SocialLearning

Social learning

Socialcast and social learning

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We’ve been using Socialcast for a while now and for large organizations that have multiple silos of information in repositories like Sharepoint, it’s a pretty good platform. Socialcast enables streams and micro-sharing and keeps multiple work teams in touch with each other without being burdened with too many rules. The learning curve is not difficult at all.

Socialcast also has a blog and some of the posts and infographics have been exceptionally good. I already wrote about wasted effort at work but this post on exception handling from September just caught my attention:

Social networks in the enterprise create a permanent “home” for these exceptions to live where users can communicate and collaborate around the answers. Exception management through social networks gives management clear insight into the resources needed for handling these exceptions. Viewing or monitoring the interactions and necessary actions taken to resolve these exceptions can lead to better implementation, revisions or training on these systems, and increase productivity throughout the enterprise.

A more recent post on the evolution of knowledge management clearly shows the need to support the sharing of tacit knowledge in a complex and creative economy:

This is a blog worth subscribing to.

2020 Workplace

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In The 2020 Workplace, Jeanne Meister & Karie Willyerd make 20 predictions at the end of the book. William Gibson said, “the future is already here –  it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Here are my thoughts on where we are with some of these predictions:

Your mobile device will become your office, your classroom, and your concierge. We’re already seeing this with young people. They’d rather go without a car. Mobile computing is the future that is already here.

Web commuters will force corporate offices to reinvent themselves. Yes, working online IS different.

Job requirements for CEOs will include blogging. How else can you communicate with everyone effectively and efficiently? It’s sure not by email and face-to-face is difficult in distributed organizations. I would include podcasts & video in this statement.

Social media literacy will be required for all employees. I give this perhaps 24 months. We no longer offer training on email. Connecting to online social networks for working and learning will be a fact of life much sooner than later.

The lines between marketing, communications and learning will blur. I’ve called this the integration of organizational support. What we at the Internet Time Alliance call working smarter is a culture supported by social learning; collaborative work and a leadership framework. Technology enables this but the three pillars are more important than any technology platform.


Leadership for Networks

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It takes different leadership to increase collaboration and support social learning in the workplace. Leadership is the key, not technology. Most of our leadership practices come from a command and control military legacy that have been adopted by the business world for the past century. But hierarchies don’t help us manage in networks, whether they be social, value or organizational networks. Steve Denning explains:

Saying that hierarchies are needed is like arguing for smoking cigarettes. Hierarchies are a harmful habit that we need to break. We may be addicted to them, so that breaking the habit is hard, but the way forward is clear.

The reality is that there is another way. One can mesh the efforts of autonomous teams of knowledge workers who have the agility to innovate and meet the shifting needs of clients while also achieving disciplined execution. It requires a set of measures that might be called “dynamic linking”. The method began in automotive design in Japan and has been developed most fully in software development with approaches known as “Agile” or “Scrum”.

Jon Husband has succinctly described an organizational framework for networks. Some variation of wirearchy informs successful organizations (like Semco SA; Google; W.L. Gore, Zappos; etc):

In an increasingly interconnected world, a new organizing principle is emerging …

“Wirearchy is a dynamic two-way [multi-way] flow of power and authority based on:

  • knowledge,
  • trust,
  • credibility,
  • a focus on results

enabled by interconnected people and technology“ (Jon Husband, 1999)

Working smarter through social learning

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This past week I had the opportunity to discuss social learning in the workplace with many people. Explaining a concept helps to understand it. It’s part of my active sense-making as a networked learner. I’ve mentioned before how Ross Dawson’s five ways to add value to information have influenced my networked learning framework:

  1. Filtering (separating signal from noise, based on some criteria)
  2. Validation (ensuring that information is reliable, current or supported by research)
  3. Synthesis (describing patterns, trends or flows in large amounts of information)
  4. Presentation (making information understandable through visualization or logical presentation)
  5. Customization (describing information in context)

This blog and the various presentations I do are attempts to add value (and context) to information so that I can later retrieve it and use it. By making this transparent I not only create value-added information for others but I clarify my own thinking.

Networked learning, or PKM, was a main topic of discussion this week, as many people asked how I had the time to do all of this reading, annotating and content creation. For me, it’s part of my work flow and it creates extremely valuable knowledge artifacts that I can re-use.

Here’s my latest version of putting together my thoughts on social learning in the enterprise. The storyline behind these slides goes like this:

Work is changing as we get more networked and people are not happy with the old structures, as 84% of workers in the US plan to change their jobs in 2011. We are seeing mass, decentralized and social movements that confront existing hierarchies, politically and in the workplace. Social media are the flagship of an inter-connected society, but every industrial discipline views them through their own filters, like blind monks examining an elephant. In this hyperlinked economy more of our work demands collaboration and we are seeing that work is learning. The need for social learning increases as higher-valued complex work requires passion, creativity and initiative. These skills are not taught in some training program, but shared socially through modelled behaviour and over many conversations. We need to understand complex adaptive systems and develop work structures that let us  focus our efforts on learning as we work in order to continuously develop next practices. The role of leadership becomes supportive rather than directive in this new knowledge-intensive and creative workplace. Artificial boundaries that limit collaboration and communication only serve to drag companies down and create opportunities for more agile competitors.

Working Smarter though Social Learning  


CCLD KSEN Workshop follow-up

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We discussed social learning in the enterprise today with an interesting case study on social learning (without technology) by PwC. At the end of the day everyone was asked what pressing issue they would like to discuss for tomorrow. The questions were grouped into five areas, and I’ve added some resources for each:

PKM

Article on PKM and working smarter through networked learning

Beth Kanter: My Three Words for 2011: Seek, Sense, and Share

Sumeet Moghe: How I’m approaching PKM

Tools

Jane Hart’s Directory of Learning Tools 2011 (13 categories)

Jane Hart: Examples of the use of social media and learning (By technology and types of learning)

Jane Hart: 100+ Examples of  the Use of Social Media in Learning

Integration of KM and L&D

Social computing in knowledge-intensive workplaces

What would an integrated OD, HR, IT, KM, Marketing/Communications and L&D partnership look like? Partnerships & the Organization

Implementation and Case Studies

Jane Hart: Social Learning in the Workplace Examples

Measurement & KPI’s

Eric Davidove: The Business Case for Social Learning

Verifying Virtual Value

Informal learning and performance technology

Soft skills are foundational competencies

Other Resources:

The Shy Connector

Mass, decentralized and social

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How did the word get out for Tunisians to initiate large-scale protests? Social networks; though not necessarily all technology-mediated. The same happened in Egypt. If social media were not a threat, it is unlikely the government would have shut down almost all web access. Jeremy Littau says the Egyptian uprising “movement is mass, decentralized, and social. Sound like anything we know?” It’s also very human.

China is blocking searches on Twitter related to Egypt, as it too fears the power of social networks. Social networks, and the learning that happens as a result, are a threat to all hierarchical structures. Social networks accelerate the spread of new ideas and lay bare systemic injustices. This is powerful stuff and it scares people. Anyone in a position of power and authority is losing some of that due to the growing power of social networks – doctors, teachers, managers, politicians, etc. Seb Paquet calls it “ridiculously easy group-forming”. Hugh Macleod says that the network is more powerful than the node.

Social networks speed access to knowledge and accelerate learning. An Egyptian blogger, Ma3t, learned via social media this week:

They hit us bad. They shot tear gas at us, I saw ppl running and screaming, and all i can remember is the tweeted instructions ” Do not rub ur eyes” I tried, I really tried, but my eyes were on fire, I didn’t rub them though but ended up walking blindly into a wall.

It’s all social as we become more connected and observe the emerging network effects. The year 2011 will be interesting and 2012 will be even more interesting. Hang on.

A case for social learning in business

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This is a first draft of putting together the case for social learning and social business. Comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome. This was not rehearsed, so I know that the narration can be tightened up. I’m interested in seeing what other points could or should be added and especially if the central theme makes sense.

Social learning for business

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Here’s an elevator pitch, in 10 sentences, for social learning, which is what really makes social business work.

  1. The increasing complexity of our work is a result of our global interconnectedness.
  2. Today, simple work is being automated (e.g. bank tellers).
  3. Complicated work (e.g. accounting) is getting outsourced.
  4. Complex and creative work is what gives companies unique business advantages.
  5. Complex and creative work is difficult to replicate, constantly changes and requires greater tacit knowledge.
  6. Tacit knowledge is best developed through conversations and social relationships.
  7. Training courses are artifacts of a time when information was scarce and connections were few; that time has passed.
  8. Social learning networks enable better and faster knowledge feedback loops.
  9. Hierarchies constrain social interactions so traditional management models must change.
  10. Learning amongst ourselves is the real work in social businesses and management’s role is to support social learning.

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Exchanging knowledge in Ottawa & Montreal

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I have two scheduled engagements with The Conference Board of Canada in February.

On 3/4 Feb I will be presenting a framework for social learning in the enterprise in Ottawa with the Canadian Council for Learning and Development as well as the Knowledge Strategy Exchange Networks.

Later in the month on 16/17 Feb I will be presenting in Montréal to the Councils of Human Resource Executives where the topic is the future of work. My presentation will discuss:

Social media, distributed work and unlimited information are changing our relationships in the workplace. We can connect to anyone, anywhere and find out almost anything. Hyperlinks subvert hierarchies, making many industrial work practices redundant. Yet we cling to the traditional ways of measuring and valuing work. Job competencies were based on stable, measurable work. Courses are an artifact of a time when information was scarce and connections were few. The future of work is in the integration of learning and working. It is in working smarter.

If any friends and colleagues in these cities want to get together, let me know. I haven’t made my travel bookings yet and I will be in Ottawa for a few extra days for some other client work. If you know of an organization that is looking for speakers or workshops please pass the word. It’s a small world.

Other workshops topics include:

  • How to foster informal learning with Web tools
  • How to develop an effective personal knowledge management strategy
  • Web social media for business
  • How to use social Web tools for training and education
  • Developing a social architecture for online communities

I’ve conducted day-long “Informal Learning Workshops” as well as Informl Learning Unworkshops. Recent workshop titles include:

Interdependence: a sense of purpose

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As we do more of our work in networks, workplace learning becomes an interdependent activity. Social and collaborative learning support the development of emergent practices needed for more complex work.

Esko Kilpi looks at different work tasks with the same framework as the above figure: independent, dependent or interdependent.

The Internet-based firm sees work as networked communication. Any node in the network can communicate with any other node on the basis of contextual interdependence and creative participative engagement. Work takes place in a transparent, wide-area, digital environment.

The focus is thus not on independent tasks, or predetermined processes, but on participative, self-organizing responsiveness that creates patterns of continuity and creativity.

Work and learning, as they merge, become increasingly interdependent activities. People haven’t changed over the years but with the Internet we have an opportunity to create work structures that may actually meet our core needs. Dan Pink discusses in Drive how various studies have shown that three basic things motivate people to do work (see video). These are:

  • Autonomy
  • Mastery
  • A sense of purpose

This applies to all but the most menial of tasks. We need to be in control, work at bettering ourselves and do this with the sense of some greater mission. We are social beings. As independent self-employed workers we were limited for centuries in developing our skills without support, adequate tools or feedback from others. We needed to study from masters and become part of a community of practice. Even with guilds and unions, there was limited access and individuals lacked autonomy. This same lack of autonomy and sense of purpose was magnified in the factory and is still evident in the modern workplace. Today, up to 84% of workers want to leave their jobs, in spite of the current economic climate.

It is only by working (and learning) interdependently, retaining our autonomy, co-developing our mastery and feeling a shared sense of purpose that we will be truly motivated. The opportunity the Internet has given individuals is the chance to work cooperatively toward a shared purpose (Seb Paquet calls this “ridiculously easy group-forming). The Internet also affords organizations the opportunity to loosen the dependence of workers through participative engagement (as The Cluetrain Manifesto explained a decade ago). The new organization must be some mix of free-agent autonomy, support mechanisms for mastery, and a wide enough span for each person to develop a personal sense of purpose.

Perhaps there is a new middle ground between lone wolves and corporate sheep: