A Class Session Wordle

A Wordle from the transcript of my HR Technology Class this week:

Are there any guesses as to what this class session was about?

How much HR Technology do you need?

One of the really cool bonuses of teaching a class at RIT, which has many deaf and hearing-impaired students, is that frequently classes are supported by a C-print Captionist.  For those who are not familiar with the term, a C-print Captionist creates a complete transcript of everything that is said in the class, (similar to a court reporter).  During class, the captions appear immediately on a computer screen setup near any students who need to rely on the captions to better follow the class dialogue.  A day or so after class, the full transcript is converted to a document, which students can download, and that I also post on the class wiki.  It is also interesting for me to take a quick review of the transcript to do sort of a 'self-evaluation' of sorts. 

In class this week we were focusing on Performance Management as a part of an Integrated Talent Management strategy, and discussing the software solutions that support the performance management processes.  Yesterday I was reviewing the transcript and came across this.  One student, posed the following question:

If I have a small company and if I wanted to use regular paper or forms (for Performance Management), can I still be effective? Or is it necessary to use or incorporate technology?

In class, in real-time, with 20 people looking up at me for wisdom I gave the following answer (slightly edited for clarity, and to make me appear more intelligent):

Since you are in the HR technology class, I am going to tell you that you have no success using paper forms. (Laughter).  It can be effective for small companies to use paper. But we for a larger organization (paper) is not going to allow a company to leverage their talent in a way to seize opportunities. If a company decides they need to exploit a new market and buy a new factory or hire a bunch of new people and you don't have systems like these in place, being able to deliver on those strategic plans becomes hard.  Companies that aren't exploiting technology are at a disadvantage. Very small companies can live without this stuff. Once you start moving up the market in size and reach, especially global reach, this is important.

 A decent answer, I think in the moment.  If I had more time to reflect on the issue and the answer, I might have talked about the Gen Y worker not wanting to work for an organization with such primitive processes, or the efficiencies and cost savings that can be derived with simple automation. 

But at the core the question of how much HR Technology an organization 'needs', has to be answered by each organization individually.  I don't think there can be a generic 'blueprint' that says, if an organization has 1,000 employees, then they must have systems for X,Y, and Z processes.  It just is not that simple.  Which is why I suppose we have an HR Tech class, and why there are several consultancies that assist organizations develop their HR Technology strategy.  The uniuque characteristics, challenges, and culture are all factors in the discussion.

How much HR Technology does your organization need?

Facebook and LinkedIn for Recruiting - The students speak out

So if you are a breathing, upright HR Professional in 2009 I know you have read countless blog posts, articles, or attended webinars exhorting you that you need to be mining social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn for recruiting purposes.  Whether it is to network with and uncover passive candidates, (the primary use of LinekdIn) or research and background check prospects (primarily what recruiters are doing on Facebook), you have been told over and again that you need to be leveraging these tools in your recruiting efforts.

This post isn't another one of those 'How to recruit on Facebook' pieces.  If you are interested in that sort of thing, check out the HR Tech News blog which ran a fine series of 'Recruiting on Facebook' posts early in 2008.

In my HR Tech Class for this week's discussion assignment I asked the class to offer comments and observations on this new trend in recruiting.  These students are quite likely in the target demographic for many recruiters, mostly young, educated professionals working on an advanced degree.  And they are almost all on Facebook and LinkedIn.  So what do they think about recruiters and employers 'snooping' around their social networking profiles?  Here are a few of the best comments from the class:

The general consensus was 'beware what you post online':

 Even though we might not like it, we have to realize that employers are going to be googling our names and we have to be careful about the type of information we put online, because if we put it there it is fair game for anyone to see. - 'S

On the usefulness of Social Networking in onboarding and relationship building:

If employees can be 'friends' with their manager on facebook then that could help them to have a mentor. It's a safe and informal way for the employees to interact with their managers on a social level where they can learn from each other. - 'A'

One student astutely observes ways in which the progressive organization is starting to leverage these social networks in a more positive manner:

For example, companies and organizations have taken up these social networking sites to create their own business networks as a motivation to maximize interaction and networking among their own employees, even with the CEO. It not only limits to the networking connections, but to more job opportunities. For example, I have noted one CEO posting on Twitter about job opportunities. - 'V'

There were many other comments and observations in the discussion, some students really wishing that their Facebook information would remain strictly personal and never be used in a professional situation. But realistically, they realize that the horse is out of the barn, and anything they post on any site is likely ot one day be scrutinized by employers and recruiters.

A really good discussion, any one have a recommendation for the next HR Tech issue we should discuss?

Wikis for your Class (or team)

I am almost midway through a new HR Technology class and the 'Wiki as intranet' project is just starting to get going, I thought it would be a good time to review some of my key findings and observations on the wiki-based class project and some overall observations about Wiki use in the classroom.Flickr - cogdogblog

Honestly, these observations on wiki adoption also apply to any internal organizations as well, I have rolled out wikis for my faculty group and another internal workgroup and have seen many of these same types of issue.

Overview

I am on my third different wiki platform, (SocialText, PbWiki, Confluence), and while they all have their unique strength and weaknesses, the observations below are valid for all three, and I suspect any other platform you could use.  There are two main areas to consider for your class, adoption and administration.

Adoption

1. If Wikis are new to your program, chances are 90% of the students will have never 'used' a Wiki, beyond reading entries on Wikipedia. You will have to devote class time to 'teaching' wiki.

2. You should make wiki use 'required'.  Mandate use of wiki for specific projects, activities, discussions, etc.

3. Even though Wikis are touted as simple, no-training-required tools, doing more that adding simple text will initially require demonstration and review for most non-technical students.

4. Wikis that make as simple as possible the steps for embedding video, slide shows, Flickr images, chat, and polls (love Zoho Polls for this), will be most effective in the classroom.  Too much 'code' to accomplish these tasks will hurt your adoption plans.

5. For the best chances of adoption of the Wiki as the primary class communication platform, put everything on the Wiki. Syllabus, course overview, assignments, presentations, and any 'sign-ups' should all be Wiki pages. Encourage the class to post questions and comments everywhere.

Administration

1. Get yourself trained!  As the instructor or wiki evangelist, you need to be sure you understand, can demonstrate, and clearly articulate the use, benefits, and nuts and bolts of the tool. Students in particular will get quickly frustrated when they encounter technical issues that you can't quickly help them resolve.

2. Old habits are still hard to break, you may need to 'cross-post' for a time in both the Wiki and the old course management system. Certain items like the gradebook still have to reside in the CMS. Try not to make the students have to bounce back and forth between the two platforms too often.

3. While all students are used to group projects, probably none of them will quickly warm up to the concept of 'real-time' editing and  commenting on other's content that is the foundation of wiki. You may need to 'push' to get them more actively collaborating in that fashion.

4. Keep the wiki alive even after the class ends. There's lots of good information there. Figure out a way to keep it accessible for students in the future.

I am absolutely convinced that Wikis are a much more effective tool for almost all class activities, with the added bonus of giving the students exposure and experience to a technology they will see in the workplace.  I have had several students comment at the end of class that the wiki experience was the most beneficial aspect of the class, and that they had plans to implement wiki technologies in their organizations.

If you have used wikis in your class, post a comment and let me know your thoughts.

An Introduction to Twitter for the HR student

Twitter.

My class hears me talk about Twitter every week.  'You need to be on Twitter', 'Guess who I met today on Twitter', 'I learned about this new software vendor from Twitter'.

I am quite sure they have grasped some kind of notion that Twitter is relevant, interesting, maybe important, but they can't seem to grasp how it actually can be a valuable resource to the study and practice of HR. They also have likely concluded that I am a little obsessed with it.

So how to frame the discussion of Twitter in terms that students (90% of whom will have never heard of Twitter before class).

First things first - what the heck is Twitter anyway?

From Wikipedia -

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them.

OK, so you sign up for Twitter, post some status updates (140 characters or less), and decide which other Twitter user's updates you would like to see. Easy enough concept to grasp.  Everyone has sent text messages on their phones, (Twitter updates are more or less the same), and most students are on Facebook, so the idea of setting a 'status' that all your friends will see is also easily understood.

So what happens to most students when they sign up?

Well honestly, not a heck of a lot. They create an account, maybe post a quick update, possibly 'find' the person who convinced them to sign up and start following them, and then they wait for something interesting to start happening. And as you would expect, pretty much nothing interesting starts happening. The student fairly quickly loses interest, stops checking Twitter and posting updates, and concludes that the whole exercise was a waste of time.  Besides, everyone they are interested in connecting with are already their Facebook friends anyway.

So what should the student do?

Twitter, like every other social site, can be a really lonely place when you first arrive. You have no 'friends' no 'followers' and may not know exactly how to find anyone, much less the right people to 'follow'.  Unlike Facebook, the student's close and extended circle of friends and classmates are probably not on Twitter as yet, so making those initial connections can be a daunting proposition.

The key or essential component of deriving value from Twitter almost completely relies on finding the 'right' people to start following.  Once the student starts to make these connections, and then proceeds to extend them by following some of their first connection's followers, the value proposition starts to become more apparent. In fact most folks on Twitter will 'reverse-follow' you out of politeness even if they don't know you.

And in short order a student, (or anyone else for that matter), usually starts to contribute to the ongoing conversation, begins attracting followers or their own, and discovers even more interesting people to follow. Some say after about a month or 100 updates (Tweets), the student starts to 'get it'.  It becomes obvious the value of these conversations and connections, and many become firmly entrenched in the fabric of their Twitter community.

A Starting Point

So we have established the key to deriving value from Twitter is the forging of the initial set of connections to the 'right' people and organizations in your particular area of interest.  I am primarily concerned for my HR students and other HR practitioners.  Who should the HR student or practitioner consider 'following' once they join Twitter, (I know there are some other lists around on this topic, so I won't attempt to make an 'all-knowing' or 'all-encompassing' list, but rather a good starting point for the HR student).

The Instructor

Steve Boese - Me, if you are one of my students, you'd better follow me!

The Bloggers

Lisa Rosendahl - from the HR Manager blog

The HR Maven - from the HR Maven blog

lruettimann - from Punk Rock HR

sharlyn_lauby - from HR Bartender

hrwench - from the Hr Wench blog

Hr_Minion - from the HR Minion blog

jwilliamtincup - from the Human Capital Vendor space blog

kris_dunn - from the HR Capitalist blog

pdxmikek - from the Info Box blog

penelopetrunk - from Brazen Careerist

The Consultants

jasonaverbook - Jason Averbook, CEO of Knowledge Infusion

jcorsello - Jason Corsello, also from Knowledge Infusion and the Human Capitalist Blog

joningham - Jon Ingham of the Strategic HCM blog

The Vendors

Success Factors - Performance Management solutions

Salary.com - Compensation data and planning, recently expansding into Talent Management

Smart Recruiters - Recruiting solutions for small and medium size businesses

Human Capital Institute - great source of information and knowledge

Workscape - suite of Talent Management solutions

Sum Total Systems - learning management solutions

Standout Jobs - Really cool and innovative approach to recruiting solutions

Twitter Rockstars - these Twitterers have huge followings and post constantly

jowyang - Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester Research

chrisbrogan - Chris Brogan, Social Media Marketing thought leader

ross- Ross Mayfield, Chairman and co-founder of Socialtext

barackobama - I am pretty sure you know who he is

ev - Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter

For fun

SantaClaus25 - keep up with the big man's preparation for the big day

FakeMagnumPI - happenings with Magnum, Higgins and TC

Steven Colbert - from Comedy Central

NASA - goings on in space

Summary

The above list of Twitterers is not meant to be exhaustive, complete, or even exactly what the HR student is looking for.  But it is a start.  Sign up for Twitter and start following some of the folks on this list and see what you think.  Give it a chance.  It's said that it takes a while to determine how you can best leverage Twitter for your own purposes.  I can say unequivocally that Twitter helps me every single day, and sometimes, I hope I actually help some of my Twitter friends.

Please add any names of 'key' folks to follow to the comments, and happy Twittering!