June 30, 2008
Growing Your Business: Why Lock Down LinkedIn?
I am shocked to find out that some large companies forbid their employees to use LinkedIn. These companies worry that if they expose the names of the people who work for them, that the best of their crop might be pillaged and yanked from their ranks. Well, I can only imagine the kind of environment that exists inside of a company that tries to create a roadblock in front of their people.
Personally, I would be embarrassed to be in a senior management position at a company that used policies of secrecy and protectionism to retain employees. Maybe this post will help to change the minds of these management teams.
LinkedIn is a platform where business professionals around the world post their business and personal data in order to exchange information with one another. I've made a tremendous number of personal contacts who have come to me through LinkedIn. People review my profile; they understand something about my background; they may call me or e-mail me. I've engaged in dialogue with many people, some of which have actually become personal friends and/or business colleagues.
But some large companies are afraid that if their employees start posting their career information on LinkedIn that corporate recruiters will raid the treasury of these large companies and start stealing away their very best talent.
Is it really possible to protect your best talent from being known by the world and then being swept away or picked up by corporate recruiters? Is it really possible to keep these great assets that you have under wraps? I don't think so. I think if you have great assets, the world's going to find out that they're great and they're going to want them. What ends up happening is economics 101: you as a company have to work harder to keep those employees happy and engaged in your company so that they don't leave.
Don't bother keeping a people on digital lock down. It can't be done so why try? The digital world has created a new playing field and management who is using the old playbook won't be very successful for very long. Locking down LinkedIn is a good example of a bad play.
We live in a very competitive world; we live in a world where information is moving at the speed of light. And in our digital age, that information is more readily available now than it's ever been available in the past. That puts companies in both an awkward and powerful position. If they do a wonderful job of creating an environment that their best people want to work in, stay in and compete in, then they're going to build a fantastic base of employees, whether they're internal people, sales people, executive people, or otherwise. If they fail to do that, then those people will be dissatisfied and will become the targets of corporate recruiters who will put them somewhere where they're properly appreciated, properly compensated and enjoy the challenges that come with their jobs. It's not always about money either. It's about the work environment taken as a whole.
So, as you are working hard every day to build your company, or as you're building your career, don't be a company that forbids the use of products like LinkedIn; don't be a company that tries to hide your best assets. Instead, be a company who treats your best assets with great respect and with pride so that these terrific people stay with you regardless of offers that come to them from other places. If you're doing a great job of keeping these people engaged, the likelihood of them leaving goes away all by itself.
About Joel G. Block
Well known in the business community, Joel Block is a best selling author, speaker, and business strategist. Frequently a principal in his transactions, Joel has raised tens of millions of equity dollars for his ventures, which have included real estate syndications and privately held businesses.
Joel’s career is highlighted by the launch of a financial publishing company which he grew nationwide and later sold to the Los Angeles Times. More recently, Joel works with scientists, engineers, technologists and others to help them optimize their entrepreneurial opportunities. Would you like to get a private phone consultation with Joel? Visit www.joelblock.com/capital for details.
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2 Comments »
June 30, 2008
Axel said:
Hi Joel
I totally agree with your view. The type of atmosphere or culture of an organization has more and more to do with its success factors. As you might know, I have been fortunate to have a system called PerformanceIQ® in my arsenal to help evaluate situations. Most of the time I am called in when there is already friction or a crisis. When I do the assessment using the PX12 system, I frequently find performance factors not being used to the maximum potential because individuals are frustrated. Through my coaching and consulting I can typically help them very quickly but I found that it doesn't make a huge difference for the company. Actually, people I have helped got re-energized, set up profiles in LinkedIn, The Ladders, etc. and were soon taken by other companies. That is part of the reason why I have been looking and finally found a new system to supplement what I already have for this problem. It is called Alchimedus and comes from Europe. This system will allow me to analyze the business potential of a company and then use my PX 12 for the people. With both together I can help the organization and the individuals.
The best part is that the projects a company analysis can suggest include the establishment of social network connections for the benefit of the company, not as a wall or prohibited thing.
The other really cool thing is the fact that a friend of mine and I will have the rights for certification and license sales for the USA/Canada. That will allow a lot of interested people to get a wonderful tool into their hands and use it to change the climate in the companies you are describing. We will hold the first training seminar in August for charter partners who like to purchase a regional license. I don't want to use this comment space for it, but I think it is valuable for you and your readers to know that there are tools like Alchimedus soon available here in the USA that actually help change the atmosphere and climate in corporations for the better - not only that, but that entrepreneurs, consultant and coaches will have the unique opportunity to get their piece of the pie and help many people to have social networking accounts on their company systems, just like you suggest
Axel Meierhoefer
July 1, 2008
Joel Ordesky said:
I wonder if some companies fear that Linkedin creates a legitimate way for employees to take company connections with them when they leave the company.
In truth I am always amazed at how little people realize that they must act to preserve and cultivate their connections.