TM - January 2008 - (Page 37)

assimilate these technologies into their existing talent management scheme. For instance, Digg is a leader among the new socialmedia Web sites such as del.icio.us and reddit. Digg lets users vote on what its community should be reading. Users submit Web links of articles, videos and podcasts they like, and other members vote on what submissions are the most interesting or newsworthy. This same technology could be equally compelling for performance management. Let’s say several hundred high-potential employees were given the chance to submit videos, podcasts or courses they felt were instrumental in developing their skills. Some of this content might come from the company’s learning management system, but it wouldn’t have to. After top performers submitted content, employees of all stripes could vote on the value of these resources. The results would appear within the learning or performance module of a talent management software suite for other workers to quickly peruse and act on. In the Best Buy example, employees drove the adoption of Web 2.0 tools to improve collaboration and performance, but management also has a role to play. Managers can help to integrate Web 2.0 tools and talent management practices by endorsing their benefits. For some executives, this is a leap of faith. They’re hesitant to say, for example, that playing an online game can boost employee performance and retention. Managers can help Web 2.0 initiatives succeed by lending the organization their stamp of approval. For instance, at Sun Microsystems, managers have engineers use wikis to describe each engineer’s projects. Members of the Web platform engineering group, for example, use wikis to capture meeting notes, project plans and software reports. Managers encourage engineers to rely on wikis to present information that is quickly accessible by workers looking to improve performance on a certain subject. All of this is a paradigm shift. Traditional talent management is controlled for the employee. When a worker undergoes a traditional performance review, he or she gets feedback. A rating of some kind is typically assigned, and instructions for development are delivered. In most cases, performance appraisals are rigid and conducted in a sort of broadcast method. Very little, if any, of the experience is self-directed. Joining Web 2.0 tools to traditional performance management practices such as the annual review, 360-degree assessments and training, etc. gives employees a sense of independence. They can evaluate their competencies and take actions to improve productivity in a networked way, with peers, managers and colleagues providing support. In this way, Web 2.0 tools and traditional talent management technology mesh, and workers can seek out organizational experts and communities of practice as needed. Talent executives easily can make a mistake attempting to integrate Web 2.0 and talent management. Integration can be a misnomer. A better way to think about the relationship between Web 2.0 tools and talent management is to ask how your organization can tap Web 2.0 to enhance employee performance. One way is to court opportunities for change. Every organization faces problems and exceptions to typical or daily business operations. During times of crisis, workers will huddle in ad hoc teams inside or outside of work to solve problems. However, often the process behind the eventual Generation Y, and the millennials, in particular, are consistently plugged into a variety of Web 2.0 technology, and as they enter the workforce, they expect and demand this sort of access. solution isn’t captured, and the cutting-edge answer to a customer’s problem isn’t codified in any meaningful way for other workers to learn from. The employees who solved the problem are recognized for meeting the challenge, but their contribution to the solution might never be known with specificity. If these moments are recorded and captured, they can become effective ways to develop future talent. Web 2.0 tools, such as wikis, provide companies with the methods and platform to record collaboration. Talent management professionals can become envoys to identify and internally market recorded collaboration and introduce the knowledge to existing staff and newly minted employees alike. Companies should view Web 2.0 tools not as a destination but as a viable way to foster and retain knowledge for the next generation of workers. Sanjay Dholakia is responsible for corporate strategy and emerging business lines at SumTotal Systems Inc. He can be reached at editor@TalentMgt.com. talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 37 January 2008 http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - January 2008

TM - January 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Learning Connections: Working With Those People Leading Edge: Hub Caps for a Buggy Human Performance: Hawthorne Effect Revisited Beyond Affirmative Action: The Changing Face of Recruitment Assessment Centers in Talent Management: Strategies, Use and Value Nontraditional Benefits- How to Hook the Best Talent Intersection of Web 2.0 and Talent Management Cross-Training for Workforce Agility Mapping Talent Among Younger Workers Dashboard: Using Personality Data to Identify and Develop High-Potential Leaders Application: Shaffer Title Uses Myers-Briggs to Develop Common Corporate Language, Jump-Start Growth Insight: Dreier, Stein & Kahan LLP: Using Strategy to Bring Back the Law Profession Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Stop in the Name of Leadership

TM - January 2008

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