What if Leadership could be more like twitter?


Posted Under Human Resource Professionals, Human Resources, Leadership, Social Media - Tags: , , , , , , , ;

Hello there – I’m following you. 

Hi back at you – thanks for following me. 

I have been a student of leadership for decades, and I’m still learning.  I teach graduate leadership courses at Daemen College and Medaille College.  I can be very opinionated when it comes to leadership and my opinions don’t always follow the mainstream opinion.  For example, I generally believe there is no difference between Leaders and Managers, but I’ll discuss this more in a future blog.

Back to my point.  I find it very interesting that on twitter there is no hierarchy – no one is designated as a leader of someone else.  Most organizations tend to have defined hierarchy: We are the “Leadership Team” and you must follow us.  Or I’m a leader and you are a follower.  Or I’m the boss and you are the subordinate.  Organizations often don’t find ways or even encourage people throughout the organization to step up to a leadership role.

On twitter, no one is designated as a leader, you are either following or being followed (hopefully not the same as being stalked).  You can choose to follow anyone you think might benefit you in some way.  That person can choose to allow you to follow them, or block you, or follow you back.  It kind of works this way in the real world.  I can choose to follow any boss, manager, or supervisor, or I can move on and find a different boss, supervisor or manager to follow.  This point is made frequently in surveys, that employees frequently leave their organization because of the relationship (or lack of) with their supervisor.  Ultimately in a work environment the follower has a choice.  Do I want to continue to follow this person, or block them and follow someone else?

The bottom line is that everyone is following someone and being followed by someone else.  I think it would take a lot of pressure off people in a work world if we eliminated the use of the term “leader.”  Instead we might say, “I have 10 employees who choose to follow me, and I choose to follow Mary.”  This changes the perspective entirely – who am I following (and why) and who is following me (and why)?  I certainly realize that this isn’t very practical in most organizations, but it sure is an interesting idea.  Instead of having someone anointed as a leader, we get to choose to follow.

So I would be honored if you choose to follow me at HRBuffaloBob.  I may even choose to follow you in return.  Happy following!

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Published By admin on Feb 15 - Comments (0)

Part 1 of 2 – Questions Employers Should be Asking Regarding Social Media


Posted Under Human Resources, Social Media - Tags: , , , , , ;

Picture 23There are so many different issues associated with social media for employers to consider, that I’ve divided these questions into two blogs. Stay tuned for more on this topic coming soon. For now, consider these questions:

How can we use social media to establish our brand? How can our employees use social media to establish their brand? How can we use social media to position our products and services?

What is a Brand? “Our Collected Definitions” by Derrick Daye (http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/brand_definitions/) has several definitions you can review. Regardless of the definition you use, social media can be a vehicle to help establish or build a personal or organizational brand. The best way to ensure success is to have a strategy for how you intend to use (or not use) the various components of social media to accomplish your goals.

How can we use social media to recruit candidates?

Social media can be used to communicate with many people very quickly, so it can be a great tool to get the word out when recruiting. However, you must recognize that this approach is not very targeted. Your appeal could go to many people who are not viable candidates, either based on lack of required skills or geographic location, possibly resulting in an overwhelming response that increases the administrative burden of sifting through the deluge to find qualified applicants. At the other end of the spectrum, this approach may be too targeted and result in a disparate impact on certain protected classes. For example, there may be fewer seniors using twitter (I don’t know if this is true), therefore, if all the recruiting for one position is done using twitter you may be unintentionally excluding seniors, which would be discriminatory.

How should we use social media for reference checking?

I’m sure this is a controversial area – whether a potential employer has the right to explore your personal life when deciding if you are the best candidate for a position. Employers have been doing this forever through reference checking, however, social media has made it so much easier now. Making good hiring decisions is not easy. If I want to make sure I hire the best candidate, I would be remiss if I didn’t do my due diligence. This would include reviewing all readily available information. My concern, from the employer’s perspective, is what you do if during your research you discover information regarding a protected class. What do you do with that information, and how do you prevent this from not becoming a potential discrimination lawsuit?

How can we use social media to improve communication in the workplace?

Many workplace surveys indicate that there is an opportunity to improve communication within the workplace. There are many ways employers could utilize social media as a form of communication to keep employees connected and informed. For example, it could be used to send information regarding new benefits, schedule events, roll out new products or services, or share employee’s personal milestones – a marriage, a new baby, or completing a degree. I think the employers who utilize social media to create competitive advantages – including with their employees – will lead the way in their industry.

Be sure to watch for my next blog for even more answers to questions about social media and its impact on the workplace and employees.

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Published By admin on Nov 20 - Comments (0)