Be innovative (but only with the tools we give you)

I am sort of but not really an IT person, so I understand why most corporate IT departments like to enforce consistent standards for the workforce's computers.  Security, compliance with vendor licensing, reduced maintenance cost etc. are the typical reasons why an organization will issue a company computer with an 'official' configuration and a set of applications pre-installed.  The exact mix of applications could vary depending on the user's role, but essentially, the employee is expected to perform their job duties using the 'delivered' configuration.

And in many organizations this standard pc configuration is coupled with an aggressive internet filtering system that blocks access to unauthorized sites from the company's network.  Originally these filters were put in place to block pornography and gambling sites.  Then as now it does seem like employees whiling away the hours surfing porn and playing online poker would be a drain on productivity. But don't employees already know that?  Do you really need to actively marshal IT resources (that theoretically have more strategic, value add activities to work on) to make sure your staff isn't abusing the internet?

Do we really need to put up a sign in the breakroom that says 'Committing a felony is against company policy?'

I digress. 

The main issue is how these risks and issues get quantified.  It is pretty easy for the IT folks to calculate how PC support costs are kept 'in-line' by enforcing a strict set of standards.  It is also fairly simple to determine the costs to the company if a malicious computer virus infected the network and rendered all the computers inoperable for a period of time.

What is much harder, if not impossible to quantify is the 'cost' of employees not being able to download a free application or program to experiment with that may help them become more productive.  If a key piece of information or training course is available via YouTube, but the company blocks the site, who knows how long it will take the employee to find the needed information from an 'allowed' source. These costs are real, even if they can't be precisely measured.  And what else is real is the frustration level for employees who know that there is a better, and more efficient way to do things but have their hands tied by company IT policies.

And don't even get me started on companies blocking access to social networking sites.

In today's downsized, pressure-packed, do more with less world, we are asking our employees to be more productive and innovative, but in many cases not equipping them with the freedom to use all the tools in the workbench. Rolling out 'company-issue' PC after PC and clamping down on worker's online resources might have made sense 10 years ago, but that time is long gone.

Note - This post is dedicated to Lisa Rosendahl of HR Thoughts, who was not able to watch a live stream of a SHRM 2009 panel during which the panelists specifically mentioned her blog as a great example for HR blogging in the public sector.

HR, Barbecue, and a Blog Conference

I am pretty much spending all my 'spare' time on two areas: HR (really HR Technology) and Barbecue. So for me it is great anytime I can combine those two interests. So a couple or quick notes on that front.

First, Heather McCulligh from Halogen Software has a great post about how HR can spice up the annual employee barbecue (and thanks very much for the shout-out Heather).

Second, Trish McFarlane from the HR Ringleader blog, Ben Eubanks from Upstart HR, Mike Owcarz, and myself and some others  have had a few conversations about creating an HR Blogger 'Un'conference.  A sort of casual, fun, 1 or 2 day event for the HR Blogger community to meet, network, and share their specific expertise to the larger group.

What does that have to do with Barbecue? Well, we are thinking of having the Unconference in Cleveland, Ohio which is in driving range of Western New York which means I can easily haul along this:

Yep, that is my baby and if we can pull of the Unconference in Cleveland I think I will try to come in a day early to fire up the Chargriller and do some brisket, ribs, and whatever else the HR Bloggers fancy.

If you are interested in the HR Blogger Unconference, shoot Trish a note or a DM, she is the mastermind behind these evil schemes or check out the HR Blog Confernece wiki site.

Diner Menus and Collaboration Platforms

Being a native of New Jersey I have fond memories of the classic Jersey diner. The kind of place that had a 20 page book for a menu, that served everything from breakfast to burgers to seafood (generally a goodFlickr - wallyg idea to avoid diner shellfish) all the way to full roast turkey dinners.  Throw in a generous helping of Greek, Italian, and even Mexican selections, and the customer likely had about 500 different items to choose from.

Someone not familiar with the New Jersey diner can get a bit overwhelmed and surprised with the sheer heft of the menu and almost dizzying array of choices. Page after page of choices, even at 3 AM.

Lately it seems like the options to the Human Resources Technology professional in the area of internal collaboration platforms is starting to resemble a Jersey diner menu.  Every day I think another web-based solution to support employee collaboration, communication, improve productivity, and otherwise turn your organization into a high performing, 'social' organization. And while I generally agree that these kinds of solutions are really the future for collaboration for many organizations, the sheer number of solutions that are currently available have to be confusing and a bit daunting  to the average HR professional.

A starting point for many investigating these solutions is the famous Gartner Magic Quadrant document. These documents attempt to give a relative ranking to a fairly large number of vendors in a given market, along with some basic information on the solution.  The current Magic Quadrant for Social Software can be found here. But the problem with the Magic Quadrant is that its inclusion criteria skews towards the larger vendors, and consequently the ones that tend to sell to the larger customers.

The many, many start-ups and smaller vendors, (many offering fully functional collaboration platforms for very low costs, even free) are not included by Gartner, and are generally ignored by many other major analyst firms. So if you are an HR Pro at a company of say less than 500 employees, (which by the way outnumber firms larger than 500 employees by about  333-1), then you are pretty much on your own to navigate this complicated and ever expanding space.

Just in the last few months alone I have checked out (among others) Brainpark, GroupSwim, Sosius, Central Desktop, Obayoo, Socialcast, Injoos, Spinscape, Conenza, and Neighborhood America.  All have interesting solutions, and all could be the right solution for a small business, but for the HR Pro, navigating this complex and crowded market has to seem kind of overwhelming. There are simply so many options and choices here that it can be difficult to determine just what solutions are best for a particular organization.

If you find yourself at the diner in Jersey the recommendation is easy, order a Taylor Ham, egg, and Flickr - feralboycheese on a hard roll, you won't be disappointed. If you are a small business looking for a new collaboration solution, well, order a Taylor Ham, egg, and cheese on a hard roll, and be prepared for quite a bit of research and exploration.

SHRM Counter Programming - Women's Pool

Every year during the Super Bowl I take a quick look at the counter-programming that ESPN decides to run to 'compete' with the big game (which is typically on ABC or Fox). ESPN knows that pretty much every typical ESPN viewer is watching the Super Bowl, so they don't 'waste' any potentially interesting or popular shows in that time slot.

They typically run something from the potpourri of Lumberjack contests, cheerleading competitions, or my favorite women's pool.  So while the big SHRM shindig is going on, any HR-related blogger not in attendance and providing daily updates of the goings on is likely to find it hard to get noticed this week,

So in the spirit of ESPN's programming strategy, while SHRM is in full swing, I offer this gem: Women's Pool.  The video is actually pretty funny, check out the 'interesting' telestrator image about 30 seconds in, followed shortly after by what sounds like a huge fart and the commentator denying responsibility for said fart.

Pretty funny, no?

Anyway, later in the week I will resume my normally excellent HR Technology programming, and don't forget on Friday, July 3rd at 6 PM EDT the next Episode of HR Happy Hour, where Shauna and I will get the 'inside scoop' on SHRM from a panel of HR superstars.

HR Happy Hour - Episode 4 - SHRM Special Edition

Join the HR Minion, Shauna Moerke and I on Friday, July 3 at 6PM EDT for a special HR Happy Hour - SHRM '09 Edition. HR All-Stars Kris Dunn, Laurie Ruettimann, Lance Haun, Mark Stelzner (and maybe more) are our guests for a re-cap of SHRM 2009. We'll talk about the HR Blogger session, the conference in general, and who threw the best parties. It should be a great show.

You can listen live here, and we plan on taking a few calls during the show as well.

Thanks very, very much Shauna for coordinating the guests for this show and thanks in advance for the superstar panel for agreeing to come on.  Unlike SHRM, I do not have a 'no cursing' rule on the show!