Social Media — Window to an Organization’s Soul

Social media provides management with a real-time finger on the pulse of company morale, engagement and health like never before. Once upon a time slow and expensive consultant-provided surveys or vague water-cooler conversations were the most accessible windows through which to view the internal organization.

However, today a battery of tools from Glass-Door, to Linked-In to plain old Face-Book and Twitter provide real-time feedback to leaders trying to build engagement and attract talent. Moreover, in addition to gathering insights, these platforms offer organizations a voice to speak to current and potential employees.

Of course this two-way dialogue is subject to the same opportunities and challenges faced by any social media manager; the risk of the vocal minority becoming the voice of all employees is very real. Nevertheless, despite the challenges, leaders need to ask themselves if they want to be subjects of or participants in their companies’ social-media presence.