Your mother told you “social Skills” mattered!  She was right! A Harvard Business Review survey showed that only 12 percent of companies using social media think they do so effectively.   It will very important that companies train their employees on social usage, and hire the right set of people to drive social.  For instance, not just community managers, but social analytics specialists, social innovation officiers, and more.   Make sure you don’t forget to focus on these skills!

And these skills need to extend into the board room.  Meet the new C Suite!   Full of T shapped Skills! Social and social tools means that CMOs need to know more about Technology, and that CIOs need to understand more about how to engage clients, and marketing.    With CEOs, according to IBM’s CEO Study, understanding that social will be the #1 way to engage clients by 2015, it is imperative that both roles learn more about the broader equation.

Social inside a company’s 4 walls continues to outpace external. Why?  Employee engagement drives client engagement.  According to IBM’s latest trend study, 43% of clients are now using social inside of their 4 walls.  41% use it more externally.  This trend will continue as the economics drive the need for stronger employee engagement.  Social drives higher engagement when employees can leverage social to innovate inside the company.  But first they need the skills.

Have you developed a skills plan?