The Rise of Social Business

1. Social business in numbers



2. It is the People who create Value for your Business and Clients .

3. Social business is a powerful force of change in culture and
behavior that is transforming the way enterprises work to better
capitalize on our most valuable resource: people

4. 36% better customer service reported by companies using Social Tools
ESG Research Report, Social Enterprise Adoption Trends, June 2012

5. In the next 5 years, 57% CEOs expect digital channels to be the key way to engage customers.
IBM Global CEO Study May 2012

6. 65% of Executives use Social Business tools to understand market shifts
IBM Global C-Suite Study October 2013

7. 70% of Executives believe Social Business can fundamentally change the way business works
MIT Sloan Management Review,
Social Business Study: Shifting Out of First Gear,
David Kiron and others,  July 16, 2013.

8. The rise of mobile technology: With almost 75 percent of the worlds population owning a mobile device, information is not only accessible, but available at our fingertips.

9. According to a study done by Salary.com, 72 percent of candidates are using social connection tools to scour jobs.

10. 10 skills for the Future Workforce ( Marcia Conner)
http://marciaconner.com/blog/ten-skills/


11.  Twitter search  #IBMSWchat  for links & further resources on Smarter Workforce = Future Ready Workforce for Digital Era

12. In the USA right now there are over 3 million unfilled jobs, while in countries like Spain, youth unemployment stands at a jaw dropping 47%. The extent of the gap between what employers need and what the labour market provides in terms of skills and talents seems to be continuously widening.

13. The global skill gap is here to stay for as long as technological advances, globalisation and demography continue to redefine work

14. Executives at Wipro, for example, work with tens of thousands of colleges across India to train teachers to develop IT skills, build state-of-the-art curricula, and encourage students to become what they term work-ready

15. 10 ways to Future Proof your Career by Dr Lynda Gratton
This is 2011 article, however still relevant, for individual employees / professionals to prepare themselves for Future
 ( Timeless wisdom by Dr Lynda Gratton )

http://lyndagrattonfutureofwork.typepad.com/lynda-gratton-future-of-work/2011/06/the-10-ways-to-future-proof-your-career.html

15. Andrew McAfee  Social Technology as major Disruption to Global Economy

http://youtu.be/Y04lZ8F3GjQ


16. IMHO, Future Ready Workforce will constitute Individuals who are LifeLongLearners, who have the ability to learn, unlearn, relearn and reinvent themselves. Who are agile, and make  investment in self education and acquiring new skills.

Future ready workforce also mean networked and collaborative workforce. They know how to collaborate, create trust in virtual environment, reach out to experts across borders and locate expertise quickly at the tip of fingertips to create value for clients. 

Future ready workforce means individual employees may not have all the answers to client problems however have the skills to find the answers and reach out to experts.
Who knows what and who knows whom becomes utmost important , hence the value of networks.

Future ready workforce know how to manage work in a borderless economy.


17. Digitisation is a step change even greater than  the internet. Exponential technology advances, greater consumer power and increased competition mean all industries face the threat

of commoditisation. The winners will act now, and build a strategic advantage that leaves

their counterparts wondering what happened.



18. According to Ernst & Young research, other Generation Y

expectations include:

► Collaborative, networked learning: the average user spends

55 minutes a day on Facebook

► Fast, easy and fun communication: Generation Y adults

spend 15+ hours a week on the internet

► Visible peer recommendations in decision-making: 80% of

consumers believe peer recommendations, but only 14%

trust advertisements

► Immediate feedback: 34% of bloggers post opinions about

products and brands

► Environmentally aware: 96% of Generation Y want an

environmentally aware workplace

► Flexibility: 56% of Generation Y prefer to work flexibly and

choose when to work, and 79% prefer to be mobile rather

than static workers


19. Digital Business Model Creator/inventor Year of birth

Facebook  social networking Mark Zuckerberg 1984

Napster  peer to peer file sharing Sean Parker 1979

Spotify  digital music streaming Daniel Ek 1983

Skype  VOIP telephone network Janus Friis 1976

Twitter  microblogging social network Jack Dorsey 1976


20. The Rise of the Prosumer ( E&Y research)

A Prosumer is a term used for a consumer who is unusually interested in products/

services of a brand. Prosumers will dedicate their spare time to upload reviews and

comments and respond to other reviews and comments about the product. Some

prosumers will record YouTube videos to help other users with technical service

issues of a particular product. These individuals can be very useful sources of product

development ideas, or can be incentivised as a low cost provider of technical service to

other consumers.

21. The digitisation of everything How organisations must adapt to changing consumer behaviour (E&Y Research)

 Customers

► Improve customer experience

► Increase marketing, sales and service effectiveness

► Develop multi-channel strategy

Suppliers and partners

► Improve transaction speeds, lower costs

► Optimise the end-to-end digital supply chain process

► Improve supplier relationship management

► Optimise sales and operations planning

Employees

► Manage organisational change

► Develop social policies and governance

► Develop digital skills and capabilities

► Manage recruitment, retention and talent

Leaders

► Develop a digital strategy

► Assess market and competition

► Design operating model and organisational structure

Why The Best Candidates Care About The Company's Culture

Why The Best Candidates Care About The Company's Culture

So why is the company’s culture so important while hiring employees? 

Because quality employment not only affects financial results (retention rates, higher productivity), it formulates the aroma of how your service or product is created and delivered.

The company’s culture expresses the organization's expectations, values and beliefs, and the way the organization interacts with both its employees and with people in the communities in which they operate.

You can get the high quality, cost-effective HR services and solutions from Sharp Group HRD Services that can enable you to be conspicuous of your Senior Leadership Team and Board of Directors as they look for bottom-line results. 

According to the research done by Personnel Psychology, the best performers are 400 percent more productive than average performers. If your company wants to recruit and hire the best Candidate, understand what they want and what they need most from their employers. Fortunately, the answer is not just a generous payment.

Understanding what kind of company culture do you prefer the best, you can find out which elements of your culture are the most important for highlighting and promoting. 

The company’s culture is very important for employees with high requirements because they know that many employers can meet their remuneration requirements, but only those with an attractive work environment and focus on employees will be at the top of the list.

Here are 5 features that the best talent in the company’s culture is looking for:

Corporate culture focuses on both HR and business leaders, especially for organizations fighting for the highest or rare talent.

Autonomy

First of all, leading talent does not want or does not need micro-management in the workplace. The researchers explain the best performers are motivated, they can make their own decisions and initiate new tasks and challenges by themselves. For this reason, they prefer an autonomous work culture in which they have the freedom and versatility to complete their work at their own choice. While average performers may exploit these privileges, the best talents use them strategically and efficiently to get a better job.

Possibilities of growth

The best performers have an innate desire to learn and develop, which means they want career opportunities. In the Hewitt Associates Talent Pulse study from 2007; one of the best-performing students explained: "I'm a success-oriented person and I have to feel like I'm getting better, moving up and developing. As a result, they choose employers offering training programs and career opportunities that help them grow professionally and personally.

Transparency

The best performers are very goal-oriented; they drive in a direction that leads them to the future they want. As a result, people with high scores want their employers to be transparent so that they can make informed decisions about their careers, according to Talent Management. 

They want to work for an employer who tells employees how the company works and where the company is going. They also expect their employer to provide information on eligibility and promotion schedule, bonuses and increases. Therefore, they are looking for honest and open employers.

A good company culture is a mechanism for the raising of people in a competitive job market

Feedback

Because they are always looking for ways to improve, the best Candidates expect information from their manager. The Harvard Business Review report shows that 50 percent of high-score people say they expect to sit with managers monthly, but only 53 percent report that their managers provide them with the opinions they need. When the best performers do not receive constructive criticism, they become less motivated and devoted to the organization. Offering accurate feedback can make the greatest talents a challenge and grow, and consequently - happy and committed.

Challenges

Nobody likes hard work more than the best performers. As the company Competitive Streak explains, leading talents are constantly looking for ways to push the limits of their experiences and skills, especially at work. And according to Talent Management, a likes-quality person likes to undertake projects at work that require critical and creative thinking. Therefore, the best talents prefer the company’s culture in which employees are expected to work hard and develop on a daily basis. They want to be in the winning team, where their team members challenge them and teach them new things. When the best professionals are in an intellectually stimulating work environment, they do the best they can and experience optimal work performance.

The most qualified and talented Candidates for work will not be satisfied with any work, because they do not have to. The best Candidates have a choice, so they will thoroughly consider their career opportunities before applying to your positions. If you want to attract the best talent, think about how your company provides an environment that supports triggers and encourages high results to reach a new level of excellence. 

Then share these facts on your career site and during interviews - especially when hiring the best employees. When you explain how your company’s culture meets their needs, the best talents will accept and accept your offer.

5 ways you can strengthen the company's culture

Good company culture can be a mechanism for attracting the right people and keeping employees even in a competitive labor market.

One of the most visible, but often overlooked ways to strengthen the company’s culture is to invite employees to talk. In this sense, efforts to strengthen culture become obvious, but they also become integrative and two-way, not just top-down, which is usually more attractive to employees and effective in the long run.

The company’s culture is focused on both HR and business leaders, especially for organizations applying for the highest or rare talent

These five ways HR can strengthen the company’s culture to attract talent:

1. STRENGTHEN your current culture: 

Find and solve corporate culture problems that are important to current employees. Motivated employees are the best brand ambassadors.

2. Be consistent: 

Develop a language that consistently represents the workplace's environment and is consistently used in recruitment initiatives and materials.

3. Be suitable: 

Find out which channels your potential employees are using to find a job and be located in these locations, providing easily accessible information and resources.

4. Be mobile: 

Here the word "mobility" is from the point of view of technology. Organizations whose communication skills have the ability to adapt to mobile devices have an advantage over those who do not.

5. Be honest: 

Candidates have access to more "internal" information than ever before and are often well prepared with questions and insight. Potential employees greatly appreciate the honesty of the "reality" of the workplace, thanks to which they can make an informed decision.

5 ways you can support a strong corporate culture

The purpose of including employees in the discussion on corporate culture is to determine what is most important for the majority of employees and specific segments of the workforce. The cultural positioning of the organization must take into account diversity in the workplace.

Here are five ways in which leaders and HR specialists can support a strong corporate culture.

1. Provide opportunities for professional development and training.
2. Create and cultivate an innovation-friendly culture in which employees feel that their ideas will be heard and will work.
3. Make sure your company offers an attractive, competitive salary and other benefits.
4. Provide a friendly work environment and tools that will help employees to do their job effectively.
5. Offer a wide range of recognition, rewards and career opportunities.

A good culture addresses and enhances the experience of employees in the workplace in a way that creates a motivated workforce that is well prepared to achieve both strategic corporate goals and personal career goals. Good culture also informs the wider community about the way it will work together and what you can expect from the organization to provide community support.

Why you should have a Specified company culture?

“A company’s culture can embrace everything from working and working hours, work-life balance, team-oriented approach to decision-making, and what physical space is in a company,” Says Paul McDonald, executive director of Robert Half at Menlo Park, California. 

An attractive office environment, for example, suggests that the company cares about its employees and wants them to be comfortable and well-equipped.

"Good HR activists and business leaders should sit down and discuss the company's culture,"

If they are not yet, they should start doing this. They should make the company’s culture a priority because it makes their company a welcome place to work. It increases productivity, recruitment and maintenance efforts.

Note to the Employer:

Moreover, employing talents that are not consistent with the culture of your company causes personal conflicts within the employee that will undoubtedly affect their work and the people they work with.

It is your responsibility as an employer to ensure your employee's success and to make sure that their values and work ethic are in line with your culture before expanding the offer, is the first thing you can do for them and for the rest of the staff.

Conclusion:

The best Candidates have a choice, so they will carefully consider their career options before applying to your positions. If you want to attract the best talent, think about how your company provides an environment that supports triggers and encourages high results to reach a new level of excellence. 

Consider whether a prospective employee can visit the office or meet with current employees to find out if they fit your company's culture. These simple ideas can be key distinguishing features for a highly sought after Candidate making a career decision. In addition, says McDonald, it should be remembered that people want to be employed where they like to work and even give back to the surrounding community. Philanthropic aspirations, such as volunteering in the local soup kitchen, are part of a socially responsible company.

Moreover, Sharp HRD Service deliver high quality, cost-effective HR services, and solutions after going through your company’s business model and your department policies.

Millenials at Workplace

By 2025, Millenials will compromise 75% of the workforce acc to World Economic Forum.  Millenials are joining the workplaces in large numbers . Today , if you talk to any of the HR Leader, the top most question on their mind is How to Manage and Engage the Millenials.

Millenials are the people born after 1980. While earlier generations ie Baby Boomers, Gen X followed the top down corporate structure, Millenials like to operate in Networks .

Their mindset is all about networking . They have grown up with new technologies . Social Media is their way of Life. Therefore , Gen Y or Millenials expect different employment experience . They are more comfortable with flat structures vis a vis hierarchies. Command and control style of management doesn’t work with millennials therefore Managers will have to learn to give up control. This is a new management shift that managers will have to deal with caused by rising number of Millenials in the working population. Millenials grew up in an environment where they have a say in everything from electing Leaders to choosing vacation destination for Family.

They want their voices to be heard and have the need to have their inputs in collective decision making. They are not comfortable with decisions being taken at the top and thrown at them which affects their lives directly. The need to lend their share of voice is greater.

At IBM, the policy to use Uber for transportation was shaped because a Millenial wrote a blog that UBER is cost effective . Leaders took note of his blogpost and within 24 hours , policy decision was accordingly modified and adjusted. You cant ignore millennials .

The employer culture, salary, every aspect of working environment is openly discussed at Glassdoor by Millenials. If they don’t like something, they highlight it . Leaders are paying attention to glassdoor in terms of what is being said about their Brand, culture, management, leadership.    

Millennials thrive on fresh goals and challenges to keep them motivated

They embrace technology just like fish to water. Their working lives doesn’t have 9 to 6 schedule but are connected 24 by 7 . In this hyperconnected world, they demand flexibility – the ability to do work anytime, anywhere. Hence more companies are offering Telecommuting or flexi work or work from home to their employees.

Millenials have also started occupying Leaderahip positions at workplaces. So we see, a new breed of startups , and fresh thinking coming up at big corporates. They bring new perspectives of how work gets done . They have underlying desire to shape workplace policies, to make a contribution, to play a role which contributes to society. Their communication style is open and transparent. They are open to be mentored , place emphasis on networking to succeed at work and at life. They demand flexibility and use mobile phone and apps for routine and specific tasks. In fact , they are the ones who are building these new apps for making lives easier.

Millenials are different and shaping up the Future of work and workplaces. It wont be prudent of any Leader to ignore this pool of Talent, to move the organization forward. Invest in Millenials, develop their Leadership skills and learn to include them in decision making to ensure they remain engaged , productive and effective at workplaces.

When we tell people to do their jobs, we get workers. When we trust people to get the job done, we get leaders - Simon Sinek

Futureofwork Tweetchat with Jon Husband

Invited as Speaker for Panel Discussion on Women @ Workplace #IndiaHRLive

IndiaHRLive




Wait!! Women are at work…
Now have you ever heard this?
Answer is obvious, women have always been working however now they are omnipresent and work has new dimensions altogether. Still this doesn’t mean that the journey has been a cake walk. As much as the multi-talented , multifaceted fairer sex juggles between personal and professional front to walk as much as a mam would, they still encounter resistance and hurdles at various stage. So to discuss the depth of the subject we thought of bringing this topic of ‘Career progression for Women at Work’ at Indiahrlive and welcome some fresh and intriguing thoughts of our esteemed panelists here.
Here are some thoughts that we will cover:
Q1. Most of the women drop their career for family reasons but is there more to do than this?  
Q2. Still in India the top circle remains male dominant. We don’t let women rise or women don’t want to rise?  
Q3. Gender diversity!! Is it a practice or a thought? Is it a choice or compulsion?  
Q4. Is the journey for Women Entrepreneurs different than men? Do women lead initiatives get more mileage?  
Q5. What are the common challenges women at large go through at work? What could be the best way to progress northwards in your career?
Join us while we share the platform with successful Women Leaders to discuss ‘Women at Work – Gender Diversity ‘ on April 21st, Tuesday at 8pm IST / 9.30 am CST /10.30 am EST. 
Watch the show here & Tweet your comments/questions with a hashtag #IndiaHRLIVE to join the conversation with our #IndiaHRLIVE ambassadors