Why HR, Comms and IT should be really excited about the social web ....
Monday, March 23, 2009 at 10:17AM ... but probably aren't.
Many moons ago when I was lost in one of the many twists and turns in my BBC "career" my father suggested asked if there wasn't someone in HR that I could speak to. I am sorry to say that I laughed out loud. Yes there were some notable exceptions but most of my experience of HR departments had been of people who saw themselves as maintainers of order rather than enablers of staff. People who made up rules and made sure I stuck to them, rather than people who had my long term career interests at heart.
Likewise communications departments seem to see themselves more as "managing" communication on behalf of senior management than enabling communication within their organisations. And of course when it to comes to IT they have sadly been the ones who have picked up on the motivations of the other two and come to represent control of risk rather than enabling the business. Of course I have made some sweeping generalisations in the last two paragraphs but I don't believe I am dreadfully wide of the mark in describing many, if not most, organisations.
The sad thing is of course that it doesn't have to be this way. As I said before I have known some very notable exceptions and good people have always found ways to go against the tide and do the right things. But from many processing stuff, conforming to norms and doing what is expected of them is the most that they can aspire to and of course having turned these corporate functions into commodities they are now being offshored or outsourced in their droves.
So why should people in these organisational functions be excited about the social web? Because people are starting to do it for themselves. Increasingly staff are using web-based tools to perform some of the functions that have ostensibly been the responsibility of these departments. They are writing CV's and finding jobs for themselves, even within the existing organisations, using Linkedin; they are using social sites like Facebook or blogs to communicate with each other; and they are increasingly using flexible tools such as Google Documents and calendar to provide basic platforms for working together. They are showing imagination, energy and a willingness to do with it takes to get their jobs done. These are qualities that organisations keep telling us they want their staff to have.
This energy should be seen as something that can be tapped into and enhanced. Use these people as models of how to get things done, learn from them and encourage others to copy them. If necessary bring some of the tools in-house or work out how to make them easily accessible and secure but be prepared to see this change in behaviours as an opportunity and not as a threat. HR, Comms and IT professionals who manage to do this will add real value to their business and the people who work in them. They will be transformed from gate keepers to enablers and they will more likely to have their jobs in three years time!
Reader Comments (19)
Now things really are changing as our internal comms dept is now called workforce and field enablement - sure there is still the exec comms element in there but my role and beliefs are being played out across the business now as we provide the platforms and means for people & communities to communicate directly to each other.
On the flip side, although many people have been wishing for this sort of empowerment or whatever, some have realised that they have finally got what they wanted but aren't doing it, they are often asking when Communications is going set up a website for them or organise their meeting.. dream on sunshine.
These networking tools are fantastic, but if the provider is not trusted they may be left unused. Being told to dream on, may not help ;-)
I was lucky in my own BBC career in that I did have faith in my personnel and internal comms colleagues (or was I truly duped?), it was just layers and layers of management that usually led us all on a merry dance.
Being a trusted, corporate enabler is no mean balancing feat, whatever tools are at you disposal.
I found this on an IBMer's public LinkedIn profile - "The Workforce and Field Enablement project defines the process and structure to enable employees and sellers on brand image, business strategies and key sales plays." It's just about getting people to talk honestly to each other, isn't it? I'm so not in the corporate fold anymore.
Unfortunately these 'good people' tend to be the ones that are being let go of right now, and if it's not them then it's the relatively recently appointed teams of enterprise social/knowledge management people who support this mentality that are.
The recession is causing an inevitable reflex... it's what happens to these 'good people' next that will shape business of the future.
But to stick up for the other side for a minute
@Tim - I share a doc or sheet with you on google or Zoho
Oops @Ruperts PIA (personally Identifiable info) is on it.
Who does the perp walk -
Me or my boss?
Think about it ......
Patriat, HIPAA, CA Disclosure, Euro Safe Harbour, BASEL etc etc.
That is why there is often some resistance ...
Those opportunities have been coming / apparent for a while now, and that they are more and more apparent sharpens issues that were there even before the web's capabilities began penetrating the corporate / enterprise environment. Ignoring them and / or only fiddling at the edges won't make the issues go away either.
Great post, thanks !
Let me add another (true) example.
@Tim is having a thorny problem he is working on for a customer, and says to me 'Elliot I have this ...."(let me assume he is an American in the US)
I take a look at it and go to my wiser co-worker, hey Irena look at this ....
Guess what -
Let us assume that Tim's customer is a branch of, or a supplier to the US DoD
I am Canadian, my friend Irena is an immigrant to Canada but still a **Bulgarian** national
Under United States Trade law - as soon as myself or Irena took a look at that problem - Tim's company is a "deemed exporter" to both Canada and Bulgaria (a "listed" country!! right up there with Iran and North Korea)
As such under the US trade Laws, they could fine or blacklist his company, and his client! From any business with DoD, possibly even look at espionage as well.
In fact - as a Canadian company - lets assume I am legally importing some cell phone chips or something from the US for use or resale in Canada only.
I show my friend Irena;
Boom, by US trade law it is *automatically* a "Deemed Re-Export" to Bulgaria.
In other words, I could then be guilty of "exporting" listed or controlled items to a listed country.
Note; (I don't work for a company that imports or exports! - The info came from a US trade law seminar I attended regarding SaaS)
So caution in how & what data gets exposed to the world is called for. Look how much cost and damage from a laptop stolen out of a car, or backup tapes fallen off a truck in the last year or so!
Regards,
Elliot
;-)
I was quite lucky when I was at the BBC as there was a cool old silver-haired guy from HR who I could always talk to, although his name escapes me ;-)
There is also 1 in a million risk that TJX would have 87 Million credit card numbers stolen
1 in a million that the VA would have a contractor laptop stolen with how many personal individuals details?
How many companies have had to "disclose" under california disclosure rules?
Having a flood or your building burn down may also be 1 in a million, but it still keeps senior security execs up at night!
Couldn't agree more. All but one HR department I have experienced have been instruments of the status quo, essentially backing the directives of management.
One of the great ironies is that HR is often the place where business puts learning & development or organisational performance functions - these functions are usually neutered to death in HR. So much for learning and enhancing organisational performance!
As to web/enterprise 2.0, where HR sees itself as an instrument of managment and control, there will be little chance of empowering staff and their networks to make work easier, more fulfilling, and more productive for staff!
My take on the HR perspective, having spoken to many in that function, is that there is a general frustration at being bogged down with so much transactional work. This leaves little time in which to build HR as a truly strategic asset to the business. Clearly this is a generalisation, but anything that removes some of the daily grind and allows more time and space for thoughtful development of strategic HR is seen as a good thing. I can't speak for those in the Comms role, but I assume the same applies for them.
That said, there are risks and that raises fears. I believe this is an area where time and education are the elements that will ultimately transform the way businesses use the growing range of available tools for connecting people. The sooner HR can take the initiative and actively encourages the use of these tools, (and also highlights the risks involved and ways to deal with them), the sooner the organisation will benefit.
Of course, the rider to all of this is whether management will allow HR the remit to do this fully. A half-baked effort thwarted by the management team will just make the whole process tougher. Perhaps, in some organisations, the education process needs to start at the top?
Thanks for dropping by!
I have come to this discussion late but it is so relevant to what I am doing right now that I wanted to comment. As someone with many business years behind them when I talk about social networking, using social media etc in my networks generally I almost always come up against comments about the reasons ( perceived or otherwise) for not engaging in the workplace and often the barriers ( real) to being able to do so. I am currently demonstrating ( through a private wiki) why a blog and Twitter ( as examples) could be good for promoting and raising awareness of a new business just to get the conversation started. The interesting thing is recently I have been asked to speak to groups of business people about my own experiences. Maybe my own story will help illustrate the possibilities - I hope so! I am member of the CIPD the professional body for HR folks in the UK and this is a hot topic in their online forums. It is not likely to change overnight but maybe there are rays of light
You're right it is time to call the behaviour what it is and say it is unacceptable.
I've written on this topic before here - we need to stop bullying behaviour in the young. If we accept it until they're 30 then try to change it then it is too late.