Into connected
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I am not an expert on Social media. I update my Facebook status a lot (especially when drunk) and I follow a couple of blogs. I have a LinkedIn account and I registered on Twitter a year ago because Stephen Fry said it was a good idea but I have never used it. I am a HR Professional and over the past few months I have noticed conversations about the potential uses and benefits of social media in the workplace are getting more and more frequent but the use of social media in my workplace is not. So when the opportunity arose to attend the unconference I jumped at it. The jumping quickly turned to blind panic when I started receiving emails about using hashtags to follow conversations on Twitter, contributing content ideas on the Yammer Platform, and preparing a Pecha Kucha! So it was with a sense of trepidation that I arrived at the Spring, donned my name badge, grabbed myself a coffee to keep my hands warm in the practically arctic conditions and started asking people what I could expect. I couldn’t find anyone who had been to an unconference before and no-one seemed to know what the day would bring, people had come on good faith, and were excited to be a part of something that promised to be a little bit ahead of the curve.
Here are the ingredients.
2 inspired individuals with an idea about bringing together some like-minded people to talk about the use of social media in HR. 60-70 people who liked the idea. 1 dilapidated bed factory part way through a transformation towards a new life as a community centre, 1 grid, 1 adhesive glue spray, 70 sharpie pens and several pieces of coloured card. An assortment of strategically placed chairs, 4 infra-red heaters, 1 acoustic guitar, a very tasty vegetarian lunch and an endless supply of tea and coffee.
Here is the magic part.
It was impossible not to get what you wanted out of the day. You input your ideas, challenges and questions into The Grid which ensured that it included sessions that were of interest to you. You chose which sessions you want to join. Each session was an informal discussion group where ideas were debated, experiences shared and questions asked of each other by each other. Finally if that didn’t give you what you wanted you were encouraged to remember ‘the law of two feet’ which gave you the freedom to leave any session at any time to join one that did.
The outcome was best described by a talented and brave musician who sang:
“Although the temperature felt minus twenty,
Conversation opportunities were plenty.
It’s been a long time since a day has past so fast
I feel like connections made today will last.
I listened to Gareth and Jon and everyone and I heed ya!
What a great exploration of HR and Social media!”
Having experienced my first unconference and I can’t wait to get involved with the next one. The format was spot on, the venue was perfect, the people were right up my street and the opportunities for learning unavoidable. Through the wonder of Twitter (which I now understand thanks to a handy video posted by someone I now follow) I am part of a network of forward thinking and influential HR people.
Okay so I didn’t come home with a bag full of free pens and a selection of multicoloured branded lanyard straps to hang my corporate ID badge on but in the brave new world of social media who needs a pen? Instead I left with a booty of much greater value, a connection to a growing community of inspiring people and a broad understanding of the tools, techniques and challenges of social media. My eyes were opened to a multitude of potential uses beyond communication and recruitment to recognition, knowledge sharing, peer to peer learning, process mapping, colleague engagement and employer branding. I learnt from the generously shared experiences of others and I was inspired to return to my organisation and confidently start some conversations about how we can embrace social media in our workplace now.
What would I change? Only the temperature!
NB: Today’s post comes from the winner of the attend Connecting HR in my place competition – Val Garside 🙂
Reform is one thing, cuts are another
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It won’t have gone unnoticed by many of you that yesterday was the announcement of the coalition’s Comprehensive Spending Review. I participated in a live blog courtesy of our friends at Personnel Today. All of the commentary was pretty straight until we came to the subject of “welfare reform”. At which point in a perfectly pleasant manner a few feathers flew.
I described the announcement as “rhetoric”. Because it is. Let us be clear: there is no Government on this earth who wants to have economically inactive citizens. It makes no economic sense and is against the ideologies of all main parties. The question is how to get the economically inactive to be active. And this is a question that has vexed politicians and economists for years. The line that “no-one should be better off on benefits than in work” is rhetoric, pure and simple.
In order to get people into work, you need to create jobs. And good jobs, not McJobs. When you’re announcing the redundancies of half a million civil servants, a thousand part time cashier jobs at Tesco or Asda is not going to solve your problems. You need good work. And you need it to be in the right places. As the Governments of the 80s found, creating jobs in the South East whilst making people redundant by the thousands in the North West doesn’t work.
But long term unemployment and welfare dependency is more complicated. It becomes a societal issue, a community issue. Areas of the country which have generations dependent on benefits, where there is a culture of acceptance, a culture of failure, a culture of despair. You won’t get people in these communities into work by slashing their benefits, you’ll only force them deeper and deeper into the poverty trap.
So, I remain convinced that what we heard yesteerday was rhetoric. The announcement was about cuts to the welfare system and not reform. It plays well because sadly we like to pick on those more vulnerable than ourselves….we like to imagine the stories of people living in luxury on benefits are universal. We like to think that this is tough love and that people should “get on their bikes” and we’d rather window dressing than an examination of the real underlying issues.
Those issues are tough and gnarly and in many cases hard wired. But that shouldn’t stop us addressing them, just properly.
Keep Faith
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“If you want to make the weather
Then you have to take the blame
If sometimes dark clouds fill the sky
And it starts to rain…..and folks complain”
Or to put it another way, sometimes you have to learn, “to take the crunchy with the smooth”. Because that is life and that is leadership. Whether it is business leadership, voluntary leadership or your own personal leadership. – there will be as many downs as there will ups and you need to take them on the chin.
It can feel a little unfair. You have those days where the world seems to be ganging up on you and conspiring to make your life hell. Where people and situations are flakier than a convention of Head and Shoulders fans and whenever the music stops you seem to be the one without a chair – yet other people are bitching about the plumpness of the cushions.
Because life is like that and as a leader you need to rise above it. The moment you get dragged down to the bitching and the whingeing and the whining you have lost. The moment you start blaming others rather than accepting that the winds have taken things in a different direction, you are no longer a leader.
The trick is to remember the imperative. Remember why you set out, what you are trying to achieve and why. It doesn’t have to be big and clever and shiny, just important to you. If you look at it and it doesn’t still stand true then don’t be afraid to re-evaluate, but if it still does, re-galvanise, re-focus, accept that things might suck, embrace the suck and move on.
Because you’re a leader, because if you don’t who the hell else will and because the world needs people like you.
Sometimes, they just forget.
Allez les Bleus
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As you know this week sees the much awaited, much talked about and in many sectors much feared Comprehensive Spending review. Throughout Westminster and beyond public servants are adopting the brace position, hoping that the hobnail of doom will go stamping over someone else’s department and not theirs.
We’re not alone in this. European countries are all going through similar reviews, acts are being passed in parliaments and senates across the continent as governments look at ways at digging us out of the hole that the banks got us in to, through cutting services for the weak, the poor and the needy. Because, of course they are absolutely responsible for the billions of toxic debt run up by the bankers….
I’m not going to dwell on bankers. They are a bunch of c**ts and we all know that. (I even reserve the c word for them alone). What I want to talk about is us and our response to this.
France is a country I know well. I have lived there, I’ve studied there and of course one side of my family is there. I know some of you will think of the French as onion wearing, baguette brandishing, Gitane smoking, cheese eating surrender monkeys. And of course there is a lot to be said for this as a way of life. But France is also a country with a population and a GDP that are almost entirely equivalent to the UK.
They are not a third world country; they are not a backward nor a totalitarian state. They are not oil rich. But they are proud. Proud of whom they are and what they do. And they support one another when times get tough. At the moment the French are looking to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65 to 67. Most people don’t have a private pension in France, because guess what…..the State pension is enough to live on. And why is that? Because people have stood up over the years, stood collectively and protected their rights.
At present, the oil refineries are on strike, the students and academics (together) are on strike, the lorry drivers are on a go slow. Each day of industrial action is being supported by 3 million people. And, here is the killer fact…..opinion polls are showing the over 70% of the population ARE IN FAVOUR OF THE STRIKES. They aren’t locking bosses away or holding people hostage (although admittedly some of that has and does go on) as the stereotypes portray, they are engaging in good old fashioned strike action. As is their constitutional right.
Meanwhile, back across the channel, back to old Blighty. What do we find here? Well we don’t really have a State pension scheme anymore and even if we did, we would probably be dead within three years of getting it. We have some of the deepest darkest days ahead of us for many a decade, driven not by financial need but by political dogma. And what are we doing about it? Well nothing really. Less than half of public sector workers are indicating that they are prepared to strike and nearly 40% of workers arguing that industrial action should be BANNED in frontline services.
“Do what you want to them……we don’t care, just make sure it doesn’t affect me”.
But it will. The cuts that are taking place will affect every single person in this country. They will affect the young, the old, the infirm and the fragile. They will impact on businesses in every sector. This isn’t something that is going to happen in sweet isolation with the after effects dissipating into the morning fog. They will affect you, your children and their children…….and even their children to come. So wake up, pay attention and start to angry about the way the heart of this country is about to be ripped out.
Solidarity brother? My arse……
Water Fights
I don’t know how many of you are fans of Spooks, the BBC1 drama based on the British intelligence services (blimey writing that on a blog might be enough to get me…..well, best not think about that…)? On Monday the episode featured a scientist who was working on desalination technology, essentially turning sea water into drinking water. The value of her work was such that she became an asset over which the Chinese and American governments were arguing (with the plucky Brits caught in the middle!!).
Far fetched? Maybe. Maybe not.
The theory was based on the increased risk of drought through global warming with usable water becoming a commodity….and therefore the ability to convert abundant sea water to portable water would become akin to energy production. When you start to look at the global predictions, it doesn’t seem so far fetched……
We’re all aware of the power struggles for oil, but water? Remember Darfur? That was about the Janjaweed right? Well yes…..and no. The root causes of the conflict can be traced back to the need for water. The Council for Foreign Relations reported,
“The conflict that led to the crisis arose from the tensions between nomadic farmers’ groups who were competing for water and grazing land—both increasingly scarce due to the expanding Sahara Desert.”
Ok but that was a one off and these things happen don’t they? Since the late nineties reports have been calling for action on water, a report sponsored by the UN Development Programme suggested that water might be one of the main reasons for conflict on the African continent for the next few decades.
And that could just be the start….
As some of you will know, today is Blog Action Day. An event held every October 15 where the world’s blogggers unite by posting different posts about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action.
We know that right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us who are subject to preventable disease and even death because of something that many of us take for granted. And we know that unless we take action, things are only going to get worse.
So take a moment today when you turn on the tap, run a bath or fill the kettle. Take a moment to think what is and what could be. However, far fetched it might at first seem. Take a moment and then take action by signing the global petition here. And show them what a lovely bunch of people we are here.
Water is a right, not a privilege.
Have a good weekend.
School of thought
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One of the things that I will never quite understand about being a Dad is the balance between the inner me and the outer me. More precisely, how far I can let the inner me show in matters relating to my kids, their wellbeing and their future. Decisions that you would instinctively take as an individual suddenly lead to big internal flashing lights and alarm bells, “BEWARE THE INNER YOU IS AT LARGE, DO NOT APPROACH, HE IS KNOWN TO BE CRANKY AND RECALCITRANT”.
At the moment we’re looking towards big school for my eldest, a journey that he will undertake in September 2011 but which for some unknown reason, relating to bureaucracy and the necessity for an EU prescribed number of tea breaks in a Lunar Calendar year, needs to be dealt with by the end of this month. This constitutes a nightmare of epic proportions for middle class families around the country as we come to terms with the fact that the promised choice we are supposed to have is less than presented by Hobson on a bad day. And of course, being middle class parents we beat ourselves up about it thinking that we should have; worked harder, earned more, bought that nice house next to the nice school, never had kids, married the au pair [delete as appropriate].
In many ways we are lucky, there is the local school, the local boys’ school or the local independent school to “choose” from. The local school is currently “under special measures”, a euphemism that leaves little to the imagination. Many of this friends will be going there and of course I know that a good kid will do well wherever he goes. But having been to a school during the last recession that was failing and flailing I’m not convinced that this is the right choice for him. Sure, I did alright but I’m never sure what I might have done in another environment and I will never know.
So ruling that out for the moment, we are left with a “choice” of two. The boys school is massively oversubscribed, it is the goal of every parent of a boy in year 6 throughout the county. It has high standards and a reputation of producing leaders in all fields. I know this, because they told me on numerous occasions on the night that I was there. They also told me a lot of other things, how tough the standards were, how boys could not have the hair cut too short, how….how….how…. and it at this point that my inner me screams,
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I don’t want my son to grow up in some misogynistic community where towels are whipped across arses (or worse) in show of domination. I don’t want him to go to a school where being a strong leader is rated above being a strong follower, I don’t want him to think that if you aren’t captain of the first XI or the first XV then somehow you are a nothing, a wannabe. I want him to grow being assured and aware of his differences, but to see them as strengths, I want him to be proud of his achievements and not look to those of others for self worth and appreciation. I don’t want him to be one of THOSE men that I meet in conferences or meetings, who have nothing to say to me of any interest despite their perfectly coiffured hair and shiny shoes. I didn’t sign up for that when I became a parent.
At the end of the day, I guess it isn’t my choice…..it is his. The other option, the independent school is small, it focuses on creating learners and every child fulfilling their potential. As they said on the night, “we aren’t a conveyor belt producing perfect students” (but they do have the best results in the county). But, it doesn’t matter what I think and ultimately we are luckier than many in that we can provide him with choices. Still a little piece inside me hopes that on 1 Match 2011 when we hear back, he isn’t going to make it into the boys’ school and instead we will be left with a “choice” that suits me. Does that make me a bad father? Maybe, maybe not.
Driving back from the independent school the other day, he asked me about the money that it would cost. I replied that it didn’t really matter that we all have choices, “All I can provide you with is love, security and an education”.
The rest, my son, is up to you.
Performing dogs
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So I’ve talked a lot about improving HR right? Because it is a bit of a mission for me and because I’m a bear of very little brain. You know what we should do if we really want to show that we are serious about change? If we want to show that we have the balls for this. We need a symbol, a demonstration of our sincerity and devotion to the cause.
Some people would get a tattoo. Some people would make a pledge. Some people would make an offering.
I want you to ditch your performance reviews.
Yes, that is right. Stop doing them. Offer it up.
We made the whole thing up and we admit. IT STINKS.
The whole concept of annual performance review is just weird and unnatural and quite frankly wrong. The reason we have so many problems with them is because of exactly this. We change the form, we change the language, we change the training, we change the competency model (pause to chuck up) and still it doesn’t work. Why? Because it is a pile of crap.
People aren’t supposed to be put into stupid boxes and rated. To do so is just naive and intellectually stunted. People don’t perform on a cycle. They don’t perform against criteria, they don’t behave in terms of competency frameworks. What the hell are we thinking?
The whole thing is a ridiculous HR construct aimed at trying to control something that doesn’t need controlling. Trying to turn people from people into some sort of weird drone. Because it makes it easier. For us. And that is why the damned things never work. That is why we have created an industry of trying to find this utopian performance management process. When really what we should be doing is dumping the damned things.
I mean really. Who would argue against it? Employees? Managers? HR departments? Be honest, we all hate them.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t have open and honest conversations and appraising performance. Of course we all need to know what we are doing well and what we are doing badly. But that is an informal process between manager and employee. That is all that is needed. The rest I’m afraid is just a waste of time.
It is a big, fat, droopy pile of HR bollocks.
Urgh
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On Friday night my daughter came down with a stomach bug. Last night I came down with the same thing. After a night spent talking to God on the big white telephone, I’m not up to much.
Normal service will re resumed soon.
Take care.
Awkward subjects need open discussion
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There are some subjects that still seem to be taboo in the workplace, well maybe not taboo but which cause a sense of awkwardness. One of these became the subject of a minor “exchange of words yesterday” in the twittersphere. It started when I was asked the following question,
“Would it be bad form/illegal, to track the menstrual cycle of female staff, to anticipate when they’re likely to be off sick?”
Followed by,
“Would it then be bad form to book regular temp cover for every 4th week?”
Before you ask, it was raised by a man and yes I too am a man. The response from others, however, was in my mind a little hysterical (those that know your Greek – no pun intended!) And because 140 characters is no way to deal with a subject like this, I (maybe unwisely) want to tackle the subject here.
First of all, I think the questions being asked weren’t really the ones that wanted to be answered. I think instead the question should have been, “How would you manage an employee that repeatedly took time off and gave the reason that it was related to menstruation?”
Sack them.
Ok, well obviously you need to follow a due process of counselling, warnings etc. etc. But unless the causes are related to a disability (and as far as I am aware the menstrual cycle is not classified as such) then time off for absence, is time off for absence; regardless of the cause. It is up to the woman to seek medical support and to find a solution to the symptoms that are making her unable to work, or alternatively to take annual leave. Sure be supportive in the process, but ultimately the contract of employment says you come to work and we pay you for that time.
At the heart of the matter is the fact that we blokes are uncomfortable talking about this whole area. From the moment at school when they take the girls aside to talk to them and create a realm of secrecy on the subject, to the group of female workers who when you approach stop the conversation and tell you they’re talking about “women’s things”. No these aren’t stereotypes they both happened to me, the latter on a regular basis.
So when these situations crop up, we tend not to know how to deal with them, fearing that we will be seen as insensitive or misogynistic. And instead we probably make more gaffs than we would have done if we had tackled the issues head on. But what we need to do is bring some clarity and education to the party, to understand different views and experiences and not make discussion verboten.
At the end of the day we are looking for equality in the workplace and that means treating all people equally and with dignity.
Connect for?
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You may remember some months back I went to the first ConnectingHR tweet up. It was the first time that I had ventured out as TheHRD and I had a brilliant time and met lots of brilliant people. You can read about it here. I then went to the second tweet up and again it was a great evening. You can read about that one here.
Not content to rest on their tweeting laurels, the Smashie and Nicey of the HR world are taking this further on 21 October with the launch of the inaugural ConnectingHR unConference. For those of you who don’t know what an UnConference is, Google it you lazy bastards. The event takes place on
21 October
at
The Spring, Vauxhall, London
You can find all about the unConference here. And you can buy tickets here. You can contribute to the content of the day here.
If I had one criticism so far, it is that the content at the moment is leaning more towards internal communications than HR and this is ConnectingHR not ConnectingIC. My sense is this is because the IC community is engaging more with the debate on the use of social media in the workplace than the HR community. Sure the uses of SM in the work place are clearer for IC but let us think a little more creatively. If we took the employee life-cycle and stretched the imagination, where could we see social media fitting in? Performance reviews? Employee relations? Industrial disputes? Alumni?
So I’d like to the HR pros out there step to the front, to participate in the debate, to attend ConnectingHR and to show that we as a profession and you as individuals are forward thinking, creative and innovative. The tickets are reasonably priced to cover costs and if you want to blag something from your employer, then this has to be as good value and educational as anything else out there on the market. PLUS you get to meet lots and lots of groovy people.
But you won’t meet me.
I’ve taken the decision not to attend. Not because I don’t support the unConference wholeheartedly, but because this anonymous/real thing just gets a little tough and distracting and as I said here, I need to go back into the shadows.
However, in adversity there is opportunity and this is where I would like to make an offer to you. If you are an HR pro out there and if you have not been to a ConnectingHR event before I am willing to pay for a ticket for you to attend on my behalf. Don’t get me wrong, you won’t have to be me or anything weird like that. I’ll arrange it with Jon and Gareth and you can just rock up and attend. And then write about it afterwards. On here.
Yup I’ve never let anyone else write on here. This place is sacred. But I’m willing to allow a complete stranger to do so. (I blame the slightly radioactive beers with @callumsaunders last night for this). So to summarise, if you are:
- Working in HR
- New to ConnectingHR
- Able to attend on 21 October
- Willing to write a review
Get in contact with me here telling me a little bit about you and what you want to get out of it. And we can make the rest happen.
PS. I may ask for a little help in selecting the winner….
My Hell is Other People 
