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Performance Management

Published January 2008

The Intersection of Web 2.0 and Talent Management

Sanjay Dholakia

Wikis, blogs, social networking — there are seemingly 101 ways for employees to find information, collaborate and execute work. But what can organizations do to establish processes to fully leverage the benefits of Web 2.0-enabled technology on a consistent basis?

Unfortunately, most companies struggle not only when assessing employee performance but when attempting to use employee reviews and other performance-related information to actually improve workforce productivity. For many managers and employees, taking part in appraisals and executing other pieces in a regular performance management system can seem an almost Sisyphean task, but savvy employers can facilitate the process by taking an interactive approach to this piece of talent management.

In some cases, this requires employers to adopt a laissez-faire attitude about the correct mix of technology for performance management. Whatever the mix of technologies used, two-way communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing are necessary if an employer wants to maximize technology use.

Web 2.0 tools, such as wikis, blogs, social networks like LinkedIn and MySpace, and RSS (really simple syndication) — which knits together content found on blogs and wikis and serves up the results in an easy-to-find format — can encourage employee communication and offer a structure within which workers can better collaborate and employers can better manage talent.

All of the aforementioned tools are interactive and fairly new to the talent management space. Companies of all kinds are still trying to understand which of these tools work best for performance management and how best to deploy them.

Early in 2008, a McKinsey & Co. research project tapping 2,800 top-ranked executives from many countries found roughly 30 percent were planning to deploy Web 2.0 tools in some fashion. In particular, wikis — collaborative Web sites that can be edited by anyone with access — were seen as a way to document and share what talented managers do to be successful.

This is key, because a big part of managing performance is tapping into what's going on in people's heads. If talent managers can unlock what employees know and make that information accessible, they can spur collaboration and also creativity.

Next-generation workers, or "next geners," want interaction with one another as well as with their employers and colleagues. With their mobile devices at the ready and an array of social networking sites marked as favorites on their browser toolbars, next geners learn, work and relax by collaborating.

Generation Y and the millennials, in particular, are consistently plugged into a variety of Web 2.0 technology, and as they enter the workforce, they expect and demand this sort of access. Savvy companies understand this and use specific technologies to help workers break down collaboration barriers that can hamper performance.

In a Forrester Research report titled "Knowledge, Learning, and Work Unite!" Forrester Analyst Claire Schooley noted, "Once employees leave school and enter the work world, more than 80 percent of new knowledge occurs informally."