Internal Communication 2.0 - Formanchuk & Asociados

Internal Communication 2.0: A Cultural Challenge
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1. Starting to Think and to Rethink
Today many companies use 2.0 tools to manage both their internal and external communications.
Is this a revolutionary practice?
Wait a minute. Don’t answer right now.
Let me tell you that many European monarchies as well as the Vatican and dozens of
ultraconservative political parties around the world use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Wordpress
and Flickr.
What’s your opinion now?
First conclusion:
Any organization which is a little bit less formal than the British Crown should dare to be present
in the social media. After all, if a queen or the Pope sign up on Twitter or create a blog, why
should the director of a company be afraid to do so?
Now I pose a new question which is a little bit more challenging:
Why are these traditional institutions ready to use something which is supposedly so innovative?
The answer is simple: because the fact of having “2.0 tools” doesn’t make them “2.0
organizations”. To put it in a proverb:
The suit does not make the man.
Therefore, organizations may use social media (that is to say, they may use technology) both for
internal and external communications without having to modify their culture.
Is this of any good? Not so much. Cosmetic changes are only superficial.
Where shall we start, then? By what is central to organizations: their culture.
Version 0.1 – Alejandro Formanchuk 3