How Social and Digital Tools Can Improve Workplace Results

Technology continues to grow a bigger part of our lives. But how can the growth of social tools impact the workplace?

It can’t be stressed enough the impact technology has had on the industry. Across the board, productivity has increased as well as decision-making supported by sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms. We still work together as individuals, however. We make decisions, we brainstorm, and we benefit from real-time interactions.

McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, recently published a compelling study – one with decent sample size and balanced findings – that elaborates on this point of view. The premise is intriguing: How social tools can reshape the organization.

Here are some key points:

• It’s not all about the tech. You need to figure out how to get people to work together (which they probably are already good at). Then, apply tech. don’t expect tech to do this.

• People really need (and want) real-time interactions. With our digital tools, this is amplified. We’re remote, physically separate from one another. Note the graphic below from the McKinsey article.

• Cross-functional use of social tools has the highest impact. That is, look where social and digital tools are least common. There you will find a direct value for the organization and individuals in these roles.

• We’ve seen the fluidity of teams in many of our clients. We’ve also noticed that IT is often challenged to help these teams work better together. A collaboration project is different than traditional IT. It takes coaching, consistent wins, and a true kaizen approach to succeed.

In an effort to drive organizational change through the use of social tools, McKinsey also recommends: applying new technologies, combining all three – digital, social, big data and analytics – to beat the competition, and creating easy-to-use tools that have a lasting impact on businesses and people.

At Centric, we’re already applying these ideas to ensure high levels of collaboration among our teams while creating lasting results for our clients.