In the second installment of a series on on executive Q&A videos, I shared Chip Cruze’s tips for making a video and posting it on the company intranet. For this post, I asked Cruze to give his perspective as communications planner on the benefits of executive Q&A videos.

When deciding if executive Q&A videos are right for your company, consider these facts:

• After a small, one-time investment (Flip UltraHD Video Camera – Black, 8 GB, 2 Hours (3rd Generation) NEWEST MODEL and Flip Video Tripod), the videos cost nothing but the time it takes to make and post them.

• The videos “cultivate a culture of communication” where “everyone feels welcome to ask” and “every question is fair game.”

• The videos can go further to creating an “open door” culture than an actual open door. Many executives and managers say they have an open door policy and they mean it. But it’s hard for many employees to walk through that door. “The majority people just aren’t going to walk into the CEO’s office and ask for a minute,” Cruze reasons. It’s much easier to submit a question for a video Q&A.

• Most videos should take only 5-10 minutes to make (you don’t want them to be too long). It would take most of us exponentially longer to type up, proof, and polish a companywide email or memo with the same amount of information.

Technology for HR: Videos aren’t the only way to use your intranet as an employee engagement tool. Research more options for getting the most out of your intranet online.

In the final post of the series on executive Q&A videos, I’ll talk to some of our company’s executives who participated in Cruze’s videos to get their perspectives.

– Celeste Blackburn

Want to start harnessing the power of your intranet to drive employee engagement, post your handbook, communicate with employees in an emergency, and more? The Technology for HR manual guides you through making the most of your company’s intranet.

Recently, I was talking to Michael Burchell of the Great Place to Work Institute about programs that drive engagement and trust, and he mentioned Google’s TGIF (yes, that TGIF) program. Every Friday, Google executives take part in a live Q&A, and employees all over the world can participate online.

If you would like to do something similar at your company but can’t pull together a live Q&A every week, consider taking the idea to your intranet. Our company recently started a similar program, and I think it’s been very effective. Employees send their questions to the coordinator, who then incorporates those questions into video interviews with the appropriate members of the C suite (the president answers the questions about raises while the COO addresses concerns about reorganizing in the IT department), which he then posts on our intranet.

As an employee, the two things I like most about the intranet videos are: read more…

Shorter post than usual as I try to balance work and life responsibilities. I attempted to post this from my cell phone while waiting in the pediatrician’s office — but the tech gods are not cooperating! Go figure.

Old-School Technology Routs the New Stuff: It turns out that legendary crooner Bing Crosby hired a kinescope company to film the historic Game 7 of the 1960 World Series (Pittsburgh Pirates vs. New York Yankees), when Pirates’ second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit a walk-off home run to win the game — and the championship. What’s amazing is that the kinescope’s video quality rivals that of DVD. Check it out; it’s a worth a look!

Facebook users were up in arms yesterday as the social networking site went dark several hours Thursday afternoon. What’s interesting though is that hundreds of thousands of angry “Facebookians” flocked to Twitter to complain that they couldn’t access their accounts. This begs the questions, especially for HR folks, why so many people knew about Facebook’s outage during work hours? Just one more reason why HR needs to take a look a very close look at how their employees spend their workdays online.

If the above item doesn’t make you re-think your company’s social media policies, perhaps this will: Facebook is developing two smartphone prototypes, packed with a bevy of the social networking site’s features. With apologies to “Seinfeld,” “Worlds are colliding!”

What else is happening?

– Ralph Gaillard

Fascinating read on the rise of the YouTube-based college application. What’s even more interesting: College admission officers are driving the YouTube bus, encouraging students to incorporate online videos into their applications. Could YouTube job interviews be far behind?

More evidence that HR managers should worry about social media’s impact on employee productivity: Twitter users can now add photos and videos to their “tweets.”

Halloween came early for me when I read this recent article about the use of robots in the workplace. I’m not kidding. It’s a long article, but it’s worth reading this weekend.

For those who have caught robot fever (Was that the name of a disco song?), here is my favorite headline of the day: CEO Guide To Robots in the Workplace.

What else is happening?

-Ralph Gaillard

More fodder for those who advocate banning Twitter and all other social media tools from the workplace.

More fodder for those who advocate the opposite. Skype video is going places, which begs the question: How many would be interested in attending a Webinar on how HR can incorporate video calling into their daily routines?

Here’s a fun read on how Facebook and social networking in general can lower your IQ, ruin your career and turn you into a narcissist. Anti-social media in the workplace proponents take note.

Google continues its drive to dominate the world of technology with its latest invention: Google Instant, a new search feature that attempts to read your mind when you search.

Here’s how it works: Google users now will see search results pop up as soon as they type in the first letter of a word, saving users two to five seconds per search.

I don’t know what scares me more: Google’s ability to “read” my mind, or the fact that I (somewhat) care about shaving seconds off my Internet searches.

What else is happening?

-Ralph Gaillard

In search of a unique recruitment tool, Deloitte invited members of its global workforce to make three-minute amateur films that answered the question: “What’s your Deloitte?” They ended up getting more than they bargained, delivering a jolt of employee engagement and morale across the organization.

Consider these numbers: Nearly 400 submissions were received and more than 2,000 employees participated in the film making process. In an internal survey after the festival, 33 percent of Deloitte employees indicated an improvement in their connection to the office.

Not bad for a three-minute film. A sampling of the top employee films can be found here.