NOTE: This Guest Post authored by Lyn Hoyt is part of the HR Blog Exchange, a fun project that was cooked up a couple of weeks ago, details on the project are here.
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Like so many businesses today, my business continues to evolve its strategy to include technology in all aspects of business function. Not only has it played a role in marketing our framed recognition products 
on the web, but also in streamlining warehouse functions, customer service and of course HR. Some of these small business functions Steve has written about here. Steve’s recent interview with Beth Carvin also does a great job talking about the benefits of “social networking” as a component of technology within business environments. We are all continuing to understand the power of technology to connect people through communication significantly impacting HR today. It is a very exciting time to be working in HR.
Does technology in HR offer the ultimate platform to fundamentally transform how we treat each other as employees and colleagues through transparent feedback of work performance? While some of this feedback opportunity already exists, are we maximizing the transparency or does it just exist in a document in a performance review file? DeliverMagazine.com terms “the 4 C’s” of connectivity, communications, creativity and collaboration. To humanize these 4 C’s by bringing real opportunity for employee content, commentary, recognition and collaboration to HR could create a real peer-to-peer platform for authentic work performance feedback and recognition. And it can bring better access to management.
There is a methodology emerging with Facebook and Twitter that cannot be ignored. Can employees build appropriate content for online communities in the workplace? Can they be trusted? While there is much to resolve with security, privacy, rules and moderation in a business environment, with the right spirit, I feel knowledge sharing and community building through HR technology can grow authentic corporate cultures that can ultimately transform the way employees perceive their own value.
Social Networking in the workplace is already moving even beyond blogs in some corporations, becoming mini news feeds, tagging search, and video uploads. Employees move from desktop to phone, posting texts, photos and video in real time that for Gen X and Gen Y is part of the energy of teamwork that enhances work performance and collaboration. Key to fostering the use of this social networking platform is recognizing and valuing there will always be content creators and content spectators, yet both are participating. One of my personal favorites that illustrates this workplace trend are Zappo’s Blogs http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs/inside-zappos.
Recognition is reinforcing the power of the positive. As a discipline HR must harness technology beyond data crunching. Real people are associated with that data. Forming recognition communities through technology can ultimately strengthen teamwork and job performance that, by nature, is the purpose of recognition.
Lyn Franklin Hoyt is co-owner, designer & marketing director for Berkeley Tandem, Inc. a small manufacturer of framed recognition products located in Nashville, TN. You can see her company’s products on the web at http://www.awardcertificateframes.com and http://www.fusionframes.com . You can also follow her on twitter at designtwit and awardframes.