Sidneyeve Matrix, a Queen’s University professor, professional speaker, blogger, and social media expert, spoke at the HRPA Halton event on April 10, 2012 about “Socializing HR – Why HR should embrace social media and mobile technology.” Even her name sounds futuristic and socializing HR is the future – in fact it is already here.
I first heard about Sidneyeve through my son who took one of her courses at Queen’s University. He suggested that I follow her on Twitter (@sidneyeve) because I would probably find her tweets interesting. Later, when I attended an orientation session at the same university with my daughter, I heard Sidneyeve speak. I actually got choked up thinking – “Wow. I want to go to Queen’s if all the professors are like Ms. Matrix.” As an executive board member of HRPA Halton, I currently fufill the role of Director – Programing and Mentoring, so I was very happy when Sidneyeve Matrix accepted an invitation to speak at our HRPA Halton Chapter event on April 10, 2012.
Sidneyeve’s presentation was a fast paced tour of trends from companies and organizations successfully socializing recruitment programs, expanding workplace training online, and incentivizing and recognizing staff performance on social channels. It was packed full of examples and was W-O-W. What made the presentation impactful to me, was that her L-O-V-E of her GenY students and all they have to offer, came shining through.
It was great to look at HR from a social media perspective and to learn more about trends and the needs and expectations of GenY. She noted that the impact of social media will be felt most by companies in the future with:
employer branding
collaboration & communication
talent recruiting
assessing candidates before hiring
professional development of employees
employee engagement.
She highlighted that if organizations want to attract and retain GenY workers, they need to adapt and build initiatives that respond to GenY preferences, needs, and expectations which she summarized as:
instantaneity -60% of GenY want realtime response
mobility - mobile technology is a life line, the way GenY connect with the world; 70% of students believe being in an office regularly is unnecessary.
frictionless sharing - (Love this term – frictionless sharing) GenY like to share easily and often (photosharing, RSS Feeds, Twitter, Facebook)
personalization - GenY are creative and embrace technology that allows personalization (Pinterest, infographic resumes, web resumes, blogs)
social recognition – GenY respond to meaningful, frequent, and social recognition. Catch them doing some good and tell them. (Twitter, visability and a chance to stand out)
Are you interested in learning more about these concepts and Sidneyeve’s presentation? I used Storify to capture my tweets and those of my colleagues, during the presentation, and added my thoughts preceding each tweet (italicized). Please please share your thoughts on Socializing HR in the comments section of this blog.
The HRPA2012 Conference was held last week. The Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA2012) Conference is held every year. I thought last year’s conference was fantastic, but this year it was even better.
The theme of the conference was “2012 and Beyond: Inventing the Future” and the keynotes and presenters were awesome. I Tweeted throughout the conference and over the next few blog posts, I’ll share some of the key highlights from the conference through my Tweets.
The early bird session I attended on the first day of the conference was “UnHuman Resources: Navigating the Social Media Minefield” with Scott Stratten (@unmarketing).
The key learning from this session is expressed in my last Tweet of the session.
Let your employees be awesome.
Let them be seen and heard.
Guide (don’t police) them.
Help them understand they are the company brand and their actions matter (at work and on social media).
For more about the session, review my Tweets below, compiled through Storify. Please excuse grammar and typos as I was Tweeting on my iphone.
Next blog post: Thoughts about the Opening Keynote: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, with Marshall Goldsmith.
I watched The Doc Zone a few weeks ago. The topic was “Facebook Follies.” It highlighted the good and not so good about social media, specifically Facebook which appeared on the scene in 2004. I had coffee with a colleague and we talked about recruiting and how different it is for Gen Y, who are growing up with social media with so much of their young lives forever captured in pictures, videos, and comments on-line, compared to how we grew up. (A teen who started using FB in 2004 is just about ready to start their career.)
No young person thinks about actions of the moment and how that might impact the future. This is true of most young people, from any generation. They don’t think about the future when they are enjoying the present. But the difference today is that something they did in their youth can come back to haunt them now or later when they want to be a lawyer, politician, charity worker, teacher, police officer, and even a spouse or parent. Most young people are not thinking about how those old FB pictures and Twitter comments might impact future opportunities. Unfortunately, they live on forever on-line.
Sure we oldies (Boomers and GenX) who are doing most of the hiring at this point in time, did things when we were younger too. But we didn’t have mobile phones and social media making it easy for youthful escapades to be immortalized forever on Facebook. If we were lucky, like I was, we had our mother telling us to “Learn from your mistake, hold your head up high, and carry on.” So we have the moment etched in our mind somewhere, not like today when it is out there for the whole world to see, especially if it’s in the hands of “friends” who think it’s something the whole world should see. (No such thing as privacy or control on the Internet). Of course, moms will still say “Learn from your mistake ….” but it sure must be a lot harder to “hold your head up high, and carry on” with the whole world watching.
It seems unfair that those doing the hiring have the knack of forgetting. Somehow we don’t remember some of the silly events of our own youth. We were allowed to make our mistakes in our small circle of friends and family. We don’t have the “social memory” of on-line media to remind us of our youthful mistakes. (Not that mistakes are reserved for the young – i.e. Mr. Weiner). In a recent poll 4 in 10 students worry that FB might hurt their chances in the job market. Will the percentage increase as more and more students venture out for their first jobs and/or career advancements? I wonder when GenY get to positions where they will be making hiring decisions will they be more understanding?
“A fancy paperweight” to which I might add that can come back to bean you in the head and knock you out of the running for an opportunity in the future that just might be your heart’s desire. I have Gen Y children; I have had the pleasure of teaching Gen Y students, and I coach and mentor some very focussed and dedicated Gen Y individuals starting out in their HR careers. They are going to do just fine. The generation growing up and in their formative years when FB first arrived on the scene are like guinea pigs at the start of the great big social experiment of living out loud on-line. And anyone doing the hiring today should remember that.
Best regards, Joanne Royce
Royce & Associates
A Human Resources and Training Solutions Company
Creating Happy, Healthy, and Productive Workplaces
People are often stuck in jobs that are not their dream job. I get my fair share of calls from people I know wanting to make a change. I do what I can to offer some tips and in some cases, have been able to connect them with people in my network who end up hiring them. Some of the tips come from my coaching program for outplacement and in transition clients.
Getting Your Job Search Started
Look at your LinkedIn (LI) profile. Is it complete? Does it give a clear picture of your work history, education, professional development and volunteer activities? Do you need to expand it and add to it? Have you described your awesome experience and your accomplishments from past positions?
Post a professional looking photo. Look at your picture with a critical eye. What’s in the background? Does it give the right impression? Ask a senior colleague for their opinion.
Ask people who worked with you and know you well, to provide comments or testimonials of your work. Ask for your direct supervisors, colleagues, and co-workers to add testimonials. Don’t ask people who don’t know you well or weren’t directly involved with your work. It will put them in an awkward position of having to say “No,” or worse, ignoring your request. If they haven’t worked directly with you it would be difficult providing the testimonial you require.
Do some research. Search and look at other LI profiles of people in roles you would like. Sign up for some of the groups that people in the career you aspire to secure, have joined. Search on LI for all those people you know and have worked with and send them an invite to connect.
Look at the job postings and see who you know in the industry and start connecting that way. If a job is posted at XYZ company, you can do a quick search to see if any of your connections have contact with someone in that company.
If you see someone who might be able to help you and they you aren’t connected with them, look them up and call them. If you send them a LinkedIn request, tell them why you are asking to connect. Do not send them a invitation asking to connect because you are in the same “group” when, in fact, you are looking for help finding a job. People appreciate honesty and they will help you if they can. If they don’t accept your invitation they wouldn’t be much help anyway. Do not send them an invite that states you are a friend when you haven’t even met. That is just plain irritating.
Many people advocate that you put a catchy statement that you are looking for a position in your “headline.” Take a look at what others are doing on LI and let people know how they can reach you.
Make sure that people in your network know that you are looking for work. All your past colleagues, supervisors, favourite customers, suppliers, friends, and relatives will want to help you find a job. I received a lovely message from a former colleague who was looking for a job. He sent a very well written email to everyone telling us what he’s been up to, the credentials he had added to his professional development, and what type of job he was looking for. And he ended by asking us to be on the lookout for him. That was very helpful. People can and will assist you with your job search if they know you are looking AND what you are looking for.
Then there is Twitter - but that’s another blog.
I hope these few tips will help you get started. Good luck.
Best regards, Joanne Royce
P.S. If you are a company and need outplacement services, contact us. We can help your departing employees with our coaching program – Getting your Job Search Started. Here’s what one former outplacement client had to say after completing the program (part of a 2-page thank you letter) .
“Thank you so very, very much, Joanne. Your course, your genuine friendly helpfulness, and your ability to improve my resume, LinkedIn profile, and interview performance, without a doubt gave me the confidence and self assurance I needed for a successful career search.”
Hard to believe but it’s been about a week and a half since the Impact99 event – The Social Workplace Leaders’ Conference for HR Trailblazers. I’ve had time to reflect upon the event and there were several aspects of the day that stood out.
There certainly was “nice buzz and energy in the room” as the day started which continued throughout the day and even after the event. In fact, several of the participants, myself included, reported going through Impact99 withdrawal! I’ve had colleagues ask me about it after following my Tweets for the day. And on a phone call today, a colleague commented without prompting, “That seminar you went to last week sounded great.” I guess the Tweets told the story about Impact99.
I loved that the day was action packed with a variety of sessions and deliver styles, fantastic speakers and presenters who shared their knowledge about social media in the workplace. I enjoyed meeting my Twitter colleagues in real life as well as meeting new people, like my Yellow team members.
The Awesome Yellow Team
It was so refreshing looking at social media as a useful tool in the workplace versus something that needs to be banned to increase productivity. Of course, there needs to be guidelines around social media use at work. But if employees are misusing social media at work, it seems to me to be more a management development or engagement improvement issue. In Cisco’s Connected World Technology Report, a survey of young people under the age of 30, found that it’s not all about the money. The reports states, that young professionals want access to social media and their smartphones in the workplace and that might be even more important than higher compensation.
The day started off with Sidneyeve Matrix, a professor at Queen’s University and social media guru. She shared insights about the GenY students she teaches, and trends in social media and mobile technology. It was quick paced and full of information.
Lights, Camera, Action
One of the activities was an eye opener for me. It was lights, camera, action when we became video producers, writers, and actors during one activity. As a team, we were instructed to create a video for a company to help showcase the company as an employer of choice. We had to come up with the idea, plan it, film it and upload the finished video to the Impact99 YouTube Channel – all in 30 minutes. Why? Because Google ranking likes videos (it increases Google search by 53%), and so do the up and coming young workforce, but not very many organizations are using videos to highlight their company as the place to work. It is rather amazing that an effective (and funny) video can be created in 30 minutes, with no budget, and using only a Smart phone! Check out the winner with a tongue-in-cheek homage to the make belief company ”Tickle Your Fancy” with “employees” telling us “I love my job.”
At the end of the day, a videographer captured highlights of the day long #impact99 event into this awesome energetic video.
Social media is not going away and those organizations that won’t adapt will find themselves falling behind the competition. So what is stopping you from embracing social media in your workplace?
Wish I was (still) at #impact99, Joanne Royce
HR Trailblazer
Royce & Associates
A Human Resources & Training Solutions company
Creating Happy, Healthy, & Productive Workplaces
Stats show that more moms are flocking to Facebook. Is that surprizing? Not when you consider the timeless saying, “Do you know where your kids are?” Well, they are on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, and they are texting instead of phoning home. My kids signed up for Facebook in the early days, so I signed up for an account because I wanted to learn about it. Would my kids be safe? How could I help them realize that there is no such thing as privacy online? Would they know what to share and what not to share with the world? Would they recognize that their online social presence tells a story about who they are as individuals? I needed to understand Facebook before I could do all of that. My son told me point blank:
“Old people aren’t on Facebook, Mom. So why are you on it?”
I laughed, but I didn’t cancel Facebook. When my son was in Grade 11, I was surprized when he invited me to be his Facebook “friend.” It was nice, but I didn’t realize how special it was until I started speaking to other moms and my Sheridan College students. Apparently it isn’t a common occurence. I was an FB “friend,” but I was still a mom. I bit my tongue about the little things and provided feedback when I thought it was important. During my son’s first year at University, I worried about the big change, but he looked so happy with his shaved head, purple skin, and purple jacket. Kids don’t phone home anymore. Instead they text and they are online. I’m happy to jump in with both feet (or thumbs).
The mind works in mysterious ways because I thought, if more moms are on Facebook then why aren’t more businesses on social networks where customers and top talent choose to be?
Over 17 million Canadians are on social networks, with 50% visiting a social media site about once a week and 35% visiting every day! Facebook has over 750 million users worldwide. LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, have continued to grow. Yet only 1 in 5 Canadian companies post and monitor social media discussions regularly. Posting and monitoring are thought to be the pillars of effective social media use. (Katie Delahaye Paine, CEO, KDPaine & Partners). The reasons for not embracing social media ranged from a lack of resources to the thought that it was a waste of energy and time.
What do you think? Is your organization taking the leap to embrace social media and social networking like moms are flocking to Facebook? Share your comments.
Best regards, Joanne Royce
P.S. If you need help developing social media and social networking strategies, to support your people, find future talent,and build company brand, contact us.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog “I want to wash my hands – How to inform with fun.” It was about Brant Community Healthcare System’s (BCHS) creative way to inform health care workers and everyone about the importance of hand washing to prevent bacteria and viruses from spreading. The video “I wanna wash my hands“ got across an important message with the power of employees and volunteers! In that post I asked a few questions about the video. I contacted Mr. James Hornell, President & CEO and to my astonishment, he called me the day of the post and answered all my questions! So here they are:
Who came up with the idea? (Was it an internal idea?) Our Public Affairs department and Infection Prevention & Control staff had planned activities for hand washing week but noted that more was needed. After seeing a similar video online and discussing various opportunities Public Affairs staff recommended a music video using our own staff/physicians/volunteers. We thought that a video with would be most effective. (It was inspired by a video created by the Sierra Vista Regional Medical Centre, San Luis Obispo, California).
How was it filmed? It was actually filmed by a local videographer – TDG Marketing. Music was recorded at RS Sounds & Production – a local studio. The camera was surprisingly small for the quality.
Was it expensive to put together? It cost about $4000 which is very little considering it costs the hospital about $50,000 to handle one infection by germs brought in from the outside. When this happens, patients need to be isolated, there are extra medical tests, and more. And on top of all this, there is the impact to the patient.
Is everyone portrayed in the video as employees actual employees? (Probably – yes!) Who did you decide would be in it? Everyone in the video are employees – except for the Minister of Health, MPP Dave Levac, Walter Gretzky, and the OPP. (And one of the band members). They were filmed at work and at different events. Everyone who participated is in the finished product – no one was left on the cutting room floor.
Is the band Doctor Doctor a real band? And are they really Doctors? They really are doctors – one is a radiologist, two are internists. The band has performed at hospital functions. Once they were able to find some time from their important roles at the hospital, they got together to record the song. It was the first time they were in an actual recording studio so they were thrilled. They are now telling us that maybe should produce their own CD if they can find the time!
How did you get Mr. Gretzky Sr. involved? We asked him. Walter Gretzky is a great friend of the BCHS. He comes by regularly to cheer up the patients. He speaks about stroke and recovery. And at Christmas he comes around with the OPP Road Rangers with presents for the kids. He’s a wonderful human being.
Are you getting more calls from people wanting to work with your organization? See #9.
What’s the feedback been from patients? See #9.
What’s the feedback been from the community? There certainly has been tremendous response to the video. We’ve had people calling from all over the world. For example, a hospital in Scotland is using the video as part of their awareness and training program. The MOL website has our video as a link on their website. Provincial health officials in Alberta & British Columbia, patients, and the community have all responded favourably. One of our employees sent the link to her daughter who is in Japan and she said it was the first time she’s smiled in a long time. The response has been tremendous.
Did you recognize the people who put this together? Yes we have, and there is something more in the works. But I can’t say much more about that.
What has the impact been internally? The video has created big buzz externally, but also internally. It was a lot of fun to produce. Day in and day out our staff have to deal with hard and difficult situations, so it was nice to be able to cut loose, and have some fun. It’s had a big impact on morale.
Finally, has the video received and specific industry standard awards and what are those awards? The video – no (not yet!)
The BCHS – yes, including:
The Quality Workplace Silver Awar
2011 Hamilton-Niagara Top 10 Employer (2nd consecutive year!)
Ontario Hospital Association leading practice patient safety award
BCHS has been named for the past 2 years (2010 and 2011) as one of Hamilton-Niagara’s Top 10 Employers.
Thanks to Mr. James Hornell for taking the time to speak to me so I could share the answers! It’s amazing to see the power of employees taking an important message and creating a participative, memorable video to get the message across. And it is nice to see it shared with everyone!
Washin’ my hands, Joanne
Joanne Royce, Royce & Associates, Human Resources and Training Solutions – Creating Happy, Healthy and Creative Workplaces
And Brand Your Organization as a Great Place to Work
The Power of Social Media
I found this video through a link on Twitter. It’s a splendid way to inform in a fun manner and it didn’t lecture or cause someone to fall asleep from boredom. It’s a creative way to get the message across. But it does so much more.
After I watched the video, I definitely got the message AND I had a smile on my face. I couldn’t help but notice all the “actors” in the video. Happy, healthy, and yes, productive employees. In case you haven’t noticed – I have a thing for happy, healthy, and productive employees. The “actors” not only got an important message across in a fun manner, they told a story about what a great place it is to work at Brant Community Healthcare System!
If people watch this video and think about hospitals, Brant Community Healthcare System will probably stand out and be remembered. In fact it was chosen as one of Hamilton-Niagara’s Top Employers for 2011. After watching the video, I thought of the following questions for the team at Brant Community Healthcare System.
Who came up with the idea? (Was it an internal idea?)
How was it filmed? (It actually looks like it was filmed by employees using a regular but good video camera).
Was it expensive to put together?
Is everyone portrayed in the video as employees actual employees? (Probably – yes!) Who did you decide would be in it?
Is the band Doctor Doctor a real band? And are they really Doctors?
How did you get Mr. Gretzky Sr. involved?
Are you getting more calls from people wanting to work with your organization?
What’s the feedback been from patients?
What’s the feedback been from the community?
Did you recognize the people who put this together?
This is an example of the power of social media. Kudos to Brant Community Healthcare System for getting across an important message, enhancing employee engagement, AND telling a bit of a good news workplace “story”! It’s impressive company branding which helps with recruiting talented candidates and retaining them!
Is your workplace a great place to work? How do you get important messages across? Do you involve your employees? Do you have FUN @ WORK? What is your company brand? Give us a call to discuss further.
And Mr. James Hornell, President & CEO, if you are reading this, please answer the questions!
I’m washing my hands AND I’m sure many others are as well, Joanne
Joanne Royce, Royce & Associates, Human Resources & Training Solutions
Creating Happy, Healthy, & Productive Workplaces!
Joanne Royce
Welcome to our blog. Use our insider tips on human resources, training, and interpersonal relationships to create your own happy, healthy, and productive workplace. We'll also comment on life in general and share info and highlights from books.
Human Resources & Training Solutions
