Sunday 31 August 2014

Creating Social Media Identity @TechHR


It all started with some colorful bean bags and a cup of tea. A perfect setting for some interesting conversations. Isn’t  it?

I sipped that perfectly brewed cup of tea and was amazed to see some savvy product demos around me with a perfect blend of HR need and Technology support. This was the  ‘Unconference’ area at the Tech HR hosted by People Matters, where we were waiting for one  of the most awaited session with Social Media guru, Gautam Ghosh. Have been following Gautam Ghosh on twitter for long and this was my first experience to have live interaction with him. Unconference as the word suggests was an informal setting for some direct interactions with the speakers and that definitely made all the more interesting . What an apt place to learn from the experiences of some aspiring entrepreneurs and HR stalwarts.

Gautam opened his discussion with quizzing people a bit on social media and for once I had to stop tweeting and start being more attentive towards it. I of course didn’t wanted to be caught off guard and this is what I could capture from his thoughts on “How to make Social Media Identity”

“Twitter makes you celebrity” : Yes imagine the fun of having 1k+ followers and flaunting the same. Twitter not just made this possible but also allows reaching the unreachable. Where physical media would simply add to the odds this one made it quick and unbelievably smooth and much higher on connectivity.

“Social Media is the new customer care”: He shared an anecdote about how a popular telecom player sorted out a pending issue in record time with just a simple ‘tweety complain’. Social media accessibility has given an edge to customer and this for sure has been quite a trend setter. Thanks to the power of information speed that no one can be taken for granted. Not only does it affect the employer branding but also positions the organization differently. What probably couple of calls or an email could not do, now the solution is just a tweet away. Social Media is making organizations  walk on tight rope whether to lose one customer or stop many others from even trying their products.
“It’s a Personal learning Management system”: Social Media has an immense potential for self learning. It’s about learning from your own fraternity and imbibing knowledge for good. Learning can be through medium like webinars, twitter chats, Facebook groups, and subject matter blogs. Infact he mentioned how MOOCs have added a new dimension to social learning and now global learning is just part of daily dose.

“Use Google news for better”: Specific to twitter it’s all about give and take. Learning is incomplete without sharing and here is Gautam’s quick tip. Subscribe Google news and share the relevant topics with the followers. Though it can be very overwhelming but using hoot suite helps lots in managing time yet connecting with the best.

There was much more which he discussed like how blogging gives a voice and platform to an introvert personality and how everyone has his own choice towards different social media. I could have not agreed more on all what he said and coming from him made so much more sense. I am thankful to people matters to give me an opportunity to connect with some very interesting people and learn about how Technology has impacted the age old HR domain.

We all look forward to see a future where people management is more tech savvy without losing the real Human!!

 

 

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Saturday 16 August 2014

Are your policies the next ‘Planning Commission’?


15th August 2014 marked India’s 68th Independence and our family of three was all set to tune in to Mr. Narendra Modi’s first Independence Day speech. Not to mention the man has his own charisma and has his own carrot and stick style while he shared his economic agenda with the country.
No No…this post is not about Mr. Modi nor even close to our country’s patriotic spirit but it’s about what made him scrap age old ‘Planning Commission’ which for sure was quite relevant at its inception but then 64 years were enough to make it look age old. And what is interesting that even our organizations operate similarly, with archived policies and procedures in this era when Gen Y is entering the workplace.

So what goes wrong while Human Resources still tries to put its best foot forward while creating the best of their policies.

Sadly our policy are made with intension to facilitate changes but mostly becomes road blocks in the overall scenario. It’s important to keep the objective well defined and should be achievable rather than becoming just another HR thing. After all it’s the people whom you want to touch without losing the human touch.

Change is good. A timly and proactive audit of what needs to be changed in policies will help avoid lot of complications later. So why wait for a sexual harassment case to come up before creating a committee to handle such scenarios. Mostly we ignore the initial signals or rather wait for the stage when there is no other better option but then this can be one decision making weakness which can raise unnecessary grievances.

Keep It Simple!! And that would make its more sorted. Creating policies which are confusing or verbose only irks the employees who are looking for solutions and not documentation. It’s the job of Human Resources to refer Laws and Compliances and created user friendly and crisp policies which are self explanatory and non debatable.

Are you talking enough? Well creating a policy is just one part of it but communicating the same to make it more effective plays indeed an important role. Hence care should be taken to release versions even with the most minute changes and same to be communicated keeping employee confidence in the system high.
I am sure Mr. Modi had a far larger thought behind bringing new soul to the old body but he for sure motivated me enough for this take on our age old Policy Frameworks. For sure as the organizations grow so would the country and tha