Disconnect

This diagram from the xkcd.com blog about the disconnect between what features and information are prominently displayed on many University websites and what visitors to the site are actually looking for is quite amusing, and likely pretty accurate:

I think the general premise of the chart could also fit many of the workforce systems organizations deploy, and even many of the interactions managers and leaders have with their teams.

Just a few that come to mind - 

Company intranet or employee portal - How prominently is the Payroll schedule displayed?  You know everyone cares about that. What about the holiday calendar?  The menu in the company cafeteria?  I bet these are some of the most popular and searched for items on the portal, make them easy to find.

Corporate job site - Is the 'apply now' or 'send your resume' button or link clearly featured?  Or is it effectively buried by that super awesome video of your CEO in a shirt and tie (no jacket because he is sending off a 'hip' vibe) about how fantastic it is to work at your company.  

Quarterly senior management 'all hands' meeting - Are we all still on track to get our bonuses?  Can we work half days on Fridays during the summer?  Sure, go over the financials, but once the company gets to a certain size, recitation of financials often devolves into an arcane review of accounting acronyms like EBIDTA.  Talk bonuses, raises, is the company holiday party still on?

What else?  Where else is there a disconnect between the information that you want to provide, and what the intended recipients really want to receive?

Probably 85% of the conversations with my 9 year old, but that is another story entirely.

Are you telling a story, or acting in one?

Our man Tiger needless to say, has been in all kinds of trouble, and as the tales of his escapades kept multiplying, his endorsement contracts from some of America's top brands (Gillette, Accenture, Gatorade) starting dropping like the 12-foot birdie putts we are used to seeing him sink. Now that he is coming back to golf, I am sure we will see more and more of him in the coming weeks.Flickr - ATIS547

Tiger may or may not shave with a Gillette razor, never did any strategic or technology consulting, and while he might drink Gatorade, only the most naive among us would conclude that if we too drink Gatorade like Tiger we could become golf champions.

In this new world where everyone's story is easy to share, and our interaction with products, services, and organizations is often laid bare in many cases for the free discovery of anyone that may be interested, (and many who aren't), would many people or organizations care what sports drink Tiger claimed to rely on, or what style of razor he prefers?

For mega-celebrity endorsers, who really believes that the pitch, or the story they are sharing is truly their story that they are telling? Isn't it really just the corporations' story (in the form of an endorsement) that Tiger, or the supermodel or actress pitching do it yourself hair color are simply acting?

But using celebrity endorsers is such a time-honored tradition in advertising and brand building it is still seen as safe, and somehow, despite what common sense would suggest (seriously have you ever chosen a product or service based on a celebrity endorsement?), the expensive practice continues seemingly unabated.

Highly paid and disconnected people, acting in a story crafted by corporations, ad agencies, PR firms, whoever, instead of real, genuine, relatable people telling a story.

I think this same distinction can be made in the communications and messaging that organizations use in their internal settings, or recruiters use when selling the organization to candidates, or even much of the blogging, tweeting, Facebooking many of us engage in every day.

Telling a story is real, authentic, has a kind of history and context, and lets the message take precedence.  Acting a story is kind of shallow, flat, and is mostly more about the actor than the story.

I don't know that there is much of a point to this post, having just re-read it.

Perhaps just this, that I should spend more time telling stories, and less time acting.

Welcome to the Company! Here is your iPhone

Abilene Christian University made news last year with an innovative and interesting program for its incoming freshman class in 2008; it provided free of charge a new iPhone or iPod Touch to each incoming student.

The University developed a number of custom applications for the iPhone, ranging from homework Flickr - fanfan2145submission tools, to in-class polling and response systems, to checking campus maps and cafeteria menus.

But more important than the specific applications and use cases is the underlying philosophy that fueled the decision to 'give' iPhones to all the new students.  Students expect to 'consume' content on the go, from any location, and when it is convenient (which is almost never the 8:00 AM lecture). The campus-developed applications can stream class notes, videos, and other interactive content to the students in real-time.

And in another interesting twist, Abiliene Christian students are finding that they can leverage the iPhones in ways beyond the 'official' or expected uses.  One student observed:

Kasey Stratton, a first-year ACU business student, said her favorite aspect of the iPhone program was how apps are changing the way students interact socially. Many Abilene students use Bump, a free app downloadable through the App Store, which enables them to swap e-mails and phone numbers by bumping their iPhones together. Also, the campus’ map app helped her become familiar with the campus quickly when she arrived.

“At ACU it’s like they see [the iPhone] is the way of the future and they might as well take advantage of it,” Stratton said in a phone interview. “They’re preparing us for the real world — not a place where you’re not allowed to use anything.”

There are two really interesting notes to take from those comments, both are applicable to HR and HR Technology.

When given the opportunity, people will find new use cases for technology

The school distributed the iPhones with some specific, and fairly modest goals. Let students participate in class polls, have access to some information systems, etc.  These were important and valuable benefits.  But the students proceeded to leverage the technology to better connect with each other, to facilitate their own projects and group activities, and ultimately to derive more value than the administration had ever foreseen.

We see this all the time in consumer or public platforms, like how Twitter users 'invented' the concept of hash tags and '@' replies.  When technology is designed to promote adaptation, or is developed and consumed in ways that can support changes to configuration and flexible levels of personalization the opportunity for end users and employees to 'discover' new and better uses is significantly enhanced.

In the 'real world' (your companies), entering employees have high expectations

Before I get in trouble with Lance Haun, I am not going to the Gen Y/Millennial card on this.  Just simply noting the importance of this student's expectation that in the 'real world' tools and technologies like the iPhone, BlackBerry, access to social networks, and 25 things that have not even been invented yet will all be present and available in the workplace. Students that grow up with these tools absolutley will not understand why if indeed they walk into a new organization that is relies on ancient desk phones, MS Outlook email systems with limited storage, and have network file shares as the de facto 'collaboration' tool.  And not just new and younger employees, soon, and for the foreseeable future almost all of your employees will feel the same way.

Abilene Christian certainly seems like an unlikely place to be at the forefront of an innovative, cutting edge technology-based project like this.  And it is.  But it shows that even from unlikely sources, ones without national reputations, and billion-dollar endowments, that fantastic innovations can arise.

Maybe your company is also and unlikely launch pad for technology innovation.  Maybe you are small, not that well funded, or stuck in the 90's when it comes to technology.  But if Abilene Christian can do it, then so can you.

How about next year, when your first batch of new recuits come marching in the door, you hand them a brand new iPhone, and encourage them to use it to connect, learn, share, and experiment?

I know what you are thinking, where is the budget for that going to come from? I would bet the extra productivity you will get from the program will more than fund the phones over the year.

Ask Abilene Christian if the investment was worth it, they have gotten more mileage as the 'iPhone College' than they ever bargained for.