enterprise 2.0 - using social media to address hr priorities

© 2009 Towers Perrin

April 21, 2009

Rob Lamson, Evan Metter

Welcome to Enterprise 2.0

Using social media to address organizational priorities

© 2009 Towers PerrinProprietary and Confidential

Not for use or disclosure outside Towers Perrin and its clients 2

Today’s presenters

Rob Lamson is a Principal in our Boston office. He

is a member of Towers Perrin‘s Change

Implementation practice.

Much of Rob‘s work has focused on improving HR

service delivery by aligning HR strategy with

business goals, assessing the cost structure of

providing HR services, measuring the effectiveness

of the HR function and identifying opportunities to

leverage technology.

He has worked in a variety of industries managing

large-scale global HR transformation projects and

developing detailed business cases to support

these efforts.



Today’s presenters

Evan Metter is a Change Implementation

Consultant in Towers Perrin‘s Boston office.

His area of focus is enhancing the effectiveness of

organizations through improved organizational and

process design as well as leveraging technology.

Evan is also one of the firm‘s leading thinkers in the

area of Enterprise 2.0 (social media).

Through his client implementations he has gained

an appreciation for the benefits these tools confer

as well as the strategies companies pursue to

ensure successful adoption.



Today’s economy presents unique challenges for HR

1. Lightening the Load -

Reducing HR spend by

delivering cost effective and

innovative HR service

delivery solutions

2. Talking with the Team –

Communicating with

employees in a time of

uncertainty (and crisis)



The technological environment is also different now

Your employees are using Web 2.0 tools already…

…they are wondering why the same types of tools don’t exist at work

70 million + blogs growing 1.4 blogs / second.

As of May 1st, there were 2.4 million articles on Wikipedia in English, 684 million visitors every year and 75,000 active contributors.

30 million + users The average user has more education and a higher salary than the average reader of the Wall Street Journal.

Over 50% of Americans aged 20-30 years old use Facebook. More than half of Facebook users are outside of college. It is the sixth-most trafficked site in the United States.



The confluence of recent changes calls for new,

more flexible tools in the workplace



Enterprise 2.0

Enterprise 2.0 is the adoption of enterprise-grade Web 2.0 tools to address a

variety of organizational needs: employee engagement, communication,

collaboration, learning and development

Organizational Priorities

Enterprise RequirementsClosed Community

Integrated Workflow ProcessesEnterprise Grade Tools

Web 2.0



Demystifying the technology and linking it to people

Enterprise 2.0

Communication Collaboration

Social

InteractionsCategorization

Tagging

Ratings

Social bookmarking

Blogs

Podcasts

Videocasts

Wikis

Shared

workspaces

Social networking

Network mapping

Employee Experience

Engagement

Cost Effective and Innovative HR Service

Delivery Solutions



Enabling a shared services center through wikis

The Issues Company looking to create a usable knowledge base to support their Employee Service Center

Needed to assimilate an acquisition into the existing Center (which already served 4 distinct

business units)

Wanted to reduce costs in the Service Center which improving quality (e.g., consistency of

answer) and efficiency (e.g., speed of answer)

Had no consistent documentation for Customer Service Representatives (CSRs)

Information was in the current CSR‘s heads and scattered in binders

Had a short timeframe to complete the project

Overview of Our

Solution

Towers Perrin introduced a wiki platform

Used as the backbone for the knowledge base

Used as a project management tool to complete the project

Results In 8 weeks the team created:

A functioning knowledge base built on a robust wiki tool

An efficient process for writing knowledge articles

Nearly 500 knowledge articles

Company drastically improved orientation for new CSR‘s

And we did it without e-mail!

Lessons Learned The wiki was an ideal knowledge base with a powerful search function (by keyword or by tag)

and useful cross-linking of answers

The wiki tool was more than a knowledge base – we used it as a project management tool to

enhance coordination, increase transparency and create efficiencies among the team



Using a wiki as a project management solution

Streamline action items

Measure projects in real time

Collaborate on

agenda creation

Access meeting

minutes

Enabling intra-HR collaboration

through SharePoint



Enabling intra-HR collaboration through SharePoint

The Issues &

Goals

To enable an aggressive shift in global staffing and product development capabilities, a Fortune 500 global

technology company adopted knowledge sharing and collaboration as key strategic business priorities. In

support, the HR function undertook a far-reaching effort to enable intra-HR collaboration and knowledge

sharing with the goals of:

Creating transparency throughout the HR function

Enabling team-based collaboration and knowledge management

Facilitating the sharing of information between Centers of Excellence (COE)

Equipping HR Business Partners for more effective service delivery by creating a channel of

communication between COEs and Business Partners to share tools, feedback and best practices

Bridging the gap with international teams by enabling local maintenance of local content and

international access to global and regional specific content

Motivating timely maintenance of policies, web content, call center & communications

Overview of

Our Solution

HR leveraged several existing technology platforms to meet its goals – Sharepoint, a web portal, and

Lotus Notes

A collaborative environment was built with two parts with different objectives:

Team Rooms (“Workroom”): Within COEs and project teams, enable team level collaboration,

document management and project management, with the ability to easily ―publish‖ tools and resources

for HR-wide consumption

HR Work Center (“Showroom”): Serving as the intra-HR portal, the site enables COEs to share the

most commonly requested tools and resources, best practices, contacts, and other valuable information

with the entire HR organization

Lessons

Learned

Active participation in a system which is something ―extra‖ is near impossible to achieve

Design for the basic user – complex functionality that most do not use is not a good investment

Do not be scared of collaboration and information sharing, they will ultimately enhance your HR service

delivery capabilities

Over-invest in communications and change management



System Overview

Dashboard Modules

Simple and consolidated user access to

HR Work Center and Team Rooms

Receive HR Work Center feedback via email

HR Work Center

Up to date tools and resources from

COE Team Rooms - organized by local,

regional, and global content, ability to

find HR contacts by expertise, provide

content feedback, review and submit

global best practices

Enables COEs and project teams to:

collaborate in teams, manage

documents, projects and

“publish” tools and resources directly

to the HR Work Center

HR Collaboration

and Knowledge

Sharing System

Intra-HR Information SharingSharePoint + Portal

Team RoomsTeam-Based Collaboration

SharePoint

Workflow IntegrationLotus Notes

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Enabling intra-HR collaboration through SharePoint

XY

XY

Communicating in Tough Times

Using Enterprise 2.0 Tools to Connect the Workforce



Connecting with employees is more important

than ever during this economic downturn

The current work environment is rife with anxiety and distraction for employees

Worry over their job security — and that of family members

Concern about the fundamentals

Risks of SilencePotential Rewards of

Proactive CommunicationsStrategies to Consider

Employer appears uncaring

Leadership seems aloof and weak

Rumors emerge and spread to fill the

void

Employees make uninformed decisions

— e.g., over-insuring for health care

and/or stopping their 401(k) savings

When productivity and efficiency have

never been more vital to a company‘s

success, employees become distracted,

morale is damaged and engagement

suffers

Valuable talent ‗checks out‘ and may be

lost

Demonstrate leadership‘s commitment to

and concern for employees

Reassure employees and squelch the

rumors

Be viewed as a good and fair employer

who provides helpful information and

tools as well as direction and context

Sow the seeds for the benefits of trust

and transparency — set the company

up for long-term success, ensuring

employee loyalty and dedication

Avoid turnover, litigation and other

negative backlash

Lead with top-line, strategic messages to

reinforce the foundation and the value

proposition

Craft messages carefully to ensure

honesty and clarity — don‘t over-

promise or ‗sugar coat‘ and do admit

uncertainty about some issues

Communicate personally — enable

managers to dialogue with employees

— and reinforce through a mix of media

Reiterate the value of high-potentials

Promote resources such as wellness

programs, financial counseling and self-

service tools

Leverage expert talent to plan and

implement effective communication,

despite current resource constraints



Employees are watching their organizations for signs that their organizations care about employee well-being and treat people fair, even during difficult times.

Leaders who maintain open lines of communication during tough times can:

Reap the benefits long-term benefits of a more engaged workforce

Stay on track to compete effectively when the economy revives

Relationships are fundamental to the current and future

success of the organization

Creating a more transparent

communication style can help to

personalize leadership and

engender trust

Just-in-time media solutions give

employees the information they

need quickly and convey a sense

of inclusion (we are all in this

together)



Enterprise 2.0 tools are all about relationships

Enterprise 2.0 tools are familiar to employees, available to organizations and can

be a rich channel through which organizations can reach employees.

These tools boast built-in benefits, unique to these tools (in comparison to other

communication media):

Sets an informal tone

Provides an open, flexible platform with less structure and fewer rules about

content

Messages seem less sanitized, yet more spontaneous

Offers means for all-way communication though employer created messages

and employee generated content and comments

When used appropriately (right message, right time, etc), these tools can:

Lend credibility to messages

Foster trust between leaders and employees

Add a candid tone to communications

Give a sense of transparency

Enterprise 2.0 communication tools address a key element that traditional, static, one-way communications miss – relationships – through the engaging, dynamic and flexible presentation of information and messages.



Implementation and outcomes

Drive engagement and retain key

talent during tough economic times

Understand link between

relationships and org success

Foster sense of honesty, trust and

candor between org and employees

Adopt Enterprise 2.0 as a

communication solution

The model below shows the link between relationships and effective communication, and how adopting a communication media well-suited to manage relationships can drive desired outcomes.

How to Get Started



Towers Perrin’s GATES method

Goals – What do you want to

accomplish with Enterprise 2.0

tools? What problems are you

trying to solve?

Audience – What group of

people are you targeting? What

are they ready for? What do they

need to do to help you reach your

goal?

Technology – What tools best

enable your goals and your

audience?

Engagement Strategy – How

will you make the new tools stick

and deliver the value you‘ve

planned?

Notice we don‘t start with

technology



Towers Perrin’s experience: “Seeing Eye to Eye”

Goals: Communicate

innovatively before an after our

annual practice meeting and

creating an experiential Enterprise

2.0 learning opportunity

Audience: Business leaders and

senior consultants

Technology: Social network,

forums, blogs, video-casting,

podcasting

Engagement Strategy

Phase I: Establishing Familiarity

Phase II: Retraining Behaviors

Phase III: Achieving Community

Phase IV: Sustaining Growth

“I really like that the site allows us to feel

more connected with colleagues and put a

face with a name. I think it helps build a

more cohesive "team" feeling across the

entire business.”



Some thoughts in closing…



Closing advice: Strategy

Understand how this fits in to what you are currently doing.

What does it replace?



Closing advice: Vendors

Decide if you need a stand-alone solution

or a suite of tools?




Consider setting up a true-to-life pilot before buying

(but make sure you do it right to ensure an accurate evaluation)




Make sure whatever you choose “plays well” in your

technology environment…

…and take the time to set it up properly



Closing advice: Implementation

Don’t invite people to an empty site.

You need to seed some content.



Closing advice: Community Management

Gardening is a good metaphor

Questions & Discussion…



Who can we contact for help?

Rob Lamson

Towers Perrin – Boston

Office – 617-638-3635

[email protected]

Evan Metter

Towers Perrin – Boston

Office – 617-638-3785

[email protected]



Towers Perrin’s 12th

Annual HR Service Delivery Forum

Please join us for Towers Perrin's 12th Annual HR Service Delivery Forum

When: May 31 - June 2, 2009

Where: Sheraton Society Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Towers Perrin's 2009 HR Service Delivery Forum will highlight leading-edge HR service delivery

practices and real-world client experiences to help you manage change in your company....and

includes:

A highly interactive experience, with total attendance capped at 200 persons to ensure you're

a participant, not a spectator

Presentations that focus on information exchange with peers who have actually "been there"

Almost exclusively case studies, profiling some of the past year's most innovative -- and

successful -- HR service delivery projects

A focus on the practical nuts and bolts of "getting it done," with blueprints, road maps and an

emphasis on the change implications, as opposed to heavy theoretical discussions

A wide selection of breakouts, across a range of tracks and topics, to ensure that

conversations are directly relevant to you (and your team, should you desire to bring others

from your organization)

The first public release of Towers Perrin's 2009 HR Service Delivery Survey research results

Dozens of opportunities to schedule one-on-one sessions with Towers Perrin consultants

and industry specialists in your area of interest

To register visit: https://www.my-hronline.com/hrservicedelivery/default.asp

https://www.my-hronline.com/hrservicedelivery/default.asp

