Over on the @sourcepov blog, I posted tonight about Building Social Capital. In that post, a question is framed quite simply: “Can Leaders Play?” There’s a call to action for leadership from the rank and file, not unlike Seth Godin’s argument in Tribes, testing our courage to step forward and engage with others.
So what about corporate leaders, as we look INSIDE the organization?
Is there not potential for Social Capital to emerge there? And the related question still applies: “Can Leaders Play?”
Often it seems our corporate leaders are removed from the fray of social interconnections in the organization, though that very dynamic – people connecting with people – remains one of the most powerful ways to foster organic innovation.
Collaboration, at its core, is about the trusted exchange of ideas in pursuit of even better ideas. It has implications to corporate governance and strategy.
It seems executives would want to be onto this.
Here, and in the upcoming CDNA chat, we’ll look at the internal leadership angle, as we drive conversation on the role of corporate leaders in building Social Capital across the enterprise. We’ll start with some definitions, then look to understand what needs to happen in the modern learning organization.
- Q1. Define. If Social Capital is “building engagement skills & trusted networks to drive value” why wouldn’t leaders care?
- Q2. Context. Would corporte leaders buy-in to building Social Captial like they might for Human or Intellectual Capital? Why or why not?
- Q3. Semantics. What will it take for corporate leaders to embrace “social anything” in the enterprise?
- Q4. Synthesis. Is Social Capital part of that solution?
We’ll hope you’ll join us, MONDAY 8pET at hashtag CDNA. We’re monthly now. That means we’ve been saving up for even more in-depth analysis on topics that matter. We hope you’ll join us.
– Chris Jones, and the DNA of Collaboration Team, tweeting from @CollabDNA
The DNA of Collaboration 
June 10th, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Q1. DEFINE: If Social Capital is “building engagement skills and trusted networks to drive value” why wouldn’t leaders care?
I presume that new leaders believe this, however old habits die hard In the old world collaboration is seen as what you give me as a leader and no value is placed on intra group energy/ideas. New leadership has to welcome the existence that networks will flex/ move and emerge?
Q2. RELATE: Would corp leaders buy-in to building Social Captial like they might for Human or Intellectual Capital? Why or why not?
To be fair many do. however we need better measures for social capital and show that within the network/compexity this adds to collaboration making a difference.
Q3. SEMANTICS: What will it take for corporate leaders to embrace “social anything” in the enterprise?
Being social means having a relationship. I am concerned that in many industries the closeness of a good relationship is missing and co workers /management treat each other as transactional relationships. There is a lot to unpack here on how we display our boundaries especially now with the social web.
Q4. SYNTHESIS: Is Social Capital part of that solution?
I hope so. We need to unzip social capital into how we are building and sustaining relationships with each other, what the incentives are and what is the overall shared purpose.
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June 10th, 2013 at 9:12 pm
Such awesome contributions, Mike .. while remote and sleeping in the UK !! appreciate that you took the time to do this.
Perhaps you miss our SAT a.m. rendezvous time? lol
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June 10th, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Our transcript from tonight. Big thanks to Tony, David, Zachary, Scott, Ian, and (remote in the UK) Mike .. for joining us and sharing ..
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