Should you block social media access?

Maybe you don’t need a policy says publisher Michael Hyatt in this post on five reasons why your company doesn’t need a social media policy.

But if you do, here’s a round-up of useful blog posts to help you out.

10 must-haves for your social media policy

This post by Sharlyn Lauby outlines 10 things you should consider in your social media policy;

1. Introduce the purpose of social media

2. Be responsible for what you write

3. Be authentic

4. Consider your audience

5. Exercise good judgment

6. Understand the concept of community

7. Respect copyrights and fair use

8. Remember to protect confidential & proprietary info

9. Bring value

10. Productivity matters

Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?

Here Sharlyn Lauby covers the need for a social media policy and how to begin.

1. WHY have such a policy?

2. WHAT can social media do for my organization?

3. WHO should the policy cover?

4. WHERE should you let employees know about this policy?

5. WHEN is the right time to implement a policy?

Social Media Policy: Now is the Time

Five more things to consider when developing a social media policy from Paige Fleury at Logical Juice.

1. Start with what employees CAN do versus what they can’t do.

2. Include rules around use of social media during work hours.

3. Remind employees that they are responsible for what they write

4. Start with what you know.

Social Media Policy Examples

This post includes over 123 social media policies examples compiled by Chris Boudreaux.

AND there’s a free report to download – “Analysis of Social Media policies – lessons and best practices.”

And here are some interesting points if you’re debating blocking social media in your organisation, following on from B.L. Ochman’s post on Five Reasons Companies Should Not Block Access to Social Networks

If Your Sky Falls, It Won’t Be Because of Social Media

Why HR shouldn’t fear social media by Lisa Rosendahl.

Twitter and Facebook: The New Tools of Productivity or Distraction

Brian Solis asks: do social networks increase or decrease productivity on the job?

What are your thoughts?

Win a copy of Employment Bites – The bite-sized guide to better human resources with up-to-date examples for New Zealand companies

by Angela Atkins

RRP: $26.99              HARPERCOLLINS

Angela Atkins is an experienced human resources (HR) and training manager and in her 13 years in HR she’s learnt that for HR to be practical and useful you have to design processes that address the needs of the organisation, and you work WITH managers, involve them and get them to agree, so the processes actually work.

Using practical examples of real-life human resources solutions from New Zealand companies, Employment Bites shows you how to work with managers and employees in every area of employment to make the company more effective and a great place to work.

Employment Bites is for anyone who works with employment issues or responsibilities.

Employment Bites is split into 23 easy-to-manage bite-sized chunks, each one dealing with one particular area of HR. Each bite talks about how HR can add value in that area as well as giving you lots of useful examples on how to do this and how to develop your human resources skills.

Specifically:

• How to implement an effective HR plan

• New Zealand employment case law examples

• Attracting and recruiting the right people and inducting them effectively

• Measuring performance, developing skills and managing talent

• Dealing with disciplinary issues, restructures and dismissal

• Remuneration systems, benefits and how to recognise and reward employees

• Managing change and creating retention

HRINZ HR blog has three copies of Employment Bites to give away; to be in the draw, simply comment below with the HR area you most enjoy reading and learning about by 30 April 2010

For decades, developing silos of expertise in individual business disciplines such as finance, human resources, marketing and logistics has been the way to advance personal careers and organisational objectives. Now, as a result of downsizing, outsourcing and technology, experts in those fields are no longer in an adjacent office cube and managers are forced to make decisions in areas where they have limited experience or knowledge.

Here are some business literacy programme suggestions for Human Resources professionals. These are in response to recommendations made by corporate recruiters and alumni at the State University of New York at Albany where I teach:

1. Learn how the business operates and know as much about the business as possible, e.g.:

1. How does it make money?
2. What is its competitive advantage?
3. Who are your customers and why do they buy from you?
4. Who are your main competitors and why to people buy from them instead of you?

2. Learn how to read and understand your company’s financial condition. If you are a public corporation, that information is freely available in the company’s annual report.

1. What are the financial pressure points that executives worry about, and from which most decisions are made?
2. How does the work of your department help advance the business objectives of the company?
3. Are your company’s financial metrics trending in the right or wrong direction? How does that impact the decisions you must make?

3. Study the objectives of the other silos in your company and link the work that you do to help them achieve their goals:

1. Link your work to the success of other silos in your company. The failure of the product delivery team to deliver its goods on time and in the condition specified in the sales contract impacts everyone, not just one silo;
2. If there are significant product defects, learn to identify the root cause of such defects and how can you help fix them. You don’t have to be an expert in the other fields, but your job may be to find the experts and work with the financing team to secure money to fix the problems;

4. Discover who is the best in various areas or expertise and adopt their procedures and best practices:

1. Determine benchmarks of excellence within your industry and determine how they achieved that rank. Kodak once had a serious problem delivering their products to the dealers where customers could buy them. They sent a team to L.L. Bean – a world class outdoor clothing distribution company – to study their distribution methods. The result: distribution problems for Kodak cameras were virtually eliminated;
2. Think creatively and outside the box for your solutions. One retail automotive sales and service company was having trouble with the large amount of time it took for their tyre installation process. They sent a team to study NASCAR technicians and adapted some of their procedures for their technicians. As a result, tyre installation time was reduced by 50 percent.

5. Improve constantly and forever, your business literacy skills.

1. Study the business environment and the forces that impact it (technology, demographics, legal & political, culture, etc.);
2. Improve your mastery of your own discipline and the changes demanded within its practice;
3. Step outside your silo of expertise and help other silos, through your work, achieve their objectives. The failure of one silo affects the success of the other silos and the organisation.

How do you gain this knowledge?

1. Ask your internal experts in every discipline to present tutorials on their field of expertise. Lunchtime seminars and workshops are marvelous opportunities to gain knowledge of other functions and weave the threads together into a seamless process.
2. Many schools, colleges, and universities do a thriving business teaching business literacy skills on their campus or on your site. Check out their curriculum and contact them for details;
3. Ask your trade organisations to sponsor programmes in your area of development interest. Attend other trade organisation meetings to see what programs they offer and talk with their membership. Often, solutions to HR problems are found in non-HR environments.
4. Contact the writers of articles such as these. They are always willing to help people achieve their objectives;
5. Read and study reputable publications in other disciplines and general business magazines, blogs, newspapers, and websites. You’ll soon see patterns emerging on common issues and interests.

By Guest Author  – Ken Moore

Ken Moore, a member of the Society for Human Resources Management in Washington, D.C., is the president of Ken Moore Associates, a management consulting group focusing on organizational development and productivity improvement. He is a professor at the State University of New York at Albany and at the Union Graduate College where he teaches graduate and undergraduate business courses in strategic management. He may be reached at kmoore01@nycap.rr.com.

How can we hold colleagues accountable for changing their behaviour when we do not let them know how their behaviour affects us?

Osmosis?  It’s not a great social tool to build relationships.

 Sound familiar?

A co-worker of yours rarely achieves deadlines, talks loudly and often. Frequent talk about social life, lots of gossip about others’ social lives, about how easily others take offence, about – well anything really.

 Do we confront this person?

Usually not.

‘It’s like telling someone they have bad breath.’ Was how one person described their experience. ‘You don’t do it. You know you leave some mints on their desk – ask who had garlic for dinner last night – but eventually you just keep your distance.’

Keeping your distance may be a useful action to take – and sometimes it is not enough – you need to talk!

6 tips on having those difficult conversations – respectfully

 Acknowledge that there will be differences in how you and others see things

• We all have to get on with a wide range of people at work – colleagues, customers, suppliers – you won’t like them all – we just need to work together respectfully

When it is important let others know how you feel in a direct and non-threatening way

• Create a basis for looking collaboratively not combatively at what you are choosing to be concerned about

Talk about the impact the situation has had on you

• Look people in the eye – let the facts and your feelings talk and not your judgement of what happened

Ask how the situation has affected them

• Many hurtful comments are not intended – we all have gaps between what we say and what we do – listen more than you talk

Acknowledge your contribution to the situation

• Someone who does not agree with you may not be wrong

Invite the other person to work with you to make things better

• What would help us to work together more collaboratively?

GUEST AUTHOR

Joe Moore is Managing Director of ProActive ReSolutions Inc – an international company focused on building more respectful behaviour between people.

Every now and again, when you have just read yet another article in an HR magazine where a correspondent whimpers away about the lack of recognition for HR and then indulges in a bout of self flagellation about the perceived shortcomings of the profession, a sigh escapes me.

Bear with me, as I am unashamedly positive about the contribution HR people can make in an organization , not when they are given the opportunity, but when they take the opportunity.

As an HR professional who has lived and worked in senior roles in a variety of organisations, including telecommunications, retailing, food and carpet manufacturing as well as stints in universities, a trade union and a law firm  I have had the opportunity to experience and to learn about how an HR practitioner can influence the strategy of organizations. This has been both through my own efforts and by observing and discussing with my internal peers and externally with other HR practitioners.

Some of the learnings that I have found to be beneficial can be summarised as follows:

i) It is often better to ask forgiveness rather than permission when introducing new practices into organisations, but make sure the basic HR processes are working before you indulge in this practice.

ii) Learn the language of the business and express HR initiatives in those terms. Do not expect the business to learn HRspeak.

iii) Become the confidant of the CEO and the senior team and learn to listen without judging. Always however retain the ability to take distance on issues and on the actions of your colleagues.

iv) Get around the business and become the Company Chaucer, the one with the interesting tales about the people.

v) Find new ideas for the business, from anywhere, about anything and share them with everyone. Become the facilitator of projects built off new ideas.

vi) Plant seeds in the organization, nourish them and celebrate when people come to you with “their” flourishing pot plant of an initiative.

vii) Take on additional responsibilities when they are offered and volunteer for things that no one else wants to do.

viii) Build “frameworks’ and talk benefits not features when you are driving initiatives, especially in any strategic planning process.

ix) Stay on top of the knowledge, read everything, and look to learn from everyone. Most people know more than you do.

x) Do everything with a sense of humour and don’t take yourself too seriously! No one else will…

By the way, many of these learnings can apply to any senior manager in any function…

“Taking” the opportunity is probably the essence of a successful HR role, and doing this enables you to see where you have been in an organization. There are always opportunities to make a contribution in an organization, although often you end up working on things that you may feel do not add the most value and are not, in your own considered view, what the organization ”really needs”.

Whenever HR people gather together and I think a “corollary” of HR people is the correct collective noun, there is always a discussion about how we know what the organization” really needs’. This is often accompanied by knowing looks, occasional sighs and the odd affirming grunt.

This then inevitably leads to a discussion about the lack of recognition of HR and sharing of personal frustration and vexation, usually accompanied by an Evian or a rough red wine.

Back at work this reinforcement by your external peer group of your almost criminal lack of recognition  translates into the development of a moderate siege mentality, expressed as a series of covert hurt looks during the monthly management meeting and begrudging assistance with initiatives which the business currently requires but which in fact they don’t “really” need.

Anyway, the thing is that it does not have to be like this and it helps to look at other functions within the business so that things are put in perspective.

Lets take Finance and IT-the numbercrunchers and the propellorheads. Each should make a contribution to the business at a tactical and a strategic level. In many cases however CEOs are frustrated because their Finance person is good with the numbers but not with suggestions about business initiatives based on trends with the numbers. They often use the IT person to fix their PC when they should be utilizing the knowledge and perspective of the IT guy about their business operation to enhance organizational performance.

The point is that both functions can claim to be misunderstood. The Finance person can claim unreasonable expectations and the IT person can claim to be treated as a technician rather than a business manager. Again, in both cases there are opportunities which are not being taken and in fact where these circumstances exist, there is often an opportunity for the HR person to increase their influence and job satisfaction.

HR people typically have a tendency to put Finance people on a pedestal, something that I feel is singularly unhelpful, both for Finance people and for HR people. Even where HR people report to Finance people this should not occur. Doing this acts as a constraint, putting a handbrake on influencing the organization by the HR person, because they are always awaiting either direction or approval  instead of getting on with things. In addition there is no mystery with Finance people. They simply count the numbers and explain them to the business –they are the scorekeepers, very nice scorekeepers but scorekeepers.

The point is that in every business or indeed every organization there is a requirement for managing various business processes including those relating to people .It is in the latter area that the opportunities arise for HR people.

Typically HR is responsible for ensuring smooth running personnel processes from selection to termination and everything else in between, sometimes known as “hatch, match and dispatch”. These are processes that are essential to the running of organizations and as such should be managed effectively and indeed enthusiastically by any HR practitioner.

For sure, there is drudgery in any job and leafing through the latest updates around health and safety legislation or chasing up managers who have not completed their appraisals ranks right up there in the drudgery stakes.

But once you have these processes ticking over then there is room to expand into the business partner quadrant. This principle applies regardless of the size of the organization.

In short, in today’s organizations where there is a dedicated HR resource there is a plethora of opportunities to make a difference. However, if those same HR people are looking for affirmation of their place in an organization, by virtue of their expertise they will be disappointed. Recognition comes from achievement not expertise.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Paul McCarthy is now a Consultant in the Human Resources field, and specialises in strategic human resource planning, organisational reviews, talent development and performance and change management.

He has had senior level HR experience in a variety of business organisations, including manufacturing (FMCG and textiles), food retailing (supermarkets)  and telecommunications, in both national and international organisations. He has operated at the Executive Committee level in all of these sectors.

In addition, he has had substantial teaching, research and administrative experience in Universities in Australia and New Zealand. He has also worked in a large New Zealand Law firm and as a Legal Officer for a large trade union.

He holds a law degree from the University of Auckland and has a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Queensland. He is also the author of two books on negotiation skills, published in both Australia and New Zealand .

Simplicity

Author: Sharlyn Lauby

The HR Bartender’s six predictions for 2010 revolve around simplicity. They include; outsourcing and contract work will gain momentum; professional development and corporate training will look quite different this year; the new employee perk will be time; management coaching will become a key retention tool and the key theme for 2010 will be trust.

 Three Emerging Trends

Author: Kevin wheeler 

Kevin builds on his predictions from last year and says we are going to see a steady and continuing rise in temporary, part-time, contract, and consulting work. He predicts the key this year will be flexibility and mobility to work wherever, whenever, and however for younger employees. He sees more RPO’s and a rise of recruiting technology that will really improve recruiting.

Talent Acquisition

Author: Brendan Shields

A webinar on emerging trends in talent acquisition.

A light note

Author: Laurie Ruettimann

Punk Rock HR has low expectations for 2010 so her employment-related predictions include the good, the bad, and the ugly – recession fashion, hating your work, and getting your unemployed brother-in-law off the couch…

What are your predictions for HR in 2010?

It is a result of the need to answer this question that I came up with the following analogy about the value of HR.

Staff are like cars:

1. You need to pick the right model – the sports car looks very pretty, but isn’t much good if you need to tow the trailer
2. You need to steer them in the right direction otherwise they go off track, and ultimately are liable to crash
3. You need to service them regularly, or performance will deteriorate
4. A specialist mechanic (or HR Manager) will have much greater success at fixing issues properly than the enthusiastic DIY’er
5. Trade-ins can be very costly if you haven’t done steps one to four properly

The wage spend is the single biggest cost centre in virtually any business.  Therefore, as HR practitioners we can have a major impact on the bottom line of the company simply by ensuring that the right models are picked, the steering mechanisms are effective, and the servicing is done properly.

One of the most significant ways we can impact the bottom line is through focusing on productivity.  Productivity in New Zealand is appalling compared to the rest of the world.  This low productivity has a significant impact on New Zealand’s economy, and it is as a result of this that the Department of Labour has launched a major initiative to increase productivity.  If you haven’t already, visit the Department of Labour website and get a copy of the Productivity Starter Pack.

Based on international studies the DOL has listed seven key drivers of workplace productivity:

1. Building Leadership and Management
2. Creating Productive Workplace Cultures
3. Encouraging Innovation and the Use of Technology
4. Investing in People and Skills
5. Organising Work
6. Networking and Collaboration
7. Measuring What Matters

Well just in case you hadn’t spotted it, there is only one thing on that list, Encouraging Innovation and the Use of Technology, which is not under the direct influence of the HR team.

1.  Building Leadership and Management

HR has significant impact in this area by:

• Ensuring that you have correctly defined the competencies required for the leadership roles in your business
• Ensuring that the leaders have the tools necessary to do their jobs effectively.

Whenever you start recruiting for a position (or are looking at how to increase an incumbents effectiveness in a role), particularly a leadership position, HR should be working with the manager to help them identify, not only the task list for the job, but more importantly, the competencies required to do the job.

All too often I see a great operative being promoted into a management position.  As a manager it is very useful to have a good understanding of what your team do, but, ultimately, the role of a manager is to quite different.  They are required to monitor everyone’s progress, identify where the collective effort should be focused, steer everyone in the right direction etc.  Unfortunately, this is out with the comfort zone of many operatives, and as a result they may have been a great operative, but are often only an average manager.

By working with the recruiting manager up front you will help them ‘define the right model’.  This will then enable you to develop competency based interview frameworks for them to use, and give them a point of reference to check their final decision against.  As opposed to appointing ‘Sam’ because it was easy/they were there/they liked them in the interview/etc.

This will also enable you to identify ‘Sam’s’ development needs (we all have them) to turn them from a new manager into an excellent leader.

2. Creating Productive Workplace Cultures

Bonus schemes to drive the right behaviour and Performance Appraisal system that are user-friendly and add perceptible value are major tools in creating productive workplace cultures.

Unfortunately bonus schemes are often not actually encouraging the behaviour which will create the desired outcome.  For example, a bonus scheme that focus’s purely on turnover, but ignores profitability will result in lots of sales, but often at discounted rates.  You need to clearly understand what actually generates the desired results, and reward that.  For example, customer service is rarely seen in bonus schemes, but more often than not excellent customer service is the key to retaining existing clients and getting their referred business.

I often hear managers describing Performance Appraisal systems as an onerous paperwork task, which just wastes their time.  It is our job in HR to:

• Critically review any systems and eliminate any negative connotations
• Provide an easy to use, clearly value add, system
• Understand any underlying reasons behind why a system is not being used, and take action accordingly.

Frequently the ‘problem’ with the system has more to do with a manager’s reluctance to have a ‘courageous conversation’.  Remove the fear through training and support, and you will often see a significant change in the outcomes.

A robust tailor-able Bonus scheme, easy to use Appraisal documentation, and 1 to 5 definitions of 20 different competencies are available to download from www.hrtoolkit.co.nz .

3. Encouraging Innovation and the Use of Technology

Though this may not be under the direct remit of HR we can certainly influence this by recruiting the right people and putting in place systems to encourage the right behaviour.

4. Investing in People and Skills

Supporting your managers in doing this effectively is the basic fundamental function of any HR team.

5. Organising Work

The purpose of an organisation structure is to enable communication flow and minimise cross-over between roles.  Everyone within an organisation needs clearly defined roles, and clear delineation around when tasks pass from one person to the next.  It is the role of HR to provide this definition and structure in conjunction with the managers.

Duplication of work has a significant impact on productivity.  Therefore, if the delineation between roles if not clear, you end up with two people repeating the same task which wastes time and decreases productivity.

The actual cost of such duplication can very quickly add up:

5 minutes per day X 5 days X 52 weeks = 1,300 minutes per year (21.7 hours)

6. Networking and Collaboration

Providing opportunities to network is not just the responsibility of the Social club, or the sales team.  Training days can be a great opportunity to get representatives from different departments working together.

HR is one of the few departments that works directly with all of the other departments, we are therefore in a great position to identify potential cross-departmental opportunities for networking and collaboration.

The opportunities for external networking and collaboration can also be influenced by HR through:

• Encouraging it through the appraisal systems,
• Defining jobs that include a requirement to for networking, and not just for sales jobs,
• Creating a culture where you pay for staff to attend networking events, as opposed to criticising them for ‘skiving off early’ to attend the latest HRINZ seminar.

7. Measuring What Matters

See comments above under section 2.  This is absolutely critical to the success of any business.

Get in the Driving Seat

As HR professionals, we need to get ourselves into the driving seat to increase productivity.  Together we can change the way we manage our most valuable asset, our staff.

Guest post by Lisa Mackay. Lisa is the Managing Director of HRtoolkit Ltd

Website www.hrtoolkit.co.nz