Not much probably. Don’t get too down him or her though, it’s part of a leader’s genetic makeup. They can’t help it, but you probably can.
Steve Borsch of the Minnov8 blog wrote an interesting post titled “Why Executives Don’t "Get" Social Media” in which he shares a valuable personal experience and some useful insights about how to “talk” to executives about social media.
First, Steve’s story was about an executive workshop that he participated in several years ago in a prior company. Part of the workshop included doing an assessment to get a better understanding of his “motive profile.”
This assessed profile was based on the work of the late Harvard professor David McClelland, in which he proposed that an individual’s specific needs are acquired over time and are shaped by one’s early life experiences. Most of these needs can be classified as either achievement, affiliation, or power (or what McClelland apparently wished he’d called that last one: influence due to "power’s" often misconstrued meaning) and are hard-wired into each of us by the time we’re 4 or 5 years old.
Steve assessment indicated that he was a ‘power V” which basically meant that he was high on the outside factors (achievement and influence) while lower on the middle one (affiliation); his profile was similar to most other organizational leaders. Read Steve’s post for a better understanding of what this means.
So how can you use this new knowledge about your executive’s probable motive profile to move social media forward in your organization? Steve has a few suggestions.
1) Factor in low need for affiliation when you’re pitching your boss, executives or client leadership on internet or web innovations that you think are a no-brainer to move forward on. Chances are they’ll be less-than-interested in what you’re proposing if it’s all about social media connections vs. promoting efficiencies (i.e., achieving better results) or for ways in which people can be persuaded en masse.
2) If you’re a ‘power V’ yourself and are the decision-maker, understand your own motives, needs and perspectives as you listen to the pitches, and factor that in when you listen to the vision being proposed.
3) What works to get me engaged with social media — and might be one you’ll find useful too — is when people who are connectors and love doing so — see the connection between people and the value it could create by putting us together and they do so. This is always highly valuable (and I so appreciate it) when others do it, and I’d recommend that if you’re low on affiliation, ask the connectors in your life to make those connections.
4) Finally, if you’re contemplating social media for you or your organization to use or harness in some way for marketing or community building purposes, consider that you — like every other organization trying to leverage existing social media connections — that attempting to reach and leverage influencers is going to be a challenge. Chances are the leaders and influencers you want to reach (even if they are online and participating in social media) could care less about playing in your sandbox unless you are overt, are a good host and provide them with ways to achieve or influence rather than just connect.
Social media is like any tool, it’s what you ultimately produce with it that matters, especially to your boss. Managing up the organization can be challenging but knowing what to focus on is more than half the battle. In the future, we’ll give you some strategies to help build your case.
Please visit the Minnov8 blog and read the entire post and comments.
Via Mashable on Twitter.