Friday 14 May 2010

HR – evolving and connecting…

 

   Earlier in the week I asked HRevolution: What’s next?

My second answer to this question deals with the session at the end of HRevolution (#HRevolution): how do we extend the conversation out of the echo chamber?

I think it’s an important point.  Now I love meeting other blog / twitterarti, especially from the HR field, and you’ll find photos of most of those I’ve met on this site.  But then, for me, this enjoyment is mostly about wanting to meet people that I feel I’ve got a virtual relationship with (one based on the joint use of social media), rather than any deep desire to talk about social media with them.

So, where I can, I like to mix my social media linked with more generic networking.  It’s one reason the Connecting HR tweet-ups (#ConnectingHR) don’t require people to be currently using social media (other than the few suppliers bringing practitioners along as well).

And it’s also important if we want to use these sorts of events to impact on the way that HR is done – particularly if we are after revolution rather than evolution (I do) – see this post on connected, innovative crowds.

This is one reason that the forthcoming Connecting HR Un-conference (#CHRU) in the UK will focus a bit more broadly – including non-social media users, and including social media on the agenda (as one of the biggest factors impacting on HR right now), but focusing on a much broader agenda than this too.

Of course, to enable social learning, it’s still important that there’s some form of community there – something to enable the formation of ‘learning teams’.  So participants should have something in common and would ideally some form of proto-relationships (real or virtual) with each other too.

Also reflecting more about this need for something in common – I think this needs to be a common desire to share and learn.  And I do think this is one additional reason why networking with other social medi-arti is so much fun – these are all people who are willing to share (or they wouldn’t be using social media).

This raises two questions to me:

  1. How do attract people to attend if they’re not using social media (part of the reason I think other events focus on social media so much is that the attendees have all heard about the event on social media)?
    • My hope here is that the people who have or are attending Connecting HR tweet ups will act as ambassadors for us for this – putting the word out in the real-world as well as in the virtual one.
  2. How do ensure we ensure attendees are all willing to share and learn?
    • Actually, I don’t think this should be too difficult – it’s one of the benefits of working in HR.  HR practitioners may not always be great networkers, but they do generally know how to socialise, and the benefits of this.

 

It should work – we just need to get the powerpoints out of the way and allow connecting and relating to fill the space they leave.

 

It would be great to get some feedback on these rather random thoughts (particularly from those who have attended ConnectingHR tweets-ups, TRU or HRevolution etc…).

 

Also see my other HRevolution related posts:

 

And Gareth’s recent post on Connecting HR:

 

Photo credit: akustik

 

  • Consulting - Research - Speaking  - Training -  Writing
  • Strategy  -  Talent  -  Engagement  -  Change and OD
  • Contact  me to  create more  value for  your business
  • jon  [dot] ingham [at] strategic [dash] hcm [dot] com

.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Please add your comment here (email me your comments if you have trouble and I will put them up for you)