The Business Impact of Social Events and Networks

Lately, I have heard my friends who work outside of GE making remarks about social networking and social events that understate the business benefit of connecting with coworkers outside the traditional office setting.  Comments surface in general conversation like "social networking is just for college students" or "social events like dinners, picnics and outings are just frivolous wastes of time".

I would argue (and GE seems to agree), that the exact opposite is true.  Social events and online social networking develop the internal connections that make doing my job at GE faster and more efficient.  Here are a few examples of social events, groups and networks at GE that make me more effective and knowledgeable on the job:

All Programs Council (APC)

As an IMLP at GE Healthcare, I participated in the All Programs Council, an organization that facilitates interaction between all of GE's leadership programs and direct hires.  Other GE businesses have similar groups as well. They organize professional development speakers, MBA/Graduate fairs, sports activities and evening outings.   By participating in these events, IMLPs quickly get to know people of their age group in the talent pipeline across the business whom they can rely on when they need information on any function(HR, Engineering, Finance, etc).

IMLP Best Practice Sharing Committee

This group organizes events and sessions within the IMLP program so all of the IMLP participants from all over the world can benefit from each others' experience through training sessions and seminars.

GE Connect

Can't find the right person with the right knowledge to help with your job?  Just looking to connect with people who work in similar positions to share knowledge?  GE Connect, GE's own social network is the place to go.  The power of GE Connect to accelerate the way we do business is evident in this post from Jason Meller:

"When other professionals ask me about my experiences working for GE, a company with over 300,000 employees, my normal response is that it can actually feel like a tightly knit group. How is this possible? Well it turns out GE’s been playing the facebook game as early as 1999 with a custom built tool called Support Central."

I could keep going with all the other social events and opportunities that build better teams at work but, I would like to hear from you, our readers.  Wether you are an IMLP reading this blog, or a student who has experienced this social team building effect in other  businesses, what are your most positive social/business experiences and how did they aid you in your day to day work?

GE Social Networking - est.1999

One of the greatest disadvantages of working for a large company is the inability to connect with the people across the business. Unless you know someone who knows someone else who may know of the person who can actually perform the task you want; you can be stuck for weeks in a quagmire of unanswered e-mails and frustration.

This problem is not strictly limited to corporations but also pervades academia and our personal spaces.  Fortunately, thanks to social networking applications like facebook, myspace, or linkedin, the ability to easily connect with someone with a special skill or a similar interest in proximity to you has shaped the way our generation deals with large groups of people. These social networking web applications are becoming so useful that many employees at fortune 500 companies are beginning to leverage them for internal work purposes, even if it means violating an internal internet policy.

The underlying problem is that at the end of the day, facebook was spawned for American college students attending major universities. While the company has made great strides to make it a useful tool for young professionals, it still is missing the key features necessary to make it the "game changer" it has the potential to be.

When other professionals ask me about my experiences working for GE, a company with over 300,000 employees, my normal response is that it can actually feel like a tightly knit group. How is this possible? Well it turns out GE's been playing the facebook game as early as 1999 with a custom built tool called Support Central.

Here are some interesting 1st and 3rd party perspectives from vendors, customers and employees who have had an opportunity to actually use the system and will give you some background on how it works:

• "A Humbling Experience" -  Chuck Willis, EMC


• "GE’s Enterprise Collaboration Backbone" - Oliver Marks, ZDNET


• "Information worth billions" - Interview with Gary Reiner - CNN Money

While Support Central isn't flawless and doesn't provide the same clean-line aesthetics as would expect from today's brand web 2.0, it does accomplish the lofty goal of laying the foundation for employees, vendors, and customers to connect and relate to the fabric of the company while producing some outstanding and measurable results. To me, the fact that a huge company like GE recognized the value and implemented a form of social networking through a web-based application as early as 1999 demonstrates excellent judgement and reassurance that at GE, if an idea is good and makes fiscal sense, no one will be able to stand in your way to accomplish something great.