The Buzz about our world’s Big Shift [i.e. the New Normal in business] is filtering through to some company executives who are now looking to their marketing departments for guidance and appropriate strategies using Social Media.

Hold on a minute . . .

Many of you are missing an even more important benefit of the technological improvements available through this “thing” called Social Media:

The Ability to Recruit & Retain Top Talent

or the Human Relations Identity Crisis

Today’s workplace environments are extremely complex, but most Human Resources departments are sticking to a “business as usual” mindset, according to Adrienne Corn who discussed “Social Media & The New Human Resource Department: Leveraging Human Talent with Web 2.0” with the current Leadership Class group at Social Media Academy.

Factors like globalization, technology, and a tough economy all contribute to today’s challenges — and organizational structure needs to adapt to 21rst century demands.

“We need to let go of the Efficiency Model that took us through the last century where people were ‘assets.’ Today, however, we need to realize that People are People. Processes must change. Human resource departments must stop focusing on filling cogs in a wheel.”

“People are not cogs. They need a sense of purpose in an organization. They need to feel invested. Research shows that when people lack engagement, productivity suffers.” — Adrienne Corn

Human Resource Departments need to become Human Talent Departments

Here are are the six key functions of HR — or HT, as we should begin to call it:

1. Finding Talent
2. Attracting Talent
3. Training Talent
4. Benefits Management
5. Retaining Talent
6. Refreshing Talent [exit mitigation]

Social media tools can be used to help companies perform all these functions to bring in the right people for the right places.

“Everyone brings strengths to an organization, but they are not always utilized. When you bring the right people ‘on the bus’ and identify their key strengths, you can put them in the right place and you will get ‘default’ productivity.”

“The purpose for compensation should not be to get the right behaviors from the wrong people. Companies need to look for people to FIT inside their community — whose values reflect what the organization stands for and whose participation will contribute to building the brand.” — Adrienne Corn

Younger generation is making a huge impact on the Future for all of us

The new workforce is more tech savvy, has different work ideals & priorities, and less automatic respect for authority. They have more choices concerning Where, When, and Whom to work for. They have “social capital” and value networking and building community. Companies need to “get with the program,” according to Adrienne. They can do this only by letting go of static, linear, impersonal processes that set the company/HR department apart as an adversary. Trust needs to replace control and suspicion

Social Media tools can gather real information and build trust

Here are some of the strategies successful HT managers will be using to find and hire talent:

1. Create community spaces
2. Cull & Comb those spaces for talent
3. Communicate with talent interactively and transparently
4. Convince talent to join through value-matching (birds of a feather)
5. Interactive interviews through social media conversations

Training via manuals will be replaced with interactive learning communities like Employee Wikis with Q&A’s. These same communities can offer engaging and motivating process that build trust in the people and the organization, increasing the likelihood of staying at the job and being engaged and productive on the job.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Good to Great by Jim Collins

NOW, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton

The Living Company by Arie de Geus

Therefore, to cope with a changing world, any entity must develop the capability of shifting and changing, of developing new skills and attitudes: in short, the capability of learning — Arie de Geus, The Living Company

Adrienne Corn is an instructor/founding faculty member at the Social Media Academy where she lectures on the intersection between social media/web 2.0 and Human Resources/Human Talent.

Adrienne founded VENTUS, a career development, education and research company that provides career pathing for individuals, career education for organizations and research in these areas for the industry at large.