S.M.A.R.T. Blog

Social Media and Employee Voice: The Current Landscape - A Research Report

Many people have been talking about the impact of social media on employee engagement and employee voice, but for time-constrained organizational leaders and human capital professionals who want to understand the connections, it's virtually impossible to find those conversations, let alone read and make sense of them. A recent report by Silverman Research can help. Commissioned by the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD), it synthesizes the relevant literature and discusses its implications. This post provides a summary and links to the full (free) report.

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This is a guest post written by Laura Hillman, Research Manager at Silverman Research.

Many organisations, as part of their efforts to be an employer of choice and provide a better experience for their employees, are committed to enhancing employee engagement. A key aspect of this effort is the annual “employee engagement survey”. But in spite of their good intentions and sincere investments, employee engagement surveys often don’t provide the meaningful insights they claim to. What is advertised is an opportunity to speak up where all opinions are heard, but in reality what is conducted is a tick box exercise that is often tiresome for employees to complete. With the decline in response rates to engagement surveys, getting employees’ views seems more difficult than ever. This is contradictory to the ever increasing online presence people have where thoughts and feelings are shared willingly.

There is a mass of literature demonstrating the link between employee engagement and various organisational benefits. These include a more satisfied, trusting, cohesive and productive workforce. However, where there is an increased prominence of employee engagement, employee voice still remains in the shadows and in many organisations never gets beyond the annual employee survey. Apart from transitioning to the internet and some advances in analytical capabilities, the basic model of employee surveys has broadly stayed the same for the last 50 years. When we consider that social technologies are offering some pioneering ways of eliciting voice, it is a particularly pertinent time to review current thinking in this area and embrace social media platforms in order to encourage advancement and change.

In early 2013, Silverman Research were commissioned by The Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD) - the world’s largest HR professional body - to write a report reviewing the current literature on social media within the workplace and the impact it is having on employee voice. The idea behind the report was to create a summary of existing literature on the subject and to act as a guide for future research. Using a range of literature materials including journal articles, blogs, discussion forums and books, the most up to date thinking and practices were captured to cover existing ideas on employee voice, uses of social media within organisations, the benefits and barriers of social media and how social media should be embraced to allow for an authentic employee voice.

The report (available for free here) proposes the adoption of an approach that focuses on social media within the workplace, empowering employees to speak up. Companies are encouraged to mirror the use of social media in our everyday lives to cultivate an information sharing and communicative environment where people feel as though they can voice their opinions and really are listened to – something which has not been possible until now.

The report also argues that our conceptualisation of employee voice should not be static, but rather should evolve in line with technological and social developments. In recent years, as a result of the relentless advance of social media, employee voice too, is evolving rapidly. The greatest difference is the shifting patterns of communication, from being one-way or two-way to being multi-directional. This has developed from giving employees a say behind closed doors to enabling them to engage in an open forum. It is hard to ignore and as such, is voice with muscle.

Social technologies allowing new forms of collaboration also lend themselves to collective decision-making. This aggregation is crucial in the evolution of employee voice because it is a necessary condition under which the wisdom of crowds can be harnessed. The result is a new form of collective employee voice that is mobile, organised and intelligent.

To date, much of the conversation within organisations has been about the risks and threats (especially to employers) that may be associated with social media. However, the perils of an open approach to employee voice and the benefits of more traditional closed systems are often overrated. Moreover, there is little organisations can do to stem the rise of social media. This reiterates the point that organisations should be designing their future in employee voice.

We still don’t know which aspects of organisational culture will be most affected and what new advancements will arise to enable an enhanced employee voice. Despite these uncertainties, one thing is for sure; drastic changes are afoot to the way in which employee voice is expressed within organisations.

 

Laura Hillman is a Research Manager at Silverman Research. She has an MSc in Organisational Psychology from Goldsmiths in London and specialises in the application of social technologies to employee research.

For more information please contact: laura.hillman@silvermanresearch.com

 

Do People Need Social Media Training? Yes. And (Much) More.

Earlier this year I shared my thoughts about online social learning communities in response to a Forbes post by Meghan Biro. This post supplements those ideas by reflecting on a 2012 series written by Shel Holtz about social media training:

• Part 1: Introducing a series on social media training
• Part 2: Getting buy-in for social media training
• Part 3: Research is at the heart of social media training
• Part 4: Social media training for employees: decisions, decisions
• Part 5: Should C-suites and boards of directors be exempt from social media training?

I'm always glad to see others write about the need for education and training, which becomes more important as the gap between technological and human capabilities continues to grow. I especially appreciate the thought and effort leaders like Shel Holtz put into helping leaders understand why the issue is important and how it can be addressed most effectively.

But just as marketing is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the applications of new communications technologies, so is social media training when it comes to Digital Era competencies. Based on my own research and writing on the subject, as well as the preliminary results of some focus groups on digital competencies I've been conducting, I offer the following considerations for both individuals and organizations:

1. As internal applications and implications of social and digital technologies expand (and will become far more pervasive and relevant to workers of all types), the training provided by organizations will need to expand as well. The focus must move beyond external discussions on public platforms to internal communication and collaboration on private digital networks. No functional area is exempt.

2. Our prevailing LIY (Learn It Yourself) attitude may have some limited effectiveness for personal uses of new technologies, but it is both inefficient and ineffective for professional uses. Most people - and especially later adopters - need help to develop the competencies they need. There has to be a balance between formal and informal learning, with different weights applied to each depending on an individual's baseline competencies. The ultimate goal, however, should be to enable people to engage in self-directed learning.

3. Education and training will have to range from high-level concepts to specific skills. Everyone should know how to do basic tasks like insert and crop an image and hyperlink text, for example, but they should also have at least a basic understanding of things like the role of mobile technology in commerce and legal considerations for both individuals and organizations.

4. Similarly, we have to focus on both the simple and complex. Yes, learning can often be boiled down to a few simple points, but those points hardly reflect everything someone needs to know. For example, knowing basic accounting principles like "assets = liabilities + owners' equity" and "revenue - expenses = net profit" is important, but that knowledge hardly qualifies someone to be a bookkeeper, let alone a CPA or CFO. 

5. Education and training must also address strategic and tactical considerations, again to varying degrees depending on the learners and the learning objectives. In addition to knowing what they need to do and how, professionals - and especially organizational leaders - need to understand why they should be be doing it.

6. Not everything can or should be taught in house. Some aspects of education and training should be customized, but general concepts and skills can be developed through more standard approaches. We need more valuable services to provide what organizations need - and organizational leaders must be willing to make the necessary investments in those services.

7. Higher education - especially in professional schools like business - has a critical role to play in developing competent Digital Era professionals and effective Digital Era leaders. There is MUCH more that they can and should be doing to create the necessary foundations for ongoing professional development of all types.

You can learn more about Digital Era competencies and the need for education and training through the Related Resources listed below. I encourage folks to share additional resources and especially welcome comments and questions about the challenges faced by digital rookies and what they need to bridge their own digital divides.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhD 

 

Related Resources

10 Digital Era Truths

Social and Digital Tech Trends: 9 Take-Aways for YOU

Digital Era Adaptation in 2013: A Long and Winding Road

The New Digital Divide: Thoughts for Leaders and Laggards

Digital Era Competencies: How Do You Stack Up?

What's Your Social Media Sophistication? The SMQ (version III)

Social Media Education and Training: Pro or Con? Please Discuss…

Social Media Education & Training: Where We Are. Where We’re Going.

A Master’s Degree Specialization in Social Media & Online Communities

Digital Era Leadership: The Role of Business Schools

For even more resources, check out slides 35-42 from my closing Impact99 keynote, The Road Forward: Striving for Balance. More recent pieces can be found in the blog archives from December to the present. 

Custom Google Maps: A Great Digital Engagement Tool

 

One of my favorite features of Google Maps is the ability to create personalized maps that you can save and share. I've used the feature to map out a route (and more) when we took a road trip through the Western United States in 2011, and to develop a daily tourist itinerary for a visit to Dublin, Ireland in the fall of 2012. 

But custom Google maps aren't just useful to individuals. They also have a variety of potential applications for organizations, groups, and communities, which can use them in ways that produce value for both themselves and their individual members/stakeholders.

 

Key Features

Google maps are...

Visual. The popularity of infographics and sites like Pinterest and SlideShare clearly demonstrate how much people appreciate visual displays. Google maps are a great way to show geographically-oriented information in a visual way. Here are some examples:

• We have created a Member Map to illustrate both the geographic diversity and relative distribution of the membership in our LinkedIn group. In a similar vein, non-profit organizations could use them to share chapter information, chambers of commerce could display member businesses, and academic institutions could use them to illustrate where their graduates have ended up (an alumni diaspora if you will).
• ERE.net has a EREjobs map that enables recruiters to "navigate through recent recruiting job openings geographically."
• Craig's List created a housing map that shows properties for sale and rent, as well as sublets and available rooms.
• Google has a 2007 Googleplex map that displays "photos of life at Google Headquarters."
• The America's Highway project produced the America's Highway: Oral Histories of Route 66 map.

 

Customizable: As many of the examples above illustrate, the pins on a custom map can include more than simple text. They can include photos and links to websites as well. You can also change the pin icons themselves and format the text in a variety of ways, and even edit the html.

 

Flexible. Map owners can choose whether to make their maps public or keep them "unlisted." They can also opt to leave the map in its Google location or embed it on their own website (as we have done).

 

Collaborative. Map owners can invite other individuals to develop and edit individual maps.

 

Dynamic. As soon as there's a significant change, most maps can be updated quickly and easily.

 

Engaging. There are many ways to use Google maps to generate interest and dialogue. At the simplest level, people who view the map can rate it or write a comment directly on the map. When the map is embedded in a website, it can also stimulate discussions about the map's contents and/or give people an incentive to take action. Finally, the map and its activity can be shared via social media to regularly invite people to check it out and engage. Here's one of our recent tweets as an example:

Toronto is the seventh urban area to hit 100 members! ow.ly/iaX8v Check out our updated member map!

 

General Development Tips

You can get super-fancy with Google Maps, which involves lots of coding and technical skills. But as Google themselves noted when they introduced the feature in 2007, it doesn't have to be complicated. You can create a fairly simple map manually, using a free service like this one, or by converting data in an spreadsheet to a KML file (we used BatchGeo for this) and then uploading it (if you'd like specific tips on doing that, please email maps@sminorgs.net).

Here are a few specific lessons Assistant Community Manager Sean Pearson and I learned from our recent efforts:

1. Every map has an "owner," who has to have a Gmail account. Rather than having the owner be an individual, it's probably better to create a Gmail account using a corporate identity (i.e., myorg@gmail.com).
2. If you have map collaborators who don't have access to the login credentials for the corporate Gmail account, each of those collaborators will also need a Gmail account.
3. Individual Google maps are limited to 200 pins. If you're going to need more than that, you'll have to collapse pins and/or create multiple maps.
4. Determine how you want to display the list of pins on the left-hand side of the map, focusing on an arrangement that best meets your goals and makes the most sense to a map viewer. Once you've determined that order, make sure the pin list accurately reflects that order, both when the map is created and as you add to it. It's very easy to drag and drop the list items to create the desired order.
5. It's also very simple to embed a custom map on a web page. Google creates the code; the only adjustment you may have to make is to correct the height and width to fit in the space you've allocated.
6. The default url for custom maps is L-O-N-G! Google will also create a short url for you. If you don't plan to embed the map in your own website, use the short url.

If you're experienced with creating custom Google maps and have other tips to suggest, we'd love to hear them. And although we're no experts, we're also happy to try to answer any questions you may have.

Happy mapping!

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

Increasing Social Engagement: A Little Recognition Goes a Long Way

You know that new social intranet or knowledge-sharing platform you built, beta-tested and launched with great fanfare? It WILL increase your team’s collaboration and productivity, but you need to provide the right level and type of recognition.

This is the first guest post from Richard D’Ambrosio, a trusted executive communications advisor and member of our Global Leadership Team. The value of having one’s contributions acknowledged is underscored by recent developments in the area of social recognition, both as stand-alone software systems (e.g., You Earned It, MTM’s Carousel, and Small Improvements) and integrated into larger applications (e.g., NewsGator’s Spotlight module for Microsoft SharePoint). I expect we’ll see even more synergy among various social engagement movements and tools over time.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

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Neuroscientists are just now beginning to grasp the full ebb and flow of chemical reactions in our brains, and how that flow triggers our actions.

As a professional communicator for 20+ years, I’ve worked on projects from national sales conferences, to small team meetings, to being the community manager for online knowledge sharing platforms. What I’ve found, and what many sophisticated neuroscience researchers are proving, is that a simple system of recognition can go a long way to triggering the neurons that incent the right social media behaviors.

This holds tremendous potential for knowledge sharing and other objectives sought by social media platform managers. According to a recent survey from the IBM Institute for Business Value, almost two-thirds of companies are applying social capabilities internally “to find information and collaborate more effectively.” Eighty percent expect to do so within the next two years.

However, these firms may not maximize their investment and obtain the results they need if they don’t fully comprehend the dynamics of popular social media sites like Facebook, where one out of three adult Internet users are sharing some kind of content.

 

A Thank-You Can Go a Long, Long Way

When I helped launch a knowledge sharing platform in a prior role, we worked in advance with people leaders to identify key objectives our sales team was already working towards. We chose a handful of core expertise needs and built some offline activities supplemented by an online center of excellence for each of the initiatives.

We uploaded job aids and other critical sales tools to these sites. More importantly, we seeded the centers with comments from some of the sales leaders and individual contributors working on the project. Then, we actively and very publicly recognized anyone who contributed. Our SVP also chimed in online and off, personally thanking subject matter experts and sales people who were joining the conversation.

The reaction was phenomenal. The sales team and others ramped up their contributions as they saw their peers receiving positive feedback. The engagement far exceeded previous online usage, and unlike the launch of the tool two years earlier, we didn’t have to hold raffles or provide financial incentives to get our teams to contribute.

In fact, we didn’t spend a dime outside the project buildout. Participation was driven solely by personal leader recognition, both online in the tool, as well as at town halls, staff meetings and other offline activities. We also saw a correlation between contributions and peer-to-peer informal recognition.

 

The Gamification of Knowledge Sharing

In an article published last year in the MIT Sloan Management Review, Andrew McAfee, Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Digital Business, spoke about an experience he had with TCS, Tata Consultancy Services, the Indian software development company.

TCS was using a tool where any of its 200,000 employees around the world could ask questions to and get answers from the entire enterprise. Employees were rated and recognized for their participation. After a while, the company did some analysis of the discussions being shared and who was participating. According to McAfee, they noticed that some people were offering answers and expertise not directly relevant to their role.

McAfee believes that “some combination of the peer recognition and being on top of the leader board, that kind of status, was so valuable to them that they were doing stuff that was exactly outside their job description.” He goes on: these employees were “doing it for the joy, doing it for the peer recognition, doing it because of the game-ification. Making visible how good you are.“

 

Put These Tactics on Your Checklist

I have witnessed this dynamic over and over again throughout my career as a communications professional and consultant.  But getting there isn’t easy. There are still a number of core activities that need to be in place to create a rich environment that will kick off and reward contribution.

I strongly advocate a number of strategies including:

• ensuring subject matter experts are readily accessible through all internal social tools and are rewarded for responding to questions and requests in a timely manner
• targeting and incenting experienced high-performers and leaders for contributions
• leveraging multimedia wherever and whenever possible
• directly demonstrating the link between business goal achievements and social knowledge sharing through prominent company-wide communications and events

There are a number of other very productive supporting strategies that require buy-in from internal business partners that also could trigger the neurons that initiate and sustain the right behaviors. Key among them is incorporating knowledge sharing in annual performance goals and reviews. McAfee suggests “enterprise-level collegiality” make up to 10-15% of performance reviews.

Unfortunately, I’ve found changing performance management programs, which speak to the broader culture of an organization, are much harder to come by. More on that in another post…

 

Richard D’Ambrosio is a writer and consultant with 20+ years of experience in the media and with large and mid-size corporations. His passion is for helping organizations achieve their goals, through leadership development and effective communications. Richard believes that social media is rapidly changing the way institutions organize workflows, share knowledge and develop talent, and is collaborating with SMinOrgs to advance strategies and tactics that will assist individuals and organizations in reaching their full potential. You can read more of musings on his Narrativity blog.

500+ Books about Social & Digital Technology: Trends and Opportunities

It’s probably no surprise that over 500 books have been written about social and digital technologies over the past 15+ years, and that many of these focus on social media marketing. What’s more intriguing are the topics that have not received much attention yet from thought leaders and authors. This post offers a brief introduction to a research project that explores the Digital Era literature and (in true 2.0 fashion) invites people to participate in its ongoing development.

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Last year, with the help of Marci Stewart and Genifer Snipes, I embarked on a project to identify all the books that had been written about social and digital technologies. It was a naïve quest that has turned into a very ambitious undertaking. Although I was aware of the most well-known books from the past five or so years, I had no idea how many other publications were out there, or how far back they stretched. We’re now at 520 – and counting!

In this post I share some project details, the initial high-level results, and what we plan to do next. More importantly, I’d like to invite folks to participate in the development of the project by sharing the questions, analyses, and information they’re most interested in. And of course I welcome recommendations for books lists, titles, and authors, to make sure our final list is as complete and accurate as possible.

I look forward to hearing from you!

- Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhD

 

Methodology

Here, in a nutshell, is the approach we have used to create the database:

• We selected Goodreads as our primary source of information, primarily because it’s vendor neutral – and of course it’s a social media platform in its own right!
• We seeded the list with titles from “best of” lists like The 25 Best Social Media Books of 2011, 10 Best Social Media Books, and Top Social Media Marketing Books.
• For each book we collected the publication data, Goodreads rating information, title, author(s) and book description.
• To expand the initial list we checked the titles listed under “Readers also enjoyed similar books” and “Lists with This Book.” Once we had exhausted those sources we conducted 40+ searches using all the potentially relevant terms we could think of, including general terms like social media and big data as well as specific terms like Facebook and Tumblr.
• In an effort to make the data collection effort more manageable, we only included books that were written in English and had at least one review. Yes, that’s somewhat arbitrary – but we needed some kind of cutoff! We also tried to limit the database to books that were targeted to non-technical readers.
• Throughout the process we added relevant titles as they were brought to our attention if we hadn’t already identified them.

Using the book descriptions, we created a three-tiered coding scheme to reflect their focus:

• Perspective: conceptual (focused more on conveying information or discussing topics at a high level) and tactical (“how to” oriented).
• General focus: categories ranged from macro to micro and included society, commerce, marketing, workplace, individual, and data.
• Specific focus: used to indicate if a book was specifically focused on a single topic (e.g., cloud computing, Twitter, mobile, LinkedIn).

We’re happy to provide more details about our methodology upon request. Please add a comment or email books@sminorgs.net with your specific questions.

 

Initial Results

To convey a general sense of what these 500+ books are all about, we have created two Wordles using the books’ titles (after cleaning them up by deleting unnecessary words and combining similar terms).

The first Wordle includes all the relevant terms (click to enlarge):

Because SocialMedia, Guide, Marketing and Business dominated the results, we created a second Wordle without those terms to dig a bit deeper into the books’ focus (click to enlarge):

The initial results may seem “no duh-ish” to some folks, especially early adopters. There’s nothing particularly revelatory about the fact that the books published to date have had a heavy emphasis on business, specifically social media in the context of marketing. The “how to” focus of many of these books, as well as the promises of success, are also not surprising.

But some of the emphases are less obvious. For example:

• Blogging (which has been declared “dead” at least twice in the past 5 years) remains a primary topic.
• Even though Facebook is a significantly larger platform, Twitter and LinkedIn have received relatively more emphasis as book topics.
• Although people are still wrapping their brains around what to do with data, there have been a relatively substantial number of books focused on the topic (e.g., analytics, metrics). Similarly, cloud computing has also been a fairly significant topic of discussion.

And perhaps most importantly, we need to think about what’s not been addressed, as those are the areas in which there is perhaps the greatest need – and the greatest opportunity for thought leaders and authors. These include:

• More discussion and guidance about topics like gamification and mobile technologies.
• How social and digital technologies can and should be used in non-commercial sectors, including in non-profit and religious organizations, public sector entities, and academic institutions. In a similar vein, there’s probably a need and opportunity for more focused discussions on digital communities and community management.
• Applications and implications of new technologies inside organizations (e.g., enterprise 2.0, social business, social enterprise).
• Leadership-oriented discussions, especially in terms of what it means to be a leader in the Digital Era.
• The human-capital management implications of new digital technologies, as well as legal/policy issues and risk management considerations.
• Applications and implications of new technologies for individuals, including digital competencies, jobs, professions, and careers.

 

Coming Up

We are conducting more in-depth analyses of the data (including a formal text analysis in conjunction with Silverman Research) and plan to share more results in the coming weeks/months, including:

• A slide deck of Wordles that reveal emphases by year, category, etc.
• An infographic, which will include things like the first time Social Media appears in a book title and most popular buzzword(s), as well as various representations of general and specific categories.
• A white paper that offers a more formal treatment of the methodology, results, and implications.

If you’d like to be informed as soon as these and other results are published, please join our mailing list or subscribe to the S.M.A.R.T. Blog.

 

What’s on Your Mind?

To enhance the value of this project, we’d love to hear from you. Specifically, we’d like to know things like:

• What books would you like to make sure we include? Are there specific “best” lists we should double check? Favorite books or authors? Your own tomes? We’re especially interested in hearing about recently-published books, as we are more likely to have missed them.
• What other topics, categories and/or questions do you think are important to explore?
• What questions do you have? What would you like to know? What are you curious about?

Please add a comment or email books@sminorgs.net with your specific suggestions. Thanks!

 

Related Content

Paper or Digital? The Results are In… And It’s a (Virtual) Tie! With over 500 votes and nearly 200 comments, the results of a recent poll indicate people are fairly evenly split between paper and digital book formats. Although the poll wasn’t perfectly scientific, the richness of its results can be of great value to authors, book publishers, and designers, as well as professionals in other fields such as training and development, academia, and communications.

4 Big Barriers to Social Media Adoption in Organizations: Key Research Findings. The results of a unique and ground-breaking study by Silverman Research (n=644+) indicate that there are four main barriers to increased adoption of social technologies in organizations: lack of knowledge and understanding, unprepared leadership, fear, and the absence of a well-grounded business case. This post highlights those findings and offers recommendations for overcoming the barriers. It also provides a link to a free report with details on the research and its results.

Help Us Pick a New Name for SMinOrgs

Online Social Learning Communities: Necessary but not Sufficient

As the Digital Era progresses, professionals at all levels and career stages need to develop and maintain a core set of digital competencies. These competencies can be developed informally, through online social learning communities, but they must also be developed through formal education and training programs. Academic and other organizational leaders must recognize that it is in their own best interests to make bridging the new (and expanding) digital divide a strategic and tactical priority.

In 5 Ways Social Learning Communities Transform Culture and Leadership, Meghan Biro asserts that "we are seeing the beginnings of an online social movement which will enhance traditional classroom education and breathe new life into the world of work" and describes some of the shifts behind this movement:

1. Online learning communities are challenging the value of academic ‘brands’.
2. Online learning communities have leveled the financial playing field and advantaged learners, not purveyors of degrees.
3. Online learners are empowered, and they will change your culture.
4. Leaders are born and made.
5. Online social learning communities are changing the value of employer brands.

I love the term "online social learning communities," which aptly describes the focus of the two digital communities I have founded: Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) and the Global Center for Digital Era Leadership (GCDEL). Like many early adopters, my knowledge of new technologies was informally acquired, through my own efforts - and mostly through cyberspace. As I've learned, I've shared that knowledge and expertise with others and have facilitated their ability to share as well. But as valuable as my informal learning has been, I know it's not for everyone. In fact, it's not for most people. I deal with digital rookies all the time, and I can personally attest to how challenging it is for them to develop and execute a self-directed learning plan. Many of them don't even know where to start. I've explored the new Digital Divide and the need for Digital Era competencies, and I don't believe we have the luxury of time for people to be self taught. The situation is becoming too urgent.

I've recently started talking about the flaws in our LIY (learn it yourself) approach to skill development. As Meghan notes, organizations are reluctant to invest in training and developing their staffs - and when it comes to digital skills in particular, there's a prevailing assumption that people can figure things out on their own. They can't - and they don't - which creates tremendous inefficiencies and diminished effectiveness. This is as true for so-called Digital Natives as it is for Digital Immigrants.

Many early adopters and social technology mavens scoff at the notion of formal education and training in maximizing the use of new technologies. I've addressed that issue too, arguing that though formal learning is not a substitute for experience, it does lay an effective foundation that enables people to climb their learning curves faster and better.

The bottom line, as Meghan alludes to, is balance. We need both formal and informal learning, in whatever combination makes the most sense for an individual and an organization. The key, though, is to recognize and respect that learning MUST be a priority. If nothing else, enlightened self-interest should compel leaders to make it an operational priority.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhD

 

Related Resources

The New Digital Divide: Thoughts for Leaders and Laggards

Digital Era Competencies: How Do You Stack Up?

Social Media Education and Training: Pro or Con? Please Discuss…

Social Media Education & Training: Where We Are. Where We’re Going.

A Master’s Degree Specialization in Social Media & Online Communities

What's Your Social Media Sophistication? The SMQ (version III)

For even more resources, check out slides 35-42 from my closing Impact99 keynote, The Road Forward: Striving for Balance. More recent pieces can be found in the November and December blog archives. 

Tumbln into Tumblr V

Highlighting the activity on the SMinOrgs (and GCDEL) Tumblelog, this post recaps and provides links to entries about social and digital technologies including images and videos that reflect Digital Era realities, insights from attorneys about managing Digital Era risks, and several retrospective pieces that put today's opportunities and challenges in perspective (often with serious doses of humor!). The post also features five of our best and favorite Tumblr posts from November 2012 (the Medieval Help Desk was a runaway hit!).

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Earlier this year SMinOrgs (and GCDEL) established a presence on Tumblr, and I have become an ardent fan. I detailed some of the reasons for my Tumblr enthusiasm in a post entitled Tumbln into Tumblr: 7 Reasons it Hits a Social Media “Sweet Spot”. To demonstrate the platform's versatility, I share some our activity as a regular feature on this blog. I hope you enjoy the entries as much as we do.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

Here are some of the items we "tumbld" in November 2012. Click on the titles to check each entry out. I've also highlighted a few of our best and favorite posts below. Note: the Medieval Help Desk was a runaway hit - and a must watch!

The Global Employer: The Social Media Issue. Baker & McKenzie asked some of their leading Labor and Employment attorneys to provide answers to questions that many companies are facing with regard to the use of social media. In this issue, you will find answers to questions that relate to recruitment, discipline and dismissal, protecting the business, and legal proceedings in 17 different jurisdictions.

A composite of favorite Digital Era images from the aftermath of SuperStorm Sandy.

An ironic rant: from self-righteousness to self-deprecation. Two Facebook posts from Tim McDonald are both damn funny and offer an important lesson: Even the most experienced and savvy among us can make mistakes. Rather than trying to hide or delete them, handling them with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor - and good-natured aplomb - is a much better approach.

Managing Employer Risks in the Digital Era: 4 Recent Stories. This post provides links to four pieces from three countries, all written by attorneys. They address Digital Era issues that all employers should be concerned about. Three focus on social media and related policies, and one focuses on risks associated with BYOD (bring your own device) programs.

Joshua Topolsky on the Jimmy Fallon Show. In a hilaroius (and naughty) segment, they try to preview the Surface, Lumia, Nexus 4, Nexus 10, iPad mini and maxi.

The Early Bird May Get the Worm, But the Brave Bird Gets… The Fries?!?! In June 2010, I (unintentionally) shared my lunch with some bold sparrows who made me reflect on the role of bravery in the context of social media adoption. The ideas still resonate today...

1994 Today Show: “What is the Internet, Anyway?” This video makes me chuckle, but the underlying truth is sobering. We’ve come a long way in the last twenty years, yet there are still many people who are trying to wrap their brains what new technology is and what it means. In the Digital Era, I think we’ll be in a perennial state of confusion as technology continues to advance far faster than our human capacity to absorb and comprehend it.

Tourist info for the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC…Is rather 20th century (the book on the right is for finding names on the wall). I think they need a digital upgrade… : ) But not everything in DC is so “old school.” Check out the other Digital Era Images and THIS is Social Media pictures we posted on Pinterest after a recent visit.

Social Media Video 2013 (by Erik Qualman). Though I’m happy the video contents have been updated, I’m even happier that the original soundtrack from Fat Boy Slim has returned! You can also view the video with alternative music. Erik has updated his book, Socialnomics, as well as the video. Click here to read the related blog post and link to the book.

Computer History Museum’s online exhibition called Revolution. The story of computing is epic. It’s driven by the human passion for tinkering, inventing and solving difficult problems where accidents and luck can be as important as brilliant engineering. Explore the revolution that has changed our world…

Big Blue Embraces Social Media (2008). People ask me all the time when and how I got interested in social media, and how and why I started the Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community. I consider this Businessweek article my Genesis. Although I had had an abiding interest in digital communication for a number of years, when I read this piece in 2008, I thought “this changes everything.”

Content – An Illustrated History. An infographic summarizing the history of media and its content. A repost of one of the many cool images we share via our Pinterest presence.

Medieval Help Desk with English Subtitles. This. is. hysterical. I mean, ridiculously funny with an undeniable ring of truth! Whether you represent the “help desk” or the flabbergasted and confused end user, I’m sure you can relate! Many thanks to Assistant Community Manager Sean Pearson for bringing this to my attention.

We generally post one item to Tumblr each morning, Monday through Friday, which also gets tweeted out just after 8 am CT. If you'd like to be notified of our Tumblr content as soon as it's published, you can follow us if you have your own Tumblr account or you can subscribe to our Tumblr posts via RSS feed or email. We also share occasional “Today on Tumblr” posts via LinkedIn, and of course you can visit our page whenever you like!

Also check out:

• Tumblin into Tumblr IV
• Tumbln into Tumblr III
• Tumbln into Tumblr II
• Tumbln into Tumblr I

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A composite of images from the aftermath of SuperStorm Sandy
Posted November 5, 2012

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An ironic rant: from self-righteousness to self-deprecation
Posted November 6, 2012

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1994 Today Show: “What is the Internet, Anyway?”
Posted November 15, 2012

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Social Media Video 2013 (by Erik Qualman)
Posted November 20, 2012

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Medieval Help Desk with English Subtitles
Posted November 30, 2012

Social Media and HR: Lessons and Reflections from SUMMIT 2012

Want to know how to increase the role of social media in your organization’s HR strategy? Or maybe you’re just beginning to talk about it and don’t know where to start... A panel of senior professionals at SUMMIT 2012, the annual premiere event of The Human Resources Management Association of Chicago (HRMAC), recently shared their experiences and lessons learned. This post offers tips and takeaways for enhancing the effectiveness of social media initiatives in any organization and raises questions about how individual HR practitioners, their organizations, and professional associations like HRMAC should navigate the road ahead. 

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This is a guest post from The Human Resources Management Association of Chicago (HRMAC).

HRMAC held its annual premiere event, SUMMIT 2012 on November 8^th at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. With over 800 attendees and four general sessions, one of the highlights of the day was a panel discussion entitled Social Media and Mobile Communications: Leverage Your Ability to Connect, Share, and Engage. The session was moderated by WTTW Chicago Tonight’s Phil Ponce, and the panel included three leaders from the Chicago area: Joel Warady, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Enjoy Life Foods; Paul Hamann, President of The Night Ministry*; and Veronica Micklin, Manager of Associate Training at True Value Company (panelist bios appear at the end of this post).

The session began with a few poll questions that produced interesting results and set the stage for the discussion to follow:

• 51% of the respondents disagreed with the statement “Social media is important to my company’s overall HR strategy” (35% agreed, and 14% were uncertain).
• For professional outreach 87% said they mostly use LinkedIn (4% said Facebook and 3% said Twitter).
• 52% indicated they mostly use social media for recruitment; 34%said networking.
• 88% responded that their organization still has a significant learning curve in integrating social media into their HR strategy.

To early adopters and social media enthusiasts, these percentages may seem surprising and perhaps disheartening, but they are fairly typical and indicate that social media adoption in most organizations is still in its infancy.

In their introductory comments, the panelists emphasized that social media is a means for connecting and needs to be used as such in organizations, especially in HR. They also highlighted the fact that social media should be used for two-way communication and should become a platform for dialogue. Specifically, Hamann noted that social media is a great way to connect with employees who work odd-shifts or might not be in working environments that easily connect them with the rest of the organization. And Micklin reminded the group that people are always learning from one another. Offering electronic media simply facilitates a natural process.

Warady suggested that organizations consider hiring a ”Chief Listening Officer” to identify opportunities for improvement based on what employees and customers are saying about the organization and its products and services. Hamann recommended that the CEO set an example by using social media as his or her primary means of communication. The panelists also advised:

• A senior person or the CEO must be prepared for an increased level of transparency that will follow the initiation of social media. If she or he is not ready to be more transparent, then the use of the media cannot be complete or effective.
• Be aware that the use of social media will bring with it a whole host of other concerns that need to be addressed, such as policies around its use, employee access to it “off hours,” etc.

When asked by Phil Ponce about implementing social media into HR strategies and with employees, the panelists gave this advice:

• Start with a process or group in which sharing will be natural and the convenience will be appreciated, such as a cross-functional project or multi-site team.
• Start small and document your successes. Run a pilot in which you move communication from email to a new platform. Make access and participation easy.
• Invest in one-on-one time you need to make participants feel competent and excited about participating. You can prevent small questions from becoming barriers. Everyone learns at a different pace.
• Shake off any age bias. You’ll be surprised at the fast adoption and creative use by Baby Boomers.

Hamann also noted, “The constant goal is to keep your employees interested and involved in the overall social media plan of the company.” And Micklin suggested attendees remember the four E’s of social media: Engage, Educate, Excite and Evangelize.

 

Where Do We Go From Here?

The social media panel was both informative and stimulating, providing HR professionals and social media advocates alike with ideas and advice on how to better leverage social media and engage employees in its use. It also raised a number of questions and provided important food for thought. When we connect this session with the opening keynote from Penelope Trunk (The Brazen Careerist), in which she championed the idea of HR professionals assuming more significant roles as change agents, we were left with a few questions of our own:

• What role should HR professionals play in helping organizations and their members become more socially and digitally sophisticated?
• What changes need to take place in organizations to enable HR to assume a greater leadership role with respect to the digitization of work and the workplace?
• What changes do HR professionals need to make to better prepare themselves to take on those leadership roles?
• What role should a professional association like HRMAC take on to help HR professionals, HR functions, and organizations better prepare themselves for success in the Digital Era?

HRMAC has been and will continue to help its members address these questions and more as the Digital Era continues to evolve. We’d love to hear your thoughts on them as well.

 

About HRMAC

Since its founding in 1915, HRMAC has been leading the dialogue on workplace strategy, connecting HR leaders with the industry’s best-in-class resources, and growing Chicago area companies and talent. With a membership of over 750 organizations and a network of more than 7,000 HR professionals, HRMAC is the oldest organization of its kind in the country and independent of other local, state or national organizations. For more information on HRMAC please visit our website at www.hrmac.org.

 

About the Panelists

Joel Warady is Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Enjoy Life Foods, a leading brand in the North American Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly CPG category. Prior to joining Enjoy Life, Joel was Principal of Joel Warady Group, a Marketing, Social Media, and Business Growth consulting firm. Internationally, Joel is respected as a marketing and social media expert, speaker and business advisor. 

 

Paul Hamann is President & CEO of The Night Ministry, a 36-year-old Chicago non-profit that compassionately provides housing, health care, outreach, spiritual care, and social services to adults and youth who struggle with homelessness, poverty and loneliness. The Chicago Community Trust named Paul as one of three Nonprofit Experienced Leader Fellows for 2012, and in July of 2012, he was awarded a Champion of Change Award by the White House and the Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness.

*Disclosure: The Night Ministry is a client of Renaissance Strategic Solutions, which is Courtney Shelton Hunt’s consultancy.

Veronica Micklin is the Manager of Associate Training at True Value Company where she provides leadership in helping employees improve their job performance and develop their careers. For True Value University, she created a blended multi-level curriculum for company managers, and developed the series Human Resource Toolkits, used extensively by True Value retailers.

Tumbln into Tumblr IV

A sample of the activity on the SMinOrgs (and GCDEL) Tumblelog, this post shares entries about social and digital technologies including a mini-blog post about jury duty in the Digital Era, the results of two research studies, and six images ranging from the silly to the serious.

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Earlier this year SMinOrgs (and GCDEL) established a presence on Tumblr, and I have become an ardent fan. I detailed some of the reasons for my Tumblr enthusiasm in a post entitled Tumbln into Tumblr: 7 Reasons it Hits a Social Media “Sweet Spot”. To demonstrate the platform's versatility, I share some our activity as a regular feature on this blog. I hope you enjoy the entries as much as we do.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

Here are some of the items we "tumbld" from October 16 through October 31, 2012. Scroll down or click on the links below to check each entry out.

• Jury Duty in the Digital Era (sort of)
• An Exhaustive Study of Twitter Users Across the World
• Touch-Screen Fleece Gloves

• Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil, Post no evil

• The Internet is a lot like Ancient Egypt
• How Millennial Are You? Quiz
• A Wordle of Terms from the SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog
• Twitter Life Goals
• Email Versus Wiki Collaboration Graphic a Big Hit

We generally post one item to Tumblr each morning, Monday through Friday. If you'd like to be notified of our Tumblr content as soon as it's published, you can follow us if you have your own Tumblr account or you can subscribe to our Tumblr posts via RSS feed or email. We also share regular “Today on Tumblr” posts via some of our other social networks, and of course you can visit our page whenever you like!

Also check out:

• Tumbln into Tumblr III
• Tumbln into Tumblr II
• Tumbln into Tumblr I

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Jury Duty in the Digital Era (sort of)
Posted October 16, 2012

I was recently called as a potential juror by the Cook County Circuit Court, Criminal Division. I wasn’t selected, but the experience still took an entire day, most of which was spent waiting. Here are a few Digital Era observations that I thought were worth sharing:

• The summons indicated no cameras were allowed, so I left my mobile device in the car. In the waiting room, though, I saw smart phones everywhere! Needless to say, I retrieved mine during the lunch break and got it through security with no problem…
• After everyone had arrived, they showed a video about what it means to be a juror. Although most people listened attentively, it’s unlikely anyone learned much since virtually everything in the video is generally covered in the many courtroom dramas on TV. More importantly, although they cautioned everyone not to investigate or discuss cases with friends and family, and they gave specific examples of what that would mean (e.g., visiting a crime scene), they never expressly mentioned social media - or even the internet! The same basic thing happened when we were given guidance by the judge in court as well…
• We were also cautioned emphatically not to have newspapers visible in the courtroom. Granted, a few people were actually reading print news in the waiting area, but most people were using their digital devices, so I’m not sure the emphasis was necessary.
• One thing they (kind of) did right was tell everyone to completely turn their phones off before entering the courtroom (not on vibrate, not on silent - completely off!).

Obviously, this court needs a digital upgrade - but it’s far from being the most out-of-date court I’ve experienced. Two years ago I had to take a client to small claims court for non-payment, and I was forced to fill out lots of paper forms and even drive to Michigan to make the claim. Their model was still firmly grounded in the notion that work can only occur in local, earth-bound settings.

What have your experiences been? Do you have similar examples of out-of-date court systems? Any that you think are great examples of how to run systems in the Digital Era? I’d love to hear from you.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

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An Exhaustive Study of Twitter Users Across the World: Beevolve
Posted October 17, 2012

An Exhaustive Study of Twitter Users Across the World: Beevolve.

Our Social Media Monitoring platform mines through millions of conversations every day for our customers. Out of these millions of conversations, quite a few happen to come from Twitter. We realized that we could do a large-scale in-depth study of Twitter users to better understand what is the average profile of a person using Twitter and hence this mammoth study on 36 million Twitter user profiles. Our core competency lies in analytics and by using our own software, we were able to crunch numbers and generate insights which we believe hasn’t been conducted to such large scale till date.

(via An Exhaustive Study of Twitter Users Across the World)

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Touch-Screen Fleece Gloves
Posted October 19, 2012

Touch-screen fleece gloves. The catalog description reads: Designed for smartphone users on the go, the fore-fingers and thumbs on these gloves incorporates conductive thread that activates the touchscreen. A fingertip flip-up exposes your finger for fine-tuned use; texture palm keeps your phone firmly in hand… I don’t know whether to applaud the ingenuity or shake my head and roll my eyes. : ) - csh

(via SMinOrgs on Pinterst: Digital Era Images)

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Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil, Post no evil
Posted October 22, 2012

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, post no evil… Buddhist Boot Camp encourages everyone to “promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate (be it over email, text, Facebook or Twitter).”

Digital Era words to live by. Thanks to my friend Joy for sharing this on Facebook. -csh

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The Internet is a lot like Ancient Egypt
Posted October 24, 2012

Love this! Thanks to Pek Pongpaet (one of the founders of Pinstagram) for bringing this to my attention via FB. - csh

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How Millennial Are You? Quiz
Posted October 25, 2012

How Millennial Are You? The quiz from Pew Research Center.

This quiz was interesting and kind of fun. I scored a 75. How about you? - csh

Also check out this related article that referenced the quiz: Three Reasons You Need To Adopt A Millennial Mindset Regardless Of Your Age.

(via How Millennial Are You?)

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A Wordle of Terms from the SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog
Posted October 29, 2012

A Wordle of Terms from the SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog, as of October 26, 2012.

Unlike our last Wordle, which was heavily dominated by our new-found love of Tumblr, this Wordle illustrates the general diversity of our posts. -csh

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Twitter Life Goals
Posted October 30, 2012

Twitter Life Goals . @SlayerSays’s potent tweet is illustrated by Twaggies. Be sure to check out more great Twaggies comics on Mashable, and let us know if you’ve spied a funny tweet that’s just begging for a visual.

What I find most interesting about this is the notion that Mashable has created a feature that allows people to convert tweets into cartoons. Sign of the times… - csh 

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Email Versus Wiki Collaboration Graphic a Big Hit
Posted October 31, 2012

Email Versus Wiki Collaboration Graphic a Big Hit.

Someone recently shared a blog post with this image via LinkedIn. The image perfectly captures a point I like to make about how much more efficient digital workspaces are than email when it comes to collaboration. The best thing about the image, though? It was created in 2007!

Be sure to read the related Wikinomics blog post too.