Yammer for Innovation: How the Publishing House SM Group used an ESN to Foster its Digital Transformation

Do enterprise social networks only work for organizations or large areas? Is a large launch from the very beginning necessary, or is it better to start out little by little?

The answer to this question is not an easy one. But instead of theorizing or presenting boring and theoretical models, I'd like to answer the question with a practical example.

Some time ago I was lucky enough to listen to the Systems Director of the SM Group, Javier Garrido del Pino, at an event. He explained how, with the help of the consultancy firm Encamina, they have implemented a successful project with many virtues in their organization (which I will explain little by little). It's a Yammer based community that intends to bring into the light the internal talent and put it to generating innovative ideas that can be transformed into new products and services.

A sector in the midst of transformation

Does the subject of digital transformation ring a bell? It's also happening at Ediciones SM, a company that may sound familiar to you if you come from Spain and Latin America because of its collections of children's books like ‘Barco de Vapor’ (Steamboat). Many of you, or your children, have probably studied with some of their titles.

Grupo SM is in the midst of process of change. The editorial world, just like it happened in the music industry, is in a crisis. And the company wants to go beyond being an editorial that provides educational services. To do so, it needs to take advantage of its internal talent and generate innovative ideas that can make this transition possible.

The SMart view: A network of corporate talent

We know them as corporate social networks, but at the SM Group they've placed the focus so much on the people that they've wanted to re-christen their internal social network as the network of corporate talent. The target audience of the SMart project are the editors, that come from the world of education and that have solid knowledge and educational bases. The project was framed with the goal of exploiting all that potential.

Clear purpose and gradual focus

Another point in favor of the approximation the SM Group did towards the complex world of enterprise social networks. There are around 800 individuals in the company, but the network was not launched with all of them at once. Instead of doing that, they concentrated their efforts on a group of 200 workers who shared interests and a common goal: innovation.

Instead of launching the project with all the bells and whistles, four people started to participate in the community until reaching 50. Still far from the 200 that make up one hundred percent of their audience, but we know that in these things it's better to go safe and slow. And that you're also not going to be able to get everybody on board.

Generating interest and expectation

Another success, from my point of view, of the SM focus is that they did not force anybody to be a part of this dynamic. They were able to generate interest in the dynamic by talking about the things that happen there. And they even made it difficult for potential participants. Instead of adding them to the network en masse, they made them look internally for an invitation in order to be able to get in.

The result of all this is quality contributions. Nobody makes such an effort to just later write down insignificant comments. Whoever gets in does so to contribute value and nothing else.

Exploitation of the knowledge generated

The promoters of the project distributed throughout the entire company a periodical bulletin with the knowledge and ideas that have arisen in the community. This evidently generated interest and expectation about the things that happen in the group, but it's also a test to make sure that what is proposed there doesn't fall through the cracks.

I've seen many similar initiatives within other scopes where people end up with the sensation that they're talking just for the sake of talking. Either nobody gives them an answer or all the ideas are dismissed. When the proposals don't get anywhere, the communities get bored and die.

The cycle closes

In line with the aforementioned, the best ideas were taken to a committee that decided which of them could become prototypes in order to study their viability and to see if they could be launched. It's true, not all of them could. But if only one idea that guarantees the future of the company comes out of this type of network, all the hard work and effort will have been worth it.

Results of the SMart view

"It's a revolution. We didn't think that the number of ideas and information was going to be so huge", said Garrido del Pino. Surprised? Not me. The employees are not used to being asked and listened to. They have a bunch of suggestions locked up in a drawer that they can't tell anybody with any kind of decision making capability. When first given the chance to contribute there is generally complete silence. Is this for real? Are they really asking me? What's the catch? If the company intention is serious and able to demonstrate it, what it gets in return is engagement, motivation and an honest contribution of value that turn an organization around.

Interested? I write about collaboration, Enterprise Social Networks, change management and Internal Comms in my blog turedsocialempresarial.com (currently only in Spanish)