Jason Corsello of Knowledge Infusion  asks “Should organizations create a social index and rate individuals “social score”? in his blog. This question generated a lot of interesting discussion. Make sure you see the reader comments.

My perspective on this question is that the exercise of mapping communication patterns has value. However, I think that an individual’s communication style is influenced by the work environment. Thus assigning a rating may inaccurately portray the individual’s communication skills, since an employee could simply be acting in accordance with the norms of his or her department. It could also be possible that the presence of a scoring system—based upon the wrong metrics--may motivate employees to add members to their network, but not necessarily motivate them to use those connections in a functional way. I am sure we can all think of an example of someone who uses technology to connect but does not reach out to those connections. Furthermore, I think that it is likely individuals who are proficient at making and using network connections are already performing well since they have access to the resources they need to get their job done.

I do see value, however, in the process of identifying communication channels in an organization. In this way, silos and information blockages can be addressed. Strong, well functioning networks can be examined and can perhaps be used as models to be duplicated.

There is always the risk that assigning a score could change the environment from one that encourages learning and development to one that is based upon judgment and subsequently limits the very communication we want to encourage.