While we are still in the first few weeks of the new year I through it would be good to look at come of the things you should focus on during 2010 to.
In no particular order here is my list of 10 things to do in 2010:
- Have an HR/Talent Management/Recruiting application blueprint
- Learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Implement a workforce planning program, with a foundation around competencies
- Think beyond Facebook and Twitter when looking at social media
- Focus on high quality hires, never settle for less
- Ensure your HR/Recruiting function is metrics driven
- Don’t be afraid to experiment
- Learn about Web Squared
- Begin to think how you can bring real time into your operations
- Never ever forget about change management
The IT environment in many organisations is complex and needs constant management, even in the smallest of organisations. To help with managing the complexity ensure you have a strategy/roadmap/blueprint to follow.
It seems finally organisations are starting to take note of the value that can be achieved from a decent career’s web site. While content and design are critical understanding a bit about SEO can help your jobs appear in the elusive number 1 spot of search results. Even if you do not have a career’s web site having your personal brand appear in search results can be a great thing.
The recent CedarCrestone HR Technology survey found that organisations who were using workforce planning and competency management tools had significantly higher sales growth than those that did not. While they say they are not suggesting causality but over the last few years there has been stronger linkage between sales growth and these areas.
With so much talk about Facebook and Twitter I feel people have forgotten that social media is more than just these two sites. Remember social media is about user generated content, including blogs, images, video, audio, ratings, reviews etc.
This should always be the best line of your hiring decisions. Period.
Related to workforce planning is being metrics driven and I am not talking just about lists of headcount either. Gaining a deep understanding of your business and it’s drivers is critical to success. Do you know the best performing source of talent? What about the performance of your succession plans? But do not create an environment where you have an over reliance on benchmark based data as this basically turns the measures in to commodities by assuming what works for one organisation will work for yours.
This one is for the Australian’s out there, experiment and fail!! As a population we tend to be afraid of failure. Do not be afraid. Organisations that experiment and fail regularly then to succeed.
You might be asking web what? Web Squared is the next evolution of the whole Web 2.0 idea. Web Squared builds on the idea that everything and everyone in the world cast “information shadows” or data. This data when leveraged provides extraordinary opportunities to organisations.
The first part of web squared that you can bring into your organisation today is leveraging real time data. Look at real time data as key signals that form part of your business processes.
One of the biggest reasons for projects, of any sort, to fail is a lack of acceptance in the final outcomes being sort by the project. This can be alleviated through an effective change management program.
Michael Specht 
I think number 4: “Think beyond Facebook and Twitter when looking at social media” is going to be a huge area of evolution in 2010.
There are already tools, like jouzz.com, that bring social technologies like Facebook’s and Twitter’s inside the enterprise: imagine the huge impact they can have on HR!