Work

business & working

Understanding Blogging for Knowledge Workers

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Blogs are now mainstream and it’s no longer necessary to explain what one is. It wasn’t that long ago that bloggers were being put down as a bunch of guys in pyjamas. Lilia Efimova, Mathemagenic, was one of my early sources of understanding about blogs, as I made my initial attempts at online conversation. Lilia introduced me to the concept of personal knowledge management. Here is my first attempt at explaining PKM in action and this is my latest.

Lilia is finishing her dissertation on the blogging practices of knowledge workers and has summarized her conclusions. All of those years of analysis are boiled down into 1,000 words and now give us an excellent summary of blogs as related to Ideas; Conversations; Relations; Tasks; and Context. Read the whole post and bookmark it; it’s a classic.

Picture by Lilia Efimova

Learning about Business

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When I left the Army and started working at an applied research and consulting group at Mount Allison University I didn’t really know much about the business world. After several years, I’ve realised that there were some things that transferred from military to civilian life. In the past decade I’ve learned a lot, mostly from experience, conversation, and observation. It’s been an interesting apprenticeship.

I’ve found that you learn much more from failure than success. One difference between school and life is that in school you get the lesson followed by the test. When you run a business you get the test first and then you have to figure out the lesson. Two unsuccessful business models showed me the importance of understanding the fundamentals of what makes an organisation work, how it it supports its operations and how it works with its markets or with those who fund it. I also feel that any business success you may have is a result of luck, timing, and the support of others. Any failures are mostly yours to bear because you probably could have done things differently. Humility is a trait of the long-term successful entrepreneur.

I’m not sure if you can train someone to become an entrepreneur or even a free-agent. Skills are not as important as attitude and motivation. I don’t think that I would have been successful running my own company when I was younger, as I wasn’t motivated. Now, with a family and an understanding of what I like to do, it’s fairly easy. That doesn’t mean that you can’t prepare for entrepreneurship. Having good communication, planning, or technical skills can be a real benefit once you decide to take the plunge. Also, the economy may force you into self-employment, so it’s handy to have a good business tool set.

Being a good communicator is important but so is the ability to listen and observe. I’ve seen businesses fail because the executives believed their own marketing hype. Early success can close your eyes to reality, so you need a trusted network of advisors who will keep you grounded. Listening includes looking outside for ideas and information. Even though I spend a lot of time reading online, books let me dig deeper into a subject.

Some books that have helped me along the way:

The Art of the Start for staying focused on the essentials of any start-up venture.

Seeing What’s Next if your business is entering an existing market.

Free Agent Nation if you want to work for yourself.

The Future of Work to understand some of the forces of change influencing how we work.

The Future of Management to see how flawed our current management models are for our needs.

Online Marketing for Free-agents

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Note: The Cluetrain Manifesto celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.

Cluetrain #1 Markets are conversation.

Without conversation (oral, written, graphical, physical) there are no social transactions. This has been the key aspect of the un-marketing approach for my consulting business. It’s not just markets, but learning and working are mostly conversation as well. I’ve also learned in the past six years that the more you give, the more you get; especially online. To market yourself as a free-agent online, start by giving.

Cluetrain # 6 The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.

I started blogging here in 2004, which my wife thought was giving away my expertise for free. My hunch was that my blog would be a good way to showcase my skills and experience, but I realised that it’s much more than that. First of all, it’s my pervasive presence on the Web. This is where you can find me as well as links to other things I may be doing. It has now become my knowledge base and provides fodder for articles and presentations. My blog enables me to have conversations with other professionals about things that matter to us. I’ve said many times that my blog doesn’t get me clients but, using a baseball metaphor, it gets me from 1st base onward. It’s also an enormous business card that tells more about what I think than any interview ever could. Blogs, podcasts or videos are excellent passive marketing devices, as long as you talk about your passions. Don’t try to sell anything. Another word of advice on blogs for free-agents is to keep them advertising free. The money isn’t worth it if you really want to sell your services and you will stand out from the crowd.

Cluetrain #7 Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy.

The advantage of being a free-agent today is that you can use the Internet to get around most hierarchies. Information on almost any field is available for free. Tools like Twitter let you “follow” people in fields that interest you; making it excellent for competitive intelligence. Checking out “crowd-sourced” tags on Delicious lets you see what others find important. You can connect with people on Facebook or the more conservative Linked-In, without having to join some professional association first. Personally, I use Linked-In for business and Facebook for friends & colleagues. However, both networks have connected me to paid work.

Cluetrain #9 These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.

It still requires hard work, perseverance, skill and knowledge but you can get recognised for your expertise. Kathy Sierra has an excellent graph showing the work required, but the tools to disseminate your expertise are here now:

Not only that, but many people are there to help you; just ask. Posting a question on your blog, Twitter or social network usually results in a lot of good advice. I revamped my website in 2007 after asking advice from readers, which increased traffic to my consulting section. Once you go online, you are no longer alone, for better or worse.

We now have many tools to engage in conversation and to create some wealth along the way, without giving up our rights in indentured servitude as salaried workers.

Cluetrain #10 As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally.

Jeff Jarvis:

To make the money I don’t make teaching, I consult and speak for various media companies and brands. The only reason I get those gigs is because companies read the ideas I discuss at Buzzmachine and ask me to come and repeat them in PowerPoint form and explore them with their staff. I’ve also been asked to teach executives how to blog (a class that should, by rights, take about two minutes). That work and the teaching get me to a nice income in six figures. So I’m not looking quite as idiotic now, I hope.

Rob Paterson:

NPR, all my work in New Media, Blackwater, Education – all my paying gigs have come through this medium [blogging].

Quick Start Tips to market yourself:

  1. Get your own domain name
  2. Free your Bookmarks and start sharing what you do
  3. Read blogs & make comments and don’t forget to Aggregate before you’re swamped
  4. Establish a consistent presence on Linked-In, Facebook, etc.
  5. Start your blog (WordPress, Typepad) without any fanfare
  6. Check out other social media like Twitter or what others are talking about
  7. Watch for patterns and see what makes sense for you

These Small Business Blogs may give some inspiration.

A small business boom

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Lots of industry predictions (like this for e-learning) coming out are linked to the recession, but perhaps the best predictions are those focused on demographics, because we know that almost all 20 year-olds today will be 30 in ten years. It’s hard to refute those numbers.

Judy Martin made 7 Work Life Culture Predictions this month which had me going down several Internet rabbit holes following the links. I found out that I’m part of Generation Jones or may be labeled a Cusper (b. 1959). The prediction that I found most interesting and pertinent to my work was #4:

In response to rising unemployment and battered stocks a flood of risk takers will emerge as entrepreneurs. Although the economic climate is not ripe for taking chances, people will be working harder and longer because their retirement funds have dwindled down to nothing. In the face of adversity, we might see more small home based businesses and entrepreneurs emerging from the retirement pool as getting a job after 60 can prove difficult.

I went out on my own 6 years ago, at the age of 44. At that time the economy was supposed to be doing well, but there were not a lot of jobs for my experience and skills. The incumbent boomers were not even considering retirement and I was considered too old for other jobs. Now with layoffs in several sectors, many of my age cohort will have to consider alternatives for work. This may have a significant impact on the workforce because we are the bump in the baby boom, with more of us born than in any other year.

Last year I presented Marketing Yourself as a Free-agent on the Internet and I think that this may become very important for my age cohort. We have many productive years ahead of us but we’re not overly employable, unless we get lucky. The good news is that it’s getting easier to network and learn from others with the Internet. The bad news is that competition is heating up.

I agree that we will probably see more people of my generation starting businesses or taking other risks as they realise that their savings have been reduced and that job prospects are dim. This has more potential to rejuvenate the economy and our society than creating jobs could. The self-employed by necessity are more tuned to their environment and many will now have the additional time once wasted on commuting, useless meetings and waiting for others to make decisions. This could be the change we need as a generation wakes up.

Photo by Matt McGee

The future of certification

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At some point in the life of a discipline there is a drive toward certification. Want to be a real estate agent? It’s a quality thing, so we’re told. I was once a Certified Performance Technologist, and as I said to Dave Ferguson, I don’t see much value in re-certification when it consists of checking off boxes of how many conferences you have attended. Tom Gram, now Certifiable (Certified Training & Development Professional with CSTD), wonders:

Most learning and performance professionals will notice areas where the competencies could be modified to incorporate crossover disciplines and meet emerging trends.  For example, I think technology in learning and performance is at this point a core skill, as are informal learning approaches and sister competencies such as knowledge management and performance consulting.

I gained much from my CPT certification process as it was based on what I had done and I had to show competence. My professional responsibilities derive from the CPT standards of behaviour. However, certification can create a closed society that keeps competent people out and reinforces the status quo and the money flow. Such was the case the Ontario College of Teachers when a judge determined there is more than one way to show competence in a field. Certification can also become self-serving, as a primary revenue generator for the association.

In my case I didn’t renew my CPT designation because not a single one of my clients recognized it. I still follow the code of ethics and stay current in my field, but the piece of paper has no business value. So what is the future of certification when disciplines overlap and meld and certification bodies move with glacial speed in keeping up with the times? Certification, like professional associations, will have to change and become more reflective of the networked workplace.

Grassroots Community Building through Social Networks

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Grassroots Community Building through Social Networks is the topic that John Gunn (Moncton ITA) and I will be discussing at PodCamp Halifax on Sunday. Lisa Rousseau can’t make it, so we’re pinch-hitting.

John and I have decided to take a look some of the professional and social networks in New Brunswick and ask the question: How can we develop community networks that address the social and professional issues unique to Atlantic Canada?

For example, I came to NB in 1995, when The Information Highway was the hot commodity and fiber cables were being strung from end of the province to the other. I even wrote my thesis on Learning in the NB Information Technology Workplace in 1998. One of the now defunct associations with which I had some contact was the NB Information Technology Alliance. The NBITA was supposed to grow the industry but by 2003 its government funding was cut and it was gone.

In 2004, I was involved in an initiative to use the Web to link organisations and individuals in the more specific area of R&D for e-learning:

With this in mind, I will try to foster communication and discussion in this forum, not the selling of a vision or a marketing plan. This community will be a place to discuss R&D issues, which will remain loosely defined for the time being. Specific deals or collaboration can take place “off-line” or outside of this venue – but this is where you can float an idea and see what happens.

This venture never gained much traction, for several reasons.

Later, more effort and a lot more money were put into LearnNB, which tried to represent both companies and individuals, a tension that was never resolved, and hence its current status on ice, awaiting an uncertain future. I gave my own prescription for the NB learning industry three years ago.

Other group-forming activities have been more social. The Cybersocials were designed to get “knowledge industry” professionals together in the main cities for a monthly social event. They waned, as many people found them to be boring, in dull venues, with more government than industry attendees and full of job seekers carrying resumés. The Fredericton Cybersocial is still active. These events originally had some government sponsorship.

This past year has seen the creation of Third Tuesday NB, which is a completely grassroots initiative. It was initiated by Dan Martell and Lisa Rousseau, who ensured that all available social media  (LinkedIn, MeetUp, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook) were used to connect people. So far, the gatherings have been quite successful. What I like about the MeetUps are that they are driven by individuals, not companies, and they attract people from many industries, not just IT or e-learning.

Now I’m starting to hear calls for another NB IT industry association, more government involvement and even a Minister responsible for ICT.

Some issues that I’d like to discuss here, at PodCamp Hfx, or elsewhere:

Is there a need for industry associations? Should they be based on companies or individuals?

What would you prefer or be willing to pay for or attend?

Are unconferences and Pod/Bar Camps the way of the future or just an alternative for the fringe? If so, are there enough of us in Atlantic Canada to have a fringe movement?

Cities-Provinces-Regions => do these boundaries matter to you?

What’s your experience? Come out and share with us on Sunday, here, or on Twitter @hjarche or @johnsgunn

* Update *

We’ve decided to start with the theme of ridiculously easy group-forming and whether media tools such as Twitter are having any influence on our communities of practice/interest. As media become more persistent and pervasive, do group-forming norms change? Is the “professional association” with its membership fees and costly qualifications to get letters behind your name, a thing of the past? We’re also going to highlight some NB people whom you may want to get to know, so stay tuned to Moncton ITA as well.

Accountability

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Last month I wrote that it’s time to invert the pyramid and integrate learning into all that we do. Part of the research that led me to that conclusion was the notion of complexity and Dave Snowden’s cynefin framework. The cynefin framework comes up again in Patrick Lamb’s post looking at 3 different types of accountability via Glenda Eoyang [lots of background reading here if you’re interested].

Basically:

Stable systems => Outcome-based accountability

Active, self-organising systems => Learning-based accountability

Random & chaotic systems => Sharing-based accountability

Most of our HR and work practices are premised on the assumption of stable systems, but we are realising that is no longer the case. Some of the project-based work that I do uses learning-based accountability, where we are all responsible to help the rest of the team learn. For those who live and work on the Web, this becomes a natural way to work. The same can be said for sharing-based accountability, especially amongst bloggers and others who share online. We have learned that the more you give, the more you get back in the form of feedback and more learning opportunities. Last year I changed my copyright license to a more open one because I felt that would encourage sharing. I felt accountable.

If an organisation is only focused on outcome-based accountability can it thrive in more active or random environments? It seems that most markets and socio-economic structures are becoming more chaotic – just try to predict the price of gas for next month. Re-framing the concept of accountability is an important  conversation to start with HR professionals and executives.

PodCamp Halifax 2009

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PodCampHalifax2009 seems like a great mid-Winter activity. Time to get away from my computer screen and meet some folks. This year’s event is at the Aldernay Gate Public Library on 25 January, from 9 to 5.

This is an unconference, focused on social media (blogs, wikis, podcasts, video, etc). The goal is to have an open, participatory, user-generated series of workshops and the people who attend are the presenters.

There are several folks from New Brunswick listed to attend, so sign up and come on out. If you plan on staying overnight, you may want to put yourself up for adoption. I’m sure that we can organise some kind of car-pooling as well.

Volume, Velocity, Virtualization & Variability

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There are four V’s that should be kept in focus as Enterprise 2.0 becomes more of a reality in 2009, according to Mike Gotta:

  1. the volume of information is growing exponentially,
  2. the velocity of business is increasing,
  3. the virtualization of the workplace continues
  4. the variability of roles an employee may be expected to take on will become more diverse

What I like about Gotta’s post is that many of his comments are based on observations of real clients and workplaces. There is a lot to consider and I’m glad that Jon Husband pointed out this blog to me.

To address the increasing volume of information, processes such as Personal Knowledge Management become more necessary (note to self: time to update PKM diagrams).

The increasing velocity means accepting life in Beta, without becoming shallow thinkers and doers.

Virtualization of the workplace means that we had better figure out how best to work and learn collaboratively online. This of course, has been the focus of my work for the past decade. The key is making it work within individual and organisational contexts and accepting that there is more than one way to do anything.

Finally, variability of jobs may spell the end of job descriptions and a move toward multiple workplace roles, depending on context; a much less machinistic model, but one that still needs a lot of work in creating tools to help manage looser networks.

People, Events and Ideas

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“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

I don’t completely agree with this statement but it puts into perspective where our greatest effort should be. The discussion of ideas and finding ways to take action on those ideas is the great work that has fallen on the laps (laptops?) of the billions of people who now make up the “middle class”, a term with its own baggage, according to John Robb:

It’s hard to imagine a more derogatory and less descriptive label than “middle class consumers” for the group of people that created most of the world’s massive wealth, rich technologies, and societal complexity.

The comments to John’s post have some name suggestions for the group of people who have the education and the communications tools to change society. Social media provide a way for this new “Yeoman” class to act individually and collectively for change and self-determination. An example in my network is Rob Paterson with his work in mobilizing communities on PEI and in public broadcasting. There are many other free thinkers working at the local level with a mind to the global situation. Using Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote, I think that events and people are important in helping us come up with new ideas but they are merely grist for our cognitive mills.

The ideas of others, events that we watch or are involved with, and the people we meet and interact with; all provide the context for our own ideas. I believe that Ms. Roosevelt’s point was that we cannot narrow our focus to only people and events and that the true work for our minds is to develop our own ideas. Social media give us the opportunity to put forth ideas in progress and to evaluate and challenge ideas. Now that we finally have these tools, it is our duty as global citizens to use them wisely.

The feeds at the top of this diagram are mostly inputs, with varying levels of interactivity. At the bottom are outputs of knowledge work. This diagram is an evolution of my web tools for critical thinking post.