HR – Evolution or Revolution?

Hopefully you’re not bored by reading countless posts about this past weekend’s HRevolution un-conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Let me say that you shouldn’t be as my fellow attendees have done one hell of a job capturing the event in all of it’s glory. But if you’ve had enough, stop reading now and save yourself from further eye-stabbing. For those of you seeking “More HRevolution cowbell!”, please stick around.

What Is/Was “HRevolution”?

For the uninitiated, HRevolution was an ‘unconference’ organized by four terrific voices in the industry – Trish McFarlane, Steve Boese, Ben Eubanks and Crystal Peterson. It began with a single message on Twitter and grew into an event that drew HR pros, recruiters, consultants, service providers and bloggers into a mashup of ideas, perspectives and passionate pleas for change.

Even before I arrived, I wasn’t sure if this was meant to be billed as an “evolution” or “revolution”. Several days after the event, I think it hit the core tenets of both. Here’s why:

The Evolutionary Discussions

You’ve likely heard of Darwin by now so I won’t bore you with a primer. In a nutshell, generational differences accumulate over time to cause the population to substantially shift, eventually resulting in the emergence of a new species. In our market, think of this in the context of the shift from personnel to HR (proving that this can be painfully slow).

Session 1: Social Media and HR

One thing that did crawl out of the primordial ooze was a discussion on social media and what I’ll paraphrase as natural selection.

During the early morning session discussing the somewhat tired (in my opinion) issue of social media and it’s application to human resources/employees, I wondered aloud whether we shouldn’t view those who properly leverage new media tools as having a competitive advantage on their peers.

What’s the balance between teaching those who ask about social media versus forcing it down HR’s throat while convincing them that the taste shouldn’t be bitter?

The challenge is this – if the same “new media” people keep having the same discussions while remaining frustrated by the lack of progress or adoption, shouldn’t we simply stop pushing the agenda and let nature take it’s course? If we’re very generous and assume 50,000 HR pros are leveraging new media, do we need to take it as our goal in life to proselytize to the other 1.4+ million?

This session triggered supporting discussion on whether the term “social media” is off putting and thereby creates barriers to entry, how early adopters might be making the unconverted masses feel stupid, and whether media type really matters at all since these were the same questions posed when email – the first social media tool – arrived on the scene. It was a healthy and spirited discussion that made people think. Lots of notes were taken. Some old favorites such as “the business value of social media”, “HR social media policies” and “non-recruiting real world examples” were battered about. It spun off it’s axis a few times, but all-in-all, I think attendees found it to be valuable.

Session 2: Blogging

We then segued into basic and advanced blogging sessions. These were good discussions on how people can convert their passion for ideas into either the creation of a new blog or extension of a preexisting blog. The session leaders covered tools and technology, discussed the pros and cons of advertising and affiliate links, and opined on the slippery slope surrounding sponsored posts, disclosure (or lack thereof) and brand management.

The facilitators were rock solid and highly credible. I’d recommend you follow up with Michael Long, Lance Haun or Paul Hebert for more details. Hangovers set in around this time though and coffee runs were frequent and without apology (as they should be at an unconference).

Session 3: Recruiting (or) HR Technology?

How do you choose between these two terrific topics, especially when they are being led by Jessica Miller-Merrell and Steve Boese respectively? Channeling their inner-Sophie, attendees parted ways.

Although I missed it, I heard that Jessica’s session was a high-energy affair replete with a takeover attempt by Monster’s Eric Winegardner. If you don’t know Eric (yet), he is a passionate, fun and highly vocal Jack Black-like dancing fool who is attempting to enlighten the world on the positive aspects of Monster.com (he was also a sponsor of HRevolution). From all accounts, it sounded as if this was a very unconference-like experience and the discussion was solid. Perhaps others could comment on the content.

I chose to stick around for “Professor” Boese’s HR technology session. What was somewhat funny to watch is how quickly attendees assumed the student role – politely raising their hands, allowing Steve to get through his lesson plan, and (much to Steve’s dismay) letting him do most of the talking. A litany of tools and technologies were touched upon, ranging from the enterprise streaming service SocialCast to the highly regarded Twitter-for-business tool Yammer. There was also a great deal of interest surrounding Google Wave, the newest collaboration tool that is currently in limited release.

The conversation was peppered with a lot of wisdom for those considering the deployment of these tools, much of which is painfully obvious (in retrospect) but often ignored. An example? How about thinking through what the business problem is that you’re trying to solve before choosing a tool? Or that although work is evolving, we still need to be able to show an ROI! There was an interesting sidebar on the fact that although many of these tools are technically “free”, the real issue is the opportunity cost associated with learning, deploying and adopting new solutions.

So, looking back, did we address a wide variety of evolutionary topics for the industry? Absolutely! But a sense of revolution was afoot.

Revolutionary Discussions

Unlike evolution, revolutions are massive changes in power/structure that take place in a relatively short amount of time. And like any revolution, you’d expect discussions to be held in hushed whispers at seedy pubs over drinks with strange characters.

Okay, we didn’t meet all those criteria, but I will submit that the most revolutionary conversations occurred offline in small groups with participants holding drinks. And since I don’t have anyone’s permission to share those, I will simply say that there are a lot of very smart people thinking about some very innovative ways to bust up the status quo in our market.

The Lunch Break

Many folks were testing the revolutionary waters during the lunch break. You’d be in the middle of you boxed chicken sandwich when someone would run up with a cell phone and beckon you to the hallway outside. Was this an overthrow in the making? Did you need to make an emergency call to a loved one? No, it was just the already-revolutionary live recording of The HR Happy Hour.

HR Happy Hour is a radio show hosted by the always-pleasant Shauna Moerke and the aforementioned Steve Boese. If you haven’t heard of it, I’d encourage you to check it out. It’s a freewheeling, no holds barred weekly program where anything (and I mean anything) goes. The best way to experience it is to listen to the live HRevolution episode and get a sense of the energy and excitement of the crowd.

The Remote Video

We’ve all seen movies where the new ruler suddenly takes over the television to make their proclamation of power, right? Well, the most unassuming character of them all did just that at HRevolution.

Alicia Arenas (another HRevolution sponsor) was unable to make the trip to Louisville due to an important birthday celebration, so she submitted this video instead. Your first impression will be that she is anything but an overlord with an evil laugh. Instead, I wanted to point out that she covered three important issues that are relevant to driving any revolution – curiosity, honesty and commitment. This video was intended to be played at the very beginning of the day but instead was slotted prior to the final session of the day. Be sure to give it a look.

Session 4 – The Future of HR

Now, before you accuse me of having a big head and trying to self-promote, it’s important to note that this was the session that I led. The reason I put this in the revolutionary category is because I wanted it to be this way. The same old boring seat at the table discussion would have killed me slowly, so I purposefully wanted to be provocative and shake up the room a bit. In all honesty, I may have taken things a bit too far. The entire discussion would take me three more pages to cover, but let me hit some highlights. Other have covered some of this in their posts and anyone can expand on this in the comments below. I know I’m missing some valuable content here.

We began by diving right into what Lisa Rosendahl described as, “a foot in both worlds”. This is the ever present divide between the transactional and transformational side of HR. In finance, this is often described as the difference between the CFO and the controller. So, does HR need to divide/”bifurcate” itself into two distinct functions? Some said yes (“outsourcing does this to HR already”), others no (“I’m a one person HR department – do I split myself in half?”), and others weren’t sure. Great discussion on this one.

We also covered whether HR needs/wants to change at all. Who’s driving the agenda? Is HR fine as it is? Is this a brand/reputation/PR problem for the function? And the wheels of the bus flew off on this one. Lots of heated and emotional responses. Voices raised. “Debbie Downer” accusations that this was a verbal bashing of HR. Good examples of people doing terrific transformational work. Other examples of people being put in a box. One local VP positing that perhaps it’s because HR is incented to be transactional by the C-suite. Meanwhile, I ran around and tried to keep us going and ensure that everyone got a chance to be heard over some over the more dominating speakers in the room.

We then covered whether HR needed to be completely reinvented. What did we want HR to be? Is HR there to represent the interests of employees? (“Yes!”) … the interests of the employer? (“Yes!”) So what’s the current or desired balance between these two parties? What about what happened during the recession? How does HR overcome some of these issues? Again, a very, very spirited discussion ensued and perspectives were broad and varied.

We closed with a “what do you want to do about it?” discussion. This one was difficult. I suggested that “do nothing is an absolute option”. People agreed and disagreed. It was suggested that maybe things aren’t as bad as this group was making it out to be. I then went off (on a rant) and asked why we’ve been asking for a seat at the table after nearly twenty years? My point was that if everything is peachy, let’s stop complaining and just move on with our lives. If it’s not okay, let’s do something about it.

There was a great discussion on how people need to quit their HR jobs if they are that miserable. In other words, stop complaining and lamenting your non-strategic role and instead find a company that values your contribution. It was wild.

Closing Thoughts

Unfortunately, I had to run to the airport immediately following my session. I missed what happened next, the dinner conversations and the drinks. Others will have to add color to those moments.

My one regret for this first HRevolution was that we didn’t wrap up the day. We didn’t discuss what we liked and didn’t like. What worked and didn’t work. And most importantly, we didn’t follow Alicia’s advice and make a commitment right there on the spot. That would have been a capstone to an otherwise fascinating event.

And because we didn’t do that, I left feeling unfulfilled. I believe my feelings had everything to do with expectations. You see, I thought I had come in with no expectations whatsoever, but apparently that was wrong. In fact, everyone had some level of expectation that went unspoken for most of our time together. And sometimes, that lack of personal or professional clarity can be very disconcerting.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! In addition to everything I describe, the opportunity to take these online relationships offline made the trip worth its weight in gold. The people that took it upon themselves to travel the country to participate in an experiment should be commended. Sure, there are things that could be done better, but I’m certain we’ve all taken note for the next time around. My one measure of success is that literally every single attendee participated in a meaningful way. When was the last time you could claim that?

If you’re still reading, thank you. I wanted to try and convey why we’re all so excited and uncomfortable (in a good way) from this experience. This is probably the longest post I’ve ever written, so I appreciate your patience. If you want to gain more perspective on this fascinating experience, the illustrious Trish McFarlane will be hosting an “HRevolution Carnival” on her blog which will feature all that’s been written post-event. And if you have something to add, please share your thoughts below and let’s keep the evolution/revolution conversation going.