HR in a 2.0 World: Leading vs. Following

Dave Ulrich is right when he says “HR holds the key to an organization’s future success”, but alas, I believe that this prophecy will only ring true if HR itself becomes ambassadors of a 2.0 world. Recently I delivered a presentation to roughly 100 leaders in and amongst the HR ranks. 3 key points I raised included:

• The “2.0 Train” has already left the station; HR better be in the engine car and not the caboose/brake van
• HR cannot be followers in the 2.0 world; they must be pioneers AND shepherds of the vision
• 2.0 for HR is not solely about technology … it can be defined as follows:

 

Each of these six “2.0” components have a very specific purpose and thus outcome, but it’s the HR function itself that needs to ensure they are all tightly aligned so that we can actually achieve an Organization 2.0 vision.

NOTE: I will describe my own personal thoughts for each of these six "2.0" components shortly - stay tuned.

In a way, Don Tapscott and Tammy Erickson over at nGenera might refer to this as Collaborative Enterprise Management. Maybe it’s aligned to Jon Ingham and the Human Capital Management strategies he suggests. Either way and whatever theorem or concept you seem to fancy, the HR function has to get out in front of the 2.0 wave and lead it throughout the org. Quite possibly, it will find itself becoming redundant if it doesn’t.