Social Media for Working & Learning

The NEW Workplace Learning Professional - new role, new skills?

The Internet Time Alliance believes that learning is becoming so embedded  in working, that we need to be thinking more of it as as "working smarter". As the Working Smarter Fieldbook, compiled by Jay Cross, explains

"Working smarter is the key to sustainability and continuous improvement. Knowledge work and learning to work smarter are becoming indistinguishable. The accelerating rate of change in business forces everyone in every organization to make a choice: learn while you work or become obsolete."

Much of this change in workplace learning is coming about due to the increasing use of social media by individuals and teams to address their own learning and performance problems.  For many, of course, this is known as "social learning". 

Whether we call it "working smarter" or "social learning", one key question, as posed by Esteban Contreras in a recent interview with Marcia Conner, co-author of The NEW Social Learning,  is

"Should social learning be led by cross-division teams or should it be ”owned” by a specific division/group?"

This is Marcia's answer:

"The idea any group or cross-division team can own social learning is like asking one department to be responsible for organizational health.

The only people who can own social learning are the individuals who themselves are learning each day, from one another, based on their work and in the flow of work.

One department can set strategy and review tools, and even document and advertise healthy social learning practices, but at the point when they give the impression it is their responsibility to manage the learning, they step back in time to an age when we thought training (or knowledge management, or human capital development, or..) was a discreet set of activities and events that could be turned on and off like a light switch.

Rather, learning and collaboration are ongoing actions taken by individuals in concert with one another to produce something greater than anyone alone could create. And that is owned by (and directed by) every individual all of the time. Remove the obstacles in people’s paths to do what is hardwired into their DNA—to learn together to grow strong—and you’ll find it creates healthy organizations where social learning is their lifeblood."

For me, this answer makes perfect sense.  But this then raises a further question;  in the NEW Social Learning Workplace - where we are all "working smarter" -  and taking responsibility for our learning, what is this going to mean for the role of the workplace learning professional?

In Part 2 of my State of Workplace Learning article, I suggest that there is a significant role here for workplace learning professionals to foster, encourage and support (rather than manage!) NEW Workplace Learning, and I offer a number of ways in which this might happen, e.g

• Encouraging and supporting individuals' and teams' self-sufficiency in order to address their own learning and performance problems
• Helping to develop autonomous "smart workers" - in terms of the new skills and tools they will need
• Providing performance consulting services, where individuals need support in working smarter
• Developing an open, enabling culture for working and learning

All this will in itself require NEW skills of workplace learning professionals themselves.  As I point out in my own article, I believe ...

"workplace learning profressionals will need to expand and enlarge their skillset.  They will need to move from those focused on designing, delivering and evaluating formal training, towards enabling and supporting a working smarter environment which requires a deeper understanding of the way that their business works.

One thing is clear, that as the world continues to move forward at an alarming rate, knowledge and skills will change fast; there will therefore be a need for workplace learning professionals to practice what they preach and keep themselves continuously updated in this fast moving field." 

One key skill is also clear: a good understanding and use of social media and how it can be effectively used in the workplace will be essential.  Social media is not something you just talk or read about;  it's something you do.   This is the reason I developed my How to use Social Media for your job - in 30 days online programme to help those new to social media get started.

But what other skills will the NEW workplace learning professional need to have in order to support working smarter and the NEW social learning?

Auto-tweeting in PowerPoint presentations

I recently noticed a few tweets and other postings that implied that Timo Elliot's SAP Web 2.0 Auto-tweet plugin for PowerPoint was no longer working.  In fact Timo has had to update his plugin due to changes in Twitter's authentication process, as he explains on his website

"Because it’s very hard to use the new “OAuth” verification now required by Twitter directly from Office products, I’ve used a service provided by Supertweet.net — you create an account on that site using your twitter username, but a different password, and then you use those credentials in the AutoTweet window below."

If you have been using the old Auto-tweet Powerpoint plug-in, you will need to get the new one here,  I confirm it works very well.

More information about auto-tweeting in presentations appears on the Incorporating the Twitter backchannel in a presentation page in my How to use Twitter for Social Learning guide.

The New Social Learning : Book review

For my review of this new book by Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, see my Pick of the Day posting

How NOT to use your Social Media Marketing Manager!

I tweeted about this today - but just had to post it here too - today's Dilbert:

Some of the readers' comments on the page are also very incisive - this one sums it up for me

"The company I work for has a home page that says to follow them on FB or Twitter, but employees are blocked from these pages because they are considered obscene. Why would they recommend websites that they consider inappropriate?"

Bizarre - but unfortunately all too common!

Workplace Learning Professionals on Twitter - Join the list!

As regular readers to my blog will know, I talk to a lot of workplace learning professionals about the use of social media for working and learning, and of course the use of Twitter is high on the agenda. 

As those new to Twitter look for people to connect with in the industry, they often ask me for details of other workplace learning professionals who are active on Twitter.  

Although I usually get them to take a look at the list of people I follow, I have often been asked to compile a specific list of workplace learning professional tweeters.  I've now set up a page to do so and am encouraging you to add your name to the list too, if you would like to. 

You will find the list here: Workplace Learning Professionals on Twitter

Social Media for Trainers

My posting, which is the first stop on Jane Bozarth's Social Media for Trainers blog book tour, appears on my Jane's Pick of the Day blog

Encouraging the use of public social media

Over the last few days I have been collating rebuttals to the 10 reasons to ban social media.  Thanks to all who have contributed to this; the list is looking very good.  However, as I wrote my posting on Saturday, it occurred to me that managers might simply see  this list as a reason to allow access to public social media as a perk or workplace luxury, ie. something you take a break away from work to do or use!.  So what is needed also are good reasons why they should actively encourage access as a workplace NECESSITY. 

Later on in the afternoon, I came across this posting by a teacher, Jamie Forrest,  What Twitter has done for me.  I am sure there are plenty of other similar postings out there, but this article fitted in well with my thinking about the need to demonstrate the benefits of social media to the organisation.  Put very simply,  Twitter has (1)  improved her self-confidence and attitude, and (2) increased her desire for and pursuit of professional development..  The detail in the post, of course, provides the how and why.

This is an inspiring posting on the power of Twitter for an individual, but of course (business) managers are not interested in inspiring stories, they want hard facts and figures on the value it brings to the organisation or the cost savings that can be made.  

Putting a figure on the fact that an individual has developed into a more confident and competent teacher, whom others now look to for support is probably impossible to do, although it would certainly be possible to identify the intangible benefits it has had for the school.

Looking at it in terms of cost savings might be easier.  If Jamie had had to undertake similar staff development programmes paid for by her school, this would have cost a significant amount, whereas the cost to the school was only providing free and open access to Twitter.

Now, some might say that a "DIY" approach to staff development should not be promoted, as it sends the wrong signals to management that all staff development could or should be done in this way, i.e."on the cheap".  I am certainly not suggesting that should be the case, but rather that organisations should see the value in encouraging individuals to take much more responsibility for their own personal and professional development.  As I have mentioned in other places, as it is, in this fast moving world, most organisations can no longer keep their people up to speed using traditional, formal training.methods.

So, to get back to my initial point, what I think would be useful is to build a collection of examples that demonstrate how access to public social media has had both tangible and intangible benefits for an individual or team.  Do you have any experiences to share? 

Judith Christian-Carter has already posted about what Twitter has done for her, and my ITA colleague, Clark Quinn (in the second half of his posting) has provided some generic reasons on the value of social media).  In a follow-up posting,  I will provide a list of how social media has transformed the way I work.

Is access to public social media sites seen as a workplace luxury?

Yesterday I read this tweet from Jeremiah Owyang, a Partner in the Altimeter Group:

"Thanks pbworks! They have an in-house masseuse, I feel relaxed now."

Pretty cool I thought! Then today, I read this article in Forbes, The Best Workplace Luxuries yet, that reports that 

"Some companies, notably Google, have upped their workplace amenities, making the office into something a little like a mini city. We're talking nap pods, laundry rooms and massages."

The picture at the top of this posting is of a "nap pod", described as follows

"This chair-helmet combination allows you to take a quick snooze on the job. After being lulled to sleep by "soothing sounds," you are put into a perfect position for a nap, the manufacturer says, taking "pressure off of the cardiac system.""

For pictures of more workplace luxuries, go straight to the picture set. 

The main part of the Forbes article however, asks the question: "Do such lavish perks make employees more productive?"  They quote Prof. Jeffrey Pfeffer, of Stanford University, who says ...

"such added benefits are only useful where there's a positive corporate culture that values employees and rewards their work beyond just food and nap pods. "Those are nice things, and they may represent the corporate attitude, but if they're all you do, they're worthless.""

This got me thinking about social media in organisations.

I have already written a lot (e.g. here) how I believe access to public social media sites is essential in the workplace of today.  But as can be seen from the 10 reasons to ban social media, the reluctance to allow this in some organisations is to a large extent due to a lack of trust in employees. So I do get the impression that where access to sites like Facebook, Twitter etc is not controlled or banned, this is also a good indicator of the fact that the organization is building an employee-based culture.

But the question is then, do organisations see access to public social media as a NECESSITY or smply as another  workplace LUXURY?

My 10 reasons NOT to ban social media in organisations

Following my earlier posting, here are my (brief) rebuttals to the 10 reasons to ban social media in organisations.  I'm collating all the contributions here to build (hopefully) a useful resource, please share yours.

10 - Social media is a fad

I think the statistics speak for themselves, as presented in Erik Qualman's video, Social Media Revolution (v2). A huge number of people are using these tools in their daily lives and it is having a significant impact on all types of activities - personal, business as well as learning.

9 - It's about controlling the message

Control is a myth; there has never been any real control.  How do you control the conversations people have on the phone, in emails, in the restaurant, in the pub after work. 

8 - Employees will goof off

Is this really a problem.  The company is made up of real people.  The human side of a business is very important.

7 - Social media is a time waster

Wait!  We've done this one before.  People get distracted by all types of things, especially if they are not motivated by their work.  The answer is to help them make their job more interesting or rewarding; not ban social media

6 - Social media has no business purpose

The power of social media marketing is huge, just view these companies using it.  Internally, social media can help with all kind of business tasks, see A Practical Guide to using social media in your job.

5 - Employees can't be trusted

Why don't you fire them then! Seriously though, trust is a two-way thing, and social media is actually a good way to build trust. This article says: "Social media marketing is a long-term strategy of relationship building to get a consumer to invest in your product. Using similar relationship building ideas will prove to be an effective long-term strategy for getting your employees to invest more of themselves in your company."

4 - Don't cave into the demands of the millennials

It's not just millennials that use social media.  Facebook stats, for instance, show the user base that has been growing fastest is the 33-54 age range

3 - Your teams already share knowledge effectively

I don't think so.  Public social media tools are used  (often unknowingly by managers) in organisations to provide teams with sharing and collaborative functionality that they are lacking in many enterprise systems, which are fundamentally top-down content-delivery systems.

2 - You'll get viruses

Not if you have up-todate virus protection in place.  This certainly hasn't stopped people using email, where viruses are rife.

1 - Your competition isn't using it, so why should you?

As shown above, a huge number of companies are using it for social media marketing purposes:  A Wiki of Social Media Marketing Examples. And here's a growing list or organisations using social media in the workplace.

10 reasons NOT to ban social media in organisations : the meme

On Tuesday I posted a video by Ron Desi, that described 10 top reasons to ban social media in organisations.  It was of course, tongue-in-cheek and many of us had a good laugh.  However, Vaughan Waller pointed out in the comments that there were many managers who do think like this and what was needed was a rebuttal of the video.

I put this to my Internet Time Alliance colleagues, and although we have all written about this in some form or other at one time or another, Harold Jarche rose to the challenge and wrote a posting, Ten reasons,  in which he provided some evidence  rebutting each of the reasons.

Jack Vinson then picked up on Harold's post and wrote one of his own, saying "we have a fun meme for people who are into social media Let's counter those 10 top reasons to ban social media in the organization". 

His rules to this game: "create a counter to each of the reasons.  Maybe the conversation shouldn't even be about these "reasons to ban" but should come up "reasons to use" social media."

This is a great idea, and I encourage you to take part in by writing a short posting yourself or leaving a comment below, with a brief rebuttal of each of the reasons.

Just to remind you of the reasons (in reverse order) so that you don't have to watch the video again, unless you want to!

10. Social media is a fad.
9. It's about controlling the message.
8. Employees will goof off.
7. Social Media is a time waster.
6. Social media has no business purpose.
5. Employees can't be trusted.
4. Don't cave into the demands of the millennials.
3. Your teams already share knowledge effectively.
2. You'll get viruses.
1. Your competition isn't using it, so why should you?

UPDATE 1: I'm compiling the Armoury of responses here.

UPDATE 2: Here are my 10 rebuttals