Mannequin Challenge: why stand still?
Luke McShane
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It’s the latest craze to sweep social media and it forms part of a long line of challenges people have undertaken in an attempt to interact with their peers (neck nominations, power of makeup challenges, ice bucket challenges etc.). If you haven’t already seen it, the latest one involves everyone in a room attempting to stay completely still while somebody else pans the room using a camera in an attempt to create the illusion that everyone is in fact a mannequin. It’s so popular that people now have their canine friends doing the mannequin challenge, some admittedly are very good. The millions of views indicate people clearly care enough to sit up and take notice and maybe you’re only reading this post because of it's title.
But what is all the fuss about?
There are lots of reasons why people are so intrigued by these challenges such as charity, entertainment or competition. Ultimately, however, it is the sense of belonging that is the biggest draw for such challenges. People need to feel like they are part of something bigger and taking part helps to contribute to this feeling of belonging.
Of course none of these challenges existed twenty years ago because we didn’t have the ability to reach such a worldwide audience so easily but technology has changed everything. The rise of smartphones has changed the way people behave and as a result of these behavioural changes people’s expectations have shifted. We spoke about people longing for belonging but people now have greater expectations of everything. Millennials expect things to come easily and to see results with minimal effort.
How does this effect your business?
It’s a bit like us believing that the Sun rotated around the Earth until Copernicus proved the opposite. Your people do not revolve around your company, you revolve around them and they are the lifeblood of your very existence.
The shift in people’s expectations has changed the way businesses are being run. Trying to keep pace with these expectations is a challenge in itself but it’s more of a survival challenge for businesses rather than a mannequin challenge.
Companies are now being run with a focus on harnessing technologies and talent to be able to execute strategies that will meet the growing expectation of your customers and your employees.
Your people are key to your continued success and when you consider external risks like rising costs, increased regulations or new market entrants why would you take a risk with your people? We all know the risks associated with standing still.
To avoid your company looking like a mannequin you have to ask yourself:
- How easy is it for someone to apply for a job in our company?
- Do our people have a sense of belonging to our organisation?
- Do they know how their roles impact the organisations goals?
- Is it easy for them to carry out HR transactions?
- Do we facilitate social collaboration in our organisation?
- Do we offer flexible working conditions with a good work/life integration?
- Are the skills in our HR department being wasted on manual administrative duties?
HR technology is undergoing a transformation moving away from systems that manage HR transactions and processes toward systems that make employees’ work lives easier. It’s a huge transition, but one that is long overdue. Today we barely have time to get through our emails each day – then when HR tells us we have to fill out a form or take a course, we sigh and think “maybe later.” That problem has to go away – and it is now being solved by HR tools that fit into the flow of work and meets the expectations of people today.
This leads to a more strategically focused HR team and more productive employees. As productivity goes up the cost per employee goes down. More informed decision making and more productive employees directly impact your revenues and margins.
If after reading this article you feel the need to belong to a forward thinking group of HR professionals I challenge you to drop me a line to talk about how I can help keep you ahead of the pack.
[email protected] or Ph: 011 892 48695