Retweet and Edited: Communication keys By Paul Arkwright

Over the past five years, the IT landscape has significantly changed. With the exponential growth and development of mobile and cloud-based platforms, user knowledge and experience has grown in turn. It is therefore imperative that HR find innovative ways of utilising this technology to improve the delivery of staff mentoring.

Hermann Lam, Product Manager, FlexSystem recently talked about how IT can help HR enhance communication to more productively mentor and manage staff. Lam expounded that from an IT perspective, the standardisation of information within a business is fundamental if HR is to drive success. Utilising HRMS to integrate employee self-service (ESS), time and attendance, leave management, performance management, etc will better enable HR to function to its full capacity. HR is the one department that personally touches every individual within an organisation, and consequently is uniquely positioned to directly affect every employee, steering them towards company goals.

Engagement is vital

Harnessing the power of technology within an organisation means that internal communication is functioning at an optimal level; it is an important step towards helping HR successfully manage and mentor teams. Moreover, internal communication should not only be adopted during times of crisis or through transitional periods, but should rather be common practice. Ineffective communication can have retrogressive ramifications, and it is therefore pressing that HR take the necessary steps to implement an internal communication strategy.

Effective management of employee communication makes a serious difference in the future of any business. That does not mean having more policies, nor offering the highest salary to hire people; it is about optimising HR operations with the right strategy. Implementing a suitable communication strategy through a well-designed collaboration platform is the key. Through electronic documentation and standardised workflow processes, everything is made easier and more efficient. An employee self-service platform on the web not only streamlines workflow but also improves internal communication and staff engagement. Lam explained, “The advantages of utilising technology to automate HR to cope with specific business needs will enhance workflow management and HR operations, providing management with a comprehensive analysis for decision making.”

Cultivate creativity

Lam gave some additional insight into how FlexSystem approaches staff mentoring, highlighting that they avoid the ‘bureaucratic approach’ and rather offer staff the freedom to be innovative. Employees are trained in a way that gives them the opportunity to explore their own ideas. Lam explained, “The more exposure an employee is given, the quicker they learn, which in turn cultivates creativity.” Moreover, the more transparent management is, the more the overall level of knowledge will increase. Lam gave the following pointers for getting the most out of a team:

• give employees the opportunity to work on different projects in order to avoid stagnation;

• make expectations clear;

• encourage employees to try their own ideas;

• be a good listener;

• avoid the ‘top down’ approach;

• ensure communication  is open and flowing; and

• add the fun-factor into the working environment.

Lam explained that ESS platforms are becoming increasingly prevalent in Hong Kong and therefore, HR needs to optimise effectiveness through adopting and integrating these technologies. This will allow HR to facilitate improvement in sharing information with teams, ease the distribution of training materials, and more importantly give staff the freedom to access useful content on-demand.  This will reduce HR’s administrative tasks so that they can focus on recognising and developing talent.