Well over a year ago, John Bell published a blog entry that gave people a chance to measure their company's social media score. As I re-read the checklist this week, I realized how much progress BIDMC and our staff and I had made in this regard. I also noted how little progress many of my colleagues in the health care industry had made. Meanwhile, other industries (and politicians) are zooming along and incorporating social media into their advertising, marketing, communications, and internal operations.
Just for fun, I compare the answers I would have given for BIDMC in late 2006 with what we would answer today.
Does anyone within the company already blog? (including personal blogs). Yes/yes. (2006/2008)
Do any of these existing bloggers post on business related issues (vs. personal blogs)? Yes/yes.
Has senior management stopped making jokes whenever a junior staffer mentions the word "wiki" in a meeting? No/yes.
Have you ever invited customers or stakeholders to a company meeting just to hear their perspective? No/yes.
Have you ever published public information - done an interview, released some news, said something publicly - without prior written approval from the legal department? Yes/yes.
Is Web publishing decentralized in your organization. No/yes.
Do you have RSS feeds on your corporate Web site? No/no.
Does your communications team value more than big media clips? No/yes.
Does your company reward entrepreneurial behavior from within the organization? Yes/yes.
Does your C-level leadership (CEO, CMO, COO, etc...) understand the difference between Robert Scoble and Bob Lutz? No/yes.
Has your marcom team read 30 blog posts from at least 10 blogs over the last two weeks? No/yes.
Has your marcom team downloaded and watched/listened to audio or video podcasts? No/yes.
Yes to 0-4 questions: Your organization is not ready.
Yes to 5-8 questions: Your organization is ready to listen.
Yes to 8-12 questions: you are probably more ready than most.
Summary for BIDMC: 2006 -- 4 yes; 2008 -- 11 yes.
But let's ask some more questions that were not included in Mr. Bell's original survey:
Do you regularly survey employees and rely on majority rule for matters of corporate significance? No/yes. (2006/2008)
Do you regularly post clinical information (e.g., on infection rates) on your corporate website for the world to see? No/yes.
Do you post results of Joint Commission accreditation surveys on your corporate website for the world to see? No/yes.
Do you post the results of patient satisfaction surveys on your corporate website for the world to see? No/yes.
Do any senior managers in the company post their profile on Facebook and communicate with staff through this medium? No/yes.
Have you pretty much given up on purchasing newspaper ads and rely instead on social media for marketing and communication. No/yes.
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6 comments:
Those are big wows for the usually conservative, stodgy, non-innovative health care (hospital) world. The quality transparency is especially exciting and Sr. Mgrs.on Facebook? Amazing!!
Thanks for reminding me of this. We'll re-take it at work, as you have.
Re your extra questions, I respectfully suggest that some of them have nothing to do with social media. They do have to do with transparency and listening to customers. I assert that those two values make all the difference between your use of social media and the uses of any cynical user, such as a nasty political site.
As I've dug into the e-patient movement I constantly find myself including things in my thoughts that aren't actually about using the Web - things like positive mental attitude, being mentally present, and personal responsibility. I tentatively conclude that all these "something 2.0" "We get to say" technologies are so empowering in so many different contexts, enabling different outcomes.
Regardless, thanks for the scorecard. I confess, I know Scoble but not Lutz.:) Time to get to work!
One other thing - for those of us who want to share the idea with other team members and management, can you identify any tangible benefits that have come from the social media initiatives?
In this case I'm not talking about the benefits of transparency itself, just how social media have improved the organization's ability to achieve its goals.
Paul, thanks for the update on BIDMC's movement into social media. I've enjoyed reading your blog and am impressed with the work and thought that you put into it. You're far ahead of many of us, but
please know that others are taking the plunge as well. When you have a chance, take a look at our blog, Action for Better Healthcare
[http://healthcare-action.blogspot.com]. I've joined with three other retired hospital CEO's to create a forum for discussing tough, complex health care issues.
My brother has setup his hospital in a small town in North India and I am trying to promote it thru social media. What would be your suggestions?
Have him contact me at plevy [at] bidmc [dot] harvard [dot] edu.
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