You Stink and We Suffer

It’s been a while since we heard something other than my tired old voice. I love giving other Trench HR Professional the platform to speak their mind and today’s mind-speaking comes from Kevin Bruny, Director and Chief Learning Officer for Chesterfield County Government. He’s been doing his thing for 25 years, he knows what’s up, and he’s a major contributor to our community. And that’s why his following guest post is particularly fitting. Enjoy and then follow his contributions on Twitter: @row4it. By the way, the title is mine – cuz I do think you stink. Kevin had a nicer title so don’t take it out on him.

Several weeks ago I was fortunate to join a large gathering of HR professionals to learn about the Great Place to Work Institute and the success achieved  by Snagajob in being named # 1 Best Small Company to Work for in America.  This early morning event was in partnership with the Richmond SHRM chapter and hosted by Snagajob at their new corporate headquarters in Richmond, Virginia.  Jennifer Robin, coauthor of the recently published book A Great Place to Work shared details of the GPTW Model and the elements evaluated by employees to achieve each year’s rankings.   After the morning break Jennifer was joined by Shawn Boyer, CEO of Snagajob, for a Q & A session where he fielded question on their culture, workforce, and efforts to create such a strong workplace of Snaggers (their name for employees).  All told, well over 250 HR professionals gathered to share the knowledge…or, at least I thought they did…

At the start of the program, Greg Moyer, Chief People Officer, (love this title) of Snagajob provided the audience the Twitter hashtag of #RVAGPTW for those interested in creating a backchannel during the event.  As one who is active in the social media world and a frequent Tweeter, I jumped on board using my smartphone and began to offer my contributions. That evening as I reviewed the hashtag conversation, I was astonishment to realize that with a gathering of 250 HR professionals fewer than a dozen individuals participated (at any level) in creating the backchannel.  12. Less than 5%. What does this say? I’m confused. I’m hurt. Quite frankly, I’m miffed.

I realize many of us remain reluctant users or we’re digital contrarians. But we have to get over it…and fast. Not because it’s not cool or because ‘everybody’s doing it’ or because you can’t do your jobs without it. No. You have to get on board because while you sit by and watch, the rest of us suffer. You’re not sharing anything. You’re not advancing the dialog. You’re not helping us get any smarter, faster, stronger. You’re not promoting our cause. You have become a passive participant in our community. And that stinks.

Image Credit:  the|G|™