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?

Steve's HR Tech: Hitting the Road

In the next few weeks I will be getting out of the ROC (finally) and hitting up a series of events in the coming days, and thought it made sense to summarize them here.

September 23 and 24 - Recruitfest 2009 - Toronto

I am really looking forward to this event.  While I am not myself a recruiter, the tools and technologies that recruiters are adopting are really interesting to me, they are a part of my HR Technology class topics, and the chance to see a live Animal show were all too compelling to pass up.

September 25 - Heading to Ottawa to meet with my friends from Halogen Software.  Regular readers of this blog will remember that Halogen has been a fantastic supporter of my class, and the HR social media space for a long time. I am really looking forward to learning more about their latest product developments. 

In addition, we will do a special 'remote' HR Happy Hour show from the Halogen offices on Sept 25, more details on that show will be posted on the HR Happy Hour site.

September 30 - I am speaking on HR Technology at the WTPF annual professional development event in Washington, DC. The WTPF is a Business Forum for HR Professionals, comprised of Human Resources professionals and thought leaders in the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area.

September 30 - October 2 - The HR Technology Conference in Chicago.  I will be meeting many leaders in the HR Tech space, getting interviews, doing some video blogs, and overall trying to learn and share as much as I can about the future of HR Technology. 

I am talking to some folks about doing another remote HR Happy Hour show from HR Tech, more details to come.

November 6-7 - The HRevolution - Louisville, Kentucky.  The first ever HR Blogging/Social Media Unconference. I am really excited about this event and have been honored to be a small part of the event planning.  This promises to be a great time and I will be leading a session on new and innovative technologies that HR pros can leverage.

No soup for you in 2009

'Do you have budgeted funds available to attend HR conferences in 2009?'

Last week Jason Averbook of Knowledge Infusion took an informal survey of HR professionals on Twitter asking that simple question.

The results were astoundingly one-sided, 18 respondents said 'No', 2 said 'Depends', and only 1 said 'Yes'. Looks like there could be many conference meeting rooms going empty this year.

Last month the Gartner Group announced the cancellation of several IT conferences, including its 'flagship' event, the Spring Symposium/IT Expo in Las Vegas.

Many confererences will still go on of course, but with greatly reduced attendance, and more vendors and consultants chasing fewer and fewer potential customers. 

What if anything should replace these opportunities for HR professionals, and the vendors or consultants that attempt to leverage the events to generate leads and close deals? One option for the HR pro and student are the numerous webcasts offered by HR.com, the Human Capital Institute, and maFlickr - Jim Frazierny of the vendors and consultancies as well.  These webcasts are usually free, they cover a wide range of HR-related topics, and run so frequently, that pretty much every day of the business week you can find one to attend. 

In fact, I will be presenting two webcast in the next few months, one on February 25 with HR.com titled 'Understand your workforce today, so you can plan for tomorrow' - details here; and one on May 14 with HCI titled, 'Tell the Hiring Story with Technology' - information here.

But webcasts are not the same as conferences, the ability to connect and network is missing, the ability to get immersed for a few days with like-minded folks, and easy access to experts and leaders in the field can't easily be replicated over the web.

I think there is some opportunity to develop a more informal, grass-roots style alternative to traditional conferences which no one can afford to attend, and webcasts that are really one dimensional and have limited utility.  I have been kicking around some ideas with some Twitter friends on this, and hope to try some of these ideas very soon.

What ideas do you suggest to replace the gap created by the lack of conference attendance in 2009?