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If Work isn't Fun, You're Doing it Wrong: #TChat Recap

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Also known by the less fun title of:  The Business Heresy of Uninterrupted Power Supplies….

Are we having fun yet?

On Tuesday of this week at the fourth annual National Clean Energy Summit, Vice President Joe Biden said, “Our country has a choice — what kind of country are we going to be? Are we going to rise to the challenges, like our grandfathers and grandmothers did? Or are we going to be a follower? It’s sad that we’re having this debate [about investing in clean tech initiatives] — in the past America has always led.”

And then a day later, in the heart of innovation-leading Silicon Valley, solar panel manufacturer Solyndra shut its doors and laid off all 1,100 of its employees, without any severance packages. This isn’t a political post either way; fierce global competition continues to knock the wind out of manufacturing in this country, and losing money on every solar panel you sell isn’t the way to stay in business, regardless of how much investment you’ve received.

In the past America has always led…

There are times when it’s hard for me to listen to the passionate Zappos social media hippie lovefest of culture-centric companies that focus on the customer and strive to create an emotional connection between product/service and consumer.

[Chuckle] Hey, if it isn’t fun, you’re doing it wrong. Tell that to the millions of professionals out of work and scrambling to reinvent their relevancy in a world looking more and more like the surface of Mars.

However, there is life on Mars. According to the latest ADP jobs report, 91,000 new private sector jobs were created in August. It won’t move the unemployment needle, but there’s still a heartbeat out there. The ADP report said the majority of the job gains in August came from small business. Employers with under 50 workers added 58,000 jobs.

Thankfully many of us are reinventing our relevancy; sparks of innovation are flying all over the world like lighting bugs at dusk. The new lovefest of business leaders are helping to rebuild a world where culture and human connectivity are queen, and recombined business models of sustainability are being applied to industries new and old.

Of course not everyone’s going to make it. Businesses will fail and the lights will go out. Those that do keep the power on want self-powered and empowered employees who help drive the business from the top down, the bottom up and side to side like power lines stretched from here to…

Mars maybe. Or at least the UK, since Borri UPS Systems starting following me on Twitter today, manufacturer and distributor of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).

We can use more of that business heresy.

A very special thank you to 12 Most for being our special guests last night, including Ted Coine, Chris Westfall, Sean McGinnis, Steve Woodruff, Anthony Iannarino and Daniel Newman. 12 Most is a business and social media blogger collective of amazing credentials and savvy. And thank you to our very own Matt Charney for rounding out the special guest list as well.

You can catch the #TChat precap here as well as relive last night’s 2nd #TChat Radio show, The Realities of Business Heresy.

The #TChat Twitter chat and #TChat Radio are created and hosted by @MeghanMBiro @KevinWGrossman and powered by our friends and partners @TalentCulture @Monster_WORKS @MonsterCareers and of course @Focus.

Facebook & the Strange Engagement Arrangement: #TChat Recap

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Just because I like you, doesn’t mean we’re friends. At least on Facebook.

I’m talking about the strange engagement arrangement between companies, associations, non-profits, clubs, professional groups, other groups, events — and their followers. Or, more appropriately, their fans who “like” them by clicking on a thumbs-up tab and then getting streams of information from those groups. Maybe even posting a comment or two at times on those group pages.

It’s not really a town hall meeting, or an intimate community even, although there are sporadic bursts of interactivity, but Facebook is a universe unto itself — and the over 750 million active users.

Consider these statistics from Facebook:

  • People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
  • The average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events.
  • More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.
  • About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States.
  • More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, including over 80 of comScore’s U.S. Top 100 websites and over half of comScore’s Global Top 100 websites.
  • There are more than 250 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.

And the Facebook valuation — what is it now, $100 billion? — doesn’t go without being noticed by a wealthy contingent of investor “friends.” A new study shows that 46% of online users with investible assets of $1 million or more are members of Facebook, up from 26% a year ago. The survey, by Spectrem Group, showed that millionaire’s use of Twitter has declined, from 5% to 3%.

Guess they aren’t participating in #TChat, are they. At least not yet!

Then there’s the revenue streams for Facebook — the advertising, the gaming, the recruiting. The recruiting that’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger. LinkedIn may be the granddaddy career management network with a sweet recent IPO, but I’m hearing more and more how companies are using Facebook to source and recruit applicants. There’s danger in using Facebook to hire, but that doesn’t stop the vast majority of savvy recruiting and hiring managers. There are also dozens and dozens of recruiting apps plugged into Facebook, two of which include BeKnown and BranchOut.

750 million active users. You do the math.

Then there’s my grand fenceless Facebook experiment I wrote about yesterday. There are those who maintain lists, streams, groups, circles, buckets, sandboxes, canyons, firewalls — you name it. And for good reason: cyber warfare, hacking, identity theft, online bullying and child predators are much bigger problems today than they were 10 years ago while the ability for some of us to control our impulses is tenuous, running around our houses naked with the curtains drawn and shades pulled up committing various unseemly, even unlawful acts.

Then there are folks like me. Call me crazy, but my head and heart can’t separate my work and personal worlds; I just can’t fence them off. My grand social media experiment has worked so far for me because I feel I’m connecting with more people as a person, regardless of our connections initially — the great virtual melting pot. What’s interesting is that at a time when I can’t even get my next door neighbors to have a block party, I can connect, collaborate and commiserate virtually with anyone (and any entity) anywhere in the world. But, if anyone doesn’t want to “buy what I’m selling,” then they can turn me off, just like they can turn off other companies and “brands.”

No harm, no foul.

Who knows where Facebook will go in the next 5 to 10 years, but odds are we’ll be more and more assimilated into its universe — mainlining the strange engagement arrangement straight into our veins every minute of every day. Right on.

Wait, what’s Google+ again?

You can read the Facebook #TChat preview here and here were the questions from last night:

  • Q1: What are some interesting or innovative ways businesses are using Facebook effectively?
  • Q2: Do you engage with brands or companies on Facebook?  Why or why not?
  • Q3: Where does Facebook fit into job search and recruiting/hiring?  Is it an effective tool for recruiting?
  • Q4: What are some important reminders for organizations when creating a Facebook presence?
  • Q5: Many think Facebook will replace e-mail.  What other business applications might it augment or replace?
  • Q6: What does the future of Facebook look like in 5 years?  10?  How will it impact businesses and careers?

We’re still filling out the roster, but the second #TChat Radio episode is titled “The Realities of Business Heresy” — based on a recent 12 Most post by Ted Coiné — and welcomes the business leaders of 12 Most. Please join us on 8/31/11!

The #TChat Twitter chat and #TChat Radio are created and hosted by @MeghanMBiro and @KevinWGrossman, and powered by our friends @MattCharney and @CatyKobe, and partners @TalentCulture, @Monster_WORKS, @MonsterCareers, @12Most and of course @Focus.

Crowdsourcing Prospective Candidates: Impossible?

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Written by Omowale Casselle

Crowdsourcing is the act of outsourcing tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community (a “crowd”), through an open call (Wikipedia). In theory, the internet should be a great enabler of being able to put a call for talent out to a community and in return receive a great group of qualified candidates that meet the needs of your organization. In reality, this is much easier said than done.

There are great examples of communities that rely on crowdsourced principles:

1.  Threadless is a community-centered online apparel store. Members of the Threadless community submit t-shirt designs online; the designs are then put to a public vote. A small percentage of submitted designs are selected for printing and sold through an online store. Creators of the winning designs receive a prize of cash and store credit.

2. Local Motors is an open source automobile company. They co-create vehicles with their community of auto designers, engineers, enthusiasts and customers.

3.  InnoCentive is an “open innovation” company that takes research and development problems in a broad range of domains such as engineering, computer science, math, chemistry, life sciences, physical sciences and business and frames them as “challenge problems” for anyone to solve them. It gives cash awards for the best solutions to solvers who meet the challenge criteria

From t-shirt design to automobile to R&D, these communities have shown that crowdsourcing can be utilized in a wide variety of fields for both very simple and extremely complex problems. So, what are these companies doing that is enabling them to leverage a large group of people to develop creative solutions to difficult problems?

Aligned Incentives

In each of these crowdsourced communities, there is some type of reward that is offered to those who develop a winning solution to the problem. Whether it is the most creative t-shirt or a well-designed, all-terrain defense vehicle, those who come out on top receive a clearly designed reward for their efforts.  As a result, each person who takes part in the challenge is focused on doing their best work so that they might be selected for the reward.  The company also knows that because so many people have submitted their work that the quality of those submissions which bubble to the top should be pretty fantastic. One of the clearest ways to align incentives within the recruiting environment is to offer a referral bonus. If someone within your community connects you with the right person, let them know that you’ll pay them a nice reward.  Everyone implicitly understands that every candidate referred will not necessarily be the right fit. But, for the one that is, there will be a great reward for the individual that helped you connect with him/her.

Multiple Opportunities to Get Involved

While there are plenty of people who are focused on winning the big reward, there are an equal number of participants supporting the community along the way. From the members who vote on the submissions to those who ultimately purchase the product, these communities excel at making everyone feel like they have an important role to play.  In social media and social networking, most of your community is not necessarily going to have a direct connection with the right candidate. But, with careful management of your community, they may be willing to share your hiring need through a status update on Facebook or a retweet on Twitter. By helping spread the word and thanking people for their participation in achieving your ultimate goal, you create the type of environment in which many people want to be a part of.

Clearly Defined Problems

In order to develop a meaningful solution, the problem must be well understood. So, these communities place a heavy emphasis on letting you know upfront what they are looking for. There is then the expectation that the creativity of the individual, supported by the broader community, will take over to find a path from the problem definition to an elegant solution that will be appreciated by many. In recruiting, this is no different. If you want to get the right slate of qualified candidates, it is important to properly define what you are seeking in terms of experience, skills, and expected roles/responsibilities. By getting this right, you give the community a much better opportunity of finding the right person.

Although social media and social networking have helped digitally bridge the gap among internet users locally and globally, many community building efforts are challenged to truly reap the benefits. While there is still a way to go before we see a scalable, repeatable, crowdsourced recruiting solution, key elements can be incorporated into individual communities being created on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to increase the participation and ultimate results achieved. What ways has your organization sought to leverage your community to meet your hiring needs?

Twitter Chats Reveal the Future of Online Communities

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Written by Omowale Casselle

Recently, I have been paying a lot of attention to different chats that happen on Twitter. Quite honestly, these community focused discussions are extremely interesting to me because of what I believe they reveal about the future characteristics of online communities. (If you’re a regular here at TalentCulture, you probably have participated in this community’s popular Wednesday evening #TChats. If not, I recommend you do!)

Collective vs. Individual Ownership

  • While there is usually someone who has come up with the initial idea for a hashtag, by and large it is owned by the community of participants. No one can trademark or copyright a hashtag. Also, the social nature of the platform makes it difficult to prevent anyone from using it.  This collective group ownership is a valuable element of future online communities. When people feel ownership, they become careful stewards of what has been created.  In many ways, they are so in love with their experience that they refuse for others to destroy what has been built. As a result, you will often find community members passionately maintaining community norms.

Participation varies and depends on interest/expertise/willingness to share

  • In online communities there has always been a distribution of participation. With hashtags, there are additional ways to foster participation. For example, even if you are too shy to speak; one can simply re-tweet something that they find especially valuable or interesting.  By lowering the barriers of participation, more people are drawn in which is the key to utilizing the collective knowledge of the community.

Many of the most popular are based on niche topics with the core value proposition being the opportunity to learn more

  • Many hashtags are first and foremost an opportunity for others to learn about an area of interest.  This shift away from self-gratification towards mutual gratification is one that I think is especially exciting about these communities.  Instead of people hoarding knowledge, hashtag chats give participants an opportunity to share their learnings with others. In the process, valuable social capital is earned which gives people with key insights increased hierarchy within the online community.

Heavily focused on crowdsourcing (Moderator asks questions and variety of people weigh in on the subject, the most popular or well received answers are typically re-tweeted)

  • Many hashtag chats are loosely organized around the topic of a few questions with the community being asked to respond based on what they think.  Within this dynamic, community participants can ask burning questions that are on their mind around the subject of interest.  This simultaneous loose and rigid structure is especially appealing to participants.  In addition, the real-time nature of the communication channel enables moderators and community members to key in on subjects that are of great interest.  This helps keep the interest of community members and keeps them coming back each week to learn more about a specific topic.

While these trends are just developing, it will be interesting to see how they evolve to become what I believe will be the foundation of successful online communities moving forward.  This represents a shift from the closed model that many web 1.0 communities were based upon.

Remember, the model that forced you to register for a site to figure out if the community was interesting.  Once you realized it wasn’t, they already had your email address to spam you with.  No longer! In this new dynamic, you have to show your worth in the open community before people will even give you a chance to move into a closed, intimate relationship.

This dynamic is especially crucial for employers who are seeking to engage with prospective candidates to master. By moderating online discussions around subjects related to their industry, company, or individual opportunities, employers can create a dynamic recruiting environment that will be irresistible to candidates.

The Future of Web Technology: Nice to Meet You, Web 3.0

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As a digital native, I grew up with the web. And by that I don’t mean I just grew up with Internet access, though that’s true. I mean the Web and I grew up together. See, I was just old enough to start using a computer when the Internet hit mainstream America. Since then, it’s amazing to see how much we’ve both changed, and how difficult it is to notice those changes when we see each other every single day.

You have probably heard the terms Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has been a hot topic of discussion with the emergence of social media. But what exactly does it mean?

You may remember the Internet in the mid-1990s. It was awful. Most companies had no understanding of how to use the Internet for their business, so they simply posted the same broadcast-style messaging found on brochure ware. That’s what we refer to as Web 1.0.

The term Web 2.0 emerged in 1999 when engineer Darcy DiNucci described an imminent shift in Internet history from static “screenfuls” to two-way communication portals. During the Web 2.0 era, web sites became much more interactive, soliciting input from the user and granting her the ability to publish her own writing, pictures, videos and more. Today, Web 2.0 is often synonymous with “social media.”

Now, we’re on the brink of Web 3.0. It’s a new chapter in the history of the Internet brought on by three distinct characteristics:

1. App-based Computing

Odds are you may hardly ever visit your favorite websites. Instead you probably access the content from those sties through an application or independent program. These applications can be mobile (for the 250 million people accessing Facebook on their phones), desktop-based (for the 20+ million people using Tweetdeck to access Twitter) or both (for the 10 million Evernote users who access their notes on multiple platforms). The web still has its time and place. However, custom computer programs often provide a better user experience. Read Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff’s famous Wired Magazine article on the death of the “web.”

2. Internet Everywhere

Smartphones will be in the hands of the majority of American mobile subscribers by the end of this year, and almost all of those phones will have 3G or 4G access. That means they will carry the Internet with them in their pockets. Having Internet everywhere means the way we use the Internet will change. A mobile device doesn’t lend itself to full web browsing very well. Many companies are designing watered down versions of their websites formatted for mobile devices. People use mobile web more to “check” their digital lives than to live them.

3. Open Source Technology

You might have noticed alternative login methods popping up all over the web asking you to log in with Facebook, Twitter, Google, foursquare or Yahoo. If you dare to click one of those buttons, you’ll find the website your on has the ability to pull in information you’ve entered into another service. This development is made possible through application programming interfaces (APIs), which allow one piece of software to communicate openly with another piece of software. Many software companies now offer APIs so that third party developers can innovate on top of their existing technology. Right now, I feel there are serious conversation fragmenting problems in consumer technology. I can’t even begin to attempt to count the number of places I send and receive messages. My hope is that APIs help to solve that problem.

Eventually the future of the web will take us toward augmented reality, but we’re far from that now. What other indicators do you look for to imply we’re moving into the next era of the web?

IMAGE VIA Wolf Gang

HRO: Engagement Perception and Social Recruiting Technology

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I spent most of this past week at the HRO Today conference in Las Vegas as a member of the blog squad, and what do I have to show for it? A new appreciation for HR and Recruiting technology innovation – that’s what.

On the personal side, new friendships were made and old bonds renewed. In short, a very good conference. I even had an opportunity to sing along with dueling pianos  – talk about a Talent Show. Right up my alley. We had many laughs. What happens in Vegas is not always meant to stay in Vegas after all.

This week’s #TChat was a highlight of course. As I referenced earlierin the week,  The HRO Analyst Study was pretty fascinating from my perspective. So while there’s plenty of HR technology out there, much of it is focused on talent management and recruitment. HR and recruiters just are not perceiving what’s out there as innovative, perhaps because most of what we’re seeing isn’t screaming cloud, mobile application. What the survey found, instead, was a gap in perceptions of innovation.

For example, 62 percent of technology providers think it’s vital to innovate in talent management technology – but only 33 percent of practitioners agree. Even more telling: 70 percent of providers surveyed think talent management technology supports work, while practitioners – 37 percent – view the technology as ‘just gadgets’.

But wait, there’s more – over 70 percent of practitioners surveyed say providers ‘rarely or never’ talk to them to gauge whether their offerings align with the practitioners’ business strategies and goals. Yikes, what a disconnect! As a “recruitment practitioner” (one of my hats) I’m hoping there are many more of us who see these innovative tools as a must have – I certainly fall into this grouping.

So let’s go to Door #1 and a review of my stint as a judge on the iTalent2 Demo Competition. The talented roster of hopefuls: BranchOut a solution that helps people tap into their Facebook friends network to find career opportunities; InternMatch a brilliant yet simple application that simplifies finding interns and marketing internship opportunities for organizations of pretty much any size; JobScore a social media-enabled talent management application; SmartRecruiters a winner (did I say it is free?) application with a great SaaS recruiting solution; Wednesdays a team building and employee engagement application built on social media networking, and Work4labs, with a very cool application that enables career sites on Facebook. Quite an impressive array of new technologies included here.

As a judge who ended up being closer to Simon Cowell than Paula Abdul as we first thought – I was way careful about the numbers I gave each company featured, never going past 8 on a scale of 1-10. Apologies to the contestants if that seems harsh, but we’re talking about my passion here: innovation meets matching people talent with new career opportunity.

I have a weak spot for technologies that do it well. In classic start-up form no company or application is perfect just yet. Innovation is truly about creating a culture of working and reworking ideas where it’s ok to make mistakes in the early innings. I found flaws in each application from either a usability or branding perspective. It will be exciting to watch their progression in the coming months. There were almost too many good things on offer for the judging panel.

SmartRecruiters won – it’s a free (yes, free), social-media enabled application that helps companies recruit top talent. The pitch was strong, the website is user friendly, it’s organized and the people are enthusiastic about it’s potential in the market.

I have a soft spot for InternMatch. I mentor as many interns as I can and many people know I’m an advocate for these programs. Pay it forward and all, interns are a great resource for any company – and actual work experience with actual companies is part of a complete education.

I’m so energized by the people I met, the ideas that were presented, the technology that is available right now that will make talent recruiting and hr management so much easier and more productive. I can’t wait to talk to people (and clients) about what I’ve heard about in Vegas and beyond. Onward we go.

IMAGE VIA BestofWDW

Innovation Gap Realities Workforce Technology: #TChat Preview

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We’ve talked before about how hot the theme of ‘innovation’ is. In the technology world, much of what’s filed under ‘innovation’ is related to cloud technology, or mobile, or ‘apps’. What isn’t so hot, in my observation, is technology that links innovations to people. And so it is here at the HRToday conference in shiny Las Vegas, where technology is everywhere, but the links to employees and workforces are not so clear.

I’m looking forward to visiting the technology demos, and especially speaking with today’s analyst panel, which is bringing a group together to discuss the ‘innovation gap’ in HR technology. As I wear my “everyday practitioner” hat it is apparent to me that we still have some major holes to contend with. Reality Check!

At today’s panel, our hosts for this event, HRO Today, have brought together a great group including Kevin W. Grossman of Ventana Research; Madeline Laurano, Talent Systems Analyst of The Newman Group; Mark McMillan, co-founder of Talent Function Group; Katherine Jones, Principal Analyst of Bersin & Associates, and Jayson Saba, Senior Research Associate of Aberdeen Group. This group of analysts – many with a focus on talent management – are discussing a survey HRO Today ran earlier this year of over 100 buyers and providers of HR technology. The survey’s goal was to get a better pulse on the pace of technology innovation.

So while there’s plenty of HR technology out there, much of it is focused on talent management and recruitment. HR just isn’t perceiving what’s out there as innovative, perhaps because most of what we’re seeing isn’t screaming cloud, mobile or app. Very interesting.

So, what should the role of the buyer and the technology provider be in pushing innovation? My take:

Collaborate to innovate, but do it differently, depending on which side of the table you sit on. If you’re an HR tech buyer, make your technology recommendations based on how, say, innovative recruiting technology can help you build an innovative company. Don’t worry about the technology being innovative per se; that’s the role of the provider.

Providers of technology, listen to your customers. Ask about their recruiting and retention challenges, and think about how to use social media technologies to enhance the technology suites you’ve already built.

With smart solutions like these available, could there be a disconnect between technology innovation and HR?  I say a big yes, and the survey seems to have found the same scenarios unfolding with their samples.

I base my observation both on what I see here in Vegas, and more on what I’ve been experiencing in the market for the past three years. Sure, there’s lots of HR technology. Solutions that target enterprises are probably doing fairly well. But the real struggle is in the SMB, where most people look for and find work.

Workforce technology, perhaps more than other technology solutions, needs to scale. It needs to be useful for the 10 person company and the 10,000 person company. And when we talk about tech innovation in HR and recruiting, please hold the spreadsheets and go long on social media. That’s the edge case.

SharedXpertise and the HR Demo Show just completed a survey on what industry stakeholders, both practitioners and providers, think about innovation in HR technology.

Based on that premise, we want our #TChat community to chime in on the subject later today. Tonight’s #TChat questions are:

Q1: How important is technology innovation in acquiring, empowering and retaining a workforce today?

Q2: Are HR and recruitment practitioners truly “innovative” today? Why or why not?

Q3: How have technology innovations impacted end users’ experiences? Using it or not?

Q4:How do you use technology to support business strategies and objectives?

Q5: Do HR and recruitment technology innovations support the work, or are they just gadgets? Why?

Q6: What can practitioners and providers do to facilitate and improve technology innovation?

Q7: In summary, what do you think it means to be innovative in the HR and recruiting business today?

Back to the conference floor. More thoughts from me soon. Cheers to Vegas!

Balance: Reconciling Work and Life: #TChat Preview

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Originally posted by Matt Charney, one of #TChat’s moderators, on Monster Thinking Blog

It’s interesting that the genesis of work-life balance really started, with, well, Genesis: somewhere, between creating the heaven, the earth and all things in between, even God needed a day off to rest.

We’ll leave interpretations up to the theologians, but there’s a pretty firm, historical precedent that’s been followed for millennia: everyone deserves a break now and then.

In our increasingly interconnected age, however, omniscience and omnipresence aren’t Biblical constructs, but the burden of having a Blackberry.

The real price of real business in real time is that real time is rarely one’s own. The movie 9-5 (“It’s a way to make a livin“) seems a historical anachronism for more than its polyester pant-suits. In a blink of an eye, the 8 hour day that the title (and oh so catchy theme song) suggest seem to have all but disappeared.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Increasingly, employers are realizing that the key to attracting and retaining top talent, and getting the most out of employees, requires creating a work-life balance that’s actually balanced. And workers are starting to realize meaningful work, and by extension, a meaningful career, aren’t mutually exclusive from having a life outside the office.

Tonight’s #TChat will explore work-life balance and it’s far ranging implications on the world of work (and life). Join the conversation at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT as we look at ways that work and life can coexist, and even thrive, in today’s business environment.

#TChat Questions and Recommended Reading (5.10.11)

Here are tonight’s #TChat questions as well as some recommended reading designed to inform, and inspire, tonight’s conversation about work-life balance:

1. Who’s ultimately responsible for managing work-life balance: the employer or the employee?

Read: The Case for Work/Life Programs by Freek Vernermeulen.

2. What are the benefits/drawbacks of being salaried/exempt vs. hourly/non-exempt? Which would you prefer?

Read: Family Friendly Employee Benefits: Create A Win-Win For Hourly Workers by Donna Fenn.

3. How does company culture effect work-life balance?

Read: 5 Great Ways To Create A Winning Company Culture by Carmine Gallo.

4. What role does technology and social media play in the work-life mix? Is connectivity a blessing or a curse?

Read: Technology at Work: The Creation of the Anywhere Worker by Connie Blaszczyk.

5. What are some things employers and managers can do to improve work-life balance?

Read: 5 Keys to Staying Civil When Work Calls On Your Off Time by Judy Martin.

6. How important is work life balance to top talent when assessing new opportunities?

Read: It’s All About Engagement by Jayson Saba.

7. What are some of the most effective or creative “perks” your company offers for work-life balance? Which do you wish they’d offer?

Read: Do You Have Work Life Balance? by Thad Peterson.

NOTE: We’ll be extending this conversation at Care.com’s Care@Work event series, Focus Forward at the Times Center in New York City on June 1st and we want you to join us. Tonight after #TChat, we’ll be giving away one ticket to this invitation and innovation only event focused on shaping the future of work. We will randomly select someone from tonight’s #TChat to attend.

Tune in tonight to find out how and learn more about the Care@Work event at http://www.icareatwork.com/

Our Monster social media team supports the effort behind #TChat and its mission of sharing “ideas to help your business and your career accelerate – the right people, the right ideas, at the right time.”

We’ll be joining the conversation live every Tuesday night as co-hosts with Kevin Grossman and Meghan M. Biro from 8-9 PM E.T. via @monster_works and @MonsterWW. Hope to see you tonight at 8 PM ET for #TChat!

4 Employee Engagement Drivers: Workplace Social Technology

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We’ve heard the term “employee engagement” a gazillion times, and one could even say it’s now just a buzzword.  If you ask me, it is the most critical aspect of any successful organization….without a doubt!  A positive correlation exists between employee engagement scores and business results (via Right Management – “Employee Engagement, Maximizing Organizational Performance”).

I have worked with a dozen plus diverse organizations on their employee engagement strategies, not only identifying their top engagement drivers, but facilitating strategy design and execution.  I can see how it could be a buzzword to many because they have not the slightest clue how to take employee engagement beyond just simply talking about it.

Regardless, my definition of employee engagement is, “an intimate emotional connection that an employee feels for the company they work for that propels them to exert greater discretionary effort in their work.”  Take note that their are many definitions that exist, and whichever one you favor, remember this…it all comes down to the positive emotions that employees possess, individually and collectively.  In my experience the top 4 engagement drivers are the following:

  1. Strength of leadership capabilities of direct managers.
  2. Perception that advancement opportunities exist, and are attainable.
  3. Opportunities for personal growth and development.
  4. Appropriate recognition for the good work that I do.

The “What” Versus the “How”

I just listed what I have seen to be the top 4 common engagement drivers.  The next natural question would be, “now what?  How are we supposed to improve engagement if we now know where our focus needs to be?”  There is no cookie-cutter response because it depends on each organization, because each organization is unique due to the distinctive make-up of their workforces.  But, I will say this…the “how” (i.e. executing an employee engagement strategy) is as important, if not more so, than the “what” (i.e. what we need to focus on).

This is where social technology could theoretically play a huge impactful role.  I say theoretically because again, the success of strategy execution does not lie in the technology/platform itself, but in how it’s executed.  At the top of my head, key things that are required for successful execution are strong leadership, people change management, communication, trust, authenticity, and ultimately a strong perception of competence in the eyes of employees.  Notice how this is nothing different than any other major organizational initiative?

One Step Further

You need to also recognize that workforces in North America are more diverse than ever before.  Work is now fully integrated into our personal lives, rather than being completely separated like it was just a few decades ago.  We value customization, personalization, flexibility, variety and choice.  Organizations need to understand this, and find a way to fully integrate these characteristics into how employee engagement strategies are executed.  Now enter social technology!

Where Technology Could (Really Should) Play a Role

Keep in mind that technology by itself means very little.  It’s a very similar concept to strategy, which I’ve said many times before, “is just a piece of paper with words on it” (see “Strategy = A Piece of Paper…“).  If you don’t execute it well, it doesn’t matter how great the technology/strategy is.  All technology does is enable organizations to be flexible, offer variety and choice, enable personalization and customization.  It’s a vehicle, albeit a very effective one ONLY if you actually get the “how” part and focus on executing.

Having made my point about what technology is I will say this.  The market has just been bursting with new niche social technology platforms that aim to help make business easier, more effective and efficient, and ultimately more successful.  The mainstream platforms include the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google and others.  Example niche HR platforms include Rypple, ZuzuHire, SurgeHire, Yammer, Yackstar, ClearFit, Success Factors and I Love Rewards.  Thousands more exist out there, but you get my point.

Tying it All Together…

So, I have talked about the following:

  1. Employee Engagement, Maximizing Organizational Performance
  2. How employee engagement strategy is executed is more important than what you’re executing.
  3. Impact of workforce demographics on our preferences for customization, flexibility and personalization.
  4. Work is now fully integrated into our personal lives—no longer separated.
  5. Social technology is a huge part of our lives, and social platforms are highly effective vehicles to support strategy execution.
  6. The key in all of this is that leveraging technological platforms within traditional HR functions, particularly as it relates to employee engagement strategy will enable organizations to optimize their ability to drive positive employee engagement results.

(Note: The next post in this series of 3 posts will explore a case study of an organization that integrated social technology into its employee engagement strategy to drive positive results.)

Image Credit Flickr

http://jeffwaldman.ca/?p=86St

2010, We Hardly Knew Ye. My Culture of Talent Musings

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It’s tempting, in an end-of-year post, to mourn and dwell what didn’t happen in the year past, to give cheery career tips for the new year, or to speculate on emerging innovation trends. I thought about it briefly and then simply decided not to. It’s likely already been done.

I’d like to take a different tack to talk about how 2010 taught us that workplace culture brands need to ‘personalize’, and how truly exciting is has been to watch corporate brands become more authentic and dynamic. It’s a complex work world now and this makes me very happy. There are still many mountains to climb when it comes to workplace, leadership and talent innovation. Thank goodness – right? The real work is still really just beginning.

Down markets are not always times of smart leadership, innovation and inspiration, but 2010 saw these themes emerge powerfully, driven by social media – connecting employees and brands – as well as a return to the realization that emotional intelligence is a critical component in today’s geographically dispersed yet deeply interconnected workplace.

At the TalentCulture social community, I examined the notion of intent and what it means for companies. People seek community. As I said then, “…people come to communities with a purpose, an intent. They are looking for a place to be, a place to learn, a place to grow and interact in a meaningful way. The trick then, for companies, is to behave as social communities. It’s a powerful and new metaphor for the workplace.”

In a company that operates as a social community, there is more room to create a workplace that celebrates and accommodates differences – in backgrounds, personal brands, skill sets and personality temperaments. A healthy workplace “…focuses on ensuring personality/culture fit between employees and the organization, people of diverse skill sets and temperaments can collaborate and succeed – because they have the intent to succeed, and the social context – the community – in which to realize their intent.” Smart and true collaboration holds so many valuable keys for all of us. Bring diversity and enthusiasm into the mix and you really have something special.

Companies that recognize ‘intent to belong’ in their employees know how to build culture by fostering different modes of interaction among the company and its employees. They go beyond transactional interactions with employees to transformational interactions, and then to tacit interactions, where trust is built to create a shared and sustainable competitive advantage. They will be the winners as they recruit and retain the very best talent.

Strong workplace brands that reflect a healthy corporate culture bring an advantage in hiring and creating memorable products, services and missions. We’ll see even more hiring growth in 2011, so companies and people (personal brands) must think about maintaining their brands. As I wrote earlier this year, “Link corporate culture and brand with your people and the magic really starts…Remember that your brand and culture are your biggest attractions…. Your best defense, as an employer, is to have culture and brand in place. Be irresistible to your employees. Be desirable to candidates. Be your brand, revel in your culture, and never abandon either.”

As social media permeates the workplace more deeply in 2011, be prepared to support it, plan for it, even celebrate your social media ‘rock stars’, who are your front-and-center culture brand ambassadors. How cool and fabulous are they? Very.

I, for one, am not mourning the end of 2010. It has been a challenging year for so many people and organizations, to ignore this fact would be completely ludicrous. It’s also been a time of profound changes and advances in workplace leadership and on the community building front. A reason to celebrate = growth and connectivity. Don’t let up – in 2011 the pace will be faster, people will be smarter and more connected, and workplace brand will be critical to retain valued employees. Workplace brands will be a collection of employees with strong personal brands, which will make the workplace a stronger place. So 2010, so long, farewell.

We’re on to 2011 already. Bring it. We are global and we are one. Thank you for listening and sharing. My very best to you and yours from all of us here at the Culture of Talent.

Join @TalentCulture: #TChat on Tuesday

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Sure there are a lot of Twitter Chats you could participate in.

But there isn’t one that I’m aware of that intersects Talent + Culture, where you’ll find:

  • People who are inspired by incredible individuals driving organizations and creating dramatic change.
  • Brands that are humanizing themselves as layers of hierarchy yield to emotionally-connected leaders.
  • Innovative expertise which catalyzes transformational growth online and in real life.

At the intersection of Talent + Culture, you’re all welcomed for your like-mindedness and celebrated for your unique thinking.

At the intersection of Talent + Culture, you’re all right here.

Our community.  Your community.  The TalentCulture Community.

We welcome you all to join us for our new Twitter Chat called #TChat.  The first one will be this Tuesday, November 16, from 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. ET where we’re going to discuss Emotional Intelligence and the importance of assessing it and developing it, which for us, is everything that makes a best place to work – the best talent (people) and the best workplace culture.

Discussing the intersection of Talent and Culture.  We consider all the things that make a best place to work, individual career growth, and social community development — ideas to help your business and your career accelerate – the right people, the right ideas, at the right time.  This includes all areas of HR, recruiting, career coaching, training and development, leadership development, product/service development, business development, ideation, marketing, social media, and much more.  We also explore engagement, creativity, innovation and collaboration between businesses, employees, and social communities.  It’s an open forum, so anyone interested is welcome.  Be ready for a lively discussion and bring your best place to work ideas!

Based on recent research, the difference between those who reach their full potential in the workplace and in life, and those who do not, is their degree of emotional intelligence (EI), or “people skills”.

These people skills (your EI) encompass:

  • An awareness of your own emotions,
  • An awareness of emotions in others,
  • An understanding of these emotions,
  • And the ability to manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.

However, according to recent research, 75% of the reasons careers get derailed are EI-related:

  • Unsatisfactory leadership across all levels during challenging times.
  • Inability to handle interpersonal issues.
  • Inability to adapt to change.
  • Inability to elicit trust.

Without question, successful leaders to individual contributors must possess business acumen along with industry knowledge and organizational insight. But the quality that separates the most successful leaders from their peers is emotional intelligence—the ability to understand, manage and respond effectively to one’s own emotions and the emotions of others.

In fact, research has confirmed that emotionally intelligent employees and leaders are indeed more successful than their less emotionally intelligent peers.  So are their companies.

At PepsiCo, for example, executives identified as emotionally intelligent generated 10% more productivity and added nearly $4 million in economic value; for Sheraton, an emotional intelligence initiative helped increase the company’s market share by 24%.

Please join us to share your questions and commentary about assessing and developing Emotional Intelligence.

What’s your role in the TalentCulture Community?

  • Sharing your real world expertise and candid perspectives.
  • Actively participating with others in expanding the depth and breadth of your reach.
  • Contributing as much as you benefit.

Join us for #TChat on Twitter every Tuesday from 8:00-9:00p.m. ET.  We’ll be posting a calendar of topics soon. Our live chat will be hosted by @KevinWGrossman @MeghanMBiro and @TalentCulture. Please Tweet or DM us for more scoop.

Who "Owns" Social Media?

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The Internet really upended the corporate communications industry. Though PR professionals used to jeer at advertising pros for being message control freaks, and marketers used to impress boardrooms with fancypants charts and graphs and make the creatives and spindoctors look as if they failed high school algebra, at the end of the day, everyone got along. Everyone knew their job.

Now, that once playfully competitive scene is a battle taking place over a new landscape we call social media. Who owns it? Who controls it? Who deserves it? You’ll get a different answer from every industry you ask. After majoring in public relations, studying some marketing, and landing a job with an advertising firm, I’ve gained some insight on this issue.

PR’s role in social media

PR professionals are the mavens of conversation. And conversation is a huge component of social media. Daily monitoring and damage control on social media should fall into the hands of the PR firm or department. Brands without a human element are just slogans, and PR professionals are the best for the job when it comes to humanizing brands in the social space. Some brands are using social media for customer relationship management and customer service. I would argue that those practices, in the social space, are operating under a PR umbrella.

Advertisers’ role in social media

Yeah, yeah, conversation is great, but the best social media case studies are showing that brands need to create something remarkable to justify conversation. No traditional PR firm or marketing guru could have pulled off what advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy did with the Old Spice YouTube responses. That’s because advertising agencies, unlike PR or marketing firms, have the necessary resources to create professional video content on a personalized level, which is what is needed to fuel conversation and record view-counts. Many ad firms are equipped with the physical resources that take social media beyond conversation and metrics. If a brand wants to build something with the foursquare API for example, they will likely turn to their advertising firm of record for the job. Traditionally, PR firms and marketers simply did not have the interactive design or software engineer resources for that kind of endeavor.

Marketers’ role in social media

The most beautiful thing about social media for brands is that it’s very measurable. Facebook pages provide statistics. Google Analytics can show how many site visitors are coming from social media sites. There are a lot of online tools that help measure Twitter activity and, if you haven’t yet, check out Awareness Inc’s foursquare Perpectives tool. In B2C businesses, these tools are extremely valuable for marketers. I would also say that the practice of branding takes place in the marketing department. Advertising helps to actualize a brand, and PR maintains that brand with conversation, but the creation and discovery of what makes a brand lies with marketers.

The reality

The fact is that these three practices are converging like never before. These industries will move forward in the digital space and continue to battle over control of social media. However, that is not because any one practice owns social media. It’s because the skills that go along with these practices are breaking through old borders. Marketing tactics are happening in advertising firms. Conversation skills normally reserved for PR departments are being used by marketers. PR departments are reporting charts and graphs on social media now!

If you’re looking for a career in one of these industries, understand your skill set will need to include a mesh of these practices. If you’re a business looking to get into social media, look for the resources and skills, not the industry label on the company history page. There are also digital and interactive design firms setting a different standard for how these practices intertwine, but that’s a topic for another article.

HireFriday: A Culture. A Community.

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I have a favorite saying: “culture and community go hand in hand.” Seeking community is really important to job seekers. TalentCulture is an ideal setting to share my thoughts on this topic.

The culture of Twitter is fleeting, and swift. Some might argue that Twitter is the short attention span theater for recruiters and job seekers alike. I didn’t take me long to spot a gap. There are numerous Twitter streams for jobs, but I was concerned job seekers were falling between the cracks.

People ask me all the time, why did I create #HireFriday? I thought FollowFriday outlived its usefulness. I realized it would be better to take the time and energy we invest in promoting our gainfully employed friends, and put that energy into helping an unemployed person instead.

What started out as a lonely tweet: “Instead of FollowFriday, let’s tweet HireFriday and put our friends and family members back to work”; has mushroomed into a movement that now spans the globe.

On Tuesday, I wrote a post “HireFriday Is Recruiting In Reverse!” It is there that I articulate some of the lessons learned as this community has blossomed.

Job seekers, HR Pros, and companies love it. Recruiters also appreciate the ability to watch candidates in the stream. #HireFriday is a stream of active candidates, engaged and ready to work. They are not job beggars, losers or less talented than the so-called passive candidates. They happen to be actively seeking a position, that is all. Recently, there was an article published in the Huffington Post that exposed employers for posting jobs that stated “We are only hiring people who are currently employed.”

From a cultural view point what does that tell us. It says, “job seekers, you are recyclable, and unattractive.” As a fierce advocate for job seekers everywhere, I protest the short-sightedness of this cultural mindset. Yes, it is a cultural impediment.

I started HireFriday in February of this year to extol the virtues, talents, and strengths of job seekers around the world. Within 3 weeks, HireFriday expanded to The United Kingdom, and now it’s thriving in Canada. I created guidelines for HireFriday to offer suggestions and guidance to recruiters and job seekers alike.

When Chris Brogan was on Compassionate HR, we discussed FollowFriday, and how HireFriday is a much better alternative. Brogan said, “There was a time when FollowFriday had some traction, in it’s early inception, people paid attention to the stream, and followed others based the recommendations of trusted friends.” But, in my eyes, it just looks like clutter.

I remember thinking to myself, “there has to be a better way to promote people we care about, people who really need our help.” As much as I like Chris Brogan, he really doesn’t need another follower, but a job seeker who’s short on hope sure does.

HireFriday isn’t just the retweeting of people’s credentials. HireFriday reminds people in career transition that they are not alone, or forgotten.

In the beginning, I tweet a job seeker’s @name/jobtite/industry/location/ keywords. Then I realized people would be better served to post a link to their linkedin profile so that people could check out their credentials and get in touch with them. As this grew more and more popular, I encouraged people to tweet for themselves, because I couldn’t handle the onslaught of requests. I couldn’t do it without volunteers. Kimberly Roden, and Lou Bonica stepped up to the plate, and became HireFriday evangelists. Other job seekers jumped in as well, and before you know it everyone’s tweeting and retweeting for one another.

Now if you think about this from a mathematical standpoint, some people have a few hundred followers, some people have several thousand. With each retweet, the job seekers receive exposure to a vast number of contacts. We we offer is access to our networks. There’s power in numbers, and even more power in giving people an opportunity to be visible to those who can help them.

The most beautiful part of this groundswell movement is that we have built a caring, supportive for job seekers, and it makes my heart glad to see so many people joining in to give a hand. Companies like Monster.com and TalentCulture tweet my resumes have been instrumental in sharing resources, articles and opportunities with our community.

Culture and community go hand in hand. HireFriday fits in the Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn communities. It’s unique, special, and I’m proud to be a part of it.

Social Community: Metaphor for the Workplace. Find Your Intent

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Recently I wrote about models of interaction within cultures and social communities that foster progress. I’d like to push the theme a bit further and look at social communities – which are really communities of intent – and how they can serve as a useful metaphor for the workplace.

Intent is one of those words that have taken on new meaning with the advent of search and search marketing. The trick that Google mastered so well is serving up information to consumers at the moment of intent (thanks to John Battelle, Andrei Broder and others; see some older material on intent here) – intent to act, to purchase, to decide. “Intent” is not only an action the searcher takes; it is a commitment the provider of information (the vendor or service), and the search service (Google, Yahoo, Bing), make to the individual searching for information.

In social communities, intent is more than interest, more than commitment, more than an informed notion. It’s the true power behind the community, because people come to communities with a purpose, an intent. They are looking for a place to be, a place to learn, a place to grow and interact in a meaningful way.

The trick then, for companies, is to behave as social communities. It’s a powerful and new metaphor for the workplace.

In a typical workplace there are people with many different personalities, personal brands, goals, aspirations, skill sets and attributes. In a healthy workplace, meaning one that focuses on ensuring personality/culture fit between employees and the organization, people of diverse skill sets and temperaments can collaborate and succeed – because they have the intent to succeed, and the social context – the community – in which to realize their intent.

TalentCulture, for example, is a collaborative social community, a community of intent, a metaphor for the workplace. Our contributors come from many backgrounds: executive leadership,  human resources, recruiting, marketing, new media, research, public relations, law, branding, innovation, venture capital, career coaching, entrepreneurship and software technology. The shared intent is to create and share the very latest perspectives and trends on growing your business and reaching your individual career goals – using them to grow and foster innovation.

So here’s a challenge: find your intent. Share it with others. Be passionate. Be creative. Make every action resonate with the intent to do something positive, something to improve your workplace or advance the idea of what a collaborative workplace or social community should be.
And keep us in the loop.

Image Credit: Pixabay