The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict? – Max De Pree

Too many organizations today say “the employee alone, is responsible for their career”. With statements like these, it is no surprise that employees have decreased loyalty. A Salary.com survey highlighted this problem. The survey of 8,000 people found that employees want greater support of their career by the employer. The top reasons provided for leaving their employers included:

#2: Inadequate Opportunities for Career Advancement (37%)
#3: Insufficient Recognition or Appreciation (34%)
#4: Boredom (20%)
#6: Inadequate Opportunities for Professional Development (15%)
#7: Insufficient Job Security (12%)
#9: Poor Relations with Management (10%)

Reducing employee turnover should be reason enough for organizations to step up and take some responsibility for employee careers. However, there are many more hidden problems with leaving accountability for career development solely to the employee.

Hidden Problems With Insufficient Employee Career Support

1. Emphasizes Individual Over Team
Individuals focusing on their own career growth often communicate their own achievements over those of the team. Individuals promoting themselves and their results over what is right for the organization will likely be promoted faster. Therefore, this pattern will repeat itself and grow over time, ultimate reducing teamwork.

2. Reduces Risk Taking
Individuals are less likely to stick their neck out if they feel there is no support from above. Individuals have accountability at home for family income and will not risk job security, especially in this economy, if there is not someone above looking out for them from a bigger picture perspective.

3. Drives Short Term Solutions vs. Long Term Results
Employees focused on building their own career will sacrifice sustainability for short-term wins to gain their next promotion. After all, if they drive quick results, what they leave behind is another persons mess to cleanup.

4. Reduces Loyalty and Increases Turnover
As the salary.com survey highlights, if nobody in the company is helping the employee, what difference does it make if the employee takes their next role with the same employer or goes to the competition?

Employers Must Share Accountability for Employee Careers

Employees must still play a major role in developing their own careers. However, companies that dodge any accountability are hurting themselves and their employees. If we are more proactive in supporting the careers of our employees, perhaps we’ll also see a bit of that good old-fashioned loyalty return as well.

Question: Does your organization support the careers of its employees? How does this benefit or hurt the organization and the employee?

What questions do you ask to identify servant leaders during the interview process? If you ever ponder this question, you are not alone. In fact, I am often asked this question but never felt I had a great answer – until now. In Leading Without Power, Max De Pree relayed a Carl Frost story of questions a health care organization asked their employees. Upon reading these questions, the hairs raised on the back of my neck – finally, before me was the answer to that insistent question.

The following 5 questions can help an interviewer assess the servant leadership potential for a candidate in their organization. Each question includes potential variations and examples of good and bad answers.

Interview Question #1: “Do you know the company’s mission?”

Candidates are taught to research the company, so this should be a simple question. They do not need to recite the mission word-for-word, but express a clear understanding of it. More important, the interviewer should look for passion, understanding and alignment with this mission. If the candidate does recite it word-for-word with little intonation or enthusiasm, chances are they merely memorized it and do not truly know (understand) the mission.

Potential Variations:

• Why do you believe this organization exists?
• What would you say is the heart of the company?

What A Good Answer Looks Like: The candidate knows the mission, expresses an interest in it and expands upon why the mission excites them.

What A Bad Answer Looks Like: The candidate has no idea what the mission is or has simply memorized it.

Interview Question #2: “Do you understand the supporting data regarding this mission, and do you understand it as a compelling need to change?”

Most non-profit organizations (the emphasis of De Pree’s book), clearly define the supporting data for their mission. While this is less common in the for profit sector, I believe this is short-coming of the for profit sector. Regardless, there are variations that may be appropriate (see below) for other organizations. How ever you ask the question, it is critical that a candidate is able to speak to the supporting data behind your mission. Alternately, if they don’t have quantifiable data, they need to have a personal story or connection – some manner in which they can express their own sense of urgency.

Possible Variations:

• Can you explain why we are in the category / marketplace / industry we chose?
• What do you think would happen if we were not attacking our mission?
• Do you understand our market share and our relative growth (or decline) in recent years?

What a Good Answer Looks Like: The candidate has some quantifiable metrics to support their understanding of the mission. If they don’t have quantifiable metrics, then they have a story – ideally a personal one – to share. They should show an ability to personally relate to the mission.

What a Bad Answer Looks Like: If the candidate speaks in generalities, with no specific example (quantifiable or not) to support their understanding of the mission and why it is your mission.

Interview Question #3: “Do you accept what we as a community are embarked on?”

The core of this question is not a contractual agreement, but a covenant acceptance. The interviewer seeks to understand at what level the candidate is aligned to the organization’s mission. Is this something the candidate accepts at face value only or are they convicted to drive the mission from the essence of their heart? Does the individual see their role as part of a community, which transcends incorporation, in which they accept, counter and balance differences?

Possible Variations:

• If our organization were a family, what role would you best fitted to fill and why?
• How do you view your responsibility to counter the faults and weaknesses of other members of our organization?
• Describe for me a scenario in which you would feel it necessary to leave the company if you were hired?

What a Good Answer Looks Like: There is a sincere conviction by the candidate. They are not just seeking a job but a critical contribution role in a community. They’re willing to take the good with the bad to complete the mission.

What a Bad Answer Looks Like: The candidate may seem very committed, but only as long as the times are good. They caveat their answers and seem motivated more by title and compensation than opportunity and mission.

Interview Question #4: “Are you able and willing to change and to own your share of the problem?”

In asking this question, you set the tone of expectation for all servants in the organization. Some change will be necessary. There will be uncomfortable moments. Growth often requires discomfort. Ownership of the challenges the candidate will face includes the expectation that they will need to challenge the status quo.

Possible Variations:

• What changes are you not willing to make, to your career, approach or skills for this role?
• How will you own the responsibilities expected in this role?
• At what point would you no longer consider an issue your responsibility?

What a Good Answer Looks Like: The candidate understands that owning their part of the mission and their contribution to the community includes growth, change and challenges.

What a Bad Answer Looks Like: The candidate reverts back to their experience and defends how they would not need to change because they already have the necessary requirements according to the job description.

Interview Question #5: “What are you going to bring in terms of competence, contributions and commitment to this project?”

Too often, servant leadership is misinterpreted as soft management. Instead, true servant leadership includes a strong emphasis on accountability. The interviewer here needs to ensure the candidate knows the value they bring and at the same time, understands this expectation of accountability will be placed upon them.

Possible Variations:

• We see your skills and experience on your resume, what else do you have to contribute to this role?
• How would you respond if an expectation is placed upon you in an area for which you have no experience or skills?
• What does accountability mean for you in this role and how will you be accountable to your customer, boss and direct reports?

What a Good Answer Looks Like: The candidate is confident in themselves and their unique potential for the role. At the same time, they are confident that if they do not have the necessary skills or experience, they will find a solution.

What a Bad Answer Looks Like: The candidate fails to understand the accountability or reflects only on their strengths. The answers include no method of addressing their commitment – especially in a scenario that may require further development.

Of course, you will have to ask many more questions, specific to your organization, the role and the candidate in question. No set of interview questions will guarantee accurate identification of servant leadership attributes in a candidate. Furthermore, there are plenty of talented individuals with many skills that are not servant leaders. These individuals may not answer these questions int he manner above and yet they may still deliver value for you in the short term. However, if you seek sustainable success then you seek servant leadership principles in your team. If you seek servant leaders, then these questions will help you distinguish those who seek to serve others from those seeking to serve themselves.

Source: The 5 questions in quotes were adapted from “Leading Without Power, Finding Hope in Serving Community” by Max De Pree. Copyright 1997 by Shepherd Foundation.

Actions express priorities -Mohandas Gandhi

Gandhi summed it up well when he said “Actions express priorities”. There is no more simple way to communicate what you do is more important than what you say. Yet, how often do leaders get too busy to conduct regular check-ins, follow up on concerns from their team or otherwise reflect a prioritization on the needs of their team? We say, “people are our most important asset”. We reflect, “people are less important than everything I have going on.” In order to best serve their team, leaders must express their prioritization of the people. As John Maxwell put it, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

I’m not perfect at this either. In fact, this has been a growing concern of mine: do my actions reflect priorities other than putting the team first? As a result, I developed a short list of actions to help reinforce the alignment of my actions with priorities:

1. Schedule Check-Ins: Schedule recurring meetings to check-in with your team. Then, do not move them unless absolutely necessary. Too often, these are the first meetings to be moved – again reflecting a lower priority on the people. Never completely cancel these meetings. Ask the team what frequency they prefer.

2. Schedule Work Time: Schedule time to actually get your own work done. While not directly tied to your people, failure to book time to accomplish tasks will minimize your ability to meet, listen to and support your team.

3. Ad-Hoc Communication: Don’t constrict your interaction with the team only to formal meeting times. Take time to stop by their office, give them a call or, at least a chat message. If you’re like me, finding time to do this is difficult, at best. Once again, scheduling time to actually take that stroll down the hallway and see what the team’s up to can help reinforce this objective.

4. Ask for Directions: Yes, I know us men have issues with this. But seriously, ask the team what more you can do and how you can help them. I try my best to end each check-in conversation with this question. The inquiry prompts each person to consider what you can help them with. I’ve gotten some great, sometimes even surprising, requests out of this question.

5. Listen: Do not listen only to formal communications, but to the chatter. I do not mean the gossip. However, casual conversations often include side comments or remarks that are flags of larger and/or growing issues. Don’t brush those comments aside – pursue them. A great leader always has her ears on.

I will continue to work on applying these actions myself. My hope is that you will too, or find other ways in which to ensure your actions match your priorities – especially when it comes to the people.

Question: How do you ensure your actions match priorities, especially when it comes to people?

This week (October 3rd through 9th) is Customer Service Week in the United States. This is a great opportunity for servant leaders to support these teams and their stake holders in many ways. Leaders can take this opportunity to thank their customer service professionals, educate the organization on the importance of customer service or thank their customers directly. Here are some thoughts for how you can show customer service gratitude:

Thanking Customer Service Professionals

Customer service professionals, even those working with the highest quality product lines, deal with a great number of frustrated customers. When speaking with a service representative once, I remarked that it must be a difficult job. They responded:

“You bet it is! Imagine if 50% or more of your day was listening to complaints or solving problems. It wears you down. After a while, you begin to think all your products are junk – even though these calls represent only a fraction of a percentage of your customers.”

She went on to say how it helped though, that her manager was excellent at showing gratitude and providing recognition. Her boss, she said, frequently recognized team members in public, showed empathy for her challenges and created a fun working environment. These are great suggestions for any leader working with customer service representatives.

1. Recognize: Recognize your service professionals in public, send out broad messages, mention them in meetings and find other ways to publicly praise the team.

2. Empathize: If you understand the challenges your customer experience professionals greet each day, let them know it. If you do not, learn them. Sit in on their calls, read the messages they deal with and empower them to be as successful as possible.

3. Enliven: It’s been described as taking work seriously but yourself lightly. Leaders who can laugh at themselves and establish a relaxed environment make it easier for the team to maintain a positive attitude.

Educate the Organization

Customer communications used to be consolidated to a single department. Now, the customer service team is still likely the best equipped to handle customer issues. With the evolution of social media though, every employee is a customer representative. Training once reserved for one department now has relevance to everyone, but of course, not everyone can spend that much time on this training. Here are some creative tips for educating the broader organization on the importance of customer service, without taking a lot of time:

1. Table Tops: If your organization has a cafeteria, put small stands on them with tips and guidelines for communications with customers or in public settings.

2. Hallway Posters: High traffic areas are great locations for reminders and quick messages to the team. Some creative images will help as well. Just make sure you only hit the highlights as people rarely stop to read in the hall.

3. Storytelling: Stories are a great way to share examples and spread ideas. Hold a competition and ask employees to share their examples of success in serving your customers.

Thanking Customers Directly

Of course, it all begins with the customers. Chances are, you already have plenty of great tools by which you can reach the consumer. For example:

1. Outbound Message: Let your customers know you appreciate them when they call. Chances are you already have the standard outbound message thanking them for their patience. Why not add something special during Customer Service week?

2. Competition: You could randomly select customers for special recognition or have them submit images with your products to win a prize. Whatever the case, increase the opportunities for your service representatives to proactively engage customers.

3. Storytelling Part 2: Loop in your customers with the storytelling across the broader organization. Encourage the customer to share their stories through surveys, competitions or social media platforms, then expose those stories to your employees.

Of course, you don’t have to wait for Customer Service Week to display your gratitude and support for the front line of your organization. So whether it is customer service week or not and whether you are focused on the customer service team, your employees in general or your customers, ensure the group is focused on great customer service. The more creative and frequent your gratitude, the better.

Question: How do you show you customer service support?

Each year Labor Day represents the symbolic end of our summers, a time for relaxation and for many, their last chance to travel with the family before the school year begins anew. For these reasons and more, it often goes by with little or no thought to the origin and intent of the holiday.

Origin & Intent

The Labor Day holiday was first celebrated in 1882, following a series of labor relations problem in the United States that culminated with an event known as the Pullman strike. This Pullman Strike of railway workers essentially stopped all traffic west of Chicago and elevated the awareness of a growing need for displaying greater appreciation for the American workers. As a result the first Labor Day holiday was established as a Federal holiday and first held in New York. According to the U.S. Department of Labor website, Labor Day…

…is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Therefore, as you travel with your family, wrap-up your Summers and prepare for the new school year, don’t forget to think about the workers that helped make your country great. This holiday should be especially meaningful to the servant leaders who, through their dedication to serving those they lead, must recognize these incredible contributions. As a reflection of the great services of these workers, I found the following poem to be a great reflection of famous America Workers. Many of those mentioned in the poem became great servant leaders through their hard work, dedication and services to their stake holders. Please enjoy this poem by Edgar A. Guest and have a wonderful Labor Day!

They Earned The Right

I knew Ket and Knudsen, Zeller, Zeder and Breer.
I knew Henry Ford back yonder as a lightplant engineer.
I’m a knew-’em-when companion who frequently recalls
That none of the those big brothers were too proud for overalls.

All the Fishers, all the leaders, all the motion pioneers
Worked at molds or lathes or benches at the start of their careers.
Chrysler, Keller, Nash and others whom I could but now won’t name
Had no high-falutin’ notion ease and softness led to fame.

They had work to do and did it. Did it bravely, did it right,
Never thinking it important that their collars should be white.
Never counted hours of labor, never wished their tasks to cease,
And for years their two companions were those brothers, dirt and grease.

Boy, this verse is fact, not fiction, all the fellows I have named
Worked for years for wages and were never once ashamed.
Dirt and grease were their companions, better friends than linen white;
Better friends than ease and softness, golf or dancing every night.

Now in evening clothes you see them in the nation’s banquet halls.
But they earned the right to be there, years ago, in overalls.

- By Edgar A. Guest

Stop and think about this for a moment: How much information does your organization keep on physical assets, such as office furniture, production equipment or technology assets? Most organizations have fairly advanced tracking systems, primarily for financial purposes, that reflect details such as:

1. Origin of purchase
2. Purchase value
3. Configuration
4. Years in service
5. Physical location
6. Remaining value
7. Other Details…

In short, virtually every detail that can be tracked on non-living assets, generally is tracked. It is documented thoroughly, reviewed frequently and rolled up in reports to leadership. Most importantly, it is generally updated at least on a quarterly basis. Can you say the same about your people?

This is a great point made by the promotional video above (I am not associated with this company, nor have have they paid me to advertise). I found it a great reminder to not only ensure we pursue the right HR processes and policies but that we provide these updates frequently and remain in constant communication with our team on their performance, feedback and opportunities. Many thanks to the great HR professional who introduced me to this video. The next time you’re reviewing asset reports, take it as a reminder to review equally comprehensive updates on your people.

Questions: Which is tracked better at your organization? Do you have tips for ensuring your employees are tracked and provided appropriate opportunities?

I need to hold myself more accountable to practicing what I preach. This site and much of my spare time is focused on spreading servant leadership awareness and adoption. One of the most important aspects of servant leadership is valuing people. The people you serve: your team, customers and other stake holders, should be valued highly and respected intensely. If that is so, then why have I joined in the standard practice of routinely referring to these people I’m supposedly serving as simply “resources”?

Abrupt Reminder

They are not resources. They’re people, damn it!

That’s how a new friend* recently snapped me out of this rut. They are people. So why do we so frequently call them resources? For example…

We call it: Resource Planning, Resource Allocation, Resource Augmentation, Resource Outsourcing

We say: “We need more resources”, “Which resource is working on that problem?”

Resource is defined: “A resource is any physical or virtual entity of limited availability, or anything used to help one earn a living…” ( Wikipedia; 2010.08.15)

Yes, I realize that human resources are encapsulated within the above definition. Yet we use the term “resource” frequently even when referring only to people. In most cases, it is not as though we are referring to a variety of types of resources. So often we say “resource” when all we mean is people, or a person.

Why Not People?

Why do we not use the term “people?” Even calling them “staff” masks the reality of the fact they are human beings. I suspect it’s because it is easier to not feel emotion. It is easier to ignore that we’re making decisions that impact lives and families. Then, over time, we no longer think about the fact that we’re avoiding calling them people and simply use the accepted business term. This seems to be the point I was at. No longer though.

From now on, I will hold myself more accountable to practicing what I preach in this area. I’m going to make a stronger effort to refer to human beings as people, not resources. I’ll save the term “resources” for inanimate objects.

Want to Help?

Want to support this change? Great! The next time you hear someone referring to people as resources, you could correct them, I suppose. At the least though, don’t join them. For your parts of the dialog, just be sure to refer to human beings as people and not resources. Others will notice and, hopefully, join in as well.

Question: Do you refer to people as resources? If not, what advice do you have for others?

* Thank you, John. I do have much to learn from you…

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” -William Arthur Ward

I am recruiting folks with gratitude in need of sharing and hope you will join us. You see, I recently realized I had not thanked our project team for too long. As a result, I cleared my calendar for a while and wrote several, sincere notes of gratitude. The response, as you might expect, was great. Some needed the reassurance their efforts were valued and others simply appreciated that I had taken the few minutes to say, “thanks”. To avoid letting too much time pass again and to help others avoid the same, I’ve decided to start a new campaign: “Thank-You Thursdays”. Each week, I will block time on my calendar to simply say, “thank you”. My hope is that others will join me in this campaign.

Why Thursdays?

There are seven days a week to thank others and we should use them all. So why specifically highlight Thursdays?

1. It’s Catchy: “ Thank-You Thursdays” is catchy, so we’re more likely to remember it.

2. Time to Reflect: We will have most of the business week from which to identify contributions.

3. Before the Weekend: The messages are likely to be read before the weekend, supporting timely feedback.

4. Minimize Disruptions: Thursdays avoid any 3 and most 4 day weekends.

5. Morale Boost: Sometimes, we just need that boost to get us through Friday.

Who to Thank?

I realize we should thank anyone that has a positive impact on us, our organizations, our families or other stake holders. Yet sometimes we only think of the most obvious and direct contacts. Here are some reminders I developed to build a list of thank you recipients:

1. Direct Reports: Your team should be thanked frequently.

2. Peers: Team members in the organization. Independent? Consider your professional network.

3. Bosses: Present or past, as well as any mentors you may have.

4. Customers: Anyone who ultimately “buys” (literally or figuratively) your product or service.

5. Family: When was the last time you thanked your spouse, parents, children or siblings for all they do?

6. Companies: Is there a product or service you particularly like? Did you ever send them a thank-you note?

7. Non-Profits: Many NPO employees and volunteers work harder, for less. They deserve our gratitude.

8. Representatives: Have you thanked your politician today? What about local government workers?

9. Professionals: Accountants, Doctors, Teachers, even Lawyers and other certified professionals all deserve thanks.

10. Service Men & Woman: Have you thanked someone in the military recently? What about police officers or firefighters?

How to Say Thank You

Most of us have a variety of ways in which we can say, “thanks”. The best choice is probably to mix it up, especially so the same person does not receive the same method too frequently. Here’s a short list of free and relatively inexpensive options to consider:

1. In Person: Many people believe the face-to-face, direct thank-you is best.

2. Email: The most common method and likely the one I will use most. Consider copying their boss.

3. Chat: Instant messaging is good, real-time feedback, without having to be face-to-face.

4. Meetings: If you’re in a meeting with people you want to thank, add a slide or speak to your gratitude.

6. Certificates: Printable certificates are available online and enable recipients to retain and display your gratitude.

7. eCards: Electronic cards are simple, yet creative ways to share your thanks.

8. Cards: Traditional, hand written notes are increasingly rare and appreciated. Try keeping a box in your desk.

9. Flowers: Having a bouquet of flowers delivered is a great way to communicate and display your gratitude.

10. Meal: Why not take them to lunch or treat the team to a pizza? Can’t meet in person? Send a gift certificate.

Frequency

The best feedback is frequent, so we should say, “thank you” as often as possible. However, here’s a couple guidelines to help frame the frequency:

1. Frequent but Meaningful: Yes, you should say, “thank you” often, but not so often that it becomes meaningless. Make sure the gratitude is sincere and not concocted.

2. Degree of Interaction: If it is a member of your team, you should thank them more often because, chances are, they are doing more for you and the organization on a regular basis.

3. Avoid Routine: Not to contradict the weekly Thursday intent, the idea here is not to necessarily thank the same person, every week, at the same time. For individuals you thank regularly, don’t always wait until Thursday to share it – mix it up.

I’ve never been perfect about showing gratitude, nor do I think “Thank-You Thursdays” will make me perfect at this practice. However, I do think it will help me and I hope it will help you. Won’t you join the campaign for Thank-You Thursdays? Thank someone now.

Questions: How do you say “thank you”? What’s the best way someone thanked you?

I’ve seen passion get a bad rap too often by being mislabeled as “emotion”. You’ve probably experienced it too. It may be in a budget meeting when funding is being debated and someone passionately voices their opinion. Or, it may be during cross-functional staffing assessments when one leader vehemently disagrees with another’s reflection on a person.

Passion

Whenever it occurs, passion reflects an individual’s commitment, strong opinions and dedication to their position. In other words, passion may be described as a person’s unwillingness to maintain their composure. With a particularly strong belief in the matter at hand, passion is often the byproduct of someone deeply engaged in serving their organization. Therefore, I believe passion is a great characteristic to have in your team members.

Emotion

In contrast, emotion often stems from a person’s inability to maintain their composure. This is not necessarily a bad thing, depending upon the circumstances. For example, someone receiving negative feedback in a performance review may reveal their disappointment in tears. In addition, frustration from an inability to effectively influence others often results in anger – too often in public settings. While unfortunate, the former emotional scenario is somewhat understandable and, particularly given the confidential nature, generally acceptable. In contrast, losing one’s temper as a result of their own ineffectiveness is not acceptable. Either way, because emotion is generally perceived as a reflections of one’s inability to control their reactions to given situations, emotion is generally considered negative characteristic.

Call me crazy (or passionate), but I want people on my team that believe deeply in those they serve and therefore may reflect their passion through strong words and actions. Yes, I want people on my team who have the ability to maintain their composure.  However, if someone is passionate enough about their commitment to serving a person or group and therefore not willing to maintain their composure all the time, I’m okay with that. Provided, of course, they know when those right times are.

Question: Have you seen passion confused for emotion? Do you like having passionate people on your team?

Social Networking

As the personal computer replaced typewriters and the Internet evolved into common use, more critics began to panic that we, as a society, would lose our human touch. After all, just how personal can interaction be through computer screens? One wonders if they thought the same of the telephone. Even a man I greatly admire, James A. Autry, a thought leader on servant leadership and remarkably successful business man, devoted an entire section in one of his books to the theme that technology negatively impacts the ability for personal interaction (and servant leadership) to be successful. James and many of these critics were right in their observations given the state of technologies at that time – the late 80′s and early 90′s. Before social technology hit rev 2.0, everything was static, there was limited conversation and nobody saw the Internet as a place for friends to connect. Instead, you had a mess of static webpages. The closest thing to a personal touch from these early websites was a bunch of personal data that was broadcast to anyone at all. The problem was, only a select network of individuals wanted to read these individual’s broadcasts but there was no easily defined audience or targeting mechanism. That was then, this is now.

Then
Before Social Technology evolved into common place, in times that predate digital social networks, we had direct personal relationships based primarily on physical interactions. Those you knew living close to you, working in your office or family that visited semi-regularly were all in the know about your life’s events. Even your closest friends from high school or college – the select few who kept you updated in Christmas letters or shared their updated contact information with each subsequent move. These individuals all provided “warm fuzzies” when you heard an update every couple of months.

If there were major life events, such as weddings, funerals or even the occasional reunion, you would even travel far to see those closest to you. You’d reconnect briefly, be amazed at how much had changed over the years and regret that you had not stayed in “closer contact”. You’d promise to “do better this time” and maybe you would, for a couple of months at least, before the status quo returned and you’d meet up again at the next major life event….

And so it went for most of us. Sure, there were exceptions, those who were friends for life, those that didn’t move far from home and made sure to visit everyone when they returned to visit, perhaps even the occasional high school “clique” that never ended. But as a whole, I suspect most of us experienced something like the above – only maintaining even semi-regular contact with a very small subset of friends and colleagues. However, modern evolutions in social technology have changed all this and flipped the coin completely. We now have the opportunity, through the technical empowerment of social technology, to make and maintain our relationships on a more personal level than ever before.

Now
It is easier than ever to stay connected or reconnect with friends and colleagues. A quick Google of someone’s name is likely to identify a Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Ning, Naymz or similar networking reference. Physical vicinity is almost irrelevant. When you meet at the life event, you exchange your preferred profile space, go home, link up and now you’re getting daily one-liner updates from Twitter or a similar service. You suddenly realize that their child is the same age as yours or slightly ahead and, trusting them from the common bonds of your youth, may rely on them for advice. How did they get that thumb-sucking under control?

Perhaps you discover that your old college roommate went back for his law degree. As luck would have it, you needed someone to go over that new contract before you sign. Again, the common bond of trust is pre-existing and new business is drawn up with old friends. In the end, it becomes easier and easier to make ties with your personal life and professional roles. For some this may not be what they seek. Many people prefer a work-life balance, vs. a work-life alignment. But even if for purely personal reasons, the daily status updates, photo sharing and routine communication with friends becomes more simplistic and readily accessible.

Still Room For Improvement
Of course, social technology solutions are still far from perfect. Many of the social technology services are awkward on mobile devices. The proliferation of these technologies is still relatively limited and standards have not yet matured. In fact, the lack of connectivity for a majority of mobile devices or even decent user interfaces for many of those that are connected, limit the adoption rate of mobile social technology. Meanwhile, the elders of our society, the age group most unlikely to adopt new technologies, remain virtually untouched by social technology. However, as we mature as a society and more youth become adults and adults become elders, all familiar with these systems and solutions, the adoption rate will naturally expand accordingly. Finally, there remains too many competitors and redundant solutions. As competitors battle for market share (user base) and systems settle into niches, these standards will pan out as they do for all technologies. Before long, all these roadblocks will become speed bumps and social technology adoption and proliferation will complete.

How Do We, As Technology Leaders, Respond?
Great, so we recognize that social technology is making relationships more personal than ever before. We understand this brings a human touch back to the office that may have been lacking in the last decade. In fact, we may even see our friends and colleagues are more connected than ever. So what does that mean for you, as a technology leader? It means first and foremost that this is not a battle, it means that we need to leverage these resources ourselves and it means we need to align our business plans with the social technology present and future.

Not a Battle
How are you structuring your policies and security around social networking? Are you completely blocking Facebook and Myspace? What about LinkedIn and the more generally considered “professional sites”? How do you handle Ning, which consists of a mix of both personal and professionaly-focused networks? Sadly, the reality is there may be some increased security threats from these sites and so proper precautions should be taken. But if you think that your staff could only possibly use social networking and media sites for purely personal reasons, think again. Whether you immediately open up access to these resources for your employees or you plan for it in the future, only you can decide. One thing is certain though, social technology is not going away and it is an excellent resource for your employees – both personally and professionally. Consider shifting your policies from one of absolute opposition, to one of moderated temperance. Of course, excessive personal use that abuses corporate assets should always be addressed, but the line between personal and professional networking is a very gray one and difficult to define. Otherwise, employees that are completely blocked from such resources, intending to use it for professional networking purposes will feel stifled, lacking the tools they need to complete their job effectively and not empowered to perform their best.

Leverage These Resources Ourselves
Are you connected with social technology? How many friends do you have online? When was the last time you connected with your old colleagues? You know that position that you’ve been trying to fill for months? Having a solid network on LinkedIn, empowering you to query your most trusted advisers and former employees sure would be helpful. Imagine, with one message you could immediately ping most of your former colleagues and know immediately how any referrals you receive are connected to you.

Aligning Business Plans with Social Technology
Does the marketing plan at your company encompass how they plan to leverage social technology? If not, why not? Social Technology should be considered as regularly, if not more so, than print, television, email and web alone. Viral marketing is best and most cost effective online, something everyone wants to hear nowadays. Leveraging YouTube, product watch sites and email campaigns that don’t stink of force-fed ads are all low cost solutions to their traditional counterparts. What about your hiring strategy? Be sure to know what the discussion boards say about you as a manager (check eBossWatch for example) and as an employer (what do the hiring site discussions say?). Are you polling your own network online for hiring? In every new major initiative, within your own department and beyond, consider how social technology can help (or even hurt, if not properly addressed) your plans.

Yes, not so long ago, the Internet was evil, out to destroy our society by disconnecting us from the human touch. As the underlying technology evolves, adoption rates grow and interfaces become more familiar though, it is clear that social technology solutions have made our relationships more personal than ever before. There remains opportunities for improvement, but the fears of the past are fading and the promise of the future for both personal and professional opportunities to connect with friends and colleagues is immense. As a technology leader in your organization, it is up to you to ensure your teams realize this wave and help make it work for you.

One of the things that never gets any easier for me as a hiring manager is rejecting applicants. At this point, I probably interviewed more than 250 people over the years (it doesn’t help that I am always working in high growth organizations). Of those 250, I hired about 50 (generally speaking, HR screens candidates before I meet them). This still means I’ve rejected many. So what’s the problem? If somebody is not qualified, they are not qualified, right? That is essentially true. The problem is, there are also a lot of candidates out there that may be considered qualified technically, but not the right fit any number of other reasons.

To give some examples, I have been interviewing candidates for a rather senior technology role recently. The nature of this role results in a number of applicants with greater experience than I have. I have met some amazing folks, with incredible accomplishments and great personalities. Still, these folks need to have “been there, done that” in very challenging roles with organizations of similar scale. I could go on for hours trying explain why this experience is necessary, but it would not help.

The simple fact is, there are certain attributes of the SMB sector you can’t gleam from the Fortune 500 and vice versa. The challenges in high growth organizations are simply much different than plateaued ones. No ammount of reading, research or other preparation can ready you for this.

So, the next time somebody says, “we went another way”, please don’t be offended. Look at your experience, the organizations you worked for and any other relevant factors. Chances are the hiring manager is feeling really guilty about not being able to provide you a more detailed explanation…