Social Media & Job Search

I am posting this thought on using social media for your job or career search today because I continue to see articles that are either/or oriented on the topic of social media in any realm. Social or Digital Technologies are increasingly taking over traditional job search methods but they are tools, they require deliberate action to be useful. Making the best use of your time and achieving the best results in your search depends on your approach. The following was a comment I made on the BCHRMA LinkedIn Group recently and is likely to appear on the FreshGigs.ca blog as well.

A job seeker can effectively use social networks as one type of tool to be found by recruiters and provide additional sources of job leads. I am not even looking for a job with an organization. I was contacted by several recruiters (both internal and external) over the last year asking if I would be interested in discussing a position. I have also found some of my current work projects directly from using social networks. This suggests that if you are looking for a job and you use the tools effectively it can be an aid to your overall job search strategy.

It helps to remember that digital technology = tools. How we use them determines the results we achieve. If you have not used any of the tools (if you are reading this then you are using LinkedIn) yet in your job search, take the time to learn as much as you can about using the tools for the best results for you. Which networks you use and your approach will depend on what type of job you are looking for. There is a lot of 'advice' available but be sure that you know the credentials of the person posting the advice, that it aligns with the industry, skills, career goals that you specifically are working towards and that what you find when doing research matches that advice. There is some really great advice and some not so great-again it depends on your specific needs. If anything the growth of the use of social/digital technologies in the job/career arena has offered not just a broader reach but also the opportunity to tailor your job search and approach or strategy effectively.

Connecting 'in real life' is also important, look for MeetUp groups in your area that relate to your profession or industry and join them. If you don't find one in your career area consider starting your own. Attend meetings and develop your skills -this will help you in interviews later-practicing talking about what we do really helps when the pressure of an interview is upon us. If there is a professional association for your career check out what they might offer and get to know people in those associations. Take a look at Rapid Times Network- they have multiple network groups and while most of the members are business owners/entrepreneurs-they are connected, they hire people, they offer opportunities and advice. The more options you get active in the more opportunities will show up for you.

Mentor: see if you can find a mentor, this also helps you focus your job search, understand what is considered important by the organizations you are interested in working for and can guide your career over time.

All of this takes time, a lot of time, and it is a learning process. It is worth it.

Collaborative Cultures-Grow Your Own

A quick note that this fourth in the series will be the final in the series. As mentioned earlier, the way I perceived this in the beginning shifted as so many things do over time. Possibly because I am constantly seeking new information and talking to other people on these topics such a shift is inevitable.

In the last post we looked at the key skills for collaborative success:

• Accountability
• 360 Communications
• Emotional Intelligence
• Change Resilient
• (Servant) Leadership
• Self-motivated
• Problem solving/critical thinking
• Continuous learning and knowledge sharing

And took into consideration that companies that were created within the last fifteen years tend to be less hierarchical, have greater flexibility and understand the power of collaboration more so than organizations that have been operating for a longer period.


Learning Organizations-Matters More Than Ever

The concept of the Learning Organization is not new and many businesses have implemented some form of internal learning practices. Becoming a learning organization in a more substantial way is a basic need to 'growing' a collaborative culture in an existing organization. If you are not familiar with Peter Senge's work, reading his books and articles is an excellent place to start to understand what components make up a learning organization.

Establishing mentoring and peer coaching programs are excellent resources to get started with. Bringing people together in these forums offers excellent opportunities to build solid working relationships. Encouraging cross-functional mentoring pairings and peer coaching groups will create the basis for a collaborative culture. While some formal structure is needed to ensure these programs get traction, maintaining as much flexibility as possible and allowing for groups to develop their own operating codes offers a micro learning environment as they identify and resolve problems in the process.

Mentoring and Peer Coaching programs help to reduce the unwanted effects of silos, build bridges across functional teams, clears the way to mitigate the 'reporting up' issues often found in hierarchies. Ultimately this allows employees to focus outward on the customer rather than inward on meeting the needs of management. Dave Gray writes an eloquent book, "The Connected Company" that offers illumination to this concept.

Imagine that your employees focus is on meeting the needs of customers!

Cross-Functional Teams and Collaborative Cultures

Cross-functional teams are an excellent way to maximize the skills to be found across the organization for project work. Cross-functional teams can also be defined to oversee and manage organizational needs that require diverse skills thus improving administrative and customer service efficiencies. The surge in product launches for internal social network tools has captured the interest of some of the larger technical vendors as we see frequent purchases of applications to help round out the current offerings of these vendors.

Team effectiveness has been the topic and focus of many management interventions prior to and during the Knowledge Era, much of it based on research with some innovation applied when introduced to an organization. Bruce Tuckman (1965) became known for his “Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing” theory of how teams form and manage, which is still a reasonable framework to start with. There are several other similar team related formulas and we need to move beyond theory and into application. For the Digital Era, collaboration becomes a more critical skill, as the concept of ‘social’ business encompasses not only the integration of social tools but better supports multi-generational workforces.

In order to understand why some skills, such as those related to collaboration, require a fresh look in the Digital Era we need to first consider the difference between a team that collaborates and a collaborative culture.

First, consider ‘branding’ as it used to relate to the organization but not the people that work for the organization. Now, in the Digital Era with the proliferation of social networks being used for job and candidate searches, a gradual shift from employee to free agent and the change from considering one or two workplaces for an entire career to multiple workplace changes frequently throughout a career, branding is now something that we are asked to do on a very personal level. Our brand is something we take with us from employer to employer or throughout multiple contracts. This change in workplace norms has in conjunction with the growing use of social network tools also started a shift in organizational cultures. A business, such as Zappos that has been in business for less than fifteen (15) years will likely already have a culture that is suited to the concept of social business and have a collaborative culture. Organizations that have been in business for longer than that may find that more attention needs to be paid to how ready they are for this. Now we have an organization populated by a myriad of people with personal brands that all must work together to achieve the overall goals of the organization.

Team members can learn to work collaboratively on any given project in which the outcome is shared and each member is responsible for the success of the project. When the project is completed they may join another project team or return to a specific position in the organization. These days we want the skills used in those project teams to be continuously employed when the project is over.
The skills used in this context are key to establishing a collaborative culture within an organization though they do require that members of the organization develop a higher level of these skills than may be required for relatively independent teams. We are used to seeing in management literature that the organization’s leader must create the vision and communication shared goals to the rest of the people in the organization. A collaborative culture will have shared goals as well but accountability for reaching those goals will be more widely distributed that in a siloed organization.

It is also important to define when collaboration is the best approach to problem solving or project management and when collaboration needs to be set aside. A failure to be clear on this in an organization can lead to a sluggish response when a quick action is required.

The key skills for collaborative success:

• Accountability
• 360 Communications
• Emotional Intelligence
• Change Resilient
• (Servant) Leadership
• Self-motivated
• Problem solving/critical thinking
• Continuous learning and knowledge sharing

With these skills in place and continuously upgraded an organization can benefit from the experience and knowledge of multiple generations, efficiently co-ordinate the skills of cross-functional teams and maximize the value of social tools. This will create a customer experience that sets the organization apart from others in the market.

When should collaboration be set aside? How clear is that in your organization and how quick is the response when needed? Can you think of other skills that are important to collaboration?

And Now, We Have This

Welcome back, here it is, the next blog post-the publish dates on these posts are unpredictable against all pro blogger advice that you have predictable dates. However, as the transformation of my business unfolds, the outcome is unpredictable to some degree and I believe it is realistic to post as things occur rather than posting for the sake of posting. So, unpredictable it will be for awhile yet.

It has been awhile since the last post which provided some definitions to set up how we will be talking about ‘social’ or ‘connected’ going forward. The original plan was a five part series covering culture, communications and leadership and that is still the plan although the content will look a little different than when first envisioned.

The reason for this is that as I go through the transformation of my business, some of the peripheral topics will be less visible and some may no longer show up at all. So you will start to see this transformation as it happens through the posts as they appear on the blog.

First, I have been deeply immersed in learning as much as possible about social media from a variety of aspects and while doing so the recurring theme of leadership, collaboration, communication, and connectivity stayed firmly up front in my thought patterns. Regardless of what the focus was, whether I was at a seminar on Facebook for business; a workshop on Twitter; or completing the first two levels of HooteSuite University, or in one-to-one discussions with professionals–the importance of those four skills seemed, to me, to be the most important thing to focus on. And since they just happen to coincide with my primary interest (some people call this passion but we can chat about that some other time) all of this has led, finally back to the beginning.

I will be focusing on leadership development and the skills that support excellence in leadership. Going forward, this will be in a much more dynamic, positive, and powerful way than ever before. Because all of my research and learning adventures over the past three years have added a few ‘ah ha’s’ and several new tools and instruments to the mix that were not part of the leadership development realm a few years ago.

I am happy that you are here, on this journey with me, and my wish is that you will want to engage in topics that capture your interest.

Social - What Do We Mean?

Here is the first post in the series taking a look at ‘social’ or ‘connected’ opportunities in organizational life. This first post defines some terms as they apply to the overall theme in order to set the stage going forward. I am especially interested in any thoughts you have on the way these terms are defined here and whether or not it resonates with your ideas about what opportunities the use of social media tools offer us in organizational or community settings.

Let’s start with a brief recap of Systems Thinking which is an excellent framework for thoughts about networks, being connected, how the introduction of a social tool may affect parts of an organization (or the people within) unintentionally or in a different way than first imagined.

Systems Thinking (Systemic Application)

The following excerpt(s) from O’Connor and McDermott (1997) “The Art of Systems Thinking: Essential Skills For Creativity and Problem Solving, is important in ones understanding of organizational culture in the Digital Era.

“Systems thinking is seeing beyond what appear to be isolated and independent incidents to deeper patterns. So you recognize connections between events and are therefore better able to understand and influence them.” (Introduction)

“Interconnecting parts functioning as a whole. Changed if you take away or add more pieces. Its behaviour depends on the total structure. Change the structure and the behaviour changes. (p.3)

“The relationship between the different parts of the system determines how it works, so each part, however small, can affect the behaviour of the whole.
All parts of a system are interdependent, they all interact. How they relate to each other gives them the power to affect the whole system. This suggests an interesting rule for influencing systems, particularly groups: the more connections you have, the more possible influence. Networking brings influence. Indeed, research suggests that successful managers spend four times as much time networking as their less successful colleagues.” (p. 15)

Silos:
Many organizations are set up into departments with some crossover among departments that rely on one another to complete specific tasks. Such departments are generally organized to be efficient by reducing ‘noise’ – not having distractions that are not directly related to the day-to-day activities of the specific responsibilities of the department. However, this can also create Silos in organizations with strong Command/Control features that also have limited communication channels.

Silos can thus reduce efficiencies; further contribute to ineffective communication; does not take into sufficient account how actions (or inactions) affect other parts of the system. This can waste time and resources as the people in one department (silo) will realize more effort to locate expertise or support that is not within their immediate ‘network’. The duplication of effort that also occurs in this set up can create significant frustration over time and leave both employees and customers with a sense that it is difficult to do business in that organization. This leads to a negative impact on collaboration, communication, and cooperation. All of which can lead to a negative effect on morale, engagement and motivation.

Deciding what and how to make changes to an organization that may be feeling those effects of silos depends on what makes sense for the specific business, industry and size of the organization. The following thoughts on Integration, Cross-Functional teams and the concept of “Social” provides some clues to how one may reduce any such concerns.

Integration:
Wikipedia defines Vertical integration as follows, “combines different products or services under one ‘owner’ to satisfy a common need. Horizontal integration-consolidates like companies to monopolize an industry. And Integration as: “The mixing of people or groups previously segregated. An act or instance of combining into an integral whole. “

Cross-Functional: completing a goal or project using members from teams with different purposes and skills. How effective this is in an organization depends on the culture and communication style predominant in the organization.

Social:
Business/Organizational context Also referred to as “Enterprise” by some software/technology retailers. This is a combination of:

(1) Culture- people focused
(2) Organizational Approach- experience driven
(3) Customer Involvement -co-creation and/or engagement
(4) Social technology –social processes that use technology to enhance communication, learning/development/knowledge management and collaboration.

There is some discussion regarding the use of the word ‘social’ as being contrary to business as a productive and efficient orientation and this has given rise to alternate terms being used that encompass the use and effect of social tools; you will see words in various forms such as connected and collaborative that attempt to depict the true value and impact of social tools in organizations.

The next four posts in this series will assume the above is intended as descriptive of the thoughts regarding the opportunities and affect of social tools in organizations. While looking at 'social' from an organizational change perspective over the past five years the gradual shift in the words and terms used has been continuous. In some part, because of the unease with which some business executives view 'social' in a workplace setting, but primarily as the tools and applications have evolved to provide greater opportunities to a wider audience new terminology is needed to be appropriately descriptive.

What do you think? Do you find the many different uses of common words confusing, overwhelming or helpful?

Get It Done & Priorities

I wrote a few weeks ago that I am writing a 5-part series for this blog that will look at some thoughts on social in the organizational context, what happens in organizational cultures when we introduce tools that open up communication channels, and some thoughts on how to work towards a fluid culture that can adapt to the 'new' that keeps on giving.

I am working on those posts and the first one which is sharing some terms and definitions that relate to this topic so that as readers continue through the next four posts a common understanding will provoke some thoughts and ideas to share. That first in the series will be posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2012.

This series is important to me as it fits in with other projects I am working on; it is taking longer than planned because the major change I am making to my business brand and products is my first priority and will be over the next six months. And realizing how much is now on my to do list prompted me to acknowledge that my calendar can not be as 'flexible' as it has been over the summer.

This means that decisions as to what gets a yes or a no are more tightly and clearly defined;speculative ventures are off the table for now; ill-defined or vague proposals about new projects will likely garner a 'no thank-you' for a while rather than the explorations into new ventures of the last year. My priorities right now meet all my needs which makes it much easier to stay on track.

Where are you in your priority setting? Do you find it easy or hard to make quick decisions on what will or will not be on your list? Most importantly, what really grabs you enough to make you want to hold on to a new project?

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers! We are enjoying one of those beautiful sunny days that make outdoor pursuits very enticing-a great way to give balance to the feast indulgences.

What Is Your Comment Style?

While working on my upcoming series of five posts on looking at social tools from a cultural perspective in organizations with some of my favorites ideas in the mix I became curious about how people would describe their style of commenting on social networks.

One thing I have noticed is that while I get several comments sent to me via email and often from people I interact with 'in real life' there are rarely comments on my blog specifically. When I ask people why they choose email or in-person comments the most common response is that they feel more comfortable going off-line.

So are you willing to help me out with my curiosity? Will you comment here and let me know how you describe your own preferences for commenting on any online network? Maybe, if you are feeling generous you could include some thoughts on why you think this is your preference. Would you make a different choice if you were posting on an internal network at your workplace than if you are posting on an external network? Why or why not?

Lots of questions today!

September Musings-Coaching, Leadership, Digital Era

People who know me know that I often seek out change as a way to develop skills, keep an open mind, and to try to stay flexible. This means, as I know I have mentioned before, that keeping track of my ‘resilience’ capacity is important.

This year I have been considering where I am right now and what is the best option for me going forward. One thing I have finally concluded is that the HR world is one I have stepped quite far away from-not entirely as there are collaborative opportunities in staying connected with those working in the field.

I did recently post that I think it is time to change the parameters of HR significantly, both to fix the long simmering problems that don’t get resolved and to bring the people practices in organizations into alignment with the external changes occurring everywhere. My proposal is that HR retains the records maintenance, compliance, and compensation specialties and that a cross-functional team of strategic planning and deployment professionals take on the rest of what falls into the HR world now.

It is clear that more than a decade of “C” title executives have been unable to clearly define and develop a form of HR that truly meets the needs of most organizations and it is time to stop complaining and simply make sweeping changes. That does not mean that HR needs to hop to it and reach yet another not quite clear set of goals. It does mean that the “C” title executives need to get clear on specifically what is required from the people practices in their organizations and pull it together. First, though, they need to understand what the Digital Era means in terms of how business will operate, and that is a crucial point. A key factor in success in the Digital Era is the ability to collaborate effectively, to know when collaboration is the right choice and when it isn’t. And that means breaking down the silos in education and in organizations. Many people believe that the ‘flattened’ organizations of today have broken down the silos but they haven’t, not by a long shot.

I will be posting a series over the next six weeks that outlines my ideas about communication, collaboration, cooperation, cross-functional teamwork and effective methods to begin to systemically integrate improvements to all those important skills into the cultural fabric of an organization.

This September also sees me embarking on the certification process for Executive Coaching-something I have considered, deferred, rejected, reconsidered over and over again. After the recent encouragement of quite a few people I respect the opinions of I decided to go for it and am in the registration process today. Now, it makes sense, as it will be a very nice skill to add to my plans going forward with helping to develop leadership in the Digital Era.

So, what are you doing now? What is new? What are you thinking about? What seems important to you right now? Do you feel that your life is where you want it to be?

A Social Media Story With A Twist-Just For Fun

I decided to post this on my blog as I quite enjoyed the twists in the story. The Canada Post labour conflict is a long running one but it is starting to resemble a good summer beach mystery read. That and it includes a social media inclusion which I enjoyed. I wonder how many mediators thought this would be a factor?

Administrative Law Matters: Knowing who your friends are (and what that might ...: An interesting decision from the Federal Court of Canada today, the latest installment in a long-running labour relations saga at Canada Pos...

Using Social in Hiring-Silly Season?

Continuing my observations on the use of social technologies (media) in the recruiting and hiring process, today is a note on why taking a strategic and systemic approach will save time, money and potentially legal actions.

Susan Avello at HR Virtual Cafe posted her perspective on using Klout to screen job applicants, a practice that appears to be rumour based at this point.http://hrvirtualcafe.com/2012/07/31/using-klout-to-screen-job-applicants/

If recruiters and hiring managers are using Klout as a measure of an applicants 'influence' it is a practice they need to rethink, quickly. As I do with many new products, I signed up with Klout as often the best way to understand something is to use it. I found that it showed I had 'influence' in categories that I had never posted anything online about and know next to nothing about; it did not include categories that I frequently post about and in some cases have quite a lot of knowledge (or opinions) about and that the 'score' is based more on how often one posts than the quality of ones content. In other words you don't need to have any particular knowledge or expertise, you simply need to take the time to schedule mega numbers of postings to get "Klout" scores that suggest you are 'influential' in social media.

Using such poorly constructed scoring systems in any way in the recruiting and hiring process really does move us into the silly season. Quality over quantity counts in many areas of life and in the hiring process that is still important. I am still waiting for the 'influence' product that takes quality into the equation, then it may be time to take notice. Until then, leave the Klout scores for amusement and keep them out of the hiring process.

Have you ever experienced or heard of a recruiter or hiring manager using Klout scores as part of the evaluation process? Have you heard of any other similar products being used in this manner?

CEO + HR + Customer/Employee Experience

Following my post yesterday regarding HR in the Social Business Era, Josh James, CEO of Domo posted his thoughts on the use of ‘social’ by big company CEO’s-in that they are almost invisible in this realm. http://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriabarret/2012/07/12/ceos-afraid-of-going-social-are-doing-shareholders-a-massive-disservice/

The comment from David Churbuck is a great example of a failure to see the opportunity in using social channels both internally and externally to develop a stronger link between the employee experience and the customer experience. The content of what a CEO or an HR person posts to any social network is within their control and provides an excellent opportunity to share knowledge, respond quickly to problems, and match the branding message to the humans inside the organization.

It is the silence of the people with the “C” level titles to recognize that the more remote they are from the employees in the organization and the customers the more difficult the recovery will be. When problems arise, be it a dive in the stock value, a large recall due to quality issues, a class action lawsuit based on poor employee relations practices, an oil spill etc., the more difficult the recovery will be. People are no longer content with the stock PR responses to problems as they tend to generate distrust based on too many experiences with a PR response that does not reflect the real actions of the company decision makers.

Perhaps one of the most frustrating experiences for a customer is that the marketing and advertising messages bring one to a business only to discover that the people behind the brand do not reflect the expectations set out. A significant contributor to this disconnection is internal communication weaknesses that can be found in many organizations but the larger the organization, the bigger the problem. This type of problem is often found in the presentation of a role and company culture by a recruiter and hiring manager vs. the experience of the employee once on staff.

Consider this one point for now: the outsourcing of many jobs overseas has resulted in not just job loss locally but in an upsurge in customer dissatisfaction. There are noted problems with quality, shipping issues for tangible products, difficulty understanding the CSA, inability of the CSA to satisfactorily respond to a problem. Yet, companies are still taking this tactic in a bid to save short-term dollars while ignoring the long-term costs. This has become such a huge issue for large corporations in particular that customers and employees alike are no longer committed to the success of the business.

There is sufficient evidence in the social network realm for any CEO to gain awareness of how significant the problem is-yet they remain invisible, only briefly showing up behind a PR façade.

Social + HR + New Reality

Michael Brito posted his thoughts on the role of HR in Social Business in this article:

http://www.britopian.com/2012/07/08/hrs-critical-role-in-social-business-transformation/?goback=%2Egmr_1969704%2Egde_1969704_member_132180404

The comment from Elizabeth Lupfer came the closest to reflecting my perspective on the HR role in social, which is something I also noted in my e-book. I do think that we need to break out HR somewhat as the compliance based roles will be the last to be able to see the opportunities in social and adapting those roles to 'social' will require some careful thinking.

I find myself alternating between believing that it is simply time to use the HR title for compliance and compensation specialties and rebrand and rethink the rest of the HR realm. Rather than seeing "Humans" as resources or assets-perhaps we need to adapt a new approach to the Employee Relations and Organizational Development areas-one that more closely reflects the people focused community (employee experience to the customer experience link).

Rather than seeing "HR" as a 'strategic partner' a more practical role would be to have a team of strategic thinkers/implementers- directly linking the organizational goals to the team goals to the individual goals-with the big picture of the organizational strategy as the magnet for the output of that role.

The current silo of HR vs. the rest of the organization in many cases is a result of traditional management styles-HR handles the messy people stuff and the compensation stuff and the rest of the employees do the *real* work. A fully integrated resolution to that picture doesn't exist unless we radically shift from Industrial Era process to Knowledge Era realities. The Industrial Era process put HR directly in the middle of Management and Employees and at the end of the day-no one is particularly happy with the result. When I worked in the field the image of the "pig in the middle" game often popped into my mind.

How much longer will executives in business continue to complain that “HR doesn’t ‘get it’ rather than simply rethinking the role and making a wholesale change?

CEO Messages + Reality + unLeadership

Following the RIM problems over the past several months has been a study in abject failure of leadership and while predicting the mass layoffs was a given it does leave me with a feeling of sadness and frustration that 5,000 people are losing their jobs-not because they failed-but because of a failure of leadership. To read this morning that the RIM CEO, Thorsten Heins, actually stated to the media that "there is nothing wrong with this company" http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/07/03/rim-ceo-says-theres-nothing-wrong-with-the-company-as-it-exists-right-now/)must come as a blow to those 5,000 people. Thorsten Heins isn't losing his job so perhaps he simply doesn't realize how truly heartless his comments are to those that are losing their jobs.

There is plenty wrong with a business that had so much opportunity to be a resounding, sustainable success and simply failed to take advantage of that opportunity. There is much wrong with announcing that 5,000 jobs are lost because of a failure of leadership without ever showing any sense of responsibility for that failure. This is far from the first business in which the purported leadership turned out to be anything but leadership, in which the 'leaders' took care of themselves and saw the massive job losses as "not personal, just business"-yet given all the examples that business "C" suite types have to improve on, they simply are not doing so.

And they wonder why employees are not engaged, committed, and loyal? It isn't that hard to understand-is it?

On a brighter note-RIM had some great employees regardless of the unLeadership steering the organization-and now-they will have the opportunity to show what they know they can do and hopefully for a business that understands what leadership should be.

Generation Social + Kickstarter=A Social Project

Today, I am sharing a link to this Kickstarter project in part because it fits well with my interest in "Social" from an organizational and cultural perspective and because it is a "made in Vancouver" project and supporting local matters.

For anyone who is struggling to understand the many ways in which a 'social' mental model, which supports communities and improves the lives of many, is supported by the use of social tools (commonly referred to as Social Media although that really isn't a good descriptor)this documentary, when completed help.

For anyone who has a project idea, without backers, and struggling to find support, consider Kickstarter as a possibility. I am funding two projects right now, one technology related tool based and this documentary.

Perhaps you will join me in funding Generation Social, you can fund from as little as $1 with many other options available.

Take a look, check out the project and let me know what you think.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1965835873/generation-social-a-documentary-film

The Progress of Social in the HR World

Three years ago when I first decided to write an introductory e-book for social media in organizations 99.9% of the available information was directly related to marketing. The remaining scarce sources of information were mostly about how an employee at some business or other had posted something inappropriate related to their employment online. In discussions with HR practitioners most of the comments were either flat denial of any need to even think about social media in the business context to viewing it a something to be forbidden. It was a rare but refreshing conversation when an experienced HR practitioner saw the same possibilities I thought could be available in organizational use as well as understanding that ignoring or forbidding it will create long-term problems going forward.

Today, "social" as an important aspect of the HR role has become mainstream and this has mostly occurred in the past eight months. There is growing awareness that it is far better to take charge of the 'social' promise of these tools early on to mitigate problems and to take advantage of the opportunities to improve communication, knowledge sharing, project innovation, idea generation, and connection. I read a cross section of blogs in various disciplines, participate in a lot of online forums, and check in with knowledgeable connections in entirely different fields to keep refreshing my knowledge and keep my mind open to the possibilities. I have also learned to filter more effectively as my poor brain has some limits and have also learned to use various online tools to save items that may be valuable later but not today.

One thing that comes along with adoption of social tools is that the information overload you thought you had before seems like nothing pretty quickly. So my above noted filter progress has been mandatory. I mostly use Evernote to clip and save information for later, make notes in client meetings, seminars, webinairs etc. I use it for work, volunteer and personal activities and it has made a huge difference to my ability to readily filter when I check into my social sites on weekdays. I also like Evernote because regardless of which device I enter information on, it automatically syncs to all devices which means I am never without what I might need.

I also have a rule for myself, on weekends and vacations, any social activity is personal-professional or work related activities are banned from those time frames. And that is okay, because the internet is like a big old archive, you can search and catch up later if you need something. And going offline for awhile rarely has the negative effects that people worry about-it usually is just the opposite-people feel refreshed and ready to jump back in. So, if you have been reading those, must be online all the time advice givers, ignore it.

What progress have you made in adopting 'social' into your work life? What tools do you find helpful? Most importantly, how have you grown in your professional capacity because of your online connections? What have you introduced to your organization that has the projected results?

Social Media, Adaptive Change & HR

The advent and adoption of social media tools and the rising importance of learning to communicate and network effectively, both in person and online, is reflective of the shift we have been observing towards a knowledge culture. If the extensive collection of books on change, leadership, engagement with customers and employees are any indication of the importance and complexity of this shift, we may need to rethink how we approach change. We seem to be adapting much slower than the rate of change suggests, and in part, this is because we are now needing a level of complexity in mental development greater than needed for career success in previous eras. We are essentially 'feeling' our way into a new era when traditional thinking no longer achieves the goals we set for employees and/or meets the strategic needs of the organization.

One distinction that I often make when talking about workplace skills, competencies, abilities (whatever you call them in your organization)is that technical skills are substantially different than what are often referred to as 'soft' skills.

Ronald Heifetz (1994) poses two kinds of change challenges to consider, that are relevant to this topic:

1) Technical-skill sets necessary to perform these (complicated) behaviours is well-known.

2) Adaptive-can only be met by transforming your mindset, by advancing to a more sophisticated stage of mental development.

He also suggests that "the biggest errors leaders make is when they apply technical means to solve adaptive challenges" which better describes my belief that the way we approach developing technical skills is different than the way we develop 'soft' skills.

Social Media tools perhaps often creates the need to consider both technical change challenges and adaptive change challenges as key needs when introducing, integrating, and developing skills sets to use the tools effectively. The tools are relatively easy to learn how to use from a technical aspect, and regardless of how frequently they are updated or new tools developed our previous experience with computers offers us a relatively simple learning curve. We must also consider that not everyone has the computer experience depending on the job they do but may need to learn it for the future of those jobs. The real challenge and one that is more difficult to learn is to look at how well developed the 'soft' skills are. This includes learning the differences between how we may be perceived in an online interaction and how we that may be perceived quite differently when we interact face to face.

HR practitioners must consider both the technical and adaptive needs of the people in the organization as one without the other is the reason we see the amount of public discussion on the pros and cons of social media use and the effect this has on the organization's reputation both with customers and as an employer.

What challenges are the most perplexing to resolve in your organization? What challenges are the most difficult in your own change adaption?

Social Media & HR –Part 3-Hiring

The discussions as to whether or not an employer should use social media networks as part of the hiring criteria goes on and not a lot changes in the content of these discussions. An article is posted about employers demanding Facebook passwords and using the content to make a hiring decision and the comments following this generally fall into a few categories, privacy, validity of the information being used for the purpose stated, and counter-measures if you are asked to do this in a job interview process. The following excerpts are responses I posted in a LinkedIn group to statements made by HR practitioners. Some comments encouraged me that HR practitioners are finally starting to pay attention to this Digital Era topic and some reminded me that there are still misconceptions about social media, how it works and what is true or not true. One comment that I have seen not just from HR practitioners but on other online sources, such as national news media is to advise people to lie to the interviewer if asked for a Facebook (or other online network) password during the hiring process. When we encounter misinformed or unethical behaviour from an interviewer, there is a way to respond and maintain ones own integrity.

In Canada, both BC and Alberta now have specific guidelines within the privacy legislation to address social networks in the employment cycle and the federal government believes that the generic wording in the federal legislation includes by default, social networks. And of course the use of information gleaned through social networks is rife with "protected class" information so employers should be using common sense before heading down this path. Candidates and employees need also to remember that if they cave and hand over access to their employer or potential employer they are giving that access to their 'friends' without these 'friends' permission; and given that not everyone is savvy about privacy settings in Facebook, this is very problematic.

So far, there is only anecdotal evidence that some Canadian employers are ignoring legislation and asking for access to social network accounts but I have read commentary from at least one person displaying the CHRP designation after her name claim that she believes that employers have a right to do so and that it is valid information to use in the hiring cycle. I find this really disappointing that someone using those credentials would find this practice legitimate but fortunately the majority of HR practitioners in the US and Canadian groups are showing a much better understanding of what is right, ethical and fair. From that, I believe that while some people will abuse social networks, this is not a majority.

Things to consider:

A Google search in a candidates name will show easily if they have a social media account. You may not be able to access the content but it will show that you have an account. Try it on your own name and see what happens. I suggest that people Google their name a few times a year to see what pops up but always do so before you submit your name for a job application.

I do not advocate lying to a potential employer about not having a social media account. Trust is important in the employment relationship and starting out with a lie is not a good way to start off. If the employer is attempting to do something that contravenes employment standards, human rights, privacy legislation and anti-harassment/bullying legislation then deal with it honestly, professionally and directly. Slipping into negative counter-behaviour does not serve anyone well and it is more likely to spiral into a messy situation. You can set your privacy settings to prevent people from seeing most of the content on your Facebook page but you cannot hide that you have one. A Google search will quickly show that you do have one.

Lying about this is problematic on two levels:

1) You will be found out because it is easy to determine if you do have an account.

2) Starting off an employment situation by lying does not bode well for the employment in future.

3) Playing games or being dishonest wraps us up in a spiral mess -it is so much simpler, more trustworthy and better for the future to simply say: (if you in fact do have one) "I have Facebook account that I use for personal use only. My privacy settings are set to protect everyone connected to me on Facebook and to protect me. I am happy to discuss what you need to know to determine my fit/ability for this position, but the information in my Facebook page is not part of that."

In response to a comment that some people have a Facebook account on business cards:when you see a Facebook link on a business card it is more likely that the Facebook account is a business account, not a personal account. "Don't assume" is good advice when looking at information related to social media/network accounts.

There seems to be a lot of myths and misunderstandings about Facebook-what it is used for, what it does, what the rules, guidelines and laws are regarding it. But Google said it as simply and easily as possible "Don't Be Evil" and-this is just common sense-read the rules and guidelines that Facebook has readily available, understand the applicable privacy guidelines, laws and regulations. Know that much of what goes on with social media accounts from a legal perspective is still unfolding, one case at a time, in the legal system in several countries.

But if you approach social media decisions by starting with: Don't be evil and take the time to research the information that is available-and you will likely stay reasonably clear of trouble.

Don't lie, don't be evasive, don't apply assumptions and beliefs to what you may see on a Facebook page (or any social network)-there isn't any science to support that. Some initial studies have been conducted but even the authors of those studies agree that the validity factor is not available.

Social & HR-More On This

More often we see HR and Agency Recruiters using Social Media to attract applicants for positions and in some organizations to build external candidate pools for future hiring needs. Great stuff you say-it gives you a broader reach and the cost is lower than traditional methods provided. What we also are hearing more about though is that the experience an applicant may be offered through recruiting methods doesn't show up once hired. In a few instances there have been anecdotes that it doesn't even make it to the first step of the interview process. So, you are asking (wise people that you are) - what is the missing link here?

Like anything in HR when we consider what we will do in individual pieces rather than systemically, the results show up in not so great employee and candidate experience. When planning your recruiting practices using social media tools ensure the message (or brand if your into that) that goes out to potential applicants matches what they will experience in the interview process, the hiring process, the orientation (or 'onboarding' if you must), the performance management and employee development cycle. Think about it this way-if Company Superb Experience has the best advertising/marketing program you have ever seen and you decide to become a customer-but that experience does not match the advertising/marketing campaign-the customer loyalty the business was hoping for will disappear pretty quickly. Same goes for the employee experience.

Digital Era Leadership-An Update

Further to my post referring to the work on "What Does It Take To Be A Digital Era Leader?" the link below has some information you will find helpful.

Here’s a link to a diagram that offers some ideas on how to think about leadership skills in the Digital Era, based on the initial round of feedback we received:

http://www.renaissance-solutions.com/.a/6a0115715ccc60970b0168e9e523ab970c-pi

We’d love your feedback on the diagram, the initial set of comments, and/or the core questions we posed in the post. Thanks!

What Does It Take To Be A Digital Era Leader?

Today I am sharing a link to a blog post at the Global Center For Digital Era Leadership that I think is important in today's Digital Era but it can also be helpful if you are working in an environment that requires you to 'think globally'. Courtney, Jerry and I invite you to share your ideas, thoughts, perceptions and questions on this timely and interesting topic.

The link to the blog post is:
http://www.gcdel.org/2012/04/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-leader-in-the-digital-era.html

This is a new project for me although it is aligned very nicely with the work I have been focussing on over the past 3 years. I love working on defining skills and what some now call 'attributes'and looking for ways to help others develop the skills they need to continue to be successful in their careers and to meet their personal goals. This project fits that interest exactly so I am excited to be working on it with two leaders in the field, Courtney Hunt and Jerry Carducci.

Please share your ideas on this topic directly on the Global Center For Digital Era Leadership site, on LinkedIn groups such as SMinOrgs and GCDEL. You are also most welcome to share your thoughts right here on HR Concise & Leadership and I will include them on the primary blog (anonymously) unless you tell me otherwise.

I look forward to hearing from you.