Hitting the Curve BallLeadership in the Social Age

2011 MRA HR ConferenceMay 18, 2011

Steve BoeseHR Technology GuyHost of the HR Happy Hour ShowWriter on Fistful of TalentBarbecue Enthusiast

In some ways, you’ve come to a fork in the road – the direction you choose says much about your organization, it’s culture,

and your leadership styles

I can see youin there

It can be scary out there

$%&#%

Uh-oh…

Many leaders and execs won’t see the point. They’ve been trained to focus inward – staff meetings, emails, power lunches with the senior team.

But globalization, shifting demographics, the ‘real-time’ nature of news and information are changing how, where, and when organizations and leaders communicate. 

STEP 1:

Educate

Your staff (especially the Gen Y kids)

Your kids (you were young and hip once too)

Your experts (chances are you have some really smart,

savvy folks in-house, just have to look for them)

STEP 2:

Find your voice

Everyone has power (customers, employees, fans)

Whatever you do, be real (or as real as you are comfortable

with)

People like people(your staff, customers, friends –

they want to hear from YOU, not some logo that sits on a shelf)

STEP 3:

Engage

Where is the audience? (employees, candidates, customers)

What are we comfortable with? (it’s a culture thing)

What are we capable of?(don’t ask for feedback if you can’t

respond)

STEP 4:

Refine

What’s been happening?(simple metrics first)

What are the outcomes? (awareness, fans, mentions,

comments, ideas, sales, fails)

Lather, Rinse, Repeat (what needs a tweak, what do

you need more or less of, share success and failure)

PHASE 1:

Link to a Goal

Can be externally facingSales, market share, awareness,

candidates

Can be internally facingIdeas, cost savings, turnover

reduction, engagement

Choose a goal that you know you need to move the needle on, and

might be struggling with

PHASE 2:

What drives attainment of the Goal?

Awareness (especially with target market)

Engagement (customer support or service)

Activity(hard measurable numbers for

revenue, or numbers of candidates)

PHASE 3:

Assess how social and openness can help

Marketing goals(social networks, events, awareness)

Sales goals(better relationship-building in

target markets)

Internal goals(engage staff via internal networks,

blogs, chats, video, etc.)

PHASE 4:

Develop Social Strategy

Involve staff, get buy-in (especially the Gen Y kids, and

the execs)

Don’t worry so much about ‘Getting it Right’

(expert status is still mostly self-described)

Be real (as real as you can be, when in

doubt, take a breath)

PHASE 5:

Execute

You need to be ready to commit(nothing is more sad than a bunch of

unanswered questions in your LinkedIn group)

This takes more time that you think(both from a corporate and personal

perspective)

Patience is a virtue(why is no one reading my blog?)

PHASE 6:

Evaluate and Refine

Compare metrics to baseline(trends more important than absolute

numbers initially)

Tweak based on metrics and sensibility

(don’t drown in data, or overthink it)

Learn from failures, build on successes

(you will likely have both)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/steveboese

Let’s Review…

STEP 1: Educate

STEP 2: Find Your Voice

STEP 3: Engage

STEP 4: Refine

You can do it…

Pick a jumping off point…

Then jump…

Steve Boese - @SteveBoesesteveboese@gmail.comwww.steveboese.squarespace.comwww.hrhappyhour.netwww.FistfulofTalent.com

Reach out and touch me….