Unthrottle the go-to bottlenecks. Empower, train and fire.

Ever play nation ball? I loved it growing up. It was a dodge ball variant that really rocked with fast-paced action, mystery, misery, intrigue, redemption, success, failure and ultimate victory.

Like the workplace.

In nation ball (as in many games of my youth) there were usually these players:

• The Team Captains. The playground leaders who always picked the teams.
• The Go-To Guys and Gals. Those who are always picked in the first few rounds of team selection.
• The Expendable Crew Members. Those who had some nation ball skills, who aspired to be the go-to kids, but were known for getting picked off early on.
• The Pariahs. Those who stood on the sidelines because they were never picked. If they were, they were the first to go. Always.

This was the hierarchy. HR was made up of the teachers and playground aides, the watchdogs, who only cared about maintaining order and compliance; not a lot of T&D going on to facilitate better mad nation ball skills (or tetherball, or four square, or hopscotch, or kickball, or...).

It wasn't about "everybody's a winner" and "everybody gets to play". You either fought to be a go-to, or you remained expendable. Or you were a pariah.

Right or wrong those were the rules of the playground. Maybe the rules at your company today.

Sure, with all the talk of employee development and engagement and retention and the need to hold on to your talent, you'd think that wasn't the case.

But business is crazy-fast these days across industries and there's limited time to help the expendable crew members, and goodness gracious, the pariahs as well. So we try to ignore them. The focus is on the go-to's.

Leaders always go to the go-to's first. The ones who go above and beyond. Work early and work late. The ones who get things done, who help grow the business, who own the knowledge capital of your organization.

The bottlenecks.

Wait, what? Yes, the bottlenecks. The ones who slow down the crazy-fast, but not in a good way.

The go-to bottlenecks are the top talent we want to retain, but we're jeopardizing the business the way we treat them -- and we'll lose them someday.

There's a ton of chatter about these go-to folks having to do much more with much less and they want to jump ship no matter how cold the water.

And they can. Because you choke them.

What do we do? Unthrottle the go-to bottlenecks.

• Create formal and informal go-to learning networks for mentoring and career development.
• Empower and train the expendable crew members so as to develop more go-to's.
• (Just added -- jogged from my jog) Allow go-to's and expendables in training to dial up and down their roles and responsibilities.
• (Just added -- jogged from my jog) Recruit and hire those with go-to potential -- FT, PT, contractor, etc.
• Reward the unthrottled go-to's and empowered and trained expendable crew members.
• Don't be afraid to fire those who can't be empowered and developed.

Oh, and watch out for the --

*smack*

ball.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

The movement of transparency; to be a better me.

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!)

How much thought leadership does it take to turn on the HR Buyer light bulb?

That all depends, but it's a damn good question that Chris Twyman, Founder and CEO of Zapoint, asked at HRmarketer's first-ever CEO Networking Series in Boston, MA.

Tim Clifford, CEO and Founder of Workscape, was our very gracious host in a magical winter wonderland.

For me, that is. I don't have to live in snow like our Direct of Sales Rita Jackson does. I made her drive. (She's an amazing driver and a special thank you goes out to her brilliant organizing of this first of many future networking events.)

We were fortunate to have 13 captains of HR industry attend (my lucky number -- you can find them all below). I gave a presentation on social media and the business value therein, and I must admit, my apprehension elevated.

It's one thing to participate fully in social media, write and promote an eBook on the subject, blog about it regularly, give virtual workshops on it to the marketing teams of Sage and Thomas International, and talk regularly to HRmarketer clients and prospects about it.

But it's quite another to talk to 13 C-level execs about it face to face.

The good news? I did good (and learned what to improve on for the next one). The better news? The attendees spent quality time networking and exchanging ideas. The even better news? Over half the esteemed attendees are participating more and more in social media on behalf of their organizations, falling in line with my on-the-fly HR supplier survey I did last month:

• Over 50% of social media participants are CEO's, business owners and executive management.

The bestest news of all? We facilitated some great discussion including Chris's question at the top of this post (of course he didn't phrase it that way).

When does blogging and other social media activities translate to new business? Where's the tipping point?

It depends, but everyone agreed that social media is a viable marketing communications channel to:

• Thought leadership
• Share original content and news
• Share other's content and news
• Network and relationship build
• Listen and learn
• Facilitate better communication within their organization and without (creating brand ambassadors)

Social collaboration tools and services can also help with lead-nurturing programs and customer service (more on these soon).

And what have I said before? Fueling the face-to-face fire -- the innate calling to gather, meet and collaborate around similar ideas -- one of the oldest call-to-actions of the business world.

A very special thank you to:

• Our Host: Tim Clifford, CEO and Founder, Workscape
• Tim Driver, CEO, RetirementJobs.com
• Jim Flanagan, Business Development, BeneTemps
• Eric Friedman, Founder and President, eSkill
• Adam Goldberg, Founder and CEO, EnCompass Education Solutions
• Sam Gruenbaum, President, BeneTemps
• Ed Hurley-Wales, SVP Human Resources, Workscape
• Kimberly Kapner, CEO, Kapner Consulting
• Shafiq Lokhandwala, CEO, NuView Systems
• Scott Simpson, Partner and Director of IT, Cambria Consulting
• Chris Twyman, Founder and CEO, Zapoint
• Don Weintraub, Founder and President, Rainmaker Associates
• Bart Wendell, Founder and President, Wendell Management

Many more CEO networking events to come!

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

A Count that Counts: The Census is Coming! The Census is Coming!

A recent article from the Economist A count that counts: This year’s tally of America will help shape corporate strategy for a decade talks about how the 2010 census (a physical tally of everyone living in the country which takes places every 10 years as stipulated by the constitution) results will determine (1) the distribution of seats in Congress and (2) how about $400 billion in federal funds will get allocated.

The census also "constitutes the country’s biggest and most complete market-research survey…".

For human resource software and services vendors it is invaluable. We referenced the last census when outlining the human resource marketplace and we look forward to updating our overview of the HR marketplace when the 2010 data is available.

There was one particular quote in this Economist article that I found quite interesting - and correct.

"The 2010 census will permanently change marketing. When companies analyse the census data, they will see that cities, and even some neighbourhoods, are so diverse now that broad advertising campaigns are no longer suitable. Mass-market advertising will become extinct. Marketers will instead have to focus on reaching specific households." - Peter Francese, a demographer at Ogilvy & Mather.

Our recent Trends in HR Marketing survey HR Buyers’ Behavior 2009, What to Expect in 2010, touches on this fact. For many product categories in HR, mass marketing to all companies of all sizes and industries is still effective. We know this because we see many HR vendors benefiting from sending direct email campaigns to our list of 90,000 HR professionals.

But you can no longer draw broad based conclusions from any research that treats all employers equally and attempts to predict what the nations’ employers may or may not do. It can’t be done – there are too many micro-economies. Some companies in a particular region or in a particular niche industry may be growing like gangbusters while other regions or markets are hemorrhaging. This was evident in 2009. To get a true picture you must ask the same questions by geography and vertical market.

This presents some challenging, yet very interesting opportunities for the marketing departments of HR vendors in 2010. Plenty of growth opportunities exist – you just need to do a little work to find these opportunities and then allocate marketing and PR resources to exploit these opportunities - and tailor the message accordingly. What resonates with manufacturing companies in the South may be completely different than what resonates with similar companies in the West. Sounds obvious but many companies still deliver the same message to all prospects and miss opportunities.

We look forward to the Census 2010.

Evolve your workforce. And go easy on the time-traveling-sleep impaired.

I love fresh air. Especially when my body and mind are still west coast when I'm east coast chillin' (literally -- it's cold in Boston). Ack.

Yes, the fresh air came while I was working out in the hotel exercise room, listening to some sweet rock and watching CNN on mute.

It was a commercial from the folks at Think Beyond the Label featuring HR Manager Marie Benson.

Check it out.

I've seen the campaign ads online here and there but the public service announcement really filled me with pride and made me laugh.

My best friend has been paralyzed since 1984. He's an amazing artist.

• 54 million people with disabilities.
• 24 million veterans have disabilities.
• 2.2 million emerging college students disabilities.

Evolve your workforce.

And go easy on the time-traveling-sleep impaired.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now joinHRmarketer on Twitter!)

Social Communication and Community: Until we see the whites of their eyes

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at length with Bruce Kneuer (@BKneuer), social media research and intranet communications director at Kenexa.

Bruce works remotely and virtually most of the year. That can be a tough gig for folks, especially when the edges fringe along the path towards Jack Torrance and the Overlook Hotel.

But not Bruce. He loves his job and social media and is of sound mind and body (he's a runner).

Bruce and I connected via Twitter a while back and then when he participated in my on-the-fly social media survey for HR suppliers in January, he made a very astute observation and shared another great blog post with me:

I am more and more convinced that the success in using social media/social networking tools and approaches inside a firm will be correlated with the success a firm experiences with social media externally.

The blog post he referred to was Intercomm: how internal + external communications integration will become the new frontier. In it, the author Rohn Jay Miller states:

Now that the era of the Social Internet is upon us, social media will effect internal communications in two very powerful ways:

1. More and more people inside companies will be in contact with customers. We will see tens of thousands of employees talking to customers instead of hundreds. A lot of this will happen in what we refer to as real time– in-stores, online. This means all those employees need to be on the same page with each other. How does this happen?
2. Communications inside companies will organically rely on more and more on social media frameworks for communicating within the enterprise—peer to peer, one to many, many to one. So the CEO may still send out a quarterly message, but it’s going to be in a much, much larger mass of social communications. This is also going to dramaticaly increase between companies that are strategic partners. How does this evolve?

I remember when I worked at another marketing firm in the late 1990's and one of our largest clients was Hewlett-Packard. At the time they had a very sophisticated intranet communications portal (I'm sure most high-tech companies did at the time), and any time there was an important company-wide message from Lew Platt, there was an Orwellian announcement over the loudspeakers worldwide and Lew's would be heard loud and clear. Unless it was pre-taped video, it was usually audio, but that was right around the corner anyway. Also, any associated materials would be delivered via the intranet and e-mail. If you didn't know what was going on at HP, then you either didn't work there or you lived under a rock in the gardens outside the buildings (and meant you didn't work there).

So that's what Bruce and I spoke about last week -- the fact that effective internal communication must be facilitated and nurtured before an effective and somewhat unified external social media communications strategy can be executed successfully.

Just read about what IBM has done of late. Pretty fascinating. At IBM, it’s about losing control.

What Works: IBM’s Culture for Social Media Innovation

1. Stand back - Have guidelines, but don’t police from above. Employees tend to self-regulate.
2. Involve employees in SM planning - Let employees write the guidelines and they’ll feel empowered.
3. Give them the tools—and a green light - Not every company can create their own tools. Look for powerful social media tools and encourage employees to use them to do their jobs better.
4. Use crowd-sourcing - Bring together employees, clients, partners and friends for powerful idea-sharing.

There are social media communication guidelines but the theme at IBM and other similar enterprises is personal responsibility, self-regulation and the ability to collaborate with others.

We should be learning this crap by the time we're in high school and college -- personal and social responsibility 101 -- but whatever the case companies big and small can also embed this corollary in their on-boarding curriculum and training materials.

I would say that most companies and human resource pros agree with the fact that effective internal communication increases employee engagement and retention, while effective external communication increases customer service value and overall business value.

The word on the street is that a few HR suppliers are working hard to roll-out social software in their suites, but even then, we'll be years from mass adoption and utilization.

According to Gartner Reveals Five Social Software Predictions for 2010 and Beyond:

Long term, enterprises will realize that social media is not a "hit or miss" activity naturally prone to high failure rates, and that a calculated approach to social media solution delivery must be an IT competency. At that point, post 2012, the social software market growth will accelerate as will the overall impact of social media on business and society.

Bruce and I agreed on all that. We also also agreed that at some point social media tools internally and externally must be able to connect individuals virtually, from anywhere in the world, in real-time...

Until we see the whites of their eyes.

Because in the end, that's what it's all about with you, your employees, your customers, your world -- fueling the face-to-face fire.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

Beyond Mediocrity: Why quality content with a chewy nougat center makes for great story

I love great story. Not just good ones -- great ones. Unfortunately there's too much sift through each and every day and our prefrontal cortices can't process that much information.

Especially when most of it's crap.

That's a grumbling I'm hearing more and more in the HR marketplace and beyond is that everyone and their third cousins are cobbling together shoddy marketing content and pushing it on the street, usually heavily promotional and lacking best-practices substance.

We do our best to advise HR suppliers to develop and release quality content for marketing purposes -- to further visibility, traffic, leads and improved SEO -- giving something to the reader that they can apply to their companies today whether they buy any products or services, or not.

We don't always win that battle but we do our damndest.

And then there's one of our latest client downloads from LeadershipIQ that does just that, generating:

• An unprecedented 12% click-through rate
• Nearly 700 downloads in all, in less than one week

Amazing.

Then there's the issue of whether to require registration or not, which LeadershipIQ did require -- but only requiring an e-mail address, like a newsletter sign-up.

How the heck can you follow up aggressively with leads with only an e-mail address?

You can, but remember the difference between cold marketing and shutting up to sell me stuff marketing.

But again, it all comes back to the quality content with a chewy nougat center -- here's an excerpt from LeadershipIQ's Why 5-Point Scales Don’t Work—and Other Problems With Employee Surveys:

Almost every employee survey in the world asks some version of the question, “Overall, I am satisfied with company ABC.” The only thing that will remain untapped in that question is the information you really need.

Let’s imagine you score a perfect 7 out of 7 on this question (or even 5 out of 5 on your current survey). What does that really tell you? It says, “Absolutely, I am satisfied.” It does NOT say, “I will drip blood, sweat and tears to achieve this extraordinary goal in order to feel the addictive swell of pride and achievement.”

It can’t say that because you only asked if people felt satisfied. And being satisfied is a mediocre feeling when compared with the life-altering fulfillment that comes from giving 100 percent.

How wonderfully visceral is that?

I will drip blood, sweat and tears to achieve this extraordinary goal in order to feel the addictive swell of pride and achievement.

I'm full. They are my new favorite client.

But I love you all. Really, I do.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

REMOVE ME FROM YOUR LIST

A senile cat that wails for hours pre-dawn and breaks the family sleep cycle makes for cranky folk, especially when pregnant mama and toddler daughter have colds.

And then there's all the crap spam email I have to sort through first thing every morning.

This morning is no exception (with the cat and toddler still wailing in the background). I'm really grumpy and must call out Avon.

Why Avon compared to all the other spam I get about Russian wives, Viagra and monetary transfer offers?

Because I asked them to remove me from their mailing list. Three times. And they still haven't done it.

The reason I got on their mailing list is because of their support of domestic violence awareness and other causes.

I receive 3-5 emails per week from Avon and I do not wear make-up. Really, I don't. None of the emails I receive from them are about my interests.

We manage a list of over 80K HR decision makers available to HR suppliers and understand what it takes to stay compliant and keep the opt-out rate as low as possible. Same for our house list that we market to.

Note to all of you out there who manage list rentals and/or your house marketing lists:

• Be CAN-SPAM compliant. (Read it, study it, know it.)
• Make sure your campaign is relevant to the audience your contacting. Don't send emails about make-up deals to me.
  
• Don't overwhelm me with tons of calls-to-action and pretty spangle visuals. Limit it to 1-3 with a clear primary CTA.
• Watch the frequency of your email campaigns. If you're hitting the same group with the same or similar messages, send no more than 1-2 per week. Two is probably too many still.
  
• Other suggestions from our blog archives.
• And if I ask you to remove me from your list -- REMOVE ME FROM YOUR LIST.

Thank you. *sigh*

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)