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Do you have Klout? Do you need to?

An established executive I know remarked recently that he’d just received his first resume with a Klout score. This got me thinking about whether this is the future of talent assessment – a full lifetime of experiences condensed into a made-up number. I’m being a bit dramatic but my immediate reaction was negative – I am a relationship-based person and that’s how I conduct business. I place people in roles where I think they will be successful on both a personal and a professional level. That simply can’t be determined by looking at a number. (I feel the same way about cultural assessment testing by the way.)

However, as I took a closer look, I realized that while the Klout number specifically doesn’t mean much for individuals (I’ll explain why in a minute), the concept behind it is meaningful. For purposes of this post I’m only talking about Klout in relation to personal influence, not brand influence, which is an entirely different topic. Klout calls itself “The Standard For Influence”. It claims to measure your influence by analyzing your social media activity, your network, and who engages or acts upon your content. Makes sense on the surface but what I’ve found during my research and my own informal, non-scientific survey is that Klout’s measurements are random and their labels (Influencer, Specialist) are not meaningful because there are no consistent definitions for these terms. As a matter of fact, I just received a message that I am a Klout “Addict” because I visited the site 3 times in the last week. Really? One person I spoke to said Klout deemed her an “Influencer” after she posted once about one topic. Another said Klout considers her widely influential even though she only ever posts on Facebook and only on personal matters. The executive I mentioned earlier actually considered the fact that the person included their Klout score on their resume as a negative – since it isn’t a meaningful term just yet. Many of the reviews I’ve read indicate that the Klout rating system can be gamed, their algorithm is not transparent, and their criteria are too random at this stage to provide a real true measurement. It is a work in progress and is striving to become the FICO score of social media influence – we aren’t there yet.

What I found even more interesting in my research was how many professionals don’t even know what a Klout score is. My non-scientific survey included HR, recruiting, and various executives in the media, entertainment, and technology spaces. Of course, most executives knew about Klout but of the HR and recruiting folks more than half didn’t know about Klout and those who did, line executives and HR folks alike, said it was meaningless to them as a selection mechanism at this time.

Should you ignore your score? My answer sits somewhere between yes and no. I wouldn’t pay specific attention to your Klout rating at this time but I would keep an eye on the company because they are one of the more visible players in the field of folks trying to measure the impact of social. And social is only going to keep growing.

However, you absolutely should be paying attention to your social presence; and that is Klout’s underlying message. As the social web evolves there will be ever more opportunities to present your personal brand and engage your audience. What’s more, organizations are regularly turning to your activity on the web to assess what you have to say, who you are engaging with, and your industry presence. Are you on top of your game, do you understand your field, are you trending with the influence-makers, and do you have something interesting to say? This is a very tangible approach to talent assessment and one I champion. We are beyond the days of cautioning against posting those party pictures from last year’s Vegas trip (I think). This is really about monitoring your activity, making sure your posts are intelligent, meaningful, and put you in good light to future employers.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Post your comments below or send me an email to colleen@ophrgroup.com.

Harnessing Genius: A Tribute to Terrence Wing

My friend and mentor Terrence Wing always talked about harnessing the genius that exists in the workplace through social media, and I completely agreed with this approach. With the use of social media people can share ideas, experiences, and answers to problems, leading to innovation, efficiency, and a positive work experience for employees.

I started to think about the idea of harnessing genius in more depth. Can all companies harness genius? Does genius exist in every company? Could harnessing genius retain top talent and motivate employees?

I look at companies like Zappos, Google, and Whole Foods, where the workforce drives their success. They certainly harness their genius.

Here are the steps to make it happen.

Hire the right people. Make sure they fit with your culture and can contribute to the company’s goals.

Let people do their thing. If you give people the tools and motivation to accomplish their goals, they will.

Encourage people share ideas and collaborate. People like to work together to create success.

Yes, sometimes employees will say things you would be prefer they don’t, but the use of social media memorializes genius and allows other to build on great ideas. Don’t let a few unflattering comments keep you from embracing people connecting through technology.

Allow everyone to use his or her strengths. The group’s product will be stronger than what individuals can do.

Terrence was always willing to share his genius with friends, colleagues, followers, and anyone who wanted to learn more about social learning or e-learning. Terrence was a social learning evangelist and, through his passions, mentored many of us to successful careers by sharing our genius and connecting with others.

Terrence passed away unexpectedly on December 1, 2011. However, because of his love of harnessing genius, his knowledge and inspiration will continue to touch people who believe in connecting with one another. Terrence’s vision was really about helping people make a difference through working together. Technology was just the vehicle to make it happen. Thank you, Terrence, for all that you have given us. You will be missed.

This tribute was written by Michelle Winkley and Colleen Longstreet of OPHRGroup.

The Unexpected Consequences of Social Media

Google’s company culture has been an example for many businesses. Tech companies try to copy it; more traditional companies can’t quite buy into it. Google being a leader in the Internet space encourages collaboration through many avenues, including the use of social media. This has suited Google well, but what happens when the unplanned happens?

On October 12, 2011 a Google employee posted a rant that was critical of Google+ externally. The employee immediately took it down and explained that the rant was intended to be an internal document. This could have been disastrous for the company. In situations like these, there can be damage to the brand, and confidential information can be shared with unintended people. In this rant, the employee pointed to the lack of Google+ use by a senior executive, which could have hurt the public’s perception of the product.

What would your company have done in this situation? Would the employee be fired? Would your company be able to react quickly to the publicity from this event?

Google handled this event in a manor consistent with its culture. Google has an open culture and, therefore, did not freak out about one person’s opinion being shared publicly. They had an effective PR strategy on how to downplay the event. Lastly, they did not fire the employee because they believed the employee when he said that it was an accident that the message was posted publicly.

Lessons can be learned from this event:

Be ready to react to a social media incident.

Evaluate all the facts of what happened before letting an employee go.

Make sure your top executives support your social media endeavors.

Always check to whom you are sending emails before hitting the send button.

This is another example that shows that social media comes with many rewards, but companies still need to be ready to handle the potential negative effects. This example was an unfortunate mistake that had little effect to the company, but this is not always the case.

Kudos to Google for its handling of this situation.