An Opportunity for 2009, Wait 2010

NOTE: I thought I would re-run a few posts from 2009 during the holiday week, and I came across this one, originally posted December 28, 2008 - almost exactly one year ago.  Then, I opined on the tremendous opportunity for HR organizations to lead and drive the implementation of new tools and technologies to support workforce collaboration.  I wonder if in 2009, that this opportunity was really largely missed, consumed by the recession, survival-mode thinking, and too much debating and strategizing, and not enough 'doing'.  Let me know what you think, did HR really miss on this in 2009? And can we take advantage of this in 2010?

Flickr - sebastien.YEPES

An Opportunity for 2009 - December 28, 2008

Ok, you are probably sick of reading blogs, analyst opinions, and watching Webinars that all keep saying the same thing: in 2009 there are opportunities for HR Technologists to make substantial impact deploying systems or platforms to improve collaboration, networking, and information sharing. 

Take a look at this quote from the Collaborative Thinking blog by Mike Gotta:

An opportunity for HR in 2009

Generational shifts: GenY and aging workforce trends create opportunities for HR groups to take on a much more strategic role. Employee, retiree and alumni social networks for instance have the potential to help organizations become more resilient and agile by allowing it to capitalize on its internal and extended relationships - often in ways not constrained by formal institutional structures

 How about this one from the Aberdeen Group's Kevin Martin:

While HR and IT can often butt heads regarding HR systems implementations, Aberdeen's research has uncovered that HR should collaborate with IT to advance Web 2.0 initiatives and achieve the above-referenced common organizational objective: organizational knowledge capture and transfer.

And if you come to the realization and conclusion that social networking and collaboration technologies are the right tools for your organization and want to champion their adoption and deployment but are faced with skeptical or less-informed management? How do you convince the 'old-guard' managers and influencers that social technologies are a valuable, soon to be essential tool, and not just a distraction from 'real work'? How about this answer from Knowledge Infusion:

 Don't try. Start at grassroots level with a ripe and receptive department or business unit. Once there is success and viral effect, the old school executives will take notice and support an enterprise approach.

You know, deep down you know, that jumping in to the Web 2.0 world is the right thing to do in 2009.  The start-up investment is extremely low, the learning curves are short, and there are loads of articles, blogs, case studies describing how numerous organizations have approached and have had success with these tools.

Don't wait for the jokers in IT to do this and grab all the glory a year from now!

The Best Christmas Song Ever

Merry Christmas from Steve's HR Technology Blog!

Have a wonderful day if you are one to celebrate, and even if you aren't celebrating, I think you will appreciate what I think is the best Christmas song ever - 'Christmas in Hollis' by Run DMC.

Money line - 'Rice and stuffing, macaroni and cheese, and Santa puttin' gifts under Christmas trees'

Awesome.

Have a wonderful day.

The Sham of Working on Christmas Eve

If you are sitting in your office reading this post today I have two things to say to you:

One - Thanks for reading, I love and appreciate all my readers, hopefully your received your packages of cookies and fudge

Two - Quit goofing off on the internet and get back to work!

Seriously, unless you are a police officer, firefighter, work in a hospital, or are standing behind a cash register today, 'working' on Christmas Eve is a total sham.

For the typical office, information, or 'knowledge' worker forced to trudge in to the office on Christmas Eve almost no 'real' work will get done, they will be forced to stand around a box of holiday frosted Dunkin' Donuts making awkward small talk with their co-workers, and either watching the clock or waiting with breathless anticipation for the manager/boss/VP to graciously let them leave early at 2 or 3 pm.

And most people that celebrate Christmas still have a million things to do on Christmas Eve, from shopping, to arranging child care (you know the teachers aren't working on Christmas Eve), to traveling or dealing with incoming relatives, and on and on.

I know what you are saying - just take a vacation day then if you are so busy. Flickr - Daniel Slaughter

But most people hate taking a vacation day on Christmas Eve because they know it is not a 'real' day. People will dress casually (or in hideous holiday sweaters), come in later, have a long lunch, and normally leave early.  Why burn a precious vacation day that can be saved for July, when the sun it out and you can actually really feel superior to the rest of the idiots stuck working.

Yep, Christmas Eve and work.  No one who is actually there wants to be there and hardly anything will get done.  And the people who are not there are secretly pissed that they are missing the 'free' day to watch their kids, bake cookies,  or drive 14 hours through the snow to Kansas City.

Do yourself and your workplace a favor, if you are not in the life-saving or trinket-selling business just shut it down on Christmas Eve.

You will make everyone happy. 

Except possibly for the people that live to wear their holiday sweaters.

HR Carnival - Holiday Time

The latest HR Carnival is posted on April Dowling's PseudoHR blog, and once you visit the holiday themed carnival, you will agree that April did a fantastic job assembling the Carnival.

As you have come to expect from the HR Carnival, there is a fantastic assortment of contributions from some of your favorite (and highly influential) bloggers.

You will find some great pieces from Lance Haun , Naomi Bloom, and Lisa Rosendahl (and many, many more).

Even my little 'coal in your stocking' story about a 'Twitter punishment' made the cut.

Thanks very much to April for such a fantastic job, and to the awesome Shauna Moerke for coordinating the Carnivals all year long.

The Wisdom of Jeff Van Gundy

The always entertaing former NBA coach turned announcer Jeff Van Gundy was reflecting on the difficulty that many coaches have with connecting with their much younger and far wealthier players.  Van Gundy's opinion was that a coach's message can, over time, start to lose its resonance, and it's effectiveness. JVG

Van Gundy made what I thought was an excellent point in the discussion:

If you as leader are the only one that always has to tell the truth, then you need more leaders on the team.

It makes sense. If the coach, manager, or leader is the sole voice of the organizational 'truth', he or she will always be fighting an uphill battle. In the NBA, Van Gundy felt that you needed one or two players, preferably star players or at least starters, that were completely on board with the coach's approach and could help to reinforce the 'right' way to prepare, practice, and play. These respected players could help keep the team together, and serve as a kind of validation for the coach's program.

I think this concept can apply in corporate organizations as well. Work groups and teams all have some natural leaders, roles models, and respected members. Managers that can forge understanding and connection with these leaders will likely have a better opportunity to fold in all the entire team, perhaps leading to a more cohesive, and better functioning group.

This idea of leveraging key internal leaders or champions also has application in tools and technologies that are being increasingly deployed inside organizations to facilitate collaboration in the enterprise.  Technologies like wikis, forums, and microblogs are often positioned by project leaders as solutions that will bring significant value to all members of the organization. But they also can have 'adoption' problems, with many employees reluctant to replace traditional and proven methods of collaboration (e-mail, phone, voice mail, shared network drives) with the new processes and tools.

Recruiting and deploying 'champions', a few key and hopefully respected employees to serve as guides and leaders in the adoption of these new approaches, and that serve as examples for the other members of the organization to follow is often a critical success factor in these projects. These are the ones that will kick-start forum discussions, post new findings on a wiki page, and actively share bookmarks, and tag and organize content.  Without these leaders, your project may not thrive.

Just like the great JVG says, if you as coach, leader, or technology evangelist are the only one 'telling the truth' you are going to have problems getting everyone to see the light.