Why the bad luck with your enterprise social network?

Author: Shankar Bharatan

Employee social networks is no more the ‘the topic’ today.  Many organizations have jumped on this bandwagon.  In the initial days, there were skepticism and concerns that employees might crash the site, connecting and conversing the way they do in popular social networking sites.   But the employees completely surprised their employers.  After the initial check and a cursory ‘Hello World!’ nothing much happened.  What happened?  Aren’t people crazy about social networks?

The fundamental flaw lies there, in that social network analogy.  Personal social networks are interesting places where one can meet his friends, know what’s happening with them and in general with the world.  Apart from the general networking pleasures, it’s a great place for a person to learn new things and validate his own ideas.   There’s so much of personal incentive in using Facebook. 

Sadly, enterprise social networks don’t provide these incentives.  They just become one more channel for internal marketing, thus offering no new learning. Moreover, most enterprise social networks have such loosely defined purposes that to an employee it conveys a message that it need not be taken serious.  

On the contrary, enterprise social networks with well-defined purposes can work a great deal to improve employee productivity and workplace processes.

HR is a great function that can get you started on a fantastic note on your enterprise social network initiatives.  Here are 3 areas where you could use your enterprise social network, and, for the incremental effort put in, reap big benefits:

§  Its estimated that 80% of learning happens through informal means whereas organizations spend 80% of their training budget on formal courses.  Rethink your learning strategies.  Apart from videos as learning materials, many courses can be converted into an experience-sharing format, a form of question and answers that makes them easier to consume.  Your authors and trainers can come from your own talent pool.  Incentivize them enough to keep up the good work.

§  Use the social network to greatly complement your regular appraisal process.  Allow employees to validate their coworkers’ skills and competencies, provide contextual references and testimonials of their work.  As compared to the annual appraisal process, this is a much more natural way of understanding one’s performance and potential.   Besides, it saves a lot of time in collating all information during the final appraisal.   It might be possible that this initiative might be used as a mutual admiration club, but in most cases, employees will not risk their own reputation by vouching for the wrong guy. 

§  Social networks are a great place to stay in touch.  Why restrict it to your current employees?  Build an alumni network, or a network of external talent.  Together with your employee references, these networks could be the sources from where you’ll pick more than 50% of your next hires.

Achieving one’s potential

Author: Shyaam Sunder

CKO & Vice President-Ramco Systems

Hans Christian Anderson’s tale, “The Ugly Duckling” is 150 years old but still relevant in the message that it delivers. It is a story of a barnyard bird that is jeered for being ugly in its childhood and then growing up to be the most beautiful bird of all – the swan. It’s widely regarded as a tale of transformation.

The author confessed that the tale was inspired from his own life. He was apparently ugly looking boy who had a good singing voice and a passion for the theatre which was mocked in his childhood and youth. He then went on to win the attentions of the peoples of the world with his creations.

The important point is that, the ugly duckling does not face any challenges in its transformation into a swan. By its natural growth it becomes a swan.

In Ramco’s Talent Management software recognizes that the transformation of an employee, from being a “Novice” to a “Leader”, should be enabled just as naturally.   While the standard processes of career planning and training enable this transformation, a lot attention is given to “employee speak” – that is employee’s changing views about their work and progress. These changing views act as powerful inputs in crafting the employee’s journey. Listed below are some of the “employee speak” mechanisms.

1.    Confirmation Appraisal: This appraisal is usually done 6 to 12 months after a new employee joins in. It captures the experience of the employee in these first few crucial months. It gauges their “fit” into the system and the maturing of the understanding of the business.

2.    Training Requests: Employees may request for training courses by way of this self-service mechanism

3.    Employees may record their feedback into annual or semi-annual appraisal systems

4.    Employees may record their suggestions, grievance etc.

5.    Their activity in knowledge banks may easily be gauged through analysis of frequency of visits and tests performance.

6.    Results from their social media and gamification activities may be combined for further analysis

The most tangible of the channels (of employee speak), hence a perpendicular, is usually the performance measurement (KPI) aspect. This cannot be the only parameter through which an employee is measured. A system that relies only on KPI measurement can never explain why an employee is parked in a certain grade for prolonged periods with the same average performance. How can anyone grow if they aren’t updating their skills or connecting with the outside world through professional networks is the question?

This also points to another important aspect of leadership development – locus of control. The louder the “employee speak” and more aligned it is to their career aspirations, the more independent the employee. This is in turn implies potential to work without supervision or an ability to manage their own time. This is how a leader grows – through a series actions that bolster their ability to perform and hence set direction. 

TRADITIONAL RECRUITING METHODS VS. MODERN RECRUITING

Source: TRIBEHR

Recruiting is one of the most important things things your company does. You recruit not only to succeed as a business, but also to excel compared to your competitors. After all, what’s a company without employees? Ensure that your company continues on strong, long after you’ve moved on, by taking the time to attract, screen, and secure the best job candidates.

Traditional Recruiting Methods

Recruiting is hardly a new concept for businesses, no matter if they’re new or established. Despite the rapid pace of change in HR methods, many of the classic recruiting methods still have roles to play in today’s world.

Job Ads in the Local Paper

Like the many iterations of a building, there are things to like about both traditional and modern recruiting methods.

Newspapers are one of the oldest methods of connecting with people in their homes, and are still picked up and read by a large segment of the population today. In addition to traditional home delivery papers, most media companies now operate parallel online news sites. Make sure you check if your ad will be posted to both mediums, before you decide if it’s worth the investment.

Postings at the local Employment Office

Your local unemployment office will always be filled with people looking for work. Usually operating an extensive candidate database, financial hiring support programs, and supplementary training for struggling applicants, the employment office is a great place to affordably find many types of employees, very quickly.

Using Temp Agencies

Temporary employment agencies are quite common, and are occasionally their employees’ only source of income for extended periods of time. Experienced temporary workers can often pick up new tasks very quickly. When employers aren’t confident what the right applicant for the job will look like, or are only in need of  short-term project help, these are a great way to go.

Hiring Internally

Hiring internally is a time-tested way to ensure you have the right person for the job, and is also probably one of the easiest. You and your team already personally know the people who work at your company, and you know their work history and performance. Making a decision can be difficult, andhiring internally can cause problems, but the savings in recruiting and training costs can be significant.

Modern Recruiting Methods

The world is growing and changing, and so is the world of recruiting. New technologies like the internet and smartphones have made information is available any time and anywhere.

Leverage Smart Phones

Smart phones access to countless applications and virtually any web page. Job candidates the world over are glued to their phones. Interact in their space by optimizing your careers portal, providing ample information about your company online, and even leveraging older phone features like SMS for recruiting.

Tap in to Social Media

Most young professionals use Facebook and Twitter more commonly than they read the newspaper. Facebook and Twitter are used for everything from news to family updates. Even sports recruiters have used Facebook and Twitter for scouting. You can maximize the benefit of social media and other erecruiting strategies by ensuring that you engage with your customers, your employees, and your job candidates through these channels.

While the mediums of traditional recruiting and modern recruiting are different, the underlying strategies are still largely the same. Find an audience, talk to it, and hope that words spreads. Modern recruiting, however, offers the added convenience of faster and wider information dissemenation, with opportunities for feedback and engagement.