fridays should be "social media days" where the whole office plays in MySpace, Second Life, blogs, plays World of Warcraft, Twitters, etc...   Like Google's 20% time.  Take some Flickr photos, poke some people in Facebook...   

I'm not sure an entire day every week is required -- I think that depends on precisely how social media fits into your company and job.  But I do believe it needs to be a significant investment by everyone involved.  More important, it shouldn't be mandatory.  If employees aren't interested in social media and inclined to use it of their own volition, they may not be the best fit for a social media-focused company or job position.

This is the same reason why most managers and coaches are ex-baseball players.  It's hard to coach a team if you haven't been there yourself.

(via Brian Oberkirch)

Technorati tags: socia media, employees, employee training, Charlie O'Donnell, Brian Oberkirch

Comments

[Tim Brunelle]

Chip,

Right on. I'm thinking this approach is an appropriate response to the issues addressed in Bob Garfield's "Chaos Scenario 2.0." How else do we evolve if we don't participate?