By Chris Dong, Business Analyst & End User Experience Intern, VMware
We’re excited to launch a new blog series entitled Fearlessly Innovating with Socialcast showcasing the successes of Socialcast as part of the broader VMware community. Socialcast by VMware, a leading enterprise social networking platform, is used by thousands of VMware employees each and every day. Each month, we will highlight how the Socialcast platform is transforming communication and collaboration across the company, leading to increased productivity, efficiency, and transparency. Socialcast is enabling VMware to succeed in an increasingly competitive IT landscape – and with even more robust features around the corner, this is just the beginning.
Town Halls: Bringing VMware Together
How does a company as large as VMware, with almost 20,000 employees worldwide, foster transparency and openness between executives and the rest of the organization? It’s actually pretty simple with Socialcast. This month, we take a look at how the Town Hall feature has enabled VMware to create a direct and seamless line of communication between senior leadership and the rest of the company.
Each VMware Town Hall has brought executives and staff together in a moderated, real-time conversation directly inside the Socialcast community. The sessions bring a context-rich forum for employees to ask questions and get answers in an open setting that can be archived for future viewing. Instead of taking days or even weeks to plan a company-wide assembly that can be logistically challenging, the executive teams here at VMware have been able to quickly begin a virtual Town Hall session through Socialcast. And equally as important, employees who aren’t based at VMware’s HQ in Palo Alto don’t feel left out from the conversation.
Several executive-led Town Halls have taken place over the past months including ones with CMO Robin Matlock, CIO Bask Iyer, and COO & CFO Jonathan Chadwick. During these virtual “office hours,” employees have the opportunity to ask important questions, and executives gain insight into what their employees think of the company’s strategy and direction. Together, both leaders and staff spark vivid discussions, eliciting feedback on key company initiatives.
Not only have VMware executives answered questions during these sessions, they are asking them too. Management has petitioned the broader community to share their experiences to stay up to date on individual and team needs. Once a question is posed and an employee responds, a free-flowing dialogue can ensue. For example, COO & CFO Jonathan Chadwick asks participants of the Worldwide Business Operations Town Hall about the pain points they encounter as employees of VMware. This informal discussion allows our leaders to prioritize concerns and understand where the company can improve even further.
While tough questions are always posed, the inherent nature of a virtual Town Hall allows for a more spontaneous environment with interspersed lighter topics. In between questions about overall IT strategy, CIO Bask Iyer was asked about what he does in his spare time. Town Halls can help us understand the vision for VMware’s future, and at the same time, understand who our leaders are beyond their executive role.
Town Halls at VMware have become a transformative feature that both employees and executives appreciate. In an informal poll of Town Hall participants, 89% of respondents said they would be more likely to ask questions at a Town Hall session over a traditional All Hands meeting. And from the executive level, VMware’s CIO, Bask Iyer explains the inherent benefits that he sees.
“The Socialcast Town Hall feature has proven to be an excellent way to communicate with my team. Despite being virtual, the sessions are very personal. It’s different than a presentation or formal meeting — it’s a dialog. I can start a conversation by posing a question to the team, or just open it up and wait for the questions to come to me. I’ve also noticed that many people on my team are more comfortable asking questions using the Town Hall functionality than they are in a live setting, so you actually get better engagement. Plus, it’s a great way to work across time zones and geographies because it doesn’t require an elaborate set up — you just need to be online. I have used many enterprise social networking tools, and Socialcast is among the best.
Like VMware, other companies can effectively position themselves for success by leveraging Socialcast’s Town Hall feature in their communications strategy. A culture of transparency from the very top drives employee morale and the overall productivity of the company. Contact us anytime for more details at [email protected].
