Are You Ready – Finally! – for HR 3.0?

A funny thing happened on the way to a tweet.

Last week I tweeted an article appropriately titled “Making the Case for Corporate Social Human Resources: Are You Prepared for HR 3.0?” The article reviewed a recently published book “CSR for HR: A Necessary Partnership for Advancing Responsible Business Practices,” and it makes the argument for connecting CSR (corporate social responsibility) with a company’s human resource function. I was intrigued with the 3.0 statement.

As with tweets, I always follow whether someone else votes for the article by re-tweeting it. Well on this one, I did receive a direct message from @TLColson. Her message was to the point: “most are still mastering 1.0, who are we kidding?” I had to smile, and chuckled as I read that.

This kind of stayed in my mind as I thought over the 1.0 to 3.0 analogy. What is HR 3.0 and how does it look?

Learning from AMEX: How Initiatives Can Drive Employee Engagement

Social media has been a godsend to a lot of us who love great content — although being told by someone what they had for breakfast does NOT count.

The amount of fruitful information you have access to is like nothing that you could have dreamed of years ago. Twitter, Facebook, and Google are just great tools. One of my mainstays is “Google alert.” To the uninitiated, it allows you to create a search “alert,” and then you will get the information when something is posted within the realm of your alert.

At times, the amount of articles you get sent from an “alert” can be overwhelming, but every so often, you read one that resonates. Last week, there was one that really stood out for me: “American Express commits $25 million to Leadership Development.” Because I have a background in training and development, I was awed by the amount of funds being committed. My thoughts ran to the kind of  leadership development program that could be designed when money is not an object.

So much for reading the headlines.

Philanthropy and employee engagement 

What ‘Expert’ Advice Won’t Tell You: There’s no Shortcut to Anywhere Worth Going

Yes, the Yankees lost and believe me,  New York was in a twit.

How could we lose? We can’t lose. We always win. These were some of the comments on the subway and from conversations on the street. Every man and woman out there knew why the Yankees lost, and they also knew what they needed to do to win next year.

On Sunday morning, I turn on NFL Network and listen to the “analysts.” Each one has a plan as to why a team will win or won’t win. The majority of these analyst were former players, and it seems they have all the answers.

Sometimes I think maybe they should just become the coach and win each and every Super Bowl. They have it all figured out; just follow these 1-5 steps and you will get it done.

Online analysts make every answer sound simple

The Gap Logo Debacle: There Are Lessons Here – Especially for HR

I looked on in amusement this past week when the Gap released their new logo to anticipated fanfare.

All of their design team knew they had a winner. Gap corporate knew they had a winner. The outside design consultant knew they had a winner. Everyone thought that, otherwise they would not have released it.

But that’s not how it played out. According to Advertising Age:

"Just four days after confirming its surprise new logo was, in fact, legit, Gap (said it) is returning to its old design (see below) … Marka Hansen, Gap North America president, informed the company’s marketing department…of the change, acknowledging that the switch was a mistake and that the company would be tabling any changes for the foreseeable future.”

Why didn’t the Gap test drive their new logo?

Are We There Yet? Dave Ulrich Insights on “What’s Next for HR?”

“I just hope that this conference gives me the answer to this project I am working on.”

This statement came from a conference attendee that I sat next to years ago as we waited for the speaker. He told me that this was his third conference that year, and he was still looking for the silver bullet. He said that he always comes away disappointed.

In the past, I tried to attend at least two conferences per year. My reason for going was to get some insight and clarity on an issue that I may have been facing. The speakers were key, and the topic was the driving point. I always came away with enough nuggets to inspire me to go back to the drawing board to finalize the product.

Is this Talent Management Heaven?

Employee Engagement: “How Did Things Ever Get So Far Apart?”

“When I lead my portion of the orientation, I do not have the heart to tell them and I can’t look them in the eye. This is a horrible place. It is like I am leading them to slaughter.”

That interaction took place last week as I was talking to a potential client and ran into one of my former co-workers who now works there and is involved in orientation. That short conversation gave me all the insight I needed — and all that research could have never provided.

Fittingly, I was leaving in a few days to attend the Human Capital Institute Engagement and Retention workshop. While I participated in the Executive Workgroup Session (which was a pre-conference session), I did not stay for the entire event. However, I played this conversation scenario over and over in my mind as I drove to Boston.

Conventional Leadership Wisdom is Wrong – and Why We Need to Change

Last Friday, I was interviewed as part of the Executive Conversation Series at the Human Capital Institute where I serve as a member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Talent Management. We spent an amazing hour discussing the The Look of Leadership 3.0

I started my conversation with the analogy about the styles of leadership over the years: Henry Ford, Jack Welch, Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. If we were able to do a comparative graph, the styles of leadership of each of these legendary individuals and leaders the arc would be off the chart.

Each one is a masterful leader in his own right. Could Henry Ford or Jack Welch manage a workforce today with the same level of success. I personally think not. The evolution of modern leadership requires a different style from what may have been successful years ago.

Career Management 2.0 @ Time Warner

I presented a seminar at Time-Warner on September 23 on Career Management 2.0.  The workshop was a Lunch & Learn Event.

HR as the Town Crier, or Why People Management Needs a Lot More Focus

 In the 18th Century, a town crier was used to make public pronouncements wearing a red and gold robe, white breeches, black boots and a tricorne hat. They would carry a hand-bell to attract attract people’s attention, as they shout the words “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez.”  This translates to “Hear Ye, Hear Ye” before making their announcements. This was a call for silence and attention.

I have been giving a lot of thought to this role over the past few months and it really crystallized last week when I read the recent article in Human Resources Executive titled “What’s Keeping You Up?” This article was based on a survey of 802 HRE readers that found that “nearly 80 percent of HR leaders report their level of stress has gone up during the past 18 months,”  with one-third of those surveyed reporting that their level of stress had increased “dramatically.”

There was a common theme in these findings, and it’s this: that given the impact of the downturn, HR leaders are having a difficult time these days.