Trust is only the beginning

This post by Angela Ashenden makes some worthwhile points about using social networks (i.e., Facebook) for business collaboration.  I appreciate that she points out the obvious, and not so obvious, reasons that social networks can be a productivity drain and their use should be discouraged.  However, toward the end of the post, Ms. Ashenden concludes that,

“[w]hen it comes down to it, the biggest issue is trust, and trusting your employees to behave in an appropriate way. The reality is that if people want to waste their time they will, whether or not you deploy social collaboration tools in your business (after all, they can access their public Facebook and Twitter accounts from their personal smartphones, even if your organisation blocks access on work devices). In practice, few organisations find that governance is an issue on internal social collaboration platforms – once everyone understands how things work, initial concerns fade away.”

I completely agree with this conclusion, but it seems to me that trust is the lowest threshold for adoption.  Most often trust is the issue cited by leadership for not embracing social collaboration.  This is becoming less of an issue for the rank and file, as noted in the quote above.

The obstacle I have not figured out how to overcome is drawing people to an internal social network.  People are drawn to Facebook by news about family and friends, games, pictures, video clips, etc.  You don’t want your business information to compete with baby pictures so there has to be a compelling reason for a team to use a social network for collaboration.

In my organization I believe there are two overriding factors that influence collaboration, deadlines and budget.  Assuming I am right, the biggest obstacle to adopting a social network is the impact it has on processes and accountability.  A model that is based on social collaboration forces an organization to rethink how it views these factors; However, I would argue that social collaboration spreads the responsibility in a healthy way and can instill a greater sense of unity in an organization.

• What would it look like if everyone is jointly accountable for meeting a deadline?
• How would people behave if they had a voice in deciding the theme for a catalog?
• What if everyone knew what the top performing products were?
• How could we collectively improve collaboration and communication with remote locations?

This is challenging to the culture of an organization.  It forces people to rethink their assumptions.  That is not easy and is predicated on trust.  In the long run I believe the benefits can far outweigh the consequences.

 

A company that is not afraid of social media

There are two video clips in this post about Burberry.  In the first the CEO talks about how the company encourages use of social media by their employees.  In the second she talks about the intangible qualities she looks for in an employee and the culture she strives for in Burberry stores.

Total running time of both clips is about 10 minutes.

 

Tips for Maximizing Social Media (and avoiding problems)

The video below is from an article with a somewhat deceptive title, What Twitter Can Teach You About Your Dysfunctional Business.  Integrating social media into a cohesive communication strategy is tricky.  If your organization is having trouble with this it does not automatically mean your business is dysfunctional.  I recommend watching the 2 1/2 minute video to get some good insights about the challenges with this and ways to mitigate the risks.

 

Get out there and do it!

I am struck by the amount of information you can get through social media these days.  It really is a change in philosophy from traditional media.  The old (traditional) view was based on the notion that subscribers had to come to you.  That’s still the case and it is a struggle to get noticed.  However, social media enables you to leverage your followers’ preferences/interests to grow the number of people who can see your message.

Don’t try to understand it, just embrace it.

My point is to encourage you to not worry about who is reading your stuff.  Get it out there!

• You must read blogs.  Everybody does.  Share what you read.
• Comment on posts, especially my blog.  I know people read my blog.  Join the discussion.  The point of social media is to be SOCIAL.
• Give me your feedback.  I want to know what attracted you here.   Tell me to take a flying leap if you want.  Don’t worry.  I’ll approve that comment if its done appropriately.

Here are some principles of social media from Thom Rainer.
Here are some recommendations for using images in social media.

 

Chipotle’s “Platform”

My boss is on a major social media kick right now so I am partially posting this for his benefit. When you watch the video below keep track of how many different media outlets (social and otherwise) Chipotle uses to reach its customers.

 

Doubt the impact of social media?

Some of the statistics in the video are unbelievable.

H/T to GenYGirl.

 

Surprise! Google is changing your brain

According to recent research, “human memory is reorganizing where it goes for information, adapting to new computing technologies rather than relying purely on rote memory. We’re outsourcing “search” from our brains to our computers.”

Putting Google in the headline captures people’s attention but I believe we should consider the effect of social media too.  Our daily milieu includes RSS news feeds, Facebook updates, tweets, text messages, and blog posts.  How many of us use those tools to get information?  I do.

What are the implications for learning?  Ubiquitous access to information has expanded the phenomenon of informal learning.  Wikipedia describes informal learning as, “semi-structured and occur[ing] in a variety of places, such as learning at home, work, and through daily interactions and shared relationships among members of society.”  This is not new.  Wisdom has always been passed from generation to generation.  Everyone has taught and learned from our peers.

But there is a difference between simply consuming information and learning.  Surfing the web and staying informed via social media requires very little cognitive effort.  In Bloom’s taxonomy the lowest level of cognition is knowledge or remembering.  If the research cited above is accurate, the internet is causing us to remember less, in other words rely less on our memory.  Does this mean that we forget information as quickly as we take it in?  Probably not.  Years of cognitive research is clear that the brain stores the information we consume.  So how can we make use of this information?

One way is to blog.  Taking time to reflect on the substance of an article, news item, or other information moves your cognitive activity from knowledge to comprehension.  One step may not seem like a big deal but it the difference between being a consumer of information and actively engaging in learning.  I believe that is one of the under-appreciated aspects of blogging.  The process of writing this post not only has the potential of  influencing others (hopefully for the better) but it also enables me to integrate the substance of the article into my knowledge base.

The great thing is its free.  It didn’t require a budget, a meeting space or a team of developers.  All that is required is an engaged mind that does not simply consume information but is intentional in understanding what it is taking in.

 

January 14th Link Dump

I am clearing out some stuff I have been wanting to write about but don’t have time.  I commend it to you without comment.

Michael Hyatt provides practical advice for busy people

Cole NeSmith writes about the conflict of creativity and safety

Chief Learning Officer has articles on peer to peer knowledge sharing and embedded learning

ASTD has an article on the future of social learning

Seth Godin writes about two types of learning

 

Personalized Learning

Technology has enabled us to personalize our surroundings.  Our cars “recognize” us and adjust according to our preferences.  We can watch television programs when it is convenient for us and skip the commercials if we want.  Web sites provide custom views based on our browsing history.  Some frozen pizza actually tastes pretty good.  With all the personalization technology provides why is learning always exempt from personalization?

In recent years there has been a recognition in learning circles that every organization has artifacts that would make useful learning tools.  These artifacts are referred to as reusable learning objects (RLOs).  Organizations interested in leveraging their existing knowledge base and the expertise of their employees would benefit from developing a learning strategy that draws utilizes RLOs.  The benefits include standardization/improvement of processes and procedures, constructive dialogue on value-added topics, reduced dependence on formal/structured training, development of a learning culture, and cost savings in training through greater efficiency.

Here is a white paper on RLOs.  (One caveat, it was written for learning professionals so it reflects a bias toward formal learning development.) It defines a learning object as “an independent collection of content and media elements, a learning approach (interactivity, learning architecture, context), and metadata (used for storage and
searching).”  Examples include documents, e-learning, formal lesson plans or content outlines and video or audio clips.  Below are recommendations the author provides for selecting learning objects:

• They should be objective-based. They should accomplish a single learning objective by combining a series of elements including content, media, and interactivity.
• They should be context-free. Content, media, and interactivity are combined to form a meaningful structure so that the learning object can stand alone from the rest of its associated hierarchy, making it portable, reusable, and relevant as an independent learning experience.
• They should be interactive. Although this is not always required, engaging learners, making them active participants in the learning experience, is key to having them meet the learning objective.
• They should be self-descriptive. Search data (or metadata) associate with each element and learning object to be used by the system, authors, and learners.
• They should be self-contained. Each learning object is capable of either standing alone or standing in unison with other learning objects to create any number of training programs or technical manuals.
• They should be single-sourced. A learning object is written so that multiple authors, in multiple learning environments, and in multiple delivery formats ranging from print to e-learning, can use it. This requires writing and reuse guidelines and processes that will be discussed later in this book.
• They should be format-free. To be reused in multiple delivery media, learning objects should be created free of look-and-feel formatting. The formatting happens during the delivery of the learning objects to the learner.

The growth of social media enables organizations to extend the reach of RLOs beyond formal learning events.  Wikis and other forms of social networking provide excellent platforms for informal (personalized) learning.  A learning strategy that incorporates RLOs and social network is a cost effective way to promote learning and increase performance at a greatly reduced cost.  It also enables training teams to focus on broader outcomes instead of getting bogged down in the minutiae of individualized training.

 

Advice for Millennials

In a post last week I referenced an article about the positive impact millennials can have in the workplace.  The article’s author, Andrew McAfee, ended his post by saying he would write a follow-up about mistakes millennials can make in the workplace.  True to his word, here it is.

In the post he focuses on two points:

1. Filter what you share.    In his words, “narrating your every opinion, emotion, lunch, happy hour, hangover, etc. on your company’s emergent social software platforms is just narcissistic clutter.”
2. Don’t “act as if all employees are equals, and equally interested in airing the truth.”

The first point comes down to self-discipline.  In a culture where privacy is getting increasingly difficult to protect a person is well advised to be careful what they make public.  Research indicates millennials are comfortable with a blurring of the line between their work and private life.  That is not necessarily a bad thing.  However, developing a filter for what you share on your office social networking site will help your credibility, increase traffic to your site, and maybe save your job.  Here is some advice about having multiple accounts for common social networking tools.

The author’s second point deals with some of the finer points of work culture.  From a learning point of view I disagree with his assertion that it is “a really bad idea” for millennials to “voice their thoughts on topics both related and unrelated to their job descriptions.”  Organizations with effective mentoring programs can use social networking to assimilate employees into the culture and educate them in the process.  Time spent contributing online should be monitored.  This too has value.  It can build accountability between a supervisor and the employee and also reveal opportunities.

Mr. McAfee refers to Gen Y as “digital natives.”  One characteristic of digital natives is that they are “indifferent to pre-existing hierarchies and credentials, and sometimes even hostile to them.”  This is a good observation.  Any young person has to learn the right times to contribute and the right times to listen.  This can be particularly challenging in an organization that has a vibrant online culture.  My experience has been the two ears/one mouth approach.

When it comes to online contributions, striking the right balance between making a meaningful contribution and interfering is difficult.  This goes back to developing an effective filter.  The best way to do this is through thoughtful experimentation.  Careful observation will let you know whether a contribution is acceptable and appreciated.  Another tip I would offer is to develop a thick skin.  I comment on things that I think will shed light on a subject that might otherwise go unnoticed or topics on which I can offer a unique perspective.  However, I realize no one may care what I write.  I accept that and don’t feel like I am owed anything.  I appreciate it when my site traffic goes up but don’t worry if it doesn’t.  My posts are for anyone who may get value from reading it.   I think this makes me a normal Gen X’er.  Phew!

After three posts on millennials in two weeks I promise to take a break.