Culture and the Workplace

This week on the HR Happy Hour show Grant McCracken the author of 'Chief Culture Officer' will be our guest to talk about the importance of understanding cultural trends to the corporation.

As Chief Culture Office so persuasively presents, culture strongly influences what products resonate with the public, the brands that endure and thrive, and in some ways participate in the formation of culture, and even the design and makeup of our living spaces. 

While it may seem like the observation and analysis of cultural trends is more of a concern for marketers, product designers, advertising agencies and such, I think there are several important implications for those in the HR and Workforce space as well.

Just as culture and cultural trends influence consumer behavior for products and services, it is reasonable to think that they influence the market for talent. After all, the talent acquisition and retention functions have many similarities to the consumer market, and employees have been described as 'consumers' of work.  Corporations 'sell' their distinctive bundles of value, (compensation, training, prestige, etc.) that hopefully attract the desired mix of employees that 'pay' with their time, effort, and expertise. 

So if we buy the idea of people 'consuming' work, and so many signs point to a marked increased in temporary and contract work, more career shifting, shorter tenure with organizations, and more flexible and fluid definitions of the very idea of work, then thinking about talent through this consumer prism is not that much of a stretch.

Here are a few quick ideas on how consumer oriented cultural trends could influence talent management.

Customization of Careers

A day or two ago as I was checking e-mail and scanning Twitter I noticed someone I follow asking for recommendations for some new musical bands to check out.  Within a few minutes about a half dozen suggestions were tweeted her way.  She replied with thanks and indicated she'd set up a custom Pandora station with those bands in the rotation. 

More and more products and services can be personalized and customized, is it fair to say that current and potential employees will come to expect similar levels of customization in their jobs? If an organization offers the same, cookie-cutter package to everyone will they be able to effectively compete for talent that demand and more and more receive personalization and customization in many other areas of their lives?

Feeding the network

Chief Culture Officer makes a compelling argument that products and services that offer the consumer the opportunity to 'feed their networks', that is share experiences, help to co-create, and ultimately add value to their friends and connections will have the best chance for enduring success. Could the same be said for organizations?  Those organizations that openly advocate for  their employees, support their participation in social networks, and otherwise demonstrated added value to the employee beyond the comp and ben equation may have an edge in the never-ending competition to attract and retain their best talent.

Work spaces

As discussed in Chief Culture Officer, one of the important approaches to understanding culture and anticipating trends is to study consumers in their homes, to see how they live and interact with and consume products and services.  Even the very design of homes and neighborhoods is essential data for the Chief Culture Officer. Homes are not designed the same way today that they were even 20 years ago.  Tastes, changing activities, and increased preferences for more open spaces tend to alter how homes get designed and used. Shouldn't office or work spaces also try to reflect changes in attitudes toward space? 

One of the trends in design the McCracken notes is the relatively recent increase of 'great rooms' in American homes.  These are large, central, and open spaces designed for congregating, interacting, and living.  If these more open, collegial type spaces are desired at home, is it possible that workplaces should also adapt to reflect this cultural trend?  Should designers of work spaces consider how people's changing attitudes can be leveraged to create more meaningful and ultimately more productive work spaces?

These are just a few observations, perhaps you can think of some other examples of how an understanding of culture can help the HR and Talent professional.

Let me know what you think.

Guest Post - When I Grow Up

Wassup? This is not Steve. This is his cooler son, Patrick! Thank you, thank you very much!

We're doing a little experiment. It is we each do a post for each others blog. If you want to see what Steve wrote check my blog out at patrickboese.blogspot.com, and come back on a daily schedule! Without further adieu [pronounced a-do, I don't know why I said that] the blog post!

Now Dad told me to write about what I will do when I grow up. I'm gonna be a secret agent! Or an agent. My code name will be Blade.

I will fight bad guys and travel the world!

Or I could be I famous movie maker. I will probably be I movie maker because that's more rewarding. If I become that I will make a series of movies. The Patrick and Leo series. There will be 5 or 6 of that series. By then I will be rich!$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

Well I guess I could make more movies. If I do make more they will only be a 3 movie series. It will have lots of fighting!The movies will be called Blaster Wars I, Blaster Wars II, and Blaster Wars III. Well, I guess this is enough info. So I am done with this post.

Don't forget to check out my blog at patrickboese.blogspot.com.

Chow!

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Editor's Note : Thanks Patrick for the post.  When Patrick is not blogging and planning his media empire, he is a normal 3rd grader and likes soccer, legos, and the New York Yankees.

London Calling

The HR Happy Hour Show that is....

Episode 27 - 'trulondon 2 Preview' - Thursday January 21, 2009 - 8PM EST

Call in 646-378-1086

The show is back live tonight with the 'Trulondon 2 Preview' show.   In case you have not heard, and if you haven't shame on you Bill Boorman, trulondon 2 is the next installment in Bill's slow march towards global domination.

Seriously, trulondon is a Recruiting, HR, and Technology 'unconference', a semi-structured gathering that will bring together experts, practitioners, and thought leaders from the UK and US for two days of sessions on a wide range of topics in the Talent space.

Bill was nice enough to invite me to co-lead a few sessions, and I am looking forward to heading over to participate in the event, do a live HR Happy Hour show, and take in my first Premier League match in person.

So check out the HR Happy Hour show tonight, find out what trulondon is all about from the event's founders and a few of the session leaders, and maybe just maybe make your plans to come to the event.  We will get you all the information you need.

Carnival of HR - Stay Warm Edition

The latest Carnival of HR is up over at Lisa Rosendahl's 'Simply Lisa' blog.

Lisa did a tremendous job with the Carnival, and incorporated a cool winter theme to the collection of posts.

Some of my favorites from this edition:

Gautam Ghosh with - Thinking About Social Employee Relationship Management

Paul Smith with - Fixing a Hole

and Laura Schroeder's No More Stars.

My little cautionary tale about what job candidates and saying and posting online about your organization and hiring process, Candidates are Talking, is there as well.

I highly recommend spending some of your cold winter's day checking out the Carnival. 

Great job Lisa!

Predicting the Future (may involve rogue asteroids)

Predicting the future out to the next 40 years or so across the broad spectrum of politics, technology, arts, and the workplace is no easy feat.  And furthermore creating a map of sorts that attempts to understand future trends and how they may intersect, is really tricky.  And last, designing such a visual, and have it look like a massive city subway guide is just about impossible.

But the folks at the Now and Next blog did just that, by creating their '2010 Trends : A Map for the Future'. Here is just a tiny snippet of the map, showing a few of the predictions for the 'Work and Business' line.

The full map can be opened and downloaded here.

Some of the other lines on the map are Society & Culture, The Economy, and Transport.  Sadly there was no prediction offered for the development of flying cars.

While the map is really meant to be fun, (one of the 'risks' mentioned is a 'Rogue Asteroid'), there are a few items on the Work & Business line that I thought were interesting and perhaps more likely to pan out than the 'Self-repairing roads' prediction on the Transport line.

1. 25% of company HQ's now virtual - This prediction seems like it both makes sense, could really happen, and will also be very difficult to measure.  Still, the movement towards more flexible and in many case virtual work is undeniable.  It only makes sense that more companies will go entirely virtual, 'meeting' only in a mix up coffee shops, co-working locations, virtual worlds, with teleprescence, and in fast-food restaurants.

2. Generational conflict in the workplace - Well aren't we already seeing at least a little of that?  With millions unemployed, and a higher percentage looking for work among the younger generations, and more and more experienced workers both living and working longer, the seeds for more conflict are certainly in place. I still think the effective management, and balancing of the four generations in the workplace is going to be a significant challenge and opportunity in the near future.

3. Widespread use of brain scans in job interviews - While this specific prediction is certainly pretty far out there, (although this article is fairly bullish on the idea), I think a better way to think about this is around how the assessment and interview process can be improved.  Can other, less invasive assessment processes be developed to serve as better, and more consistent predictors of job fit and likelihood of success in a given company in a given role?  Particularly in a more fast-moving and changing environment, making the 'right' hire the first time is even more critical. Can brain scans accomplish this? We will see.

If you have a few minutes, have a look at the entire map and let us know what you think. 

In the next 40 years are we more likely to see brain scan interviewing or the rogue asteroid?