Enterprise Social – We are the Champions!

We talked in the last blog, Countdown to Launch, about identifying Champions to manage the communities in your new social network. You can’t do it alone! A successful launch requires a team of people. We know that we are looking for committed people who have responsibility to get the word out and utilize the social network we are looking for, but what types of people are these exactly? Among other things…they AIM. AIM? AIM for what? They may be “aim”ing to have a successful social platform, but really I mean Act, Inspire, and Maintain.

Act

In sports, a champion (with good sports conduct) takes success and defeat in stride, keeps their goal in mind and never stops working to achieve it. Your champions should be the same. They must DO to see results. There will be times where it may seem that their efforts are not making as big of an impact as they hoped, but they need to remain committed. Their actions will set the tone for the rest of your users, their actions will drive other actions, and they will be role models for this social network. Their commitment to keep pushing for success is key.

 Inspire

All of us have people in our lives who have made an impact, positive or negative, but enough for us to change our minds, direction, or attitude because of them. I am not saying that your champions need to be the next Gandhi, but I think there are a few key traits that inspirational people have.  Inspirational people are….

• Proactive – they take initiative to get the job done and don’t wait on someone else
• Passionate – no one’s going to buy into what you’re pushing, if you’re not sold yourself
• Tactful & Diplomatic – people aren’t going to listen if you’re message is one-sided, negative or delivered rudely. Having tact and diplomacy will help your message be heard even by the skeptics
• Creative – often time inspirational people are creative. Creative in the way that they present their ideas, go about completing their tasks, or solving their problems. Creativity is intriguing; a little creativity can go a long way to gain some interest.

Maintain

Being a champion isn’t all about the glory, it takes work. Your champions need to be willing to put in the time it will take to be successful. The work does not end once there are users on your social platform, the job is ongoing. Champions will need to maintain content, continuing to push content, encourage others to do the same, and remember to bring social into the arena when others may not be thinking about it. They will also need to help maintain the community of users who are on the network. What if they have a question, need help, guidance, or are looking for tips on starting their own community? The champions are their guide.

Are you a champion? Have you identified some names in your organization that might fit the champion role? Now we understand why we need the champions, who we are looking for to be champions. Next time we will be talking about some tips for your champions to succeed in driving social. In the meantime, maybe play a little Queen for your team to get them motivated, “We are the champions, my friends…”