Ambering Vilnius for Front Offices. Ode for joy.

Having left morning sorrows behind we strolled down Gediminas street (used to be called Adam Mickievicz  street, as well as Saint George’s, Stalin’s and Lenin’s – depending on who ruled the city; in soviet times it was more known as Brodas – Lithuanian abbreviation of Broadway, tribute to longing for the freedom somewhere there – where chewing gum, jeans and vinyls of The Doors would sometimes be smuggled in).

That’s how it could have looked like in those days – hair probably longer, unless caught by milicija, who would shave it by force. And these are really most comfortable benches I have ever sat upon; sadly not on Brodas anymore, but I know where to find a few:

There is such a longing for the Brodas of those days that in 2013 masses gathered to recreate atmosphere: check the galery.

Ambering Vilnius for Front Offices. A bit of sorrow.

As defined by some sort of online dictionary – verb “amber” exists and is (rarely) used to define an ancient technology of preservation. Most commonly used for insects, but I guess it might be also suitable for memories, in particular poetically yellowish ones.

And poetically yellowish Vilnius was the destination.

CEIII Dubl-Linked-in

no, we were not there on Monday. but good listening, thinking and sharing we had.

 

1. Day one. Dubl-in.

What if someone told you tomorrow you will have lunch in a swimming pool and dinner in the train station? If this were before June 2015 – I would have thought joke. Any time from now- i’d say: sure, let’s go to Dublin.

TIME TO TAKE RED PILL, COBBLER. Part 2 of Mission report from HR Tech 2014 Amsterdam

(Continued from LET’S TALK PASSION, COBBLER. Part 1 of Mission report from HR Tech 2014 Amsterdam.)

If I were to squeeze out just one thought from the whole richness of the conference – that would be: “THE WORLD HAS CHANGED. ADAPT OR PERISH. YES, YOU ALSO, HR.”

Transparency is the most dramatic aspect of this change. When you have always took professional pride in weaving the emperor’s new clothes, you’ll feel like your world is being kicked from under your feet by those immature millennials liking and sharing the fact that your emperor, in fact, isn’t wearing much. You could fight it and lose.Or you could start taking pride in doing something about those clothes.

Have you heard of a Glassdoor? It’s kind of Tripadvisor for employers and jobs. Think now what is more crucial for your employer image – to be among 100 of top employers in Trendence  list, or to look good on such peer-to-peer rating site?

Glasdoor CEO and co-founder, ROBERT HOHMAN was at HRTech. Talked about TRANSPARENCY AND THE FUTURE WORKFORCE. However, for reading on my own, I prefer another Robert’s presentation, describing what will the future workplace look like. And the  truth (about the future workplace) is:

LET’S TALK PASSION, COBBLER. Part 1 of Mission report from HR Tech 2014 Amsterdam

HR Tech Europe Conference. Amsterdam, October 24-25. Overwhelming. Noisy. Initially confusing. Even with conference app. One week later – attempt to untangle.

6 thematic streams – HR Technology,  HR Shared Services & Outsourcing,  Cloud technology streams –  for really TECHy ones. Social Enterprise, Future of Work, Talent management – for the ones like me. Sure there was some mingling of profiles: mix up rooms, get exposed to an inspiring presentation and you might change your views on whether it’s always nonsense to put a cart (technology) in front of the horse (cultural change).

***

The first keynote SMART SIMPLICITY (YVES MORIEUX, The Boston Consulting Group *) – think of engagement. Ever knew that only 11-23% of population feel engaged at work?

iMA Yellow Me

I spent a very looong day yesterday in Guimard. Moderating* a very practical strand at the 2nd Digital Competency day**. Had one more chance to compare  SharePoint and Confluence wiki – both collaboration tools offered by DIGIT, both have their stronger and weaker points. Was able again publicly admit my complicated relationship with DG CONNECT: I do admire their risk-non-averse culture and digital competence that allows them to organicaly embrace no-one-has-seen-before tools, on the other hand, can’t avoid thinking that would they concentrate their charisma and energy on promoting more widely used corporate tools, we could quicker reach a different level of digital competence as the whole organisation ***. Discovered existence of something I never heard before -YUM and WACS sort of  Skype or GoToMeeting tools developed by DIGIT. Was among the first 20 ppl to review the new DG HR Learning portal and some other things

Digital analytics – further than teenage sex

Digital analytics master class presented by Nicolas Malo (courtesy EP and CEIII as best example of interinstitutional cooperation) – that was the last thing I did before leaving for Xmas holls. I really enjoyed the possibility to get further than teenage sex level of my familiarity with the issue*: