Steve's HR Technology

The great Jason Averbook CEO of Knowledge Infusion has said 'LinkedIn knows more about your employees that you do', meaning that for many organizations, the volume, depth, and quality of data that their employees have voluntarily posted on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, far exceeds whatever data you may have about them in your 'official' corporate systems.

Gartner refers to this disparity in terms of 'volunteered' data (the kind on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, personal blogs, etc.), versus 'mandatory' data (the kind you compel your employees to provide, primarily for legal or administrative requirements).

Gartner theorizes that by 2012, this so-called volunteered data will surpass mandatory data in volume and business value. To be a leading HR organization, you need to plan for this shift, how to expoit the trend, and build processes and systems that will let you both encourage the proliferation of volunteered data as well as take leverage this information for your organization.

Although it is very difficult in 2008 to know when or if this shift in importance and source of information will occur, there are certainly some things as HR leaders you can do today to assess the trend for your own organization.

Some quick thoughts:

Evaluate your company's LinkedIn profile. What percentage of your staff maintains profiles? How connected are they? What organizations did they come from? Of folks who have left, where did they go?
Is your company on Facebook? Have smaller indivudual groups adopted Facebook groups or pages? Are your staff conducting important conversations there?
Are you on Twitter? How many of your staff are? Who are they following? Who is follwing them? Are your employess bypassing your standard sources of assistance to reach out to the Twitterverse?
Check out Ning. Are there Ning networks for all or parts of your organization? Are there related industry networks frequented by your staff? Should you sponsor or create your own Ning network for your staff?

Let me be clear, this is not about 'spying' or 'monitoring' what your staff is up to. This is about learning more about what your staff is passionate about, who they turn to for insight or help, and what important experiences and skills they have, that are not reflected in your old, boring HRMS.

It is about accepting the fact that your staff is quite likely offering up critical insights and knowledge outside of the systems that you control.

It is about accepting the new culture of collaboration.

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