The Connection Coefficient

The evolution of the worker has accelerated in recent years. First there were the line workers completing repetitive tasks. Then came the knowledge worker who uses knowledge to be a more productive worker. And today we have the connected worker who uses connections to be more productive.

Technology has been evolving at lighting speed in recent years and sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have changed the way we connect forever. Everyone has experienced the benefit in their personal lives and now businesses are recognizing the opportunity as well.

In the next decade the companies that have the largest employee networks, or said another way that have the highest connection coefficient will be the ones that win. Metcalfe’s Law applies for enterprises just as it applies for technology, “the usefulness, or utility, of a network equals the square of the number of users.” In other words the more connected employees are (to other employees, partners, customers, prospects, etc) the more value the employees and therefore the enterprise will experience.

Here is an example to illustrate the point. Say you have 10,000 employees. You can influence employee connectivity in one of two ways. First you need to encourage all of your employees to participate in these social networks. This is critical because this number is not going to change significantly in the short term. Second you need to help employees grow their number of connections – this is the connection coefficient. The higher the coefficient, the greater the reach. While you won’t double the number of employees you have in a year you can double the connection coefficient and if you do the results will be tremendous.

In the networked economy knowledge grows as it is shared. Most importantly companies get stronger through their connections and those connections have to be driven by your employees. Check out my last post to see an example how these connections can be used to help drive recruiting.

Stay tuned for future posts on how these connections change the game in sales, marketing and customer service.