HR and New Technology - follow up
SteveA quick follow up to the HR and New Technology post from earlier this week. A point I should have made originally, in fact. Here it is:;)
If HR does not start learning, trying, embracing some of these new Technologies (Twitter, Yammer, YouTube, Facebook all the usual suspects), they will take root in the organization anyway, HR won't know what the heck happened, and jump back into classic 'regulate, monitor, make a policy so we don't get sued' mode.
Months ago I 'claimed' the Yammer domain for my organization. I invited two or three HR colleagues (who are pretty tech savvy) and tried to get some interest and momentum in the tool. But nothing happened. Could not get the HR folks to see the value (or even attempt to see the value) in a tool that allows micorblogging, threaded discussion, image and file sharing, groups formation etc. In a 'perfect' world, HR would lead the drive to adopt these types of tools in the wider organization.
Today, out of nowhere, I noticed a flurry of activity on our Yammer network. It appears like one class of students have decided to sign up for Yammer and create a group to facilitate collaboration and information sharing. This could have just as easily been a faculty or administrative department, the specifics don't really matter. What matters is that the organization did it on its own.
And what happens if this group discovers Yammer to be a great tool and spreads the word to the wider organization? Maybe they'll get some kind of recognition or be recognized as 'innovators'.
Exactly he kind of PR that most HR departments really need. That's ok, keep processing the forms, keep folks paperwork up to date, and try not to get noticed.
Rant off.
Reader Comments (2)
What do you think the reluctance is to use collaborative tools in the workplace? Is it fear of the unknown? Is it perhaps the lack of understanding the power of using such tools? I work on very large projects spread across the globe and we have access to collaborative tools but my experience has been similar to yours. No one picks it up. And then everyone complains at the poor amount of communication and coordination across the team. It's gotten to the point that every time I recommend using the collaborative site, everyone rolls their eyes. It's like I'm from another planet.
Andre, from what I have seen there are many potential barriers to an organization, particularly an HR organization, to adopting these tools. One, is a simple ignorance or lack of unserstanding of the capability of these tools. I am consistently seeing that many HR pros simply do not really understand this market. They have all heard of LinkedIn and Facebook, but many do not see any application to the 'professional' world. This is one of the reasons I advocate HR leaders get more in touch with what marketing, sales, and corporate communications are doing in this area. Another barrier is a lack of willingness to be innovative. HR groups many times focus so narrowly on administration, compliance, and making sure the company can't be sued, that they are not willing to expend time and resources on these types of initiatives. In many organizations the culture is more inward-facing, that is stick to the traditional tools and processes like e-mail, network file shares, and internal web sites. HR leaders really need to look beyond this today and in the future. Thanks for reading and for your comments, Andre.