Editor’s Note: Dr. John Sullivan has been a strategist in HR and talent management for over 30 years. His specialty is HR strategy and designing world class HR systems and tools for Fortune 200 firms. He’s never been shy about telling it like it is.
That’s why TLNT asked him to share his thinking in a video series titled “$#*!@ Dr. John Sullivan Says!” Look for these videos weekly here at TLNT.
“When you talk to business people these days — HR people also — the buzz is social media,” Dr. John Sullivan says. “Some people think it is just a fad, while other people think it has major impact.”
Well, it’s not a fad, according to Dr. John, and here’s why: because it changes the way we are going to do business and is “probably the most important change in the last century when it comes to HR.”
7 ways social media is changing HR
He lists a number of areas where you can see this at work, including:
- Recruiting — where it allows you to connect with people (potential candidates) and build relationships, make referrals, and build talent communities;
- Best practice sharing — because internal and external social networks allow people to share best practices on a global basis;
- Learning — because people can post questions online, or do a Google search, and get “hundreds of answers from hundreds of people” immediately instead of having to find and consult a textbook or get on the phone with an expert;
- Identify talent for development (succession planning) — social media allows you to identify high potentials or thought leaders, even from a remote vantage point;
- Innovation — because social media encourages more collaboration between people on the same team who are not necessarily located in the same place’
- Identifying workplace problems — social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Glassdoor can serve as an early warning device for HR to plug into issues or problems before they start to really take off; and,
- Competitive intelligence — Linkedin gives you the ability to track what companies people are leaving, where they are going, and what the market demands.