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.

The HR Executive Conference - What Wasn't Said

Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to attend the Senior HR Executive Conference organized by The Conference Board, (my summary of the first day of event is here).

While there were so many excellent presentations from the HR Executives on a wide range of topics, read this piece from HR Ringleader on the Unilever 'Agile Working' program for an example, I want to focus on what wasn't said at the event.

In a day and a half of presentations, casual conversations, lunches, and networking the subject of social networking use in HR and the leveraging of social media tools and technologies for HR, was largely absent from the discourse.   In total, I think we (the bloggers that were invited to the event) only Flickr - JFChenierobserved two mentions of social networking; one a reference to sharing family recipes on Facebook, and two; a representative from PricewaterhouseCoopers talking about how PWC using social networking tools to connect with interns and intern candidates.

That was it.

No discussions on using new tools for workforce collaboration, for internal expertise location, to improving the 'connectedness' of their global organizations, and definitely no talk about implementing innovative strategies and approaches for using social networking to find, attract, retain, and engage top talent.

Last night on the HR Happy Hour show, a 2009: Year in Review, we spent a large portion of the time discussing social networking and social media as one of the most significant themes and trends for HR in 2009, (when we were not playing the Sad Trombone).  

What gives? If social media and social networking for HR were really that significant in 2009, shouldn't there have been at least some talk about this development at the HR Executive Conference? Shouldn't have one Senior HR leader talked about how HR was able to exploit employee networks, new technologies, or public sites like Twitter or Facebook to drive some truly innovative solutions?

Why might there be a disconnect between those of us active in social networks and technologies for HR and what we heard (or more accurately did not hear) from the Senior HR Executives?

ROI- On the Happy Hour, Jessica Lee made an excellent point.  She essentially said that HR Executives have not seen the real organizational ROI of social media and social networking for HR initiatives, and therefore do not yet consider it important and/or essential.  I think Jessica is right on with this observation.  These executives don't want to hear 'Look our company recruiting Facebook page is up to 823 fans!'. They want to know how these tools and strategies produce results, better hires, at lower cost, and improved results.  That is it.

Echo Chamber - The HR folks involved in social media and active in social networking have formed a nice, tight cocoon around ourselves, and since we keep telling each other this 'stuff' is important, then darn it, it must be important.  But we are not doing a good enough job in and out of our organizations reaching the broader HR community, and certainly not the highest levels of HR Executives. Until those of us that are proponents of these approaches start doing a better job on outreach, the executives will simply not even notice, let alone care.

It really isn't that important - So much of the conversation and presentations at the conference centered around implementing consistent performance evaluation processes, identifying and retaining high-potential employees, and managing the workforce through this recession. While at least in theory social technologies and strategies could assist organizations in these areas, it certainly is not necessarily obvious how.  In these organizations more tested and traditional approaches seemed to be the preference, and based on the presentations, many companies claimed successful outcomes.  Maybe it still is possible to solve important workforce and organizational crises without social networking.

It's still too new - It quite likely could be too early in the widespread understanding and adoption of social networking strategies in HR for them to have 'bubbled up' to get the attention of the average senior executive, or to have achieved the kind of success that an executive would want to actually talk about publicly. Maybe when I attend the 2010 Senior HR Executive Conference (please invite me back!), there will simply just be more to say on the topic.  While 2009 was truly a year of dramatic growth in HR's use of social media and networks, it still really has a long, long way to go.

I have to say I was indeed a bit surprised how little attention these ideas received at the conference, but truly after reflected on them a bit, and from the comments and discussion on last night's HR Happy Hour, it does make sense somewhat.

For HR folks invovled in social media and social networking, what do you think needs to be done in 2010 to get these topics on the radar of the most senior leaders in the discipline?

The HR Executive Conference - Day 1

The first day of the Senior HR Executive Conference was a fascinating day of presentations, discussion, and a real inside look at some of the HR practices in some of the world's largest companies.

HR Executives from Coca-Cola, Unilever, HP, FedEx and Chiquita Brands were just some of the organizations sharing their insights for a group of about 100 Senior HR executives (and a few of us lowly bloggers).

Some obsevations and highlights from Day 1:

Guarded Optimism - Some quick polls taken of the 100 or so Senior HR Executives in the room expressed fairly positive outlooks on business prospects and hiring trends in their organizations for 2010. Also interesting to note was that several of the presenters remarked that preserving and protecting employees and jobs from the effects of the recession was and remains a key component of ongoing strategy.

Talent - Almost every session touched on the problems that these mostly very large organizations see in acquiring, aligning, and engaging talent. It was actually surprising to hear several of the largest organizations still struggling with some basic and essential activities like consistent performance management or identification of successors for key leadership positions. While all presenters highlighted the new initiatives and improvements they were making, most indicated they still had much work to do in these areas.  There was almost universal focus on 'high-potentials', identifying them, retaining them, and making sure they understood the organization had plans for their growth and success.

Globalization - Since almost all the sessions were presented by very large ,Fortune 100 type companies, there was plenty of dialogue on the problems and challenges in managing a global workforce, deploying technology that can support all the places the organization has presence, and making sure that senior leadership properly reflects and supports global operations. When Chiquita Brands talks about the need for a HRIS solution that will be acceptable for the low bandwith in the Costa Rican banana farms, you know you are dealing with a truly global set of issues.

Branding everywhere - Coca-Cola, the most famous 'brand' in the world, still has lots of work to do on their 'Employer' or 'Talent' Brand. That was a telling comment from such a powerful consumer company. If even a Coca-Cola is concerned about how to best communicate and articulate their EVP, pretty much every company probably needs to be concerned.

Agile Working - The most interesting session of the day was the closing keynote from Fiona Laird of Unilever. The presentation and discussion was on Unilever's 'Agile Working' approach, a new way of working that puts results first, emphasizes the ability to work from anywhere and at anytime, and is supported by management processes and evaluations, the design of physical space, and the critical technologies that can unleash workers from their traditional '9-5' desk jobs.  According to Unilever, the Future of Work is flexible, mobile, and 100% results focused.  That message was an excellent way to close the day.

I plan on diving in to a few of these themes in the next week or so, and also some thoughts on what was not talked about much by the HR Executives (social media, social networking).

Thanks so much to the folks at the Conference Board for inviting me to attend.

The HR Executive Conference

Today and tomorrow I will be attending the Senior HR Executive Conference sponsored by The Conference Board.

The Conference Board is a non-profit organization dedicated to 'helping business strengthen their performance and better serve society'.

They along with many other 'traditional' conferences and established organizations have begun to reach out to the blogging community to gain some insights, some additional exposure, and I suspect in the case of the Conference Board to better understand what the heck is going on in the blog and Social Media world.

VPs and CHROs of some of the largest companies in the world (Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox) will be presenting of a wide range of topics affecting business, Human Resources, and talent management.

I wonder how they will feel about some live-tweeting during their sessions?

Seriously, since I will have the chance (I hope) to meet and chat with several of the most powerful HR Executives in the country I will put it to you - what would you want to ask these HR leaders?

What does HR need to do to get better?  Is HR Dead? What does the next generation of HR need to know?

If I don't get any good suggestions in the comments, I will have to go with my standard question I ask everyone -

Can I get you to come on the HR Happy Hour Show?

The HRevolution - One Vendor's Perspective

NOTE : This guest post is from Wendy Tandon, Director of Product Strategy for Human Resources technology vendor Salary.com.  Wendy (@WTandon on Twitter), was an attendee of the HRevolution conference this past weekend in Louisville, KY and has agreed to share her perspectives on the event here.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As mentioned in the intro to HRevolution I began my career in HR, and am now happily working to define technology products for HR and the Enterprise.  I’ve not been plugged in to the HR online community for long and am truly amazed at the welcome I’ve received from this group.  My second thoughts as I boarded the plane for Louisville wondering why on earth I would fly to a strange city on a weekend to meet with people I didn’t know were immediately squelched as I found intriguing conversation at every turn.  My experience in Louisville was colored by my unique past, my current role, as well as by some books I happened to be reading during the travel and downtime.  The first books “City of Ember” and “People of Sparks” (yes, they’re children’s books I read and then discuss with my son) and a third “Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion” as recommended by many of you on Twitter.  

The children’s stories are about finding a way out of a dark and dying place, then the conflict that ensues once they find their way – “Influence,” about human behavior and compliance.  All great commentary about why we interact with other people they way we do.  I reflected on how technology has evolved from an isolating experience in the 80’s into the collaborative experience it is today, and how the power of these connections has transformational characteristics.  We may indeed be finding our way out of a darker more isolated place – but we still have much to discover, and I anticipate some conflict as we find our way.  HR and technology are both evolving rapidly, but evolution shouldn’t imply smooth or easy – there will be bumps in the road, especially at this pace.

What else did I discover this weekend?

1)    Social media – the mere name bequeathed to these tools frightens and alienates many.  Technologists must address this. 

2)    The actual percentage of HR pros that are “plugged in” is quite small – we must determine how to best reach out to those who don’t know what they are missing in a non-threatening way.

3)    I’m secretly relieved they are not all plugged in because there must be some upper limit to the number of people one can follow effectively.   See #4

4)    The sheer volume of information available in this medium can be overwhelming and requires we use effective shortcuts to figure out what to use/discard/save for later.  Opportunity for technologists.

5)    The shortcuts we are conditioned to use every day to direct our behavior in a socially acceptable way are magnified by the larger network of interactions we can sustain in a virtual environment.  Opportunity for tremendous influence by those who would effectively use it. 

What do I predict?

HR seems to have not ruminated at great length about how to quantify or capture the value associated with their employees’ external networks outside of recruitment efforts.  The vendor and analyst community will offer suggestions but we need HR to validate them.  What will HR do to create internal networks as they recognize the enormous value in this kind of communication?  My bet is that most will be willing to wait for HRM vendors to deliver a plug and play solution for this since many are still struggling against perceptions from CEOs or others with organizational influence that view social technology as “disturbing” and as something that would result in a lack of control (despite the obvious reasons this is backwards thinking). Those HR pros on the leading edge will create their own using whatever (mostly free) technology they can quickly deploy with likely mixed results.  It will be interesting to analyze what works, what doesn’t and why.

What advice do I have?

As a former HR practitioner, I watch the analyst/vendor dynamic with interest (admittedly self interest) and curiosity, yet sprinkled with just a smidgeon of caution.  I’m not a cynic at heart, but am I the only one who occasionally wonders if an element of these relationships might serve something other than the intrepid consumer? Call me crazy. [mad tapping of keys as analysts block me on twitter] At HRevolution it was asked if HR pulls the vendors or if HR is being pushed by them.  When the market-gurus of my own org demand certain functionality for our products I consistently counter with, “Well, it’s cool, but does HR really want it? Will they use it??”  I have vowed to be the advocate for HR when it comes to my own influence on product roadmap – I simply can’t get the HR out of me.  But in response to the question of push vs. pull, itreally is “both.”  We need each other.  HR should be and in many cases is pushing vendors to deliver quality, easy to use products that address legitimate use cases (think business case).  HR vendors should be clever enough to see the trends in these varied use cases, and then deliver a product that can solve business problems HR might not have been able to recognize or analyze were it not for the technology.  Demand simplicity from your vendors – not more re-branding of old ideas to make the same software appear to do something it never did before without any corresponding change in code.  Talk to your vendors – the good ones are eager to listen.  More importantly, if you aren’t talking to us, we end up listening to no one but the analysts, and as much as we DO love them, well, let’s just say balance is a good thing.

One final thought:

I am encouraged, energized, and excited to be working in this rapidly changing space.  The organizers and attendees of HRevolution have assured me that our efforts are NOT in vain.  I am much obliged to all of you and will strive to give back, both personally and professionally, at every available opportunity.  To all the torchbearers of leading edge HR, and you know who you are, you are truly an inspiration!

Wendy Tandon – Director of Product Management, Salary.com