HO - Governance Case Study

HANDOUT – GOVERNANCE CASE STUDY

Following is the story of how Jump In ‘n’ Swim, Inc. got involved in social media:

Jump In ‘n’ Swim, Inc. started its social media efforts in earnest one year ago. It all started in Marketing when the Director of Marketing Initiatives proposed an approach to sales that would leverage various social media platforms. Prior to this, JINS, Inc.had a Facebook account and a web page, but had done little with them.

The details of what the Director of Marketing proposed are not important. However, using various social media outlets, the Director established a truly unique approach to social media that promised to leave the competition “in the dust”. The Chief Marketing Officer immediately saw the value this would bring to the company. A meeting was set with the Director, the CMO, and the CEO. After the meeting, all ideas were instantly implemented.

The first Board of Directors meeting after proposal of the initiative was approximately two months later. The CEO, realizing that the actions would result in a direct positive impact on the bottom line of the company, had the CMO make a presentation to the board outlining the broad approach that would be used and how it would benefit the company.

While many on the board were unclear on how this would all work (after all, some had recently retired from the prestigious company of Boring & Boring Ltd.), everyone agreed that the numbers shown (basically, a positive impact on the bottom line) seemed to represent an excellent opportunity for the company. While no approval was necessary, the board unanimously agreed with the decision and asked to be kept apprised of any important developments.

But the Director and CMO had not been waiting for that unneeded approval. Once the CEO gave his go-ahead, the Director and CMO worked together to develop the overall strategy for their approach, as well as the appropriate plans. And, one month after the board meeting, Marketing’s approach to the use of social media was implemented. Again, the details of how the work was done (how work was reallocated, what new hires were made, etc.) is not important.

The CEO had a standing monthly meeting with all C-Suite and Senior Executives called “Executive Counsel”. The CMO had a seat in those meetings. This Counsel was advised of the new social media initiative as soon as the CEO approved it and, in fact, it got a lot of the other departments wondering what they might do with social media. One or two had talked with some of their employees who had eventually contacted the Marketing Director for suggestions on how they might begin using social media. This led to the Director developing an ad hoc social media task force made up of the Marketing Director, his Senior Manager of Marketing - Web/Social Media Development, the HR Director of Recruitment, a Manager from HR who reported to the HR Director , and a Supervisor (part of the “Emerging Leaders” program) from the customer service department. Other individuals might attend based on questions that came from or were brought to the attention of the task force.

Six months after implementation, the results of the social media initiative, while pretty good, weren’t as good as everyone had hoped. As happens with so many initiatives, many of the rosy projections just didn’t turn out quite the way everyone had hoped. In particular, the promise of positive return on investment looked like it was going to take two years rather than one.

The CMO had been watching closely and had been constantly updated by the, now, AVP of Marketing Initiatives. Up until this time, the AVP indicated he fully expected to hit the results as the forecasts had all the classic traits of a “hockey stick”. Once momentum was reached, the social media initiative would really take off. However, at this six month meeting, the AVP finally admitted that it was all going to take a little longer than originally planned. The CMO was very understanding and told the AVP to continue.

The CMO immediately contacted the CEO’s Administrative Assistant and asked her to add Social Media Efforts to the agenda.

In the next Executive Counsel, everyone was very understanding. However, it was agreed that there might need to be more involvement by others in the company. The CMO mentioned that an ad hoc task force currently existed, but most felt that was insufficient. And, to be honest, social media had become a little “sexy” within the company; many of the executives were beginning to want a seat at this new table. After all the dust had settled, a new “Company Risks and Possibilities Related to Social Media Committee” was established. The committee was made up of the AVP of Marketing, the Chief Compliance Officer, the Chief Risk Officer, the Chief Information Officer, the Chief Training Officer, a VP from Legal, and the Executive VP of HR. The Marketing AVP was the head of the committee.

The committee had its first meeting two weeks after the Executive Counsel. In that first meeting, a committee charter was developed and ratified that included the objective of the committee, the roles and responsibilities of the committee, and the meeting schedule (monthly.) One of the most important objectives was for the committee to help establish an overall, long-term corporate strategy related to social media. It was determined that the strategy would be developed in six months. Also, to ensure all potential risks and possibilities were considered, a schedule was developed whereby, each month, a different department would provide an update on what work was being done regarding social media

One year in, the board asked about some of the numbers they were seeing related to social media. These numbers had been in every report, but it was the first time anyone noticed or made comment. The board was updated and, while a few of the Boring & Boring executives shook their heads knowingly, everyone agreed that it looked as though things were still under control. Again, they advised to let them know if anything was going wrong.

Provide an analysis of the current Governance Structure of Jump In ‘n’ Swim. As it currently stands, what are the strong points of the structure? What are the weak points?