Are CEO’s jumping on the Social Media Bandwagon?

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I continue to have clients come to me asking “Our company understands the importance of being in on social media / and doing ‘social business’, but how do we sell this to our CEO?”

That’s a great question. Trying to convince the C-Suite can be quite the challenge.

Just recently, IBM did a study of some 1,700 CEOs worldwide and reported findings that many are now seeing social media as a key enabler of collaboration and innovation.

According to the IBM CEO study, the companies that outperform their peers are 30% more likely to identify what IBM called “openness” as a key way to influence the growth of their organization. Openness in the IBM lexicon means embracing social media and better use of collaboration. The idea is to a certain extent to “tap into the collective intelligence of an organization to devise new ideas and solutions for increased profitability and growth,” IBM stated.

Some of the interesting items in the IBM CEO survey included:

To forge closer connections with customers, partners and a new generation of employees in the future, CEOs will shift their focus from using email and the phone as primary communication vehicles to using social networks as a new path for direct engagement. Today, only 16% of CEOs are using social business platforms to connect with customers, but that number is poised to spike to 57% within the next three to five years. While social media is the least utilised of all customer interaction methods today, it stands to become the No. 2 organizational engagement method within the next five years.

The report states that more than half of CEOs (53%) are planning to use technology to facilitate greater partnering and collaboration with outside organizations, while 52% are shifting their attention to promoting internal collaboration (we shall see).

The one thing that CEO’s are always worried about are the risks. Openness increases vulnerability, and trying to figure out how to proactively prepare for the unknown, is quite scary. Social networks can provide a worldwide stage to any employee interaction, positive or negative, and for organizations to operate effectively in this kind of environment, it takes educating our employees on the organisation’s key values, culture, and mission.

When CEO’s think in terms of “collaborative innovation” they are not thinking in terms of delegating this to their HR leaders. According to the above study, the business executives who were polled stated they are interested in leading by example.

The study showed that these CEOs regarded interpersonal skills of collaboration (75%), communication (67%), creativity (61%) and flexibility (61%) as key drivers of employee success to operate in a more complex, interconnected environment.

A majority (71% in fact) of global CEOs regard technology as the No.1 factor to impact an organization’s future over the next three years - considered to be a bigger change agent than shifting economic and market conditions.

Of course the ole “ROI” question always comes up, and rightly so. Trying to figure out how to track data online, on mobile phones and social media sites, when you can’t use the traditional marketing analytics – is something that causes hesitation. However, to remain relevant in a technological environment is something that CEOs must consider when thinking in terms of engaging not only their customers, but their employees as well. And as Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice-President of IBM Global Business Services stated:

“Rather than repeating the familiar lament about de-personalizing human relationships, this view leans heavily in favor of deepening them through the use of dynamic social networks to harness collective intelligence to unlock new models of collaboration.”

In the end it comes down to the “Trust Factor.” Face-to-face, the physical contact, creates and maintains trust on a small-scale, but is the most effective. Social networks are cost-effective technologies that expand wider transparency and trust, both inside and outside the organization. With employers and their employees, as well as their customers. They drive sharing, accountability and loyalty.

Download the full IBM – CEO and Social Media Study.

#FollowFriday – ChicagoHRCoach – Barb Buckner (Make the Connection)

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Aloha! I hope you all had a fantastic week. I’ve been on a much needed vacation and am still trying to adjust to the time difference. No, I didn’t go to some fancy place like Italy or Paris, just southern California. And just when you get used to being on the West Coast with their time difference and fast pace, it’s time to return to the Midwest and try to recover.

It was so much fun. No dogs to tend to, no responsibilities, someone to cook for me and mainly staying poolside. Oh, and eating! We can’t leave that out.

Back to Reality

Anywho, today I want to mention a fellow Chicagoan, Blogger and HR Practictioner, Barb Buckner.

Somewhere along The Twitter Barb and I connected some time ago and have tried to remain engaged. I wanted to highlight her over here on the Cafe on my Follow Friday series and perhaps one day we’ll be able to get her in on a video interview, but this will have to suffice for now.

About Barb

Sometimes, in our journey we start at point A and wind up at point B without it ever being in our original plan. I know several of my HR friends who never meant to wind up in this field but through some sort of craziness, wound up there nevertheless. It’s called evolving. Hopefully, we all are continuing to evolve.

That’s Barb’s story. When she started her career in sales she never thought she would end up focusing on human resources.  She always had a knack for listening and motivating even the most stubborn of people but it wasn’t until she helped start a company after a layoff that she felt she finally found her way.

Barb is a seasoned HR professional with over 13 years of experience across a wide variety of industries including: banking, retail, pharmaceuticals, professional services and real estate.  Her main strengths and focus have been on recruiting and employee relations with a specialized approach to both. Her in-depth experience recruiting as a HR Manager and as an Agency Recruiter have provided her with a unique insight into how sourcing occurs on both sides of the table.

She’s worked with start-ups, family-owned businesses, small businesses and nationwide corporations which have all been a part journey in providing her with the experience and expertise in which to help her share ideas and strategies with colleagues and job seekers looking to break into the HR arena.

Where to Find Her

She is currently HR Manager for Crowley’s Yacht Yard Lakeside, Chicago’s second largest marine retailer and writes on a majority of HR subjects over at ChicaogHRCoach. She is @barbbuckner over on The Twitter and you can find her over on LinkedIn as well.

Off the HR subject, she is passionate about PAWS Chicago.

Do yourself a favor, and connect with Barb. She’s sure to keep you fully engaged.

Hey, and have a super fun Memorial Day Weekend!

Social Media – It ain’t all about YOU!

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Click play below :)

Do you have anything else to add?

I’m on vacation, leave a message :)

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As you’re getting this post, I am in the sky flying to southern California for a weeks vacation. My husband and I have not had a vacation together in about 3 years or so. We usually take them separate because of our two dogs.

This time, we’ve decided to have a couple house and dog sit while we’re away. We need it like a dead man needs a coffin. (That’s a southern saying)

So, I have set up a few posts for while I’m away, but you’re on your own today.

Go have a fabulous weekend. I’ll catch ya on the flip-side.

Help! My Employees are playing GAMES at Work

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I recently wrote about Using Games, Sims and Virtual Worlds at Work that gave some pretty stiff stats on how many of your employees are playing games on their smartphones and computers at work.

With that being said, why not incorporate games into product development, employee engagement, and utilize technology to drive it home?

Here’s a little video I put together that gives a few great examples of using GAMES to create comraidere and engagement in the workplace.

What has your experience been when incorporating these types of EE tools at work? I’d love to know.

For more information on these companies: Wizard Studios and Go Game Office

Photo Credit: Above and Beyond KM

MILF’s (Mother’s I’d Like To Fire) in the Workplace

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Here is a great post from the archives – I think we’ve all dealt with these issues one way or another. Happy Mother’s Day!

I love the new show “Up All Night.” It is witty, relate-able, and down-right silly at times. This episode I watched was a humdinger and this is where the term MILF’s (Mothers I’d Like To FIRE) came from. A simple and creative play on words.

The premise of the show where Christina Applegate plays the assistant to a Talk Show host (Oprah wanna-be) and is a new mother herself who has gone back to work after maternity leave. Her attorney husband has taken leave from his job to be a stay-at-home dad.

The whole episode was about a new hire played by Molly Shannon, a single mom who was a walking disaster at everything she tried doing and who couldn’t get anything done at work because of her constant interruptions with her children. Christina Applegate’s character could not seem to find the balls to fire her, according to the talk show hosts’ wishes, because she too, was a mother dealing with these same issues.

We’ve all dealt with these kinds of employees or been in this position ourselves, where we’ve had to take time off for taking care of our children whether they were ill, taking them to Doctor appointments, the babysitter wigged out on us or whatever. It can be very disrupting to the workplace. Sometimes employees just can’t get a handle on these things and make it work. They quickly become MILF’s.

I’ve seen it and I’m sure you’ve seen it. It ultimately ends badly just as I explained in this previous post: Balancing Work and Family: Oh Pshaw! In the post I share how when I went on maternity leave I received a call from my boss on a conference call with all the other managers and even the President of the Company telling me “I could come back to work, but not in my same position.” I was being demoted. I felt penalized for taking time off to have my kid.

A new Census report shows that even in our 21st Century, some women STILL don’t even have access to paid maternity leave.

Some 51% of working women who had their first birth between 2006 and 2008 received paid leave (either maternity leave, sick leave or vacation). That’s up slightly from 49% between 2001 and 2005 and from just 42% between 1996 and 2000, the Census study found.

Okay, so about 42% of women did have access to unpaid maternity leave.

The likelihood that women will be able to take paid time off to have children varies dramatically with age, education and hours worked. Only 24% of women under age 22 took paid leave compared with 61% of women 25 and older. Full-time workers (56%) were more likely to use paid-leave benefits than part-time workers (21%), and college graduates were more likely to take maternity leave than those with less education.

So, what about the recession? Some companies are cutting back on paid family leave and many employees are losing access to paid leave altogether due to layoffs.

The Census report, which can be found here, also found that:

• About 22% of first time mothers quit their jobs – 16% while they were pregnant and another 6% by 12 weeks after their child’s birth.

• Eight out of 10 mothers who worked during their pregnancy returned to work within a year of their child’s birth to the same employer. About seven out of 10 of these women returned to a job at the same pay, skill level and hours worked per week.

• Some 82% of working women worked within a month of their child’s birth, compared to 73% 20 years ago.

OH, and we haven’t even discussed breastfeeding accommodations – ugh!

So how have you handled these kinds of MILF’s in your world? Or how you turned them into MILF’s of another kind (Mothers I’d Like to Mentor). I’d love to hear.