Don't quite 'get' Google+ yet? Fear not, you'll be ok

I am almost certain that if you are reading this blog that you have at least some passing awareness of Google+, the search behemoth's latest foray into the social networking space. By most accounts G+ is starting strong, coming out of a short but limited private beta period to grow to over 10 million users in just a couple of weeks. Plus seems to fit nicely into a gap that many users of more established social networks feel exists, making it easier and simpler to share status updates, contents, images, etc. with discrete 'circles' of friends and contacts, positioning Plus less of a broadcast medium like Twitter, while offering better (at least ostensibly), control over data privacy, and possessing more potential for meaningful engagement than on Facebook.

G+ is still very new, and while most folks (at least the majority of ones in my 'Circles') have not done much more on the network other than start re-building the social connections they had previously formed on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, that has not led to a myriad of chatter and blog posts attempting to decipher, explain, and help you, the neophyte G+ user make sense of it all. We have seen this before with other Google products like Wave and Buzz. The products launch to a (relatively) small set of users, and almost instantly a flood of content gets created (with a shockingly limited data set and experiences to draw from), that compete for some knid of position or authority in the space.

For more casual users of social networking services, (like your Grandma on Facebook), the hype and bluster surrounding G+ is likely lost, as they happily continue to to post pictures, check in on family members, and tend to their virtual crops on Farmville. By early reports, G+ is mostly male, and very geeky. Sort of like the old High School A/V clubs back in the day. 

And for more hard core social networking aficionados, G+ while intriguing and capable, will need to offer just enough reason to get people to divert at least some of their social networking energy away from the value networks they have spent the last few years building up on the liked of LinkedIn and Twitter. No doubt we will soon see a rapid uptake on 'productivity' tools that will automate bi-directional feeds and updates to and from G+ from the older social networks. And then soon after brands and organizations will begin to adopt G+, the game makers like Zynga and others will get on board, and finally the Google advertising engine will kick in - developments that will certainly change G+ from what it looks and feels like today. 

It can be pretty hard to keep up with all these developments in the social space, and one might feel frustrated or even behind the times if they are not one of the early adopters. But I know of at least one other pretty well-known and successful guy that also has only a passing understanding of G+, legendary investor Warren Buffett. Check out the (paraphrased) comments from Buffett about the technology and social networking space taken from a recent interview on Bloomberg TV:

Interviewer: Did you ever feel you missed the boat on these four companies? (Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook)

Buffett:  ‘Well I missed the boat on them, but I don’t mind missing boats that I don’t know enough to captain’. ‘I don’t have to understand everything. I am smart in spots and I stay around those spots', (emphasis mine).

Nice one. Now of course Buffett must have staff that stay informed about the latest and greatest in technology, social, mobile, and whatever other new things are coming. But he made it clear in the interview that he personally did not really deeply understand these newer technologies and developments, and consequently did not feel compelled to chase them, or to change his strategy or direction to compensate for that fact. Buffett stressed the importance (at least for him), of sticking to what he knew and felt like he could excel at, rather than being constantly on the make to re-invent himself.

I think the lesson here might be an important one, as new technologies and networks continue to multiple and proliferate, it can be really easy and dangerous to get caught up in the chase ourselves. Some new network gets hot, a new tech gadget hits the market, a major service starts offering a new solution - whatever, and we almost immediately change course, divert some of our time and attention to this new shiny thing, and feel compelled to figure it all out. And exploit it for some personal gain, I mean isn't that at least part of the game?

While some experimentation is great, and even fun at times, I also think it can put us in a situation where we never stop chasing, and spend enough time really focusing on that thing we are really good at, that we understand deeply, and that we can comfortably and reliably add whatever value it is we are trying to create. Warren Buffett might be one of the greatest investors that has ever lived, but he knows what he knows, and it seems that realization has served him pretty well. 

I kind of like Google Plus, but I also really don't know what if anything I'll ever do with it, and that any time I spend there is time I'm not doing something else. We make these kinds of tradeoffs all the time I know, but when the trade involves something so new and exciting as G+, I think we perhaps make them too easily.

What's your take - are we too caught up in the hype and the chase and not spending enough time at what we are really good at?

Deliver that sofa by 10:00AM, and please skip the Adult Bookstore on the way back

In this age of colossal growth and ubiquitous access to social networking platforms, increased individual ownership of smartphones and tablets, wifi connectivity pretty much everywhere, and with organizations and Human Resources departments seemingly on high alert at all times - monitoring Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and industry blogs for any posting or comment that might bring the brand and organization into disrepute, it is sometimes easy to forget the 'real-world' and even mundane ways employees carry the brand and organization message out into communities and with current and potential customers.

Case in point - today's New York Times online 'You're The Boss' blog has an interesting piece titled 'Monitoring the Private Lives of Your Employees; which almost refreshingly has nothing at all to do with keyword searching, Twitter stalking, or online sentiment analysis. Rather the piece asks a practical and almost overlooked question in today's digital age - whether or not a business owner (and by extension and implication the HR function), should be concerned that a branded and logo'ed company delivery truck was spotted by a member of the community in the parking lot of 'adult-oriented' establishment.

The specific example cited in the piece refers to a vehicle not directly owned by the company, but by a supplier, but the author of the piece, Paul Downs, rightly broadens the question to imagine it actually is one of his own delivery trucks at the adult shop, and proceeds to explore the question of the right or appropriate level of employee monitoring needed for this kind of scenario. Here is part of Mr. Downs take on the matter:

When we do send our guys overnight, we don’t pay them for every hour they are away from home. Yes, I cover the meals and hotel bills, but they aren’t on the clock the whole time. So how diligent should I be in supervising every minute they are away? There are reasons to object to porn shops, so I wouldn’t be thrilled to hear that my truck had been spotted at one, but there is other behavior that can cause a problem. Should I forbid my people from getting a beer or two with dinner?

Small-business owners can choose how militant they want to be regarding their employee’s behavior. Big business seems to be quite puritanical these days: drug tests, smoking bans, weight-loss programs — all of these make sense from a cost standpoint but they are also quite intrusive. With a smaller company, I don’t have either the desire or the resources to monitor my employees’ private lives. We do have policies about showing up at work drunk or high — I have only had to enforce them once, and in that case I didn’t hesitate to fire the offender on the spot. But should I concern myself with what they do on Friday and Saturday nights? Personally, I don’t believe it’s any of my business as long as everyone shows up ready to work Monday through Friday.

Mr. Downs position as a small-business owner might be informed (and constrained), by a lack of resources, i.e. I doubt his company can afford or even needs a 'social media monitoring team', or even cares to invest some limited effort in simple automated tools for tracking brand mentions and comments online. But even if he had all those things, or some of them, he might not have ever found out about the 'delivery trucks stopping at the adult bookstore' deal.

And from the tone of his comments in the article in the Times, he probably doesn't care. His position of 'I don't really care what they do in their free time as long as they are ready to perform on Monday', might be an old-fashioned attitude in our modern, digital age. But it is also one that recognizes all the social media policies, IT-enforced blocks or restrictions on access to social sites, and fancy and expensive tools and technologies for monitoring engagement, messaging, and sentiment online, won't do him one bit of good if one of his delivery truck drivers decides to make the Adult Emporium his preferred lunch stop. That may or may not be an issue for Mr. Downs, but that kind of thing has been an issue since well, forever.

To control that type of behavior, you really only need to hire the right kind of delivery drivers, which is something I bet Mr. Downs has a pretty good handle on.

What do you think - are we getting too caught up in what employees are doing online and forgetting their impact as brand ambassadors out in the real world?

Have a great weekend!

Need a Creative Solution? Check out the HR Happy Hour Tonight

It is just about the middle of summer here in the USA, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played earlier in the week, most of the country has been experiencing classic July sunshine and heat, and the latest installment of the Transformers movie franchise, a classic summer action movie, is dominating the box office. Due to staff vacations, distractions caused by the good weather, and from having the kids home from school, summer can also be a time where the pace of business slows down a bit, and individuals and organizations sometimes have a rare chance to reflect, recharge, and strategize about business and even personal problems that will have to be attacked in earnest in the Fall, (if not sooner).

Summer also gives us some license to explore and experiment. Traditionally TV networks have tested out new programs in the slower, (and less lucrative), Summer season in hopes of sorting out what might work in the Fall and Winter when audiences and ad rates both increase. Simply put, summer is about the only time all year many of us get to take a little breather, take some stock in what we are doing, (or not doing), and think about what we might want to do differently, or what challenges we'd love to address.

So tonight on the HR Happy Hour Show, we decided to do a bit of 'Summer programming' as well. Instead of another run at recruiting, or HR Technology, or management, or social media in the workplace, we are taking a bit of a diversion with a show called 'Creative Approaches', with our guest Matthew Stillman, author of the fantastic Stillman Says blog.

Matt offers what he terms, 'Creative Approaches to What You've Been Thinking About', by listening to the problems and concerns of everyday people, and via a process of discussion and exploration, offers what are usually challenging and intriguing options and opportunities to help his 'patients?', try and approach their issues.  The killer idea of Stillman Says, is the venue in which Matt conducts these sessions - a simple table and two chairs in the middle of New York City's Union Square. He then documents some of these conversations on the Stillman Says blog.

It really is a remarkable and compelling project, read a few of the stories on the Stillman Says blog and see if you don't agree with me.

So tonight on the HR Happy Hour Show - 8PM EDT / 5PM PDT, Matt will join us for the hour to offer 'Creative Approaches to What You Have Been Thinking About' - this is your chance to call in, tell us about a situation or problem - work, career, school, personal - doesn't matter, and let Matt work a little bit of his creative magic to brainstorm some creative options for you.

Problems with the boss? Not sure if you should pursue a new career? Have a great idea and just don't know how to execute? Call in tonight and let us know.

Here are the details to tune in tonight:

HR Happy Hour Show - 'Creative Approaches' - Thursday July 14, 2011 - 8PM EDT

Call in to ask a question - 646-378-1086

Follow the conversation on Twitter - hashtag #HRHappyHour

Listen live on the show page here, on the call in line 646-378-1086, or using the widget player here:

Listen to internet radio with Steve Boese on Blog Talk Radio

This should be a fun and entertaining show, and I hope you can take a break from margaritas on the deck long enough to join us. Actually, you should bring the margaritas, it is the HR Happy Hour after all!

What's more valuable, the content or the platform?

It is no secret, at least here in the USA, that the traditional newspaper and print publishing industries have been forced to undergo significant change, adaptation, and even re-invention not only to thrive in the new digital economy, but merely to survive. While the last decade has seen the rise of new information sources architected completely for the digital age, and some other long-time industry standard bearers adapt to this new world, many others have failed and have declared bankruptcy. Being in the print news business certainly has not been easy, and for those organizations still fighting the battle for reader's time and attention with the incredible array of options for news and information that are available, it certainly seems that creativity, innovative ideas, and fresh thinking might be the only way to get by.

Two such enterprises, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News think they have one of these fresh ideas. They plan to buy Android-based tablet computers, pre-load them with their news organization's content and apps, then re-sell the bundle (at a discount), to try and generate interest and ongoing subscription revenues for their digital content properties.  Some additional details from the Ad Week piece describing the plan:

On July 11, the two papers plan to announce a pilot program under which they will sell Android tablets with their content already built in at a discount. Icons on the tablets' home screen will take users to digital replicas of both newspapers as well as a separateInquirer app and Philly.com, the papers’ online hub.

The idea of giving away or selling devices has been widelydiscussed in the publishing industry, but the Philadelphia experiment seems to be the most aggressivepush in that direction thus far.

Greg Osberg, CEO and publisher of the Philadelphia Media Network, the entity that includes the papers and Philly.com, believes the company is making history with the program, the cost for which he estimated will come in somewhere in six figures. The deal lets the Philadelphia papers keep all the revenue and the consumer data, though, which will give it a read on how people consume newspaper content on a tablet.

A pretty bold move for sure. The Philly news organizations (correctly), get that the tablet market is where tremendous interest and consumer adoption are taking place, they can see hundreds if not thousands of locals riding buses and trains playing Angry Birds reading the news of the day on tablets and smartphones, and therefore want to create and exploit an opportunity to try and merge a real consumer need - 'I want a tablet', with a manufactured need - 'I want to read the Philly Inquirer'. 

It seems today that every publisher, consumer website, online productivity tool, and even increasingly enterprise technologies meant to support functions like recruiting, performance and talent management, analytics and the like are developing solutions for mobiles and tablets, and aggressively marketing the same. And this makes perfect sense given the market's reaction and almost insatiable desire for all things mobile and tablet. 

I wonder, particularly in the HCM enterprise technology space, if we will see a 'Philly Inquirer-style', marketing approach soon as well. One where the solution provider does more than simply demo their tablet-ready solution to an eager buying audience, but rather offers the entire package, pre-loaded pre-configured, and ready to work. Walk out of the meeting toting your brand new, ready to rock, Human Capital Management tablet. I know I am oversimplifying, but you get the idea. How many of us try on that new pair of kicks in the Foot Locker and just have to wear them home?

Corporate IT departments have been doing this kind of thing for ages, supplying staff with PCs and laptops with the 'official' image and set of applications that are supported. But today, I wonder if this process is too slow, too inflexible and not designed for today's much more demanding consumers of enterprise technology.

Any vendor out there in the space already doing this? If you know of someone, drop me a comment.

Self-checkouts, Self-service, and Customer Experience

This CNET News article caught my attention last week: Major grocery chain gets rid of self-checkout.

Here is the backstory: Albertsons, a major USA grocery chain has elected to remove the customer self-checkout lanes from its 217 stores.  From the original piece in the Seattle Times that first reported the Albertson's decision:

For Boise-based Albertsons, self-checkout no longer fits with the customer-service experience it wants, spokeswoman Christine Wilcox said.

"Our customers are our highest priority, and we want to provide them with an excellent experience from the time they park their car to when they leave," Wilcox said.

When Albertsons installed self-checkout lanes nearly a decade ago, "it was in response to a growing trend in retail for stores to be even more self-service" than ever before, she said. Albertsons is replacing the self-checkout lanes with regular lanes and opening more staffed lanes during peak shopping hours

A decade ago Albertsons, (and many other retailers, certainly), began to experiment with self-checkout lanes to provide more technically inclined and self-sufficient shoppers with what should have been a more efficient and simple check-out experience compared to the time-tested, (and kind of slow), 'place everything on the conveyor belt, make sure to plop down the little plastic item divider from the guy behind you, and answer a battery of questions from a sometimes too-perky check-out person'. 

'Did you find everything that you were looking for?'

'Do you want paper or plastic?'

'Do you want a bag for your milk?'

And so on.

So to avoid the process, particularly for shoppers with smaller orders, self-checkout lanes started to pop-up in all kinds of retail establishments. They were meant to solve (perceived) customer problems, offer some choices, and certainly shave some costs over time - stores would typically post one service rep to look after several of the self-checkout registers at a time, to assist customers who had issues scanning items, entering payments, and so on.

But as it turns out, most self-checkout experiences in grocery stores kind of stink. The machines are large, more complex than customers want them to be, and the thousands of items that a typical grocery store stocks often present customers and the technology with glitches and issues that eventually do require some assistance from the one service rep assigned to look after the process. Beyond that though, it is quite possible that using the self-checkout machines simply was not a good experience overall for most Albertsons customers, and most were willing to forego the potential time savings and awkward banter with the check-out person to use the traditional check-out process.

Lessons?

Pretty simple I think - implementing systems or imposing technological 'improvements' that exist primarily for the benefit of the service provider and not the customer can't survive indefinitely. Customers, be they the Albertsons shoppers, or the employees of your organization that are the consumers of your HR services and HR Technology solutions, eventually discern the value (or lack thereof), to themselves of whatever fantastic solutions you have developed and deployed.

I know what you're thinking, our Employee and Manager Self-Service solutions are fabulous - everyone just loves using them. We have had them in place for 10 years, and they save a gajillion dollars a year.

But ask yourself this question, if employees and managers had the choice, like Albertsons shoppers have had, to use the supposedly faster, better, modern 'self-service' option, or have their issues and concerns handled the slower, analog, behind-the-times 'old-fashioned' way, what do you think most of them would choose?

Are you really delivering a great solution and customer experience?

Postscript - I hate the self-checkout lane. Except when I get stuck behind someone that decides to pay for thier groceries using an out-of-state check. We really need to do something about those people.