Work

business & working

Human Performance Improvement

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BPTrends‘ latest e-mail advisor (PDF) discusses the relationship of human performance improvement with other business process improvement methodologies.

Those involved in business process change within organizations need to draw on and integrate a wide variety of approaches and technologies, ranging from strategy change systems and process analysis tools, to ABC, BPMS, a wide variety of software automation systems, Six Sigma, and job design. ISPI represents a well-developed source of theory and practice designed to help improve human performance within organizations. It’s a rare process improvement project that doesn’t require changes in management and the jobs performed, or that wouldn’t benefit from better feedback or an improved incentive system. The ISPI is a resource that business process change practitioners ought to be familiar with.

LearnNB

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LearnNB had its first AGM today. This group is the overall organisation that includes the CSTD New Brunswick chapter. We have decided to put everything under one roof. The blog that I have started for the R&D community of practice will be linked to the main site, as well as the password-protected collaborative workspace. We are starting to align our technology and tools to enable collaboration throughout the province, and there seems to be a real willingness to work together. We will be hosting a CSTD Symposium this Spring (probably May) so stay tuned to the LearnNB site for more information.

Business seems to be picking up in the sector, especially for our private online universities, Lansbridge and Yorkville. New Brunswick’s legislation makes it easier for online universities to establish here and faster to get accredited.

My Kind of Workplace

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Of course this had to start in California. The Gate-3 Workclub sounds like the perfect place to spend your workday. With a day pass or a monthly fee you can have access to common areas, phone services, private workspace, coyping services and much else. I think that we’ll be seeing more of these workplaces in the near future with the increase in micro-enterprises and project-based collaborative work. The operators state that it is more than a workplace, Gate-3 also provides:

Community with a work group that shares the day to day challenges and joys of an independent work-style.

Guidance and examples from work colleagues to help you with everything from balancing your work/life to using a PDA.

Support staff that will be there for you month after month and year after year.

Access to the latest in productivity tools, techniques and technologies without having to chase the latest fads.

The reassurance of knowing theres always someone on hand to help.

And there is a blog. Via Business Opportunities Weblog.

CSTD-NB Meeting

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The NB elearning Industry and the New Brunswick chapter of CSTD will be holding a meeting on 24 June in Fredericton in the Chancellor’s Room at the Wu Center UNB Campus – Fredericton, 10:00 AM – 2:30 PM. Coffee starts at 8:30 AM. On the agenda:

  • International Strategic Plan for eLearning NB
  • Election of CSTD-NB Executive

The interim executive asks:

Do you have any industry issues that you would like to have addressed leading up to and or at the next industry meeting?

Personally, I would encourage all training & development professionals as well as those interested in learning issues to join the CSTD chapter. You can join online, at the CSTD website. This is the first time that I can remember that we have a professional association for our field. A few years back, some of us had considered creating a chapter of ASTD or ISPI. It’s good to have a Canadian organisation that we can belong to now.

Please consider joining, and please consider attending the general meeting. Our chapter will only be as strong as our members.

Here is the agenda (for those not on the e-mail list):

9:30 AM – Learning Industry Networking Breakfast

10:00 AM – Opening, Steve Kelly, CSTD NB

10:03 AM – Presentation: ASTD Expo – Background/Overview – Steve Kelly and Ben Watson, VP CSTD NB

10:15 AM – R & D Community of Practice, Harold Jarche, Jarche Consulting

10:25 AM – LearnNB Web-site, George Butters, Web Developer

10:35 AM – Presentation: International Marketing Strategy – Development Plan and Implementation Alternatives, Gary Stairs, President, CSTD NB

11:05 AM – Break

11:20 AM – Group Discussions (Marketing Strategy Recommendations)

11:45 AM – Group Responses

12:00 PM – Learning Industry Networking Lunch

12:45 PM – Election of Officers

1:00 PM – Announcements/Soap Box

1:20 PM – LearnNB Executive Activities – Alan MacAulay, Treasurer

1:30 PM – Presentation: Innovations Symposium 2005 – Krista Kennedy, Interim Project Manager

1:40 PM – Q&A followed by Adjournment

There is also a discussion document that was sent by Steve Kelly. You can ask me or Steve to e-mail you the PDF, entitled – Four Key Recommendations for the NB Learning Industry 2004-2007.

Blogging from the Inside

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This article in Business Week is getting a lot of attention from bloggers like Steve and Yan. It seems that Microsoft, Macromedia, Sun and other large corporations have embraced blogs to connect workers with customers – as recommended in the Cluetrain Manifesto. The author thinks that once company secrets begin to be spilled, there will be a backlash, but for now bloggers inside companies are enjoying the honeymoon.

In an era of fragmented media, with companies struggling to get their message out any which way, blogs are becoming a kind of undercover megaphone. One way to think of them is as the latest guerrilla marketing tool, a new kind of brand bait.

They’ll likely backfire, though, if employers attempt to exert control. "Companies inevitably will try to co-opt blogs," says Dan Gillmor, author of We, the Media, a book about blogging due out next month.

Great Value from NRC’s e-Learning Group

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Seb Paquet, who works at the National Research Council’s e-learning group, with Stephen Downes and others, has been asked to quantify his impact on the research community. Personally, I see the connections that Seb and Stephen make on a daily basis. They are two critical nodes in the research dialogue of the e-learning community of practice.

Seb has helped me get started as a blogger and connected me to the work of some brilliant researchers, such as Lilia Efimova. Seb’s contacts helped to connect the open source bloggers at the last Moncton Cybersocial. Without Seb, Steve Mallet would not have showed up. As a result of the connections made at this event, a number of us are already discussing new business relationships. Seb’s published research informs my own research and practice, as many of my clients are interested in this "blogging thing". Seb’s perspective of the global community is a real inspiration for those of us in underpopulated, somewhat rural, New Brunswick. More recently Seb created the Atlantic Canada Bloggers wiki, a great map of who is blogging – the link is shown on my External Links [no longer available].

Stephen’s OLDaily is a great source of information, and I’m not sure how he finds the time to do it. His website is a treasure trove of information, insight, and sometimes contention (a good thing). Stephen’s Edu_RSS and Ed Radio are two small innovations that he developed in response to requests from the community. Stephen is someone who seems to be constantly giving back to the community.

I definitely feel that I am getting great value for my tax dollar from Seb, Stephen, Rod and the rest of the staff at the NRC.

Collaborate to Compete

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I’ve been reading Collaborate to Compete: Driving profitability in the knowledge economy, by Robert Logan and Louis Stokes (ISBN: 0470833009). The book’s main premise is that the Internet is the medium by which collaboration has become an essential business process. Collaboration is the key to actually making use of knowledge management. I was initially intrigued by this book because I had read one of Logan’s previous works, The Fifth Language: Learning a living in the computer age, and was interested by the references to McLuhan’s work on communications theory and Toffler’s books, such as The Third Wave and PowerShift.

This book puts together a lot of knowledge management theory and models in an easy-to-read manner. The introductory chapters are a good review of writings on the subject over the past decade. As the authors build on the concept of collaboration and what it means for the Knowledge Age, they use the example of the scientific community. Scientists were some of the early adopters of the Internet and have been collaborating (and competing) within communities of practice for some time. There are no leaders and everyone is rated by peers on the value of his/her ideas. Logan and Stokes believe that large organisations, especially corporations, can create similar collaborative environments, and they provide examples of collaboration using Intranets and IT systems such as Vignette and LiveLink. I think that many of their premises have value. For instance, using the techniques of Marshall McLuhan, the authors state that there are five collaborative messages of the Internet:

  • The two-way flow of information,
  • The ease of access to information enhanced by information design,
  • Continuous learning,
  • Alignment,
  • The creation of community.

However, they fail to show in a convincing manner how collaborative communities can be created and sustained within command and control enterprises. One could take their practical steps in building a collaborative organisation, and have a good chance at success. The problem would arise when the enlightened despot who has allowed this initiative, decides to leave, or is replaced. Scientific communities have succeeded because no one is in charge, and people can come and go without destroying the community.

I believe that the Logan/Stokes model has much more potential outside their suggested areas. Their formula for measuring collaboration quotient could be used when micro-companies decide to get together for a project – a model that they don’t discuss. This book mentions a lot of technologies, especially technology brand names, but fails to mention web logs, wikis, RSS or aggregators – and it was published this year. These are the best collaboration tools on the net in my opinion.

Despite these perceived [by me] limitations, I think that this book would be a valuable asset for anyone working in the field of knowledge management, communities of practice or virtual teams. I will try to apply some of the models and tools and see how they work. Perhaps the best aspect of this book is that it is NOT about technology, but understanding technology.

In closing, we remind the reader that an IT tool like a collaborative knowledge network will not by itself create a collaborative organization. The human side of the equation, in which attention is paid to vision, trust and leadership, is at the heart of a collaborative organization.

Retention of Staff a Critical issue

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The Globe & Mail reported today in the careers section that “managers hold the key to keep staff happy”. It also reported on a survey conducted by Career Systems International that showed the top ten reasons why employees stay with an organisation. The number one reason was “exciting and challenging work”, but the number two was “career growth, learning and development”. Pay was only number four.

This is one more business-critical reason to pay attention to learning issues in the workplace. It’s also why learning should not be seen as “bolt-on” strategy, like adding a training program, but should be integrated into all aspects of work. As reported in this issue, retention of core staff is necessary to stay competitive, and learning plays a significant role. Learning is business, and business is learning – finally.

LEG Discussion Board

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Join in the discussion with the Learning Economics Group. The Discussion Board was recently set up, and this will be an excellent venue for looking into the business end of learning.

Our purpose is to discuss, understand and share with each other ideas about learning economics and high quality resources for the development of tools and database related to the study of learning economics.

Join LEG for free and get access to the documents that supported today’s discussion on optimizing learning value, given by Capital Works. Here’s a tidbit:

Learning is the key enabler of flows and exchanges in accelerating the performance of intangible assets.

Jay Cross said that this presentation has had more influence on his thinking than anything else in this field to date. Might be worth joining LEG, n’est-ce pas?

On the End of Corporations

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Yan Simard has been hosting an interesting conversation on the future of the corporate model, the knowledge society, and what will happen to those left behind. These are all themes that I’ve covered before, and Yan provides his own unique perspective, especially on The end of corporations. We are of different generations as well, so it’s good to get his point of view on this impending(?) change in the world of work.

I’m fairly certain that networks of micro-organisations are on the rise, and will challenge the corporate model. I’m not sure if the corporation will become suddenly extinct though, as most of our laws and business practises favour the corporation over the individual. Witness who legally owns the intellectual property (IP) produced by the employee [answer: the corporation]. It’s only in some universities that the knowledge worker maintains these rights. While workers may not own the IP, they will always own the "know-how". This intangible know-how is the real value of knowledge – being able to do something with it.

Some day, lawyers and corporations may realise that IP itself has minimal value – as most IP isn’t worth the effort to protect it. The command and control corporate model may be forced to change when shareholders really understand the fact that the valuation of their average corporation is getting to be upwards of 85% intangible assets. These intangibles are worthless without the know-how of knowledge workers. Therefore the actual value of the average corporation, without its people, is getting close to zero. So where would you put your money?