Come tweet with me

This week's Q&A topic has probably been written by many others before me, and I may not be saying anything new, but I wanted to put it out there to see what opinions are around. My question is this:

Is it possible for organisations to use social media for employee engagement?

Here's my thinking. The trend for employees to have a social media account of some sort is increasing constantly. At the moment, here's how most of those accounts are being used:

Facebook - personal relationships, event type pages, uploading videos and photos of company events
Twitter - networked relationships, creating a 'personal brand', promoting your message to the world
LinkedIn - professional relationships, job opportunities, conference promotion
Yammer - in-tact relationships, deeper discussions on topics selected by people regularly working together
Blogs - individual voice, rants, thought pieces, attract a following
Foursqaure - competition element, checking in, winning badges, special offers for 'mayorships'

And that's just a selection of what's out there. So we can take each of those and think - how can an organisation use any/all of those to engage with their staff better? Cynicism aside - truly aside,

Facebook - so it seems 500 million of you have a Facebook account. I don't for what it's worth. but I'm in the minority it seems. Imagine if you would, a company friends you. Not to follow what you have to say, but so they can update you on company communications. We're holding a company meeting, we're hiring spread the message, there's a new starter today say hello, did you know Bob is wearing a red pyjama outfit for Comic Relief?

Twitter - not so different about the kind of message that can be spread from Facebook, just a different way of sending that message out.

LinkedIn - encouraging your staff to connect with each other, but with the aim in mind of developing a strong employer brand. Brands in this day and age know the power of a collective and crowd sourcing. So you have a strong public brand, but what about a strong professional brand?

Yammer - wikis and intranets are still the way to go, but Yammer offers an additional way to talk to each other. Remember that internal training on Assertiveness? Let's talk about that a bit more. What about the new internal product we've rolled out? Discuss and comment.

Blogs - blogging is an interesting beast, but all the same there's a lot of people at it. Done something you're particularly proud of? Ask someone to write about it on their blog. That's right, on theirs, not yours. You already have a company blog which will have a corporate message. How about hearing the same message articulate differently? Are you brave enough?

Foursquare - 'checking in' presents an interesting opportunity for rewarding being 'present'. A slightly more organisational bent, rather than engagement - but rewarding people for 25 check-ins, with a free coffee? A mayorship with an Amazon voucher, or additional company discount?

I know there will be heavy cynicism from a fair few of you, and that's all good, but indulge me for a moment.

The question then:

Is it possible for organisations to use social media for employee engagement?

Make Your Leaver Think

I've been doing a lot of exit interviews lately. They're interesting and are all fine, but I'm left thinking from more than one of them - yeah well how about I give you some feedback too.

And that's when it struck me. Why don't we do that? I may be missing an 'innovation' in HR, but this is what I'm thinking. The exit interview should be a 2 part process. Part 1 is about the leaver giving us feedback and insight about why they're leaving. Part 2 should be about giving the leaver feedback about their time with us, their performance, things they did well, badly, key highlights from their time with us and key lows. Think of it as a 360 exit interview.

Imagine the power behind that. Now it's not just leavers giving the business reasons why they need to improve, but (genuinely) the business helping the leaver to go with vital information for their own career and future development.

This is one of those scary things that HR types would go - are you crazy?! Imagine the time, effort, and what's the payback for us? And here's why it should be done. We care about investing in an individual when they are with us. From the moment they join, we give them an onboarding programme, make training available to them, set objectives, entrust them with projects, expect amazing things.

And all that is geared up to them shouting about us to their networks so they come and work for us. So why wouldn't we do this for when they leave? Their leaving should be equally a fulfilled experience outside of the form filling side of the process. They should have a final piece of interaction with the business that says - we still want you to have amazing things to say about us as an agency and this is something we believe will help you grow as an individual in your career.

Cynicism and negativity aside, I'd be interested in your comments on this.

Do you have a policy for that?

The World Cup is round the corner. From 11 June - 11 July, the world will literally be focused on one thing and one thing only. The football. Even I, who has zero interest in the sport, will be following it. And why not! Your country's reputation is on the world stage and it makes life incredibly interesting. Your workforce will be bantering the entire period, more so than normal. National flags will be flying high. Energy levels will be amazingly high and moods will be swinging all over the show. There will be as much frustration as there will excitement.

And here's what worries me. HR will announce - we have a policy for situations like this. I hate policies. I hate them with all my heart. They are a disease brought about by a litigious culture to cover your back. If something isn't going right, a policy will be there to say - I Told You So. How truly uninspiring. Policies serve to only stifle and restrict the workforce. And here's the nub of it all. We need policies like we need to be told the consequences of killing another human being.

The CIPD today have released this article thinking they're helping the workforce: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/absence/_world_cup_absence_management. It doesn't help at all. If anything it makes staff reticent to bother with following the World Cup at work at all. I'm not advocating staff should only be allowed to watch their matches of choice, but don't throw down policies to take away any thought of doing it. Let me unpick some of their suggestions. 'Swap shift' - nonsense because most shift workers do those hours because it suits them and their lifestyle. If I work from 6-11 it's because I have other commitments which suit that arrangement. 'Unpaid leave' - really? You want your staff to not turn up for work, and dock their pay because you're not willing to accommodate them within the workplace? 'Games and alcohol' - Oh Lord. If staff haven't realised they shouldn't be doing these in excess then you've clearly got other issues you need to deal with. 'Flexible hours' - start work at 6am so you can watch your 1 1/2 hour match and leave at your normal time of 6pm. And still be productive while you're at it. The only decent suggestion they have is 'special screenings'. This makes far too much sense and I love they add this disclosure piece: "however, it should be remembered that not everyone will be interested in watching the football so people should not be made to feel excluded if they don’t want to get involved".

It's my one bugbear about HR. At a recent workshop by the Training Journal, one of the speakers - Jack Wills (Chair of the British Institute for Learning and Development), explained how when he has bought companies, one of the first departments he gets rid of is the HR department. Controversial? Yes. But it makes sense. If line managers were doing their job right, HR wouldn't need to exist. It's a thought I've often had about HR privately (although, obviously, publicly now).

It's not that I don't believe HR provide value. It does. But only because line managers have so much to do, that doing people things right is often a nice to have rather than a must do. My issue is typically when something doesn't go right, HR will default and say "we have a policy for that". That's not good enough. HR needs a slap across the face and a firm kicking.

My take on what should happen is to defer to people's best judgement. Have a framework which makes sense for the business. Promote it. Help people understand it. Encourage and incentivise to make it happen. Give the pull factor. People should never need to be pushed. Provide clear and unmistakable guidance about when things are expected to happen. Have review periods and agree timelines. That's all basic stuff which needs to happen.

If people don't adhere to the framework then there's a simple recompense. Discipline them. Allow people to make sensible, grown up decisions. If they fall foul of failing to meet a deadline, be it on their head with no doubt about the consequence of this.

To keep overheads in check, I do think you need to have an L&D function of sorts, recruitment, compensation and benefits and a legal department. But you don't need someone saying - due to adverse weather here's our company policy. Due to global recession, here's our policy. Due to not completing your timesheet, here's our policy. Due to being absent from work without permission, here's our policy. Due to not answering your email on time, here's our policy. Managers should have the training to help them understand how to deal with each and every one of those situations.

Ultimately HR are an information provider. This is how you complete an appraisal form. This is how you report sickness and absence. This is when you are eligible for further benefits. This is what you need to do to work here. This is how you report on your workforce. This is the number of staff we have in the building today.

But those damned policies are the bane of my life. We're in an age now where the workforce is more savvy about working life. Policies help to give people an understanding of expectations from the business. But that's where they should stay. The workforce is intelligent enough - and has information feely available enough - to make a sensible decision. If they choose to go against the norm or transgress the rules, there's penalties to pay (no pun intended). You cannot empower a workforce by restricting them to act according to rules and processes and policies.

Getting the basics right

I was able today to help a colleague with an area of work he was struggling with - time management. It's an oft quoted area of difficulty that junior staff just don't know how to handle. I was also able to help a colleague think about how to set realistic objectives for team members. What came out from both of these conversations is the importance of getting the basics right. And when I say the basics I really do mean the basics.

In the probation period of any new joiner the onboarding process should ensure a range of things are happening so that person is able to be effective in their job. A lot of that though has to do with the essentials of the job role. We can expect someone to hit the ground running when joining, but if we're not giving them the right start, how can we expect them to succeed? A person can only be pro-active so much before they're just facing obstinance and challenges.

So what is this onboarding process all about? Research has shown that an effective onboarding process increases the amount of discretionary effort an employee chooses to exercise. Discretionary effort is defined as the amount of effort an employee chooses to exercise over and above the bare minimum. So, the better the onboarding, the more engaged and productive the employee. Therefore the onboarding process has to be robust, inclusive and wide ranging.

What you'll find is these suggestions seem to cover trivial things but you'll be surprised how much of a difference they truly make.

Here are my suggestions for an effective onbaording programme:

Week 1

- orientation of the building including things like facilities department, toilets, canteen, vending machines, exits and entrances to the building.

- meeting everyone in your department and going for a department/team lunch

- meeting people from other departments who are key to their role

- all the technical stuff (PC, phone) set up and ready before they arrive

- showing them things like file structures, networks, intranets, extranets, wikis, etc

- give them an overview of the organisation structure

- meaningful tasks to start getting on with

- arrange a buddy

Week 2

- setting objectives for the probation period

- introducing them to other departments and getting them to arrange their own meetings

- assigned work relevant to their role

- explain company history and values

- talk them through HR processes and L&D plans

Week 3

- weekly meeting to discuss progress and review their learnings to date

- buddy lunch

- arrange possible shadowing of other team members

Week 4

- weekly meeting

- explanation of competency frameworks

- explanation of different business units, how they contribute to the company and how you work with them all

- evaluation of how they are adapting to the work environment and coaching to improve their effectiveness

This is what should happen in the first month. There should be a lot more that happens which you will need to identify. But if you can get these basics right then things such as performance reviews, giving feedback, coaching, all become easier because you've already covered these aspects. Conversations can then centre on actual job role, tasks, development, etc.

'Tis the season to do your appraisals

Oh it's that time of year. Collate feedback. Backtrack over the past year's performance. Have meeting. Set objectives. Give rating. Salary review. Carry on and keep calm.

Appraisals are oft quoted as being the hardest task for managers. Why? Because managers are responsible for all those things above. And it's hard work. Sure it comes with the responsibility, but it doesn't make it easy. Especially if you have a big team to deal with. It's no less a challenge for managers with small teams though. Either way it's a burden. A necessary burden. A necessary evil. Actually, no. Check that. An essential necessity.

Carrying out appraisals are the most effective way of ensuring your team members are on track to help them achieve their personal goals, objectives, business goals and success. Even if you see your team member once a year, that will be the single most important meeting between a manager and your direct report.

Tom Peters talks about making arduous tasks into 'WOW! Projects'. The essence of which says make an appraisal a meeting about excellence, creating a wider team of experts, setting amazing objectives and giving inspirational feedback. Yes, very American. But an interesting premise from which to work. My take on this? An appraisal should be a meaningful experience for all involved.

How can you make it meaningful? Well simple things like preparing in advance. Letting the team know meetings are upcoming. Ensure everyone is aware of what's expected in the meeting. Have all paperwork completed before the meeting. Set uninterruptable time aside. Spend time listening to your direct reports thoughts about their performance. There's more, much more, but it's about committing to the process. Not because it's a call from HR or the Exec team. But because it means so much to the success of a business.

Research (Corporate Leadership Council, Gallup) has shown that the discretionary effort from employees increases dependent on how well they are engaged by the organisation and their line managers. What is discretionary effort? The amount of effort an employee chooses to exercise based on how well they perceive they are being treated.

Employee engagement is a whole topic unto itself. But if a manager doesn't commit to the appraisal process then you can wave goodbye to your staff. I will guarantee that with regards to appraisals, the following contribute to making it a poor process:
- last minute notification of meeting (i.e. tomorrow or even worse, this afternoon)
- poor solicited feedback
- poorly set and worded objectives
- badly delivered feedback
- lack of consideration of coaching opportunity
- judgements based on impressions rather than evidence based

Yet I'm amazed how many managers will use the excuse "but those things will happen because I have no time". Nonsence. That's a poor excuse to say "I'm not committed to the process and care little for the development of my staff".

I've seen some great managers who don't dismiss the importance of a good appraisal. Unfortunately they're few and far between. Also they're not shouted about enough to show what a great example looks like. Particulary though, it also falls on either HR or the Exec team to raise the profile of appraisals in a meaningful way.

'Tis definitely the season to wind down and recharge those batteries. 'Tis also the season to show your staff that you're serious about their development.