How does your organisation judge reputation? by Adi Gaskell, Management Correspondent on 28-Aug-2012

I  come predominantly from a social media background. In my world, as the New Yorker famously put it, no one knows you're a dog. It's a world where your pedigree and reputation is determined by the quality of information and content you produce or share. A meritocracy in every sense of the word.

It's also a world where sharing that knowledge is intrinsically encouraged. It's a world where vast projects can be completed by volunteers freely giving their time and knowledge for no other reason than to contribute to something worthwhile and showcase their expertise.

Now, contrast that to many corporate environments, where sadly a HIPPO culture still pervades. In a HIPPO culture (that's Highest Paid Person in the Office by the way), opinions are not based purely on their merits, but rather on the perceived status of the person casting the opinion.

In such a world where what we do and what we contribute is determined not by what we know, but by what our job title is, it leads to tremendous wastage of talent and ability. It leads to the tragic case of employees refusing to help because it simply isn't in their job description.

When our organisations increasingly survive based upon their ability to get the absolute most out of every employee, is this attitude good enough?

Adi Gaskell is a freelance management writer and social media professional.

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