Be blunt with colleague fixated on social media

Selfie-obsessed colleague needs to show a little restraint - particularly if her 'grinning portraits' affect her company's reputation.

I work closely with a colleague who is obsessed with social media and, more importantly, taking selfies. This means that every second we are out of the office for meetings is documented in a series of portraits around Dubai. Frankly, I don't want my grinning image plastered on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, particularly when I am in work mode. How should I let her know this without causing offence? HG, Dubai

I must say, HG, if I were in your shoes I would not bother too much about not causing offence. Just tell her to stop it. This is the behaviour of an adolescent, not of a professional individual. You tell me nothing of this social media butterfly except her gender, which I am sure is in no way significant – there will be as many male offenders as female, no doubt. But for me this is really very straightforward: the working day is for working. That is how it gets its name. Social time or downtime can be photographed, captured, catalogued and shared in any way an individual chooses. If that individual shares social time with others, and those others do not object, then of course they can all be plastered over every social media outlet available to us, and there is no harm done. But this is work.

Firstly, this individual is not alone. She is with you. She has, in my view, no right to ask or demand that your image is captured and tweeted, Facebooked, Instagrammed and otherwise distributed around the world. Your professionalism is at least undermined and risks being minimalised when these things appear, because it appears to at least some observers that you are not taking your working day seriously. Similar damage may be done to her reputation and to your company’s image.

Let us say you are tagged on one of these photos, and as a result you pop up on the page of a professional colleague who happens to be a client. He or she is a serious, professional person who thinks well of you and your organisation. Then you appear tagged in a photo taken in working hours, grinning like a fool, alongside your colleague, with some Dubai landmark in the background. It probably isn’t going to play too well.

Worse, imagine that the selfie was taken on your way to a meeting with this individual – one where you were charging your time as a consultant or as a service provider.

Or think of a photo in which you or she are pulling some silly face. Seconds later it is all over three different social media networks. How is your professional credibility looking around about now?

That is why I say do not be too concerned about causing offence. She is potentially recklessly endangering your professional reputation and that of your organisation. She is probably doing so unintentionally, but ignorance is not a valid defence in my book. Tell her, do not ask her, to stop it. Explain why it is a silly and potentially harmful thing to do, and tell her it is an activity you can’t endorse or support. Let her know that using social media to develop the organisation’s image and communicate the organisation’s messages is fine, but using social media for personal reasons during office hours is really not good practice.

As always, what we need here are some sensible guidelines that people understand and accept because they see that the guidelines are there for a reason. None of us likes to be restricted, and we like it even less when the reasons for the restriction are obscure or in our view weak or inappropriate. But social media is now so all-pervasive that, in my view, every organisation needs a social media policy, if only to address situations such as the one you describe.

Doctor’s prescription:

If your company does not have such a policy, either write one or suggest to the appropriate person that one gets written. Keep it simple, clear and as non-directive as possible: leave things to the better judgment of the employees. Of course, you might immediately cite your colleague and ask: “What better judgment?” but of course if a policy was in place, you could exercise judgment and restraint – she wouldn’t be required to do so … which, from the evidence you offer in your question, may be just as well.

Roger Delves is the director of the Ashridge Executive Masters in Management and an adjunct professor at the Hult International Business School. He is the co-author of The Top 50 Management Dilemmas: Fast Solutions to Everyday Challenges. Email him at [e-mail] for advice on any work issues

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