If there is one thing I learned during Tamara Erickson’s keynote at the HR Technology Conference in Chicago, it’s that “Social” just grew up. (For you hashtag lovers like me out there, it’s #HRTechConf). We’re not just talking media anymore, Baby. Yep, we’re goin’ big . . .
Near the end of the address, there was a line that not only stopped me in my tracks, but more importantly, completely crystalized HR’s role in transforming our Organizations from where they stand today:
“Success in the new Enterprise is fundamentally an issue of people and organization.”
Let that sink in for a minute. “People and Organization”. Doesn’t that sound like HR’s responsibility to you? The days of centralized command-and-control (i.e. tall skyscrapers as Corporate Headquarters) are well behind us. When I think hierarchy and bureaucracy, I also think about risk aversion and backward-looking metrics like cost-per-hire (CPH) and time-to-fill (TTF). They go together like dots on dice and white on rice . . . and yep, they continue to hold us back.
Seriously, the time has come to move on from the “transaction” mindset — We have no choice. Let’s stop looking backward by measuring the efficiency of transactions and start living in the moment, focusing instead on interactions. If we can do that, then we can move toward prediction . . . but we have to get ‘interaction’ right first. It’s the real bridge to prediction (i.e. predictive modeling, pattern identification, and forward-looking analytics).
Today’s leading edge organizations also realize that the OrgChart is nothing more than a hierarchical grid of (ideal) reporting relationships, with the real value truly being created by the series of relationships and informal interactions that aren’t evident in beautiful boxes and lines. If you ask me, that’s “Social”. Ultimately, value is created through a complex web of social interactions, and who else should own that but us? Marketing? Nope. Finance? Ah, a big negative on that one. IT? Not a chance in you know where.
Here’s an example: It sounds cliche, but Knowledge flows, right? Either the person with a particular piece of knowledge shares it to the rest of us, or we identify who has the knowledge and we go to that person ourselves. Here’s the deal, though – relationships are built on trust, so ‘trust’ itself is the knowledge highway. If I trust you, I flow knowledge your way (i.e. I share it); if I don’t, I hoard it for myself. Hey, that’s the reality of social interaction.
At the end of the day, “Collaborative Technologies” are just another way of saying “Social Software.” We love buzz words in our space – makes us feel special. 
The irony is that somewhere along the line, it was decided that “Collaborative” sounds better than “Social”, right? It’s almost as if “Social” is attributed to anything outside the company walls, where “Collaboration” is attributed to anything social happening within them. Perhaps Marketing came up with that one!
If you’re like me, you probably see Social Software and ‘Collaborative Technologies’ being the next huge IT investment wave. Need some evidence? Consider how Social Software is one of the few categories that have Venture Capital funding flowing in like wildfire. Bio-Tech and Social Software – wow, not too shabby if you ask me.
Does that mean that HR Practicioners need to become Sociologists? (Sorry, Sociology has no plans to become ‘Socialogy’.) No, not really . . . but it does mean that the upcoming deluge of Social Software is more about people and how we interact than technology itself … which more than likely creates a new way in how we approach the entire tech buying process itself, not to mention user adoption.
And sure, maybe I’m hyped up because I’m hanging out at a cool conference, but I think this move toward “Social” means big things for HR. Let’s own it and not let IT steal our thunder.
Ya with me? Hey, maybe I just need to go decaf for the rest of the day
I will agree with you saying that collaborative/social/super-fun software is the next big investment for IT. I wouldn’t completely count out the marketing department. It all depends on how you plan on using social as to which group handles what.
I almost completely agree with you Josh – but I do think sociology – rather than measurement and all the other things we currently get hung up on – IS the key new skillset for HR ( see http://www.hrevent.com/pdf/Jon_Ingham_Final%20_2_.pdf).
I hoped to be speaking about this at HR Tech mysel but got bumped off so Tammy could do her piece. Hopefully next year instead! In the meantime I will be promoting the cause in this session on People Culture & Behaviours as part of the HR Technologies strand in the next Enterprise 2.0 conference in San Francisco in November… http://bit.ly/HR20Tech.
I hear you, John – as you know, my passion of Social Network Analysis is grounded in Mathematical Sociology. I think all of us SNA peeps, however, need to dumb this stuff down in a big way. That means that non-SNA peeps can make believe they get SNA when they really don’t, but if we focus on the Science too much, only 1% of our Buyers will know what the heck we’re talking about – lol
Personally, my concern is that HR is already over-burdended (in many cases focusing on the wrong things.) Dump Sociology in there and you have a Molotov cocktail. Further, how many Organizations can afford to hire a PhD Sociologist onto their staff? Few. And the risk is that nobody will listen to them anyway – lab coats and PhD infatuation goes a long way in Academia but fizzles hard in the real biz world, where theory doesn’t pay the bills.
I think that the whole Sociology piece can be built into E2.0 Collaborative technologies (“Social Software”) in such a way that the user doesn’t need to be a true Sociologist. They just need to know the how (and why) what they’re looking at can be leveraged to create value and improve performance.
Currently, I resell a couple different Social Software suites, and my approach is to show Execs that they must understand what is going on behind the formal OrgChart before they can dump Collaborative Technologies on their employees.
So to me, SNA is simply a means of improving the adoption and utilization of Social Software and Collaborative Technologies.
I agree on so many levels ESPECIALLY looking at org charts as maps of influencers rather than heirarchical charts. I love it and believe it!
But as an in the trenches HR rockstar….I still have to have a hybrid of the two types of metrics (social and traditional). Metrics are as backward thinking or as forward thinking as the HR pro interpreting them. This includes CPH and TTF. And if my budgets, resources, ROI depends on knowing the numbers…you better believe I will find some value in them. More importantly, if I am training a fairly green HR team…who does not seem to have any experience or reverence for providing strategic influence to an executive team…the last place I need them to start in front of a board is with the sentence …. “I feel our company needs x because I feel these areas are x”. Recipe for disaster. Especially if I have to educate my leadership team on ROI, efficiency and my teams quality. We keep saying that we have to know our audience and in executive circles…that still is with numbers. The reasons cliche metrics get such a bad rap is not because of the numbers…its because lame brain HR goobs don’t know how to interpret them and not take one hard number as gospel. Or the lame brain HR goob who doesn’t know that hard metrics are ar great way to prove to leadership that your “gut” is right. Now…. Cliche metrics mixed within a social context is the best way to dumb down for now.
I want to learn more about what your preaching…but I really need someone to figure out the hybrid first. help?
This post was shared with the Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community by Bruce Kneuer. I’m glad to see you so fired up and inspired, Josh! When I founded the SMinOrgs Community 18 months ago, it was originally called Social Media in HR (then Social Media and HR), because of the important role I thought HR would play in leveraging social media technologies. The name changed over time to better reflect the community’s cross-functional focus, but that doesn’t diminish the importance of HR’s role. In fact, a human capital perspective still dominates most of the conversations.
Speaking of cliches, social media presents a tremendous opportunity for HR professionals to finally “get a seat at the table” and be “strategic business partners.” Unfortunately, that promise has not begun to be realized, for a number of reasons, several of which have been noted by other commenters. Most of the HR folks I interact with are not engaged with social media themselves, and they’re only slowly starting to consider the possibilities and wade in. And with plates full of urgent tactical priorities, they don’t have the capacity to educate themselves and figure out the best way to proceed.
It’s great to get the profession fired up, but they need to be able to act once inspired. From my perspective the key to paving the way for HR folks to assume the leadership role they should have as their organizations move forward with social media is to educate their bosses (many of whom know less than they do about social media) and help them realize why it should be a strategic priority and how they need to allocate resources (mostly human capital) to explore and pursue the possibilities. I’ve been developing a Social Media Primer targeted to organizational leaders through the SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog to serve this very purpose. If we can successfully influence organizational leaders to provide the necessary support and direction, then we can see if HR pro’s have what it takes to step up and lead.
Courtney Hunt
Founder, SMinOrgs Community
PS – I really love the first cartoon. Where did you get it, and how can I get access to it?
PPS – I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of social media progress by the vendors and service providers at the HRTech Conference. Many of the ones I chatted with have still not done much to integrate 2.0 technologies into their offerings, and several didn’t even know what I meant when I asked them the question. I’m curious to know if that was your experience as well.
I totally agree with the comments made by Courtney!
As a former HR professional, I feel the same frustration with the lack of social media progress by vendors at HR conferences and the inability for the HR community to ‘connect the dots’ between social media and its usefulness in an organizational context.
I pursued a career in HR because I thought it was about people. Upon working in the field I quickly discovered that often times HR is not about people at all!!!
In many organizations HR places a great deal of focus on transactional processes and forgets about the ‘people side’ of business, which is arguably the Raison d’être of the HR profession.
I think the first step that HR professionals must take is to educate themselves about the power and usefulness of social media on a personal level before trying to sell it to their senior leadership team. In other words, they must take a big bite of the apple before they can see the fruits of their labor.