Archive for January, 2010

What do I love more than anything in the whole wide world?  Drawing attention to amazing people doing inspirational voluteer work in their community, hence, Compassionate HR.  Tomorrow’s blogtalkradio show will feature HR rockstars Mike VanDervort, Tammy Colson, and Jill Elswick.  The show will feature what these famous bloggers are doing to help the relief efforts in Haiti.  Recently, Mike hosted a special HR Carnival, and invited HR Pros to vet organizations who are getting relief aid, and funds into Haiti.  Please listen and call in to our show to take part in the discussion 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time 347-426-3215 http://blogtalkradio.com/comphr.  The hashtag for twitter stream discusion is #comphr.  Thank you so much for taking part in our efforts.  I have a heart bigger than my body.  Everyday, I weep a little when I read about how aid is not getting to those in need. Let’s be proactive and do something about it.

Your Twitter Pal,

@HRMargo Margo Rose

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Hearts broken, dreams shattered, lives devastated,and Island in distraught chaos, states the news from Haiti.   Compassionate Americans watch, listen and hear the news daily.  Some feel powerless to help, some give money, and then there are the angels of mercy who push forward taking positive action to rescue the people in Haiti.  Every day, Aid Organizations struggle to get life saving supplies and medicine into Haiti.  When I saw the news how the delivery of supplies and aid was sabotaged my heart cried out in pain: Why? Why can’t we save the homeless children, the adults who’ve lost everything, the infrastructure that’s been destroyed?  I quit asking why and started asking HOW and WHO.  How can I help, what can I do, who do I know that can help get the word out via social media channels to raise awareness about HOW we CAN help.  This is the topic of my blogtalkradio show Compassionate HR on Monday February 1 and 8, 7:30pm EST http://blogtalkradio.com/comphr .

To sit back and do nothing is an intolerable alternative.  For me, it simply isn’t an option.  On January 5th I started a blogtalkradio show with Shennee Rutt. Our goal: to tell the simple story of human resource professionals doing compassionate volunteer work in their communities? I wanted to tell the untold story.  All around us, there are HR angels of mercy quietly doing volunteer work to transform their communities.  They don’t do it for personal gain.  They act as steward leaders unselfishly with the sole goal of helping others.  I LOVE THESE PEOPLE, and I want to tell their stories, because they are too humble, and self effacing to tell the story themselves.  What does HR have to do with HAITI?

My colleagues have been giving money and time to do their part.  There are those in my industry who’ve dropped everything they are doing to roll up their sleeves to help.  There are those who’ve vetted the non-profit organizations and published it to their blogs.  That way you know the organizations they vetted are credible, reliable and helpful. I’m so proud of Mike VanDervort for dedicating The Carnival of HR to do just that.  If you haven’t read it yet, please do so as soon as you finish reading this post, because the writers from this week’s blogpost dedicated their precious time to discuss the matter at hand, and point you in the direction of honest non-profit organizations who will make sure your money will get into the hands that need it most.   I sincerely hope his schedule will allow him to appear on our show.  My twitter colleague Maureen Sharib has been actively tweeting the following : “RT @TechTrak: Petition:Emergency Airlift Orphans From Haiti Now http://tinyurl.com/yfgxw6r <—PLEASE SIGN and ReTweet “   Which I have retweeted numerous times. I am hoping Maureen will appear on our show.  She has the heart of an angel and an eye like a hawk.

Recently, I posted to twitter,  “Looking for HR Pros and their Companies who are volunteering to help Haiti  @Linkedinqueen answered the call.  She directed me to her site http://bit.ly/8cb6rt and I was deeply inspired by what her company is doing to make a difference.  She challenged her readers and listeners to give back.  In her video (see link above) Eve made this genuine offer.  She is the CEO of Social Media Delivered.  Listen to this: for every donation that you make to http://redcross.org Social Precision will match your gift dollar for dollar with free services (up to $500.00 offer valid through February 28) She cross posted this to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linkedin.  To date, she reported today that several people have taken her up on her offer.  So please listen to her and her colleague Laura Hale explain how they are using social media for the greatest good.  The earthquake in Haiti is one of the worst disasters in history.  Please do something, if you don’t have money to donate, write letters to your newspaper editor to raise awareness.  Volunteer at the Red Cross or any of the charities my colleagues at HRCarnival mention. You can trust them, they did your homework for you.

@Animal teases me about being the sensitive, type. I raise my hand with pride, and say indeed I am.  What else could I possibly be with a blog radio show like Compassionate HR?  Helping those in need right now is not just my passion, indeed I believe it is my calling in life.  Thank you for sharing my vision.

Your Twitter Pal,

@HRMargo

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Tonight, on #hrhappyhour @SteveBose and @HR_Minion hosted, and Grant McCracken appeared.  This post is not about him, nor is it about his book Chief Culture Officer.  He was an intelligent, and engaging guest, and after perusing his book on Amazon.com I’m convinced he has his thumb on the pulse of how to shape, mold, and transform the internal and external organization culture.  Cold cultures, and toxic cultures will kill the life blood of the company, its employees, and bury its bodies in the Chapter 11 graveyard.

Oh @HRMargo you are so harsh, right?  Or am I?  As an organization development professional, the study and practice of analyzing corporate cultures has been my playground for the better part of 15 years.  As such, I’ve transitioned into the social media HR , Recruiting and Marketing communities.

I tweeted during #hrhappyhour that I want to write a book Where CQ meets EQ.  Your Corporate Quotient interfaces intimately with your employees collective Emotional Quotient.  I wonder if a statistically valid multi-rater instrument exists to measure your company’s C.Q.? Oh sure, there’s organizational effectiveness instruments, there’s corporate culture evaluation instruments, there’s software that will cuisinart your numbers, and spit them out into a fine Julianne numbers salad.  There are so many wealthy consultancies doing just that.  Some are very good.  Some are very bad.  There’s nothing that smells fishier than spurious data.  On the other hand, I question how many organizations  take the time to do the math?  I question how many companies have a chief culture officer? Mr.. Grant McCracken, I think you could fill a thimble with the numbers of companies who would even think to have such a position, let alone support one.  How many cultures have taken their temperature, realized they had a fever, and did an about face? Not enough, I contend.

I might buy Mr.. McCracken’s book out of curiosity to see if he says anything I don’t already know about organizational culture and change.  I enjoyed hearing what he said tonight on Steve and Shauna’s show.  What I find even more compelling is that he has a background in anthropology (admittedly my favorite undergraduate course).  What I did not understand, jokingly, is why a Chief Culture Officer would call into one of America’s most powerful and popular blogtalkradio shows using a cell phone with whistling wind whizzing in the background.  He said, “I’m behind the Empire State Building.”  I laughed so hard, I almost swallowed my chewing gum.  Background noise is a blogtalkradio no-no, but who am I to talk?  A few months past, area code 513 was almost banned from the show, hrhappyhour, because I had my cordless phone, and computer playing the show simultaneously.  When Steve Boese took my call, he couldn’t hear me.  Dead Air: the worst blogtalkradio show no-no ever.  So I laugh when people make similar errors.  Area code 513 made a comeback with the help of Jennifer McClure, Eric Winegardner, Benjamin McCall and Steve Browne, and we won the coveted #hrhappyhour Best HR City in The US award (only because we are positively relentless tweeters and callers) and the fact that #513Rocks (which was our hashtag to win influence others to support us.) 

Thursdays are my favorite night of the week because of that show.  But now Monday’s are my favorite blogtalkradio show evening because @Shenee_Rutt and I started our own show: Compassionate HR.  Our bi-weekly show will reveal  the volunteer journeys our fellow HR, and Social Media professionals have executed.  The passionate tales of steward leadership are sure to warm your heart.  Our next show will feature what HR and Social Media are doing to help the plight of Haiti. Are my days in O.D. over? Yes, in a way, but the lessons and the spirit of organizational effectiveness, and improvement will live on in my soul forever.  Now about that book:

You have to admit the title is catchy: Where CQ Meets EQ.  I do have a book in me that’s begging for ink and paper. I’m a recovering OD professional who dreams about metrics, charts and graphs.  I wake up early sometimes wondering where I left my flip chart only to realize I don’t have a seminar to lead.  I do not miss those days.  I do not miss sweating to find the perfect pumps, the tailored suit and the stellar pearls to top off the look.  I’m so NOT corporate.  I don’t think I ever was. I’m too entrepreneurial. If I ever do accept a corporate job it will be under the condition that I have the authority and responsibility to develop plans, make decisions, and execute tactical efforts.  I want to run a department as if it were my own profit center.  I like taking full responsibility for the financial and organizational outcome of the projects I plan.  That must be why I love my current gig as a social media consultant.  I have the ability to take a firm where there’s no social media visibility in place, and create a presence that will drive clients through the door.  I get to develop and create the brand with my client at the helm.  I get to be the wind beneath their wings.  What could possibly be better than that?

My career trajectory is the reverse of most people.  I’m still a research geek.  I always will be, I’m also obsessed with analytics and organizational intelligence, which is why I’ve signed up to take the AIRS course to become a Certified Internet Researcher.  Mostly recruiters, and sourcers take this course. Whether I use my new social media, and internet research Intel to recruit or develop social media blueprints remains to be seen.  I’m fascinated about doing corporate competitive intelligence, which is the second motivation for investing in the AIRS C.I.R. course. There might even be an opportunity to do niche recruiting with my current client.  I’m intensely interested in recruiting, sourcing and social media. I have been since October 2009.  Recruiters and Social Media rock stars rock my world. I follow them around on twitter like a baby duckling.  I read their blogs, I listen to their blogradio shows.  Many of them are now both my advisors and my friends.   I’m sure of one thing: I absolutely insist on loving my work.  Khalil Gibran once said, “work is love made manifest,” and it is in that spirit I bid you good day.

Your Twitter Pal,

@HRMargo

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Upon awakening I check my twitter feed for interesting blogposts. This is how I love to start my day.  Punk Rock HR, also known as Laurie Ruettimann wrote a compelling post. Social Recruiting Metrics & Measurements http://goo.gl/fb/032B.   I have a love-hate relationship with this topic and here’s why.  There are many consulting firms that do an excellent job providing back end analysis. There are metrics tools that include impressive pie charts, bar graphs, standard deviation analytics. But really, the question boils down to this: what and how are you going to use this information? Will you make a serious change in your recruiting strategies with the information you glean? Are you willing to invest in statistically valid instruments that measure real action, not conjecture? Or are you going to spend thousands of dollars on a data study, show it to the CEO and simply say, “Here’s the metrics report your requested.” My pet-peeves include organizations who make major investments in studies, and then decide it’s either too expensive to act on the recommendations the data makes, or worse, thank you for the colorful charts and graphs, pat you on the butt and say, back to your cubicle. Smart HR Pros convince their CEOs of the efficacy and veracity of the studies and partner the reports with a compelling report that justifies why the take action on the findings. Of course your post answers the question why should we do a metrics study and what questions should we ask? Laurie addresses cogent questions as to how the organization defines itself, and what goals and information the company should attempt to measure.  Please read Laurie’s post to see the list of her carefully crafted questions.  I’m taking the case a step further and asking the age-old question: So what? So what do we want to learn? So what do we want to find? So what will we do once we uncover what we find, and so what will we do once we find it. HR Metrics studies are expensive, depending on what outside consulting firm you choose to use. If you are doing an in house study, it still requires hours and hours of time and internal resources to complete. So before you enter into the playing field of HR Metrics, arm your budget to answer the question, So what? If all your HR and Recruiting Departments are studying are “head counts” and superficial return on investment quotes, you’re not only missing the boat, you might just miss the journey that will set your organization sailing into success.

Your Twitter Pal,

@HRMargo  Margo Rose

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Last week, Steve Boese and Shauna Moerke (@HR_Minion) awarded the “Best HR City” to none other than area code 513, Cincinnati OH.  I’ve been a fan of hrhappyhour for quite some time now.  With all the good natured ribbing that goes on in the back channel, and the substantive show content, there’s no place better to be Thursday’s at 8:00 p.m.

I had the chance to interview Steve right before he started his new job in 2010, and this is what I learned.  Steve attended the University of South Carolina where he received a B.S. in Finance.  He was a Senior Principal Consultant at Oracle, and started his own Consulting Firm, Typhoon Consulting in 1999.  He taught a graduate course in HR Technology at The Rochester Institute of Technology where he served as an ERP Consultant and Instructor since 2003.  At the beginning of 2010 Steve announced his new position Director of Products, and Community On Demand Services at Knowledge Infusion . 

In addition to being an industry thought leader in enterprise 2.0, Boese he has a network that includes some of the best and brightest in Human Resource technology, IT, and Social Media.  My first question to him was-Where is the best starting point to learn more about social media? He recommended the book Enterprise 2.0 by Professor McAfee where emerging technologies are detailed.  Boese has been working with enterprise software 2.0 for the past 15 years. He started his blog in part, to teach his students, and to serve as a shared knowledge repository.  He teaches newer tools and technology to human resource development graduate students.  He had his entire class on a Wiki platform.  It was completely interactive, and was a hands-on learning tool.  Steve wants students to understand how this information can be applied to solve organizational problems.  He demonstrates how HR technologies can be a tool for organization effectiveness initiatives, and as an integral part of organizational improvement.

Before the new year, I wrote that I don’t personally take stock in year-end predictions; However, when Steve Boese talks, I listen.   He wrote a post entitled “What Shaped 2009 in HR Technology.” in which he made several clear key points.

1.  Social Recruiting-yes recruiting has “Gone Social”

The concept of social recruiting is not exactly new.  Sourcers have been using the internet to research and identify candidates since the mid-1990’s. However, there’s an undeniable trend that social media tools will become even more prevalent.  Recruiters now use facebook to source candidates, which 2 years ago was unheard of-and now, it’s commonplace.  Internal and external recruiters alike are taking advantage of emerging social media tools.  While some may argue that phone sourcing is still the best way to find candidates, there are others that say we are blind if we are not seeing and using all the social media technologies available. 

In my opinion, people are referring their friends from facebook for positions, especially when there’s a referral bonus for the taking.  Granted, smart Companies have to be leery of employee referrals, because they might wind up with slew of candidates that are not appropriate for the position.  I was reading an article that discussed how recruiters, and Companies are having much greater success recruiting from linkedin verses the other social networking sites.  With that said, all recruiting is social in one form or another, it’s a relationship business, referrals are taken serious from facebook friends and twitter followers.  The roads of twitter are littered with open positions, and now that the economy are more an more jobs are going to flow through new social networks, and this will continue to build.

2.  Employees are Networking

Social media has opened the networks and channels for communication.  Employees are using social media to do research, solve problems, and to gain access to vital skills to help them do their jobs better.  The erroneous fear that employees are going to abuse their intranet communication (via yammer, or wikis) is simply not grounded in the data.  Rarely do employees act inappropriate during working hours while using social media at work.  It isn’t logical, and most people know that is a good way to commit professional suicide.  Another key point is that other employees police each other.  If someone is trashing their company-other employees will typically nip that behavior in the bud long before anyone in HR has to step in-and level the velvet hammer.  Employees have access to social media channels and will say what they want, whether you like it or not. So why not let them have access to it—by allowing access during business hours, you can build good will.  You can’t always control the message, but you can influence the messenger while they are on the clock.

3. Enterprise Systems are getting more social

According to Boese “In 2009 a slew of tools and technologies that support employee collaboration, information discovery, and internal expertise location were either released or enhanced.  From wikis like Socialtext and PBWorks activity stream platforms like Socialcast or more robust internal networking technologies like Cubetree or Jive Social Business Software.” Steve said that it seemed that new technologies were released so regularly that we saw a new capabilities added to existing products.   Which made me wonder if the competition between vendors would raise the bar of what products can do?  Will the market demand more and more from these platforms? It is hard to keep up with all the new emerging technology-and as HR Professionals we have to read constantly, and experiment with the new products,if we are going to stay on the cutting edge. Activity Tracker  from talent management systems, and Halogen Software , according to Boese have created the most important technological developments last year.  They’ve moved to incorporate concepts from the popular external ‘status feeds’ to elucidate HR processes.  Bottom line: businesses are working hard to collaborate, innovate and connect in ways that have never before been possible.

4. As we look ahead, Boese muses, we will see more technological improvements and enhancements. 

Who knows what enterprise 3.0 will offer.  Stay tuned…And now I’d like to know what are you thoughts?  What trends do you think will catch on fire and spread throughout the business community?

Your twitter pal,

@HRMargo

Margo Rose  feel free to contact me at HRMargoRocks@Gmail.com  or leave your comment here.

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