Beware ‘the tyranny of experts’ in-house resourcers warned

A leading business educator and former HR executive at Cadbury-Schweppes has warned senior in-house resourcing professionals against accepting “the tyranny of experts” when it comes to understanding and driving a social media strategy.
Thu, 23 Jan 2014A leading business educator and former HR executive at Cadbury-Schweppes has warned senior in-house resourcing professionals against accepting “the tyranny of experts” when it comes to understanding and driving a social media strategy.

Speaking at a forum this morning [23 January 2014] in London, Chris Bones, dean emeritus of Henley Business School and current professor of creativity and leadership at Manchester Business School, said that too many HR professionals leave responsibility for defining interaction with their external communities, and the understanding of how to interact with them, with consultants.

Too often, Bones said, resourcing leaders walk away from conversations with their consultants not understanding either what they have been told or what is occurring with their company’s social media. “They need to make themselves understandable to you,” he added.

Bones was speaking to 60 senior in-house recruitment professionals at the inaugural AM Forum breakfast discussion, hosted by Work Group in conjunction with The Forum for In-house Recruitment Managers (The FIRM). Recruiter attended the City event.

If the internal recruiters do not understand the strategy and how to work with it, “you’re not going to be as successful”, Bones continued.

“There is a challenge around employer brand,” Bones went on to emphasise to the London audience. While resourcing and recruitment leaders don’t have to actually conduct the interaction themselves, “it’s important you understand what they [the consultants] are doing to you”.

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