In trying to help executives and decision makers understand the power of social technologies in organizations; it is apparent that distilling the benefits to something easily remembered can be very effective. This is how the Five C’s story came to life.

There was a need for something mnemonic, so the primary benefits could be communicated in a flow that would make an impact on organizations. With any investment, seeing a clear return makes the question of whether or not to leverage that tool a simpler definite decision.

Each step of the Five C’s builds on the previous one. In order to experience the best outcome, these steps need to be followed in the order explained below. (Trust us; we have learned the hard way).

Employees want to feel like their skills and talents are being optimized for true satisfaction on tasks. They also want to feel a part of something bigger than themselves. The Five C Philosophy allows companies to maximize the abilities of the employees, while having them contribute to creating value for the organization and themselves.

Let’s take a closer look at the Five C’s as they have influenced the development of Socialtext 360.

Community

Let’s begin with a collection of people, a.k.a. the community. These can be employees, attendees at an event, or members of an association or organization. Collectively they usually have something in common, such as a shared mission and vision. For each audience this is different, but it is the tie that binds them all together no matter how diverse the organization.

Connection

Most organizations are not very well connected places to work. Once you get more than fifty feet away from the people you work with, or there are more than 150 people to keep track of, you lose connection. Once you can’t recall the first name of a client, vendor, member, or someone you want to do business with, it’s obvious you do not have a close connection.

By capturing relevant information about people during a quick profiling session, we can easily extract details about their skills, experience, passions and interests. We then use that insight to help foster and recommend connections instantly.

This is the core premise of Socialtext 360. We build on these deep and rich profiles for everything that comes next.

Communication

How often do you send out an email to a large group of people that feels like it went into a black hole? This is typically because the mail feels generic and obviously “someone else” will take care of it. However, with the ability to search profile information easily throughout entire organizations, you can locate those best fit to answer or be helpful in your quest. Now you are targeting people using insight gained from the system, dramatically increasing the likelihood of an answer within hours instead of days or weeks.

Collaboration

Once people make connections with skilled like-minded people, they can start to work together and collaborate. People do business with their friends and the happiest people are those who say they work with their “best friend.” By building teams, workgroups and relationships based on these deeper connections, people become friends much faster; as it’s clear what they have in common with everyone on the team. Not just one thing usually, but many things they never knew existed. This leads to high performing teams and a greater likelihood of successful collaboration.

Creation

When done well, a rich collaborative environment will generate new ideas for products and processes, and will serve as a fertile ground for value creation for the organization. Ideally the organization needs to produce something in order to thrive. This can take many shapes. Having a system that optimizes the potential for a free flow of ideas from the right people who have excellent communication and collaboration capabilities, will mean the organization can genuinely harness its true creative capital.

Mark Sylvester, a guest contributor to the Socialtext blog, is the CEO and Co-Founder of introNetworks.