Social Capitol Creation – The Goal?

Social capital is defined as the inclinations that arise from networks that want to do things for each other (norms of reciprocity).

Shooting the breeze about Social Capital is not the most common conversation you hear in the contractors corridors, the design studio or the partners meeting – but the need to be engaging with the subtleties of the human nature side of business is stronger than ever.

How about at the first project team or SMT meeting ‘Hey, how do we go about generating a boatload of social capital on this project?” Or, “What do we need to do to position reciprocity at the core of our interactions?”

If you want a different outcome you need to ask a different question. Then when we have an answer and bearing the next question is “What process will uphold that direction”?

You may or may not have noticed that ‘younger folks’ have been brought up on sharing information freely and ‘using’ social capital to advance their ambition in a reciprocal manner with their networks. Therefore, that way of thinking and behaving is filtering into our organisations whether we like it or not. It then becomes a case of ignoring it, resisting it or embracing it.  This is why BIM will take off – we love reciprocity – why wouldn’t you?