I saw Skyfall over the weekend. The level of excitement I had over this movie was unprecedented, at least since the last Bond movie was released. I love James Bond movies, and while I was concerned several years ago with the casting of Daniel Craig as 007, I now consider him my movie boyfriend (sorry, Mark Wahlberg, you have lost your position for now).
It goes without saying that this movie was excellent, reviewers who get paid to review movies will tell you that. I am also biased and would be unable to provide any criticism whatsoever, so I am not going to review the movie but rather share with you some thoughts about the movie and how it relates to organizations in general.
Without going into much of the plot, as it was twisty and exciting and I have to be very careful to not spoil the movie for those of you who may not be as avid fans as I am, one of the themes in the movie was the idea that the "old" ways were obsolete. M is asked to defend her department as many believe that having field operatives was ineffective, expensive and old fashioned. In several instances, Bond himself is accused of being too old and stuck in his old fashioned ways. BTW, as an aside, the new Q is adorkable and while he is one of the ones to accuse Bond of being old fashioned, I forgive him. I do not think I am giving anything away when I say that in the movie, the old ways prevail.
The same goes for organizations. The old ways do continue to work. We have moved into a technical era that allows for zero human contact. If we want, we can communicate entirely via technology, using our computers, smart phones etc to ensure that we never hear a human voice, let alone see someone in person during the working day. I recently had a client explain to my teenage son on Take Your Kid to Work Day that I practiced the lost art of speaking to people face to face. Allow me this moment of ego, much like Bond who practices the art of field espionage, working with technology but not relying on it, successful HR practitioners must learn that technology provides for a variety of tools but cannot be a substitute for human contact. An e-mail is not the same as a face to face recognition of someone's contribution. Texting or chatting over IM is not a substitute for sitting across from someone and actually talking. Technology has its place, and is extremely useful and makes us more productive (when used correctly) but it cannot replace old fashioned HR field operations.
It goes without saying that this movie was excellent, reviewers who get paid to review movies will tell you that. I am also biased and would be unable to provide any criticism whatsoever, so I am not going to review the movie but rather share with you some thoughts about the movie and how it relates to organizations in general.
Without going into much of the plot, as it was twisty and exciting and I have to be very careful to not spoil the movie for those of you who may not be as avid fans as I am, one of the themes in the movie was the idea that the "old" ways were obsolete. M is asked to defend her department as many believe that having field operatives was ineffective, expensive and old fashioned. In several instances, Bond himself is accused of being too old and stuck in his old fashioned ways. BTW, as an aside, the new Q is adorkable and while he is one of the ones to accuse Bond of being old fashioned, I forgive him. I do not think I am giving anything away when I say that in the movie, the old ways prevail.
The same goes for organizations. The old ways do continue to work. We have moved into a technical era that allows for zero human contact. If we want, we can communicate entirely via technology, using our computers, smart phones etc to ensure that we never hear a human voice, let alone see someone in person during the working day. I recently had a client explain to my teenage son on Take Your Kid to Work Day that I practiced the lost art of speaking to people face to face. Allow me this moment of ego, much like Bond who practices the art of field espionage, working with technology but not relying on it, successful HR practitioners must learn that technology provides for a variety of tools but cannot be a substitute for human contact. An e-mail is not the same as a face to face recognition of someone's contribution. Texting or chatting over IM is not a substitute for sitting across from someone and actually talking. Technology has its place, and is extremely useful and makes us more productive (when used correctly) but it cannot replace old fashioned HR field operations.
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