Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap!

If I heard that once, I heard it a hundred times this week and weekend in London at the trulondon Unconference. Flickr- Marcin Wichary

The event was, I think, a tremendous success, and I could review the same list of usual reasons for that success (making real-world connections with online friends, exchanging ideas with about 100 experts and thought leaders, and the good feeling you get when surrounded with what are for the most part like-minded people). But I am sure by now many posts have been done covering that territory and I likely can't do much to add to them, save agree whole-heartedly.

Those reasons for success were certainly all present, and I expect to some extent they will continue to be present for the next batch of similar events, (truUSA, RecruitCamp, HRevolution2, etc.).  I do think at some point, probably later this year, that these events will have to move past this 'Boy it was so great to meet so-and-so' stage, as pretty soon everyone will have met so-and-so already.

But perhaps that is a point for another post.

I thought that trulondon, coming from my American perspective was really valuable for learning about and trying to understand what could be gained from thinking about differences and disagreements.  Some of these differences are more historical and process based, like how in the UK a typical organization will still utilize a third-party recruiter (or 'agency') when a vacancy needs to be filled, while their equivalent in the USA might likely turn to a national job board like Monster or Careerbuilder. Keith Robinson shared a great scenario he uses to describe this process in the UK, ask him to share it with you sometime.

But for me, some of the most interesting conversations at trulondon touched more around why the US and UK cultures and approaches to some of these workforce management and recruitment issues are divergent.  With few exceptions, the UK contingent felt that their US counterparts were much more advanced in many of the technical skills of sourcing and in the implementation and utilization of 'social recruiting' in the enterprise.  And many of us from the US, (well at least me) appreciated the way the UK experts seemed to present a series of excellent and detailed arguments, positions, and ideas. 

In some ways the UK felt the US was for lack of a better word 'smarter' while simultaneously the US folks felt the same about the UK people (admittedly for different reasons).

And I think they are both right.  And I think the fact that with an event like trulondon, that was able to some extent to be truly global, that some really significant and meaningful learning can happen.  With events that are local, regional, or even national there is going to be quite a bit of self-congratulation, perhaps less meaningful discourse, and the re-iteration of many of the same themes that many of us are perhaps tired of hearing and guilty of continually talking about.

Where we are different, where we are coming to the table with alternative perspectives is where we can learn and benefit the most.  I suppose, where there is a 'gap' in our experience and worldview there is much opportunity.

Mind the gap indeed.  And try to learn from it.

The Organization's Self-Image

A few days ago I stumbled across a very old post on a blog called Kung Fu Monkey titled 'Farm Fetish'. 

I know an odd title for a blog and sort of a strange post headline, in a sort of unsettling, not-safe-for-work kind of way. The main idea of the post is that changing demographics and dramatic shifts in agricultural production had rendered the idea of 'finding' the real America out on a family farm really was not just a quaint or nostalgic concept, but one actually inaccurate and misleading. Flickr - Dia

Since more and more Americans were living and working in cities, and less and less people were actually making a living as farmers, that our collective notion of ourselves as Americans and our collective self-image needed to adapt.  'Middle America' is no longer a farmer in Nebraska, but rather a web designer in Brooklyn, or an accountant in Chicago.

This notion is best summed up by this question in the article:

The honest question is, what in the American character keeps us returning to this completely false self-image?

I think that the post makes an interesting point, one that still holds up and additionally might be applied to many organizations as well, to their understanding of their markets, and potentially their workforces.

How much or little have organizations adapted their thinking of 'what it means to be us' and really took the time to understand the changes and re-composition of the people that make up the organization?

Have many enterprises started asking questions like:

What percentage of the workforce are managing significant challenges in caring for children or for older relatives? 

How many are not native English speakers?

How many are avid video gamers? 

How many blog or have large followings on Twitter?

We are seeing each week on prime time TV, courtesy of Undercover Boss, examples of CEO's and leadership in general not truly being in tune with the people in their organizations.  Is it enough for organizations to try and 'know' their customers and their markets?  Should they also strive to know themselves?

And if the organization did know these things would it be able to exploit that knowledge? 

And then would the knowledge get shared, such that the organization's self-image would change?

Ok enough.  I broke the record for open questions in a post. 

Anyone know some of the anwsers?

Technology Shopping List

Later this week at the trulondon Unconference in London  Sarah White, Shane McCusker , and I will be moderating a session titled 'Technology Shopping List'. Flickr - deepfruit

The session is described as:

Whatever the future holds, technology will play a major part in it. Today’s technology is already old and a day doesn’t go by when we don’t wish for something new. Join these technology experts in agreeing what you think the technology will need to do in the future, how applications will develop, the impact of cloud and what you want to see in the future.

There are really two kinds of shopping lists I think.  The one's that adults make when they go to the grocery store (milk, eggs, bread, etc.) and the ones kid's make for their Birthday or send to Santa Claus at Christmas, full of the latest toys, games, and other desires that (mostly) are not really needed, but will make them overjoyed with delight come the big day.

Aside - with all the recent major snow storms in the USA you have to notice the phenomenon of everyone rushing to the store to stock up on milk, eggs, and bread. Has French Toast been declared the staple food for when you get snowed in?

Back to the point. 

What will workforce technologies need to do in the future to support the organization, empower and engage employees, and most importantly drive increased business value? That is a big question, and I am glad that I will have Sarah and Shane along to help guide the discussion.

Here are some of the things I'll offer as part of the session:

Get simpler

Whether it is the iPad with its clean interface and tight feature set, Google Buzz (on the surface a much more basic and accessible version of Google Wave), or the push and demand for more mobile, smart-phone based capability, workforce technology has to get simpler to use.  Your employees and front-line managers are the essential keys to any Talent Management technology success.  Your candidates are the essential customers of your Recruiting systems.  Does anyone think that any of those groups are clamoring for more complex systems?  Simpler does not always have to mean less functional, but better design, more intuitive process, and 'smarter' technology that can anticipate and even recommend actions I think will be a large part of the future of workforce technology.

Get flexible

Rigid, process-oriented enterprise technology solutions of the last 25 years will have to become more flexible and adaptable if we accept the common assumption that business itself has to become more adaptable. I get that processes are how most business still gets done in many fields, and that for many organizations tight, precise replication of existing processes are essential for success and profits.  But with more and more work becoming 'creative', 'innovative', 'knowledge-based', or whatever you want to call it, the need for workforce tech to change, morph, and adapt to support whatever new directions the business needs to take I have to believe will be significantly more important in the future.  We are seeing some of this already, with more flexible SaaS-based solutions starting to dominate wide sectors of the workforce technology landscape.

Get social

Ok, not exactly a breakthrough idea at this point. But it does still seem that while there is significant discussion and realization that organizations can realize important benefits from the introduction and implementation of more 'social' or collaborative technology, many have only taken limited steps in this area.  The technologies that have long dominated the mid to large enterprise space (ERP, MS Office, corporate E-mail) have all been slow to adapt to the ideas around social.  Ironically, the forces that seem likely to spur the adoption of more social technologies, or the addition of social capability into existing technologies are more likely to be the employee's themselves, and not the corporate leaders or decision makers.

So those are some of the ideas I will offer for the Technology Shopping List - what else would you say needs to be included?

After all, it is more of a kid's Christmas list than an 'snow emergency I need to make French Toast' list.

Buzz and the need to figure it all out instantly

Unless you were offline or asleep for the last few days by now you surely have heard, read about, or even tried Google Buzz, the latest entrant into the collaboration/social networking space.

What is remarkable, and I think ultimately depressing is the almost instantaneous rush by tech news sites, pundits, bloggers, and even individuals to make grand and sweeping conclusions and pronouncements on the utility and potential of the Buzz technology literally within hours of its release and with certainly only the tiniest set of experiences and samples to work from.

The Lohan Corollary

Don't get me wrong, of course it is natural and expected to have a quick reaction or gut feeling about a technology after some initial testing, but it seems almost paparazzi-like the way we seem to have to race our reasoned analysis on to our blogs and sites.  I call it the Lohan Corollary. It's like the launch of Google Buzz is akin Lindsay Lohan walking out of a club at 3 AM bombed out of her mind and whoever gets the first picture up wins the game.

Let's be clear, Lindsay will pull the same stunt again later this week, and Google Buzz will be around for a while.  We can acually take some time to test, experiment, and think before passing judgment.

We're spoiled

It could be that we are all just too spoiled and cynical in general, and particularly when it comes to the most popular platforms.

Twitter rolls out a new feature or two and there is an online uproar if it is not deployed exactly like a few popular users/pundits would have liked.  God forbid Facebook makes any change at all (and granted they have made some questionable moves) and immediately there are a flurry of blog posts, tweets, retweets etc. denouncing and complaining.  LinkedIn gets bashed sometimes for being LinkedIn.

Google launches more FREE technologies like Wave and Buzz and we moan and complain that they tools are (pick one or more) too confusing, too slow, not intuitive, a distraction, not EXACTLY what we would have done.  I have even seen folks complain that the new (did I mention FREE) Google Buzz is clogging up their (FREE) Gmail inboxes.

Get over it

I get it, many of us have come to rely on these tools, Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, etc. as an essential component in our professional and personal lives.  We expect and demand that they function up to our expectations and to an acceptable and reasonable standard. 

We put up with ads all over Gmail and Facebook that help fund the continued FREE use of these platforms, that many of us use for our own commercial purposes.  There is a tradeoff for sure, we get the capability and enormous potential of the technologies, and the owners get to make money.  It is working for both parties. Sometimes the owners of these platforms will exercise their rights as owners and make changes, add features, and roll out entirely new products and just like any other consumer decision we make in life we can choose to 'buy-in' or opt-out. 

But can we at least try to make that decision with less whining and complaining?

I am leaving with this video, it is a little old but tells a great story about our collective cynicism.

Have an amazing weekend everyone!

Update - when I started writing this post, most of the commentary I had seen about Buzz was neutral to negative, in the space of about 24hrs the tone and opinion of many of the newer pieces was much more positive in nature.  Go figure, actually taking an entire day to consider and experiment actually seemed to make a difference.

How to Break in to HR

Tonight at 8PM EST on the HR Happy Hour show we will be talking about 'Breaking in to HR'.

The show was originally intended to be broadcast live from my HR Technology Class at RIT, but we had some technical issues could not be overcome.

But the intent and purpose of the show remain the same, to give some of my students, HR students at large, and truly any professionals looking to 'break' in to Human Resources some insights, tips, and recommendations on how they might get their start in HR.

What organizations, networks, courses of study, certifications and strategies are the most beneficial for someone that aspires to an HR career?

We will see what advice our guest,  listeners, and supporters, most of which are smart, experienced HR, Recruiting, or Talent pros can share with students, the ones that hopefully represent the future of the HR profession (and will take care of us when we are old and drooling on ourselves).

Now don't be a wise guy and recommend something like 'choose another field' or 'go learn a real trade like plumbing or pipefitting'.  While that may be sound advice, it will make for a short (and boring) show.

Joining Shauna and I on the show will be Robin Schooling, Rich DeMatteo, and Jennifer McClure (and hopefully you too).

Maybe we can kick off some ideas here in the comments - What advice do you have for someone trying to 'Break in to HR'?

I hope you can join us tonight at 8PM EST - Call in on 646-378-1086.