I was stimulated to write this by the excellent Connecting HR Unconference last Thursday (http://connectinghr.org) and some conversations I’d read on LinkedIn about networking. It seems the majority of HR practitioners are not social. I don’t mean that they don’t go out socially and have a good time – but social in terms of collaboration and building business relationships outside their day to day roles. As they aren’t social they don’t network – either face to face or via social media.
In broadest terms HR professionals fall into two camps – those that network face to face, have adopted social media and use it to build relationships, collaborate, share information and have fun. And the rest – those who are not yet considering social media, and whom last Thursday were referred to as Muggles or the “unconverted”. No surprises that they weren’t there to defend themselves. I say “yet” because social media is not a fad, it’s here to stay. Our next generation of employees already prefer to communicate via Facebook, they aren’t going to revert to post and e-mail, so to communicate effectively businesses need to change.
Most organisations are resistant to change and fear of change – something which is often based on fear of the unknown. If businesses ignore the changes going on around them (not just in communications) they will get left behind. Adapting to the change means making sure the needs of the business come first.
Social media isn’t something to be scared of – it’s simply a communication channel. It’s not something to adopt because everyone around you is engaging through social media, although it’s worth remembering that if it’s only your competitors writing about your area of business area you are in trouble.
What may be scary to HR is the fact that your staff can set up accounts on various social media platforms and blog or chat away, at any time of the day or night, saying anything they like. Rather than focusing on the negatives – think what this could bring to the business. Your staff are using social media to collaborate, communicate and build relationships. Communication isn’t about control – it’s about influence. Think how powerful a tool social media can be if aligned with the business strategy and harnessed to maximise this influence. Don’t assume the key influencers are at the top – the ability to influence isn’t driven by seniority it’s driven by the ability to connect with, and influence, the maximum number of people of in a community. Still scared, well remember, the contract of employment already addresses your worst worries about what staff may say.
