High Performance HR? It’s All About Technology AND Social Media

I only have 90 connections, I know but I was only connected to LinkedIn about a year ago.”

“Yes, I did look her up on LinkedIn and I thought “ ‘how you could be the head of HR and only have 32 connections?’ ”

These statements came from people I spoke with last week concerning the use of LinkedIn.

It seems that a lot of folks (professionals) have been asleep at the switch. The use of social media has transformed the landscape. I know of people that are dissatisfied with their career but they spend all their free time on Facebook instead of Linkedin. These same folks basically set up a page at one time on LinkedIn but never really went back to it.

Social media: THE most important tool for HR

Over the past couple of weeks, LinkedIn has slowly uncovered some new tools coming our way: Linked Classmates and LinkedIn Talent Pipeline. I can only image that what we see now from Linkedin will look nothing like what it will be in the future.

How could this be?

Social Media has changed the landscape of not only corporate America but our personal lives as well. Organizations are struggling with social media policy and how to integrate it within the cocoon of their organizations.

Our personal lives have been transformed with the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr. I often wonder sometimes what it was like before the onslaught of these tools. I call them tools because that is the way that I view each of them.

Their use allows each of us to connect with people that we could not in a thousand years ever connect to. It allows us to connect and keep in touch in ways that snail mail, or phones for that matter, never could.

Are you kidding me?

But in my sphere, LinkedIn is by far the most important tool for HR. Where else can you get a glimpse of a person or eavesdrop on someone’s profile in a legitimate way? This is what talent scouting is about. But when you look at senior leaders in the HR profiles it sometimes makes you shake your head, because there seems to be no real use of it.

My daughter told me an incredible story of a senior executive of her firm that refuses to use the computer. He writes out everything longhand and gives them to his assistant to type. All senior executives were given iPads to use in the sales calls and he flat out refuses to use one, saying it is a waste of time.

I recall a senior level executive who everyone assumed was way in over their head in their new role. This was confirmed when the executive had to prepare a presentation and he did not know how to put a deck together. He finally had to admit that he had never had to assemble one, not only from the technology vantage point, but even from just composing the slides.

Yes, one of the main competencies going forward for will be the use of HR technology.

The intersection of technology and analytics

HR technology and analytics is helping to transform HR into a decision science with a measurable impact on business. The expanded use of the Internet for the delivery of HR applications, especially on a service basis, is also emphasizing the importance of HRIS for organizations of all sizes. This creates new roles for HR professionals and the imperative to develop strong HR technology competencies.

Technology is fully embedded in so many aspects of business, so much so that understanding the use of technology in all areas of the business, and particularly in relation to human and organizational capital, enables HR professionals to speak the language of business in an environment that is increasingly technology-driven.

The use of social media leads to new ways of collaborating, organizing work, building teams and developing new knowledge and skills, and this can help further build organizational and human capital.

High Performance HR

Research indicates that companies with the most high-performing HR function behave differently when it comes to the use of HR technology in efficiency and effectiveness metrics. And, they also operated with 16 percent fewer HR staff.

So yes, the landscape of HR technology revolves not only around HRIS, SaaS and Talent Management systems, but also their new brethren of Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook on the other end of the spectrum.

Eventually all this technology will all collaborate for the greater good of the organization, so let’s all get on board.

Why You Need to Hire People With the Customer Service Mindset

“We hire happy people and teach them to make sandwiches.” ”To maintain a connection between the front lines and the back office, every manager is required to spend four days a year on the shop floor.” (Pret a Manager). 

“We hire ‘customer service people’ and teach them all about coffee.” (Starbucks).

This week, I ordered some merchandise from Amazon and an audible books. Problem was that I made a mistake and downloaded a Kindle book when I meant to order an audible book. I also ordered toner for my printer and when it arrived, it was the wrong toner.

What Steve Jobs Taught Us About The Power of Following Your Passion

My daughter lives upstairs and last Wednesday night I heard her running down stairs. When she poked her head in my office, she said “Steve Jobs just died.”

At that moment I wanted to say in slow motion, noooooo!!!! I got up and we went into our TV room and turned to CNBC to watch the coverage. My wife came in and we kind of sat around misty eyed as if we knew him personally.

My daughter talked about all the cool products that his company created. I talked about his prowess as a business disrupter who followed his passion and changed the world. My wife wanted to know if he had family, if he was married, and whether he had kids.

Over the next few days these type reactions have played out in all forms of media.

Business Innovation: Your Talent Management Strategy Is the Key

New technology and innovation has always had a central place in the growth of business. In today's digital world, innovation has become an even more crucial element of success in business. The recent growth of mobile computing, the web and numerous other technologies are constantly reshaping the face of business. Even business education is changing with a growth in websites like MBA Online offering online education as a legitimate means of getting a business degree. To see more evidence of the power of innovation we only need to read the latest business headlines.

On Friday as I backed out of my driveway, I heard news tidbits on the radio about a company that was possibly announcing bankruptcy. As the news recycled, it was announced that it was Kodak that was possibly going to make the announcement.

Also this week, Amazon announced that yes, they are getting into the tablet business with the new Kindle Fire. As a Kindle fanatic, I read everything I could about the product. At the other end of the spectrum, Borders officially closed their last store last week.

The Kodak dilemma was not a real shocker, but I was extremely interested in it. My hobby is photography and I remember buying dozens of boxes of film at a time. I even had a darkroom in my first house. And now, because of slow reaction to the transformation of the photo industry, they are down for the count.

Innovation as part of the business landscape

HR Transformation: The Old Way of Doing Things Is Over and Finished

Kay, my father’s way of doing things is over, it’s finished,” said Michael Corleone in discussing their business transformation in The Godfather.

 
Last week, it was announced here that the TLNT Transform conference is scheduled for February 26-28, 2012 in Austin, TX. The phrase that caught my eye was, “Share Fresh Ideas at a Different Kind of HR Conference.”

I once worked for a boss who told me that she did not think much of the strategic aspects of HR. To her,  it was the “fancy stuff” and we should all concentrate of the basic tenets of HR.

HR today is not your father’s or mother’s human resources. HR today is on the cusp of changing the entire profession.

Anyone that doubts this should just take a look at the level of articles being shared on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook by HR pros. Take a look at the various conventions held throughout the year and the type seminars being given. Everyone in this profession is at a point that they have to step up their game.

What Great Organizations Seem to Get: To Execute, You Need Engaged Talent

It’s all about trust.

“HR is never on this floor. She came in and headed to our bosses’ office and stayed behind closed doors all afternoon.”

“She came back today and is in the office again. Our bosses’ door is never closed, but as soon as she comes, the door closes.”

“Well, she is back again for the third day. Do you think I will lose my job? I have two interviews lined up for next week. I can’t wait to get out of here. Everyone feels the same way.”

The Lesson from Yahoo: Like It or Not, Every Manager IS a Role Model

“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board,” Carol Bartz wrote to her company’s workforce.

“These people f***** me over.”

“Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?”

“The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country,” Bartz opined. “Now they’re trying to show that they’re not the doofuses that they are.”

When Will You Be Ready to Finally Go on the Offensive?

While letting the TV watch me the other night (which means that it is on and you are positioned to watch it, but the mind is wandering into the universe), I was brought back to life when I noticed that it was a documentary on Muhammad Ali, specifically the fight with George Foreman dubbed the “Rumble in the Jungle.”

This was the fight that Ali appeared to be beaten but miraculously came back in the end to win it.

This was the fight that the strategy called “rope-a-dope” was invented.

The rope-a-dope is a tactic of protecting one’s self during combat while an opponent wears himself out. As the contest continues, the opponent tires and starts to make mistakes. Once that happens, the other boxer can exploit those mistakes with a counter attack.

In competitive situations other than boxing, rope-a-dope is used to describe strategies in which one party purposely puts itself in what appears to be a losing position, attempting thereby to become the eventual victor.

Today on TLNT Radio: Employee Engagement is About the Simple Stuff

Regular TLNT contributor Ron Thomas joins hosts Lance Haun and John Hollon for a discussion on engagement in the workplace. We talk about the little things employers can do as well as the idea behind "Thank God It's Monday."

Employee engagement is a topic fresh on everyone’s mind. While there may be some best practices out there, nobody is really sure how to do it the right way for their organization.

Our guest this week, former Martha Stewart Living Vice President for HR & Organizational Development Ron Thomas, told TLNT Radio there are two simple ways to keep a pulse on employee engagement and some easy ways to get the most out of informal engagement exercises.