Joe Gerstandt | keynote speaker, freedom fighter, freak-flag flier

I think that social media is a big deal.  I think that social media is poorly understood.  I think that social media represents a really big opportunity for human resources.

I am not saying and will never say that you have to be on Facebook to survive as an organization…I am not saying and will never say that you have to be on Twitter to survive as an organization.  I am saying that you need to truly understand those tools before you make decisions about them, and while those particular tools may not be right for you, there are a boatload of other tools out there with other strengths that are worthy of your consideration.

I am trying to throw a bunch of ideas at the wall in the hopes that one or two will stick for you.  I started with a list of nine ideas, added eleven and then another nine.  Today I have one more idea for you to consider.

I used to say that any organization that is not at least experimenting with and exploring what is available in the social media world is an organization that simply does not understand social media.  I now want to revise that statement, because I think there is another type of organization with good reason to avoid social media…the one that knows it is a sucky place to work.

30.  Do not suck.

One of the things that social media allows you to do is open your organizations culture up to the world.  This can be really valuable because potential employees are likely to put more faith in what actual employees have to say about your organization than they are going to put in your job site or what your recruiter says.  Nothing personal, we just know that corporate spin always goes in one direction. 

With social media tools there are a lot of ways that you can open your culture up and support all of your employees to be brand ambassadors but, here is the thing…

Can you handle the truth?

What social media is really good for is spreading the truth…not the spun truth of your brilliantly crafted corporate message.  So… as you consider social media, you should also make sure that you know the truth about your organization.  If you are (despite what your mission statement and your brilliantly crafted website say) a horrible place for human beings to spend their day, then I can appreciate your avoidance of social media.

Your organizations culture can be a powerful selling tool for your organization…if it does not suck.

Just a few quick sample questions to consider:

Does your organization treat people like objects?

Does your organization value titles over ideas?

Are your employees drowning in policy and politics?

Are your employees, teams and leaders constantly “putting out fires?”

Does your organization fail to learn from past experiences?

If the answers are yes, you might not be ready for social media yet.

Be good to each other.