This post originally ran on TalentCulture and is being shared on this site with the permission of TalentCulture.  The contents herein will be part of the discussion on #TChat (8-10-2011). TChat is a Twitter chat that takes place every Wednesday from 7-8 PM EST.  Click Here to view the original post. 

For anyone that can remember the time that a latest and greatest technology emerged to bring business to the next level, we can say that it is profoundly interesting the impact that these advancements actually make on companies.

Some can probably remember the days before email and before cell phones when letters were either typed by hand and traveling sales people had to actually stop at a pay phone to verify an appointment or call home to check in.

More than ever management need to be watching technology trends and making sure their organization is equipped.

Times are changing, the proliferation of technology is moving faster than ever, and businesses are the ones that are benefiting.  At least they should be!

There are many ways that technology is leading to better business practices.  There are systems for managing customers, accounting, communications, and operations.  We are connected 24×7 if we so choose and we are able to reach all ends of the world instantly via the click of a button.

As a proponent of successful businesses being comprised of people that use technology and not just technology alone, I believe that nothing in business may be affected by emerging technology than Human Resources.  Recruiting, talent development, and employee retention are all seeing a significant boost based upon what advances in technology have to offer.

Two of the specific technologies that are revolutionizing talent and professional development more than any are IP (Internet Protocol) Based Communications such as Skype, VoIP, and Video Conferencing as well as the rapid emergence of Social Media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+).

Let’s take a look across the scope of Talent Management and explore how the aforementioned technologies as well as a few others are facilitating success for so many companies.

Recruiting New Talent

It used to be a newspaper ad or a sign in the window.  Your audience was narrow and your options were thin.  It was difficult to reach the best talent leaving positions to be filled by less than ideal candidates.

• Communications – With the ability to inexpensively bring employees in via the network  either by voice, video, or perhaps a combination such as Webex, employees can now be sourced from and potentially located anywhere.  Productivity tools allow companies to hire the BEST candidate from any location and get them integrated with the team whether they are near or far.
• Social Media – Depending on the specifics of the job, talent can be sought through massive global social networks such as Linked In, Facebook, and Twitter.  These networks allow a help wanted ad to reach millions of users who may or may not be actively seeking employment.  Recruiting and searching for talent has also never been easier due to profiles, recommendations, and other affiliations that can be easily found online using Social Media.  As an aside, Social Media has also helped many companies decide who not to hire.

Talent Development

It used to be a quarterly or yearly trip to headquarters for remote employees and or classroom learning for those already in town.  Coordinating training was intensive and time consuming.  With technology advances now learning can be routine, meaningful, and completed on demand.

• Communications – Similar to the recruiting process the continued education of employees can be accomplished using technology tools.  Webinars, Distance Learning, and E-Learning platforms all pave the way for continued education for employees regardless of where they are located.  On top of being able to create content and have employees learn and develop on demand, it also helps companies to utilize global resources to provide the education.
• Social Media – Intranets have existed for companies for some time however they were rarely used all that effectively.  With professional usage of social platforms employees can learn from one another as well as competitors by following, reading, and embracing the information that is widely available.  Content is created and shared regularly and it allows company talent to keep their finger on the pulse of the industry and any important changes within.

Employee Retention

It has been discussed to no end the impact that turnover has on a business.  Whether near or far from headquarters, companies need to focus on how they can keep people satisfied, growing, and engaged.  In the past when companies would hire remote employees they oft felt isolated and/or disconnected from the organization.  With emails and phone calls perhaps being the only regular communication eventually the employee may choose to be with an organization where they feel more involved.  Technology has changed that, and if used correctly it can assist the organization with retention allowing it to focus on strategy with key employees rather than on replacing them.

• Communications – Hearing a voice on the line is fine, it is practical, but like long distance relationships in life, eye contact means a lot.  With offerings from Free (Skype) to immersive telepresence costing millions ( Cisco, Polycom) and everything in between companies and their employees can now sit across the table and make eye contact with the click of a mouse.  Now as easy as a phone call, video can be accomplished and the quality is really good.  Video is not only beneficial for the employee, but also for the company as it forces focus and regular collaboration (We all know how easy it can be to multi-task on the phone).  Another item that is critical to many employees is flexibility, with tools that allow productivity anywhere and everywhere, (pending signal) companies can be more flexible with their resources allowing both parties  to benefit.
• Social Media – Social is a medium for even smaller companies to build their brand and create an identity for their employees. This effort can often aid in the development of company community and in some cases successful out of work friendships.  While peoples out of work activities generally don’t bare much success for the organization, happy people tend to generate more productivity.  People that feel connected to their brand and feel that they are a part of something special tend to work harder and drive greater results.  Social Media is a growing vehicle for accomplishing this.

For as long as business has been business, companies have only been as good as their people.  In almost all cases where a great product or service fails it isn’t the product or service at all, rather it is those behind it.  With emerging communication technology and proper social media integration you have the chance to be ahead of the curve.

Now technology of course isn’t all free, and choosing the technologies that are best for your organization may take some work, however, it is time well spent.   You can all but assume that the competition are looking at all the options too, some are integrating, some are watching and waiting, and you can only hope that a few are oblivious.  Nevertheless, technology will continue to advance making companies faster, smarter, and of course full of better talent.

The question is, are you embracing it, or are you hoping to ride to prosperity on the tired old horse that got you to where you are today.

IMAGE VIA hank grebe

I went to your Social Media Training and all I got was this stupid T-Shirt

You turbo tweet, post like mad on Facebook, G+ ad infinitum, myspace the song in your heart, and Foursquare your little stalker-heart out and I watch you spread the good word of Engagement.

So, impressed by your enthusiasm for connection,  I follow you and friend you. I watch you with the hope of gaining some enlightenment around how to utilize engagement in social media, trusting that you’ll elucidate on how to build “The Brand”. Yet, all I seem to experience is tired, overgeneralized, and unimaginative rhetoric.

First, let’s stipulate that a social media expert you are NOT if you have 7 Twitter followers and 9 friends on Facebook.  You are what you eat and if you’re  proclaiming yourself a social media expert with those numbers then you must eating a steamy pile o’… well, that is a meal you must eat alone.

I’m talking about the real pundits. Those with tens (or hundreds) of thousands of followers, likes, circles, and connections. Those who publish well-respected and oft-perused books; those speaking on panels about social media; those who are charging people a lot of money to hear what they have to say on this New Media.

Those pundits who know that ROI is nearly impossible to define in Social Media yet know that the Unicorn for Marketing Executives is to be able to create a return, or at least some substantive gain, from the social efforts.

With that said, allow me to be the first to raise my hand and say I want more from the leaders of the Social Media Revolution.

Considering the reality that Social Media is becoming, and will ultimately be, “The Way” to reach people 24/7 for both business and personal, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this new media is pretty darn important.

When I hear from the real thought leaders that Social Media is the same as real life, I think: “Engagement”.  I think: “Branching out and extending your network”.  I want to really learn about making meaningful connections with people to translate those relationships into something reciprocally beneficial.

“Engagement”

“Branching out and extending your network”

These are goals toward which I aim everyday that I spend in the social media landscape. I work to connect with new people and to appreciate, more significantly, the people with whom I have already connected. I want to build something meaningful and I understand that every relationship is unique. I’m no Social Media Rockstar, I’m just Dan.

For the pundits, the legends, the authors, and the influential; I guess I’m trying to figure out what you mean by social engagement? It’s an genuine curiosity; when I watch you do social media most of you just talk to each other. It seems that you make very little effort to connect outside your circle of elite and, for me, that doesn’t pass the sniff test.

If Engagement is the perfume of social media, then why do so many of you stink so badly? Pun Intended …

When I first met him, or shall I say first tweeted him I thought the latter.  He continuously popped into various chats such as Leadership Chat or Ungeeked and would just pounce on chatters like a pitbull on a trespasser. If it was okay to curse I would have just called him an @$$. (hopefully everyone can read that)

While I wasn’t fond of his behavior, it didn’t really bother me much. At least not until he did it to me.

I had only observed his behavior from afar until one Tuesday evening in leadership chat I became the honorary recipient.  On that particular night we were discussing managing and leading personnel and I was chiming in with my wisdom.  While I and several others were engaging he decided to question one of my comments. (I wish I could remember the exact one, but let’s just say it was one that I was quite proud of)

I literally stopped in my tracks and thought…

Who in the world is this Dan Perez and what gives him the right to question my thinking.  So I responded, we debated, and afterward, it was strange but we connected.  In fact we have built an ongoing relationship filled with meaningful spats that help me more clearly consider a wide number of things I do/say/share.  Perhaps I reciprocate for him, but who knows….

This spark that Dan brings to the stream is a form of “Social Realism,” and it made me realize 2 things. First, I should embrace his “True Authenticity” and second there is an awful lot of proverbial “Sucking Up” on Twitter (And on other Social Platforms for that matter).

The epiphany from all of this? I now realize that I have had just about enough of all of the Social Pandering.

(Quickly Defined: Social Pandering is the lack of courage to provide real meaningful feedback to low quality content/ideas.)

Look, I am all about being polite, diplomatic, engaging, and for the most part kind (Ask around it is true). But at some point enough is enough.  Sooner or later we have to risk our Social Perception and put our “True” thoughts out on the table.

Don’t we all stand to benefit from real feedback even if it doesn’t always feel good?

It isn’t possible that we are all this nice all of the time.  And it is likely that some of, if not much of the content we share really is good.  However, when it isn’t, SOMETHING must be said right?

I know for certain that it doesn’t really help us if we are given constant positive reinforcement for the sharing of thoughtless or poor quality content.  It is this one way street that leads to the perpetual output of low quality content and the regurgitation of quotes and ideas that weren’t good in the first place.

In fact this sort of validation of mediocrity or worse may in fact be a big problem with society today.  (This warrants another blog in itself – Takers?)

Not long ago I wrote a post for 12 Most about the similarities between Twitter and High School.  I discussed some of the norms of high school that are often visible on Twitter.  While farce to some extent,  it was inspired by truth and observation of peoples behavior on Twitter.  Based on the several thousand views and shares it received, I am confident that I wasn’t the only one that felt this way.

Only thing is, in High School there was a better chance that you would be put in your place if you said something stupid.  In the Social world hidden behind our screens many of us are afraid to say what we really think.

Just to be perfectly clear.  I by no means think that great content shouldn’t be shared. Nor do I suggest being rude or insensitive just to prove a point.  Rather I’m just trying to provoke the thought process around needless promotion and reckless encouragement.  Moreover, just saying we need to be “Real.”

To conclude I offer some thoughts on this.

• Perhaps everyone really does feel so strongly that the quality of all of this content is just fantastic and that everyone is on the ball. In that case carry on.
• Perhaps we are too lazy to pay attention to what we share and we just give the reinforcement because it is easier than doing the work
• Perhaps we are too afraid of the fall out of being real so we choose to take the path of least resistance. Rather just fit in as opposed to stand out.

Or, Perhaps we could all stand to learn from my friend Dan Perez.  While it may or may not be true that Dan is a provocateur, a trouble maker, or a jerk, there is no debate that he is real.  And sometimes, if even for a moment, being real may be more important than social coddling.

It seems lately there has been a tremendous amount of discussion on auto-curation and whether or not it is a genuine form of Social Media.

I decided that, as an admitted non-expert in the realm of Social Media, it is important for me to chime in on this debate because I have an opinion and therefore it must be shared (Sensing my sarcasm?).

Before I share my personal thoughts on the matter, I want to provide a bit of background about the root from which this debate sprouted.  At this point, there seem to be two sides to the conversation and, I suppose you could say, a third side of indifference.

Side 1 – Free Choice:  On this side of the argument, the premise is that your online presence is yours to do with  what you choose.  If you want to auto tweet content and curate content, even when you are not there, then that is fine.  If people don’t like it, the beauty is they can choose to not follow or pay attention to what you are sharing.  This side tends to be comprised of busy executive and entrepreneurs who understand the value of Social Media but, unfortunately, lack the time to be as active as required to fully engage, personally.

Side 2 – Social Purity:  This side of the argument declares that Social Media must be done in the present and nothing should ever be shared unless you are sharing it in real time. Therefore, scheduled tweets, blog tribes, or other methods of “Absentee Sharing” must be avoided, at all costs.  If you commit the faux paux of auto sharing then you are deemed “Unpure” and you must repent your sins or be forever relegated to the role of Social Media Spinster/Novice/Butcher or other name to be determined.  This particular side of the argument seems to be made up of a small community of Social Media users who believe in high level of engagement and generally a very small audience because time needs to be spent on each and every item shared.

As I said, there is a large group that doesn’t care whatsoever so, by default, probably lend themselves to the first group.

The Answer: Okay, it isn’t an answer, rather an opinion, but if you can’t tell from the above, I choose free choice.  The caveat is that I don’t really care if you are for social purity; I just care if you invest energy in judging, berating, or brow beating those that don’t agree with you (by the way, this applies no matter what side of the argument you are on).

The fact here is that Social Media is very much brand marketing.  In many cases it is “Your” brand and you should have the choice how to manage it.  If your method is direct selling (small and closely held engagement) then great!  If you are a TV advertisement or Billboard (Broad sharing and promoting) then that is great too.  I think there is room for all types in the world of social media.  I will friend, connect, follow, and add those that I choose; others are welcome to do the same.

Bottom line: There is no right or wrong way to do Social Media.  Only your way.  But just remember, when you choose “The Way” you have to live with the consequences for better or for worse.

So what is your way?

In short, the premise behind tips one and two was to focus on building a reference group, and to gain understanding of the right content to share to establish yourself as a thought leader within the appropriate subsets of the massive social media community.

This week, I want to touch on what I believe is a (perhaps the) game changer for any Senior level professional wishing to generate successful outcomes using Social Media.

This experience enhancing activity is what I call “Engagement”

The idea of Social Media Engagement is to generate an active dialogue that takes place between individuals, within communities, on blogs and other conversational activities that can take place on the Social Web.

Some examples of doing this could be commenting on a blog, responding to a post/question on Linked in or Twitter, or perhaps joining a Twitter Chat within your area of expertise. (I will further discuss chats in a later edition of this blog)

While engagement is something many attempt to do, only a small percentage of them (in my experience) do it well.

While doing it well isn’t always critical, it does improve outcomes (More ahead).  When engaging, you want to focus on jumping in where you add value and/or bring meaningful insight to the conversation.  Often people jump into conversations and dilute the quality or digress the subject which can sometimes appear as spam (Not good).

Proper engagement is often focused around the aforementioned value add.  (I’ve also found that in some forums like Twitter, sometimes just saying hello and making small talk is well received)

Think of it this way.  Join the conversation much like you would in real life.  If you were at a local networking event you wouldn’t walk into an active conversation and just start talking.  You would listen, make a proper introduction, and then chime in if and when it made sense. (If you approach Social Media this way you will be just fine!)

Proper engagement has huge upside.  It will drive loyalty, reciprocity, and serve as the impetus of relationship building that spans well beyond the realm of the digital universe.

In the six months that I have been active in the Social Media community, I have made contact with countless executives and driven relationships with a wide variety of Business Owners, C-Level Executives, and Influential Journalists and Media outlet that have helped drive our company brand.

Additionally, successful interaction has led to positive press for our organization (i.e Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Industry Trade Magazines) that has translated into excellent visibility for some of the initiatives of our company.

The take away here should be to focus on selectively engaging with others in your communities.  It is a great way to meet others as well as expand your horizons.  If you engage genuinely, and don’t come across as someone trying to immediately solicit for new business, people within the social media community are incredibly willing to help ( That is definitely my experience).

So, now that you have paid attention a bit and familiarized yourself with what is happening in the stream, look for opportunities and jump in.  With a little elbow grease and good use of those networking skills, (You know, the one’s that got you into the big office!) the upside is virtually limitless.

Happy Tweeting!

Many of these tips will be driven from personal experience. Hopefully this shortens the learning curve for senior level managers looking to maximize the Social Media Experience.

Tip #1: Listen – This is a fundamental that probably helped you reach the level you are at in business today.  Many C – Level executives are used to being listened to and immediately respected.  Places like Twitter are have hundreds of millions of users, many of whom have figured out how to use the medium very successfully.  By listening, especially to those who have become most successful in the Social Media space, you can quickly learn how to use it as a conduit for networking and brand development.

A specific recommendation I have for listening is to search for counterparts, competitors, and supply chain partners and watch/listen to how they are using Social Media.

Tip #2: Share – Please note that Sharing is not “Broadcasting.”  I strongly discourage broadcasting in Social Media unless you have a tremendous audience of highly engaged followers whom are hanging on your every word.  When I suggest sharing, I am talking about industry best practices, relevant articles, blogs you have written, or other content that helps others interested in your business type/industry.  If people find the content that you provide to be meaningful and interesting, you will quickly grow your following.

One way to share to your target audience is to create content.  My recommendation is writing a blog or creating video blogs that establish you as a thought leader in your respective industry.

More tips to follow next week.  In the meantime, good luck increasing the value of your Social Media Experience.