I just was asked to speak at an event this week and was asked what the changes are in a company or organization with a Smarter Workforce!
Here’s my view. I’d love to hear yours!
1. Finding the right people are key so smart recruiting and smart convincing but what’s the core change here?
The people that you are recruiting want a new way to work. Digital Natives and Millennials now actively look at employer’s social business policies as a deciding factor, according to an industry study So while you are looking for the perfect employee (use Kenexa to get that skill and Culture fit!), they will be interviewing you in this War on Talent.
2. Continuous training is essential. How has training changed?
Very much. Today’s worker was to learn from peers. With all those great TV shows and YouTube short clips, they need short teachable moments. Did you know that Gaming has an 80% higher recall than normal classroom discussion? I think that the way we train must match the new way of receiving information: from peers, fun, and in digestable chunks.
Social learning and gamification are the ways of the future.
3. Not just what you know but finding experts.
When I grew up, it was all about how much you knew. While that matters today, it matters as much how networked you are. Can you find an expert in the world today so that you can find the answer you need!
- I loved the quote that you have to fight a networked structure with a networked structure. You are at a disadvantage if you don’t have Social Expertise Location and Social Analytics with that Big Data linkage (more on this in a later blog!)
4. A smarter workforce engages their employees.
Did you know that Engaged employees are up to 43% more productive? The way to great client engagement is through employee engagement. The Smarter Workforce is one where engagement of employees is a #1 focus.
There are lots of collaborative techniques to use on engagement and certain tools. For instance, 80% of college students want to choose their work device and it must be mobile. –71% of college students, 68% of employees believe corporate devices should be used for social. So if you are crafting your social strategy, make sure you are thinking Social Mobile! SoMO!
5. Social Leadership
Employees have an 82% higher trust factor for executives and leaders that use and leverage Social. From the Government summit, CEO Study-Government Factoids:
- 60% Government leaders plan dramatic improvements in organizational openness through greater external and internal collaboration
- 67% Government leaders view collaboration environments are key for engaging employees
- 74% envision they will partner more extensively to innovate and meet their missions objectives
I think Social leadership is about being
- Open
- Engaging
- Leverage Collective Intelligence
- Trusted
What do you guys think? What did I miss?
Sandy, great article. I especially liked the section on Social Leadership and couldn’t agree more on the notion that executives and leaders must take charge and support and drive social by example. My thoughts are that partnering with peers and leaders is key to drive innovation. In the ISC we are embracing this idea and many of the leaders are personally engaged to integrate this collaboration within our supply chain, clients and suppliers.
Pat: I think leadership in any era is critical but none so much as this era. Thanks for your comments. What thoughts can you share on leadership that others can learn from?