There's a movement afoot. Those of us participating regularly in social media are fully aware of it, since social media can be the microscope that quickly separates the authentic from the slight of hand.
The movement of transparency; to be a better me.
That's the case from individual to corporation. Gone are the days when we could hide behind untruth and bad behavior and skip the consequences.
Trust is the new currency and we no longer control the message.
Well, with the exception of US politics, but even these daily untruths seem to be catching up with them.
Shining the light on the here and now is all too easy; the only true way to differentiate is to be personally and socially responsible and accountable -- and to be prepared to face the consequences sooner than later if you're not.
For example, check out the offering from a new service called TransparentMe, where job-seekers can discover any skeletons in their closet before a potential employer does.
The public records provider allows candidates to perform an online criminal background check on themselves in a matter of days or even minutes – revealing any negative information that could keep them from landing their next job. With identity theft on the rise, the service can also serve as an alarm that one's identity has been compromised.
There are already dozens of services like this on the market.
Another HR supplier (that we work with) -- Zapoint -- promotes skill-based profiling, collaborative career management and transparent succession development, creating a symbiotic relationship between employee and employer. This is the future of talent management.
Then there's the recent guest article from Kevin Wheeler in John Sumser's HRExaminer titled Is HR Relevant and Does It Matter?:
The Way it Might Be
HR might instead accept that creative work now means collaborating, sharing, and allowing information and ideas to flow freely. Newer organizations are already using HR in a different way. While there are usually rules and policies, they are often much simpler and less “policed” than those of large organizations. Information is openly shared including salaries and bonuses. Employees are asked to recommend friends and colleagues as candidates for open positions. Recruiting and development become more the responsibility of managers than of some corporate office. Blogs and social networks form the basis of communication both within and outside the organizations and can be harnessed for recruiting candidates, on-boarding new employees, developing current employees and for sharing information.
Ah, the utopia of transparent personal and social responsibility...
To be a better me. To be a better leader. To be a better corporation. To more freely exchange ideas and talent and facilitate better internal and external communication.
To stand taller and more visible amongst your competitors. To have the transparency edge.
A recent article in Fortune titled Why doing good is good for business brings it all together under with the consulting firm of Los Angeles-based management guru, Dov Seidman. He's become the hottest adviser on corporate virtue to Fortune 500 companies.
Corporate virtue? Really?
A trained moral philosopher, Seidman has built a highly successful business on the theory that in today's wired and transparent global economy, companies that "outbehave" their competitors ethically will also tend to outperform them financially.
If you think it's a joke, "more than 400 companies, including Pfizer, Wal-Mart, and Procter & Gamble, have hired Seidman's firm, LRN, to analyze their corporate cultures, rewrite their codes of conduct, and give ethical-compliance training to their employees."
It's no joke.
The world has changed, Seidman argues, and winner-take-all strategies are obsolete. He contends that the rise of information technology has made good behavior more important because it has become increasingly hard to hide bad behavior. (Ask Wall Street.)
To be a better me. To be a better leader. To be a better corporation.
Can make you more profitable. Trust me.
Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)
Labels: business ethics, corporate social responsibility, corporate virtue, social media, transparency
There's a movement afoot. Those of us participating regularly in social media are fully aware of it, since social media can be the microscope that quickly separates the authentic from the slight of hand.