Making People Like Them People Like Us

 

   I’m chairing Crexia’s Social Learning Unconference today.  As part of this , I delivered this morning’s opening introduction, helping to provide some focus and context for later conversations.

Thinking last night about what I was going to say today, I focused on a couple of inputs I personally have experienced over the last couple of weeks.

The first of these was Edelman’s 2012 Trust Barometer which David Armano referenced in his session on social engagement as part of Social Media Week London.  The Barometer shows a continuing fall in levels of trust in traditional sources of authority (lawyers, politicians, journalists etc) and another big rise in trust in technical experts, joe employee, and particularly ‘people like me’.

Eg this is one of Edelman’s slides on this that I’ll be using in my training session on using social media that I’ll be running in Kuala Lumpur in just over another week:

 

The second input was an RSA session with Mark Pagel last week.  Mark’s the author of Wired for Culture and writes / speaks about the evolution of people vs neanderthals as social / tribal animals.

Ie we form tight tribes and to an extent sacrifice our individuality for the good of the tribal collective, eg wear odd clothes and paint our faces with the colours of our favourite team.  We’re one of the few animals, other than the social insects, that have learnt to co-operate with each other within our groups.

Outside these groups, are prime behavioural trait is that of competition vs co-operation.  Pagel shared the example of a man who punched and killed another for the simple, social though unproven crime of queue jumping.

So we co-operate with people like me, ie the in-group, but we compete with anyone we see as a people like them!, ie the out-group.

 

The impact of this on learning & development practitioners, which only really occurred to me last night, and therefore I haven’t yet really fully thought through, and also, as I said earlier – isn’t, as far as I know, supported by any research, is that for us to learn in groups, we need to find a way to transform people like them into people like us!

 

Note that I’m not suggesting we should only learn from other people like me.  As has been well tweeted this morning, this would be a real blocker on development – most new ideas are going to come from the people like them, not actually the people like me.

But I simply don’t believe we’re going to be able to learn easily from people like them – while they’re still people like them.  Trying to do so is likely to simply make us reinforce our existing positions, ie to block rather than enable learning.

 

So, somehow, before we can learn, we need to make these people like them into people like us.  We need to connect with each other, and build trustful relationships with each other, before we can learn.

Does that suggestion work for you?

 

Technorati Tags: Pagel,wired,culture,RSA,Edelman,trust,barometer,social,relationship,learning,Crexia,#slconf

 

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Social Learning Conference

 

  I’ll also be chairing this social learning conference on 1st March 2012:

 

#SLCONF 2012 is aimed at connecting the learning community with global speakers and thought leaders, to share insights on Social Learning. We are pleased to have confirmed the following Keynote speakers. We will continue to update this page, so please check again soon!

Jane Hart / Founder, Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

Jane Hart is the Founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT).

Jane is also the author of the Social Learning Handbook, which discusses the principles behind using social and informal approaches in the workplace, as well as provides guidance on how to use social media for working and learning smarter. More ...

Dan Pontefract / Senior Director, Head of Learning & Collaboration at TELUS

As Senior Director / Head of Learning & Collaboration at TELUS, Dan is responsible for the overarching learning & collaboration strategy for the company. He has driven a philosophical and cultural shift in the way TELUS views and experiences learning called “Learning 2.0”; the shift to a social, informal and formal learning and collaboration model for all 35,000+ team members, bringing TELUS to the forefront of learning leadership. More ...

 

 

Technorati Tags: Social,learning,conference,Dan Pontefract,Training Wreck,TELUS,Jane Hart,Centre,Performance,Technologies

 

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Online learning and the learning organisation

 

  So I delivered this webinar for Citrix Online today: Online learning and the learning organisation.

I talked about social learning, why this is important, and why despite its importance, we still tend to focus on the learning of individuals rather than social groups such as teams, communities and networks.  And I suggested that the the learning organisation is based on social learning – and the consequent development of Peter Senge’s shared vision and mental models etc.

I then suggested that organisations need to select the appropriate enablers for becoming a learning organisation that suit their particular context and situation.  One of these enablers is online learning and given the title of the webinar, this was the enabler I focused on most.

I also stressed that online learning is probably the most powerful enabler that we have.  Now this webinar was delivered for Citrix Online, and they wanted me to deliver something on online learning, but the title and the link to the learning organisation were my suggestions.  So I do believe what I have just written.

Most of the participants (actually 92% of them) seemed to agree.  But obviously not everyone – and I wasn’t able to fully answer Jacqueline’s question right at the end – why exactly do I think online learning is social?  Jacqueline wrote that she didn’t think this webinar was very social, and I do agree with her.  Partly because I didn’t leave enough time for questions (though I did do a lot better than the last of these I delivered).  And partly, as I stressed in my presentation, online learning probably does need to be combined with other enablers, whether these are physical or technological, eg a Twitter feed or something, to be really social.  I also like the developing use of video within these applications, and long for the day when we’re all connected by Telepresence.

But I still think online learning is key.  And this isn’t just because it’s (at least partly) social, it’s also, as I also said, because it’s virtual, synchronous, co-created and increasingly mobile too.  All of these attributes contribute towards the outcome of better social learning.

Social networking systems is the other key enabler, particularly if they include blogging, podcasting etc too.  The networking function is key in helping people develop the connections and relationships that are the basis for social learning to take place.  And then blogging, podcasting and online learning provide effective ways for learning to take place.

And I absolutely do believe these tools have made the learning organisation much more achievable than when I was more specifically focusing on consultancy in this area about 20 years ago.

 

If you were on the webinar, I hope you enjoyed it.  I’ve asked Citrix if they can provide your questions I didn’t get to answer, or please add them again (sorry) as comments to this post – and I will answer each one.

 

You may also be interested in the next webinar I’m doing which is on HR 2.0 and will take place at 3.00pm GMT or 9.00am CST (I’ll be in Houston, TX) on Tuesday 15th March.

 

Technorati Tags: Learning Organisation,Peter Senge,social media,social networking,online learning

 

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Learning Organisation webinar today

 

  I’ll be delivering a webinar on Social and Online Learning and the Learning Organisation at 11.00am GMT today.  In this webinar, I’ll be going back to the question I asked at TRU: why does 95% of what we do in HR (here, L&D) focus on individuals (when what’s most important is teams.  Do join me if you can.  And I’ll be posting on my reflections from the webinar later on today.

 

My next webinar will be on Social HR / HR 2.0 and that will be at 3.00 on Tuesday 15th March.  I hope you’ll join me for that webinar too.

 

Technorati Tags: Online,social,learning,organisation,webinar

 

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Google Collaboration

 

   Day 1 of the informatology conference focused on learning and technology with a presentation by Sudhir Giri from Google.

Giri is creating a ‘learning ecosystem’ at Google, in order to get people collaborating internally better.

Part of this development is the Google environment and the way this encourages people to naturally interact with each other.  This includes lots of shared play and food spaces – for example the cafeteria which gets people communicating with other people they wouldn’t normally have connections with.

And then there’s the technology – like g2g tv – getting googlers creating content and teaching others:

 

And gwhiz – an internal system which allows people to tag others and themselves with technical skills.  The higher up the search list someone appears, the more expertise that can be assumed to have.  People can also identify whether they are available to answer questions and / or for mentoring.  So this provides a rudimentary CV and is much more likely to be used than a traditional skills inventory.  And again, it helps people to connect with other folk.

 

These developments provide a range of intangible benefits for Google but these can’t be captured by a ROI!

 

The following photos are from the peer circle run following Sudhir’s session, led by Clive Shepherd and including Karyn Romeis, Mark Berthelemy, Charles Jennings and John Castledine:

 

Technorati Tags: informatology10,Sudhir Giri,Google,learning,ecosystem,collaboration

 

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informatology 2010

 

   On 28th April, I’ll be speaking at informatology’s 2010 "Good Practice for Great Performance" conference, which is designed to give business and talent leaders inspiration and insight to help their organisations be as successful as they can be.

The conference sounds like a lot of fun, with plenty of 2.0 and even an unconference thrown in!

Key themes include managing change, leadership, customer service, executive coaching, engaging and utilising talent, great places to work, the professional services sector, e-learning, making video, the future of workplace learning, team collaboration 2.0 (my session), sharing knowledge 2.0, enterprise 2.0, and learning & performance 2.0!

Other confirmed speakers include...

• Professor Robert Winston - Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College, world-famous author and TV personality delivers the inspirational opening keynote
• Michael Izza - CEO, The Institute of Chartered Accountants chairs the session focusing on the Professional Services sector
• Jo Causon - CEO, The Institute of Customer Service chairs the "Great Customer Service" session
• Tom O'Byrne - CEO, Great Place To Work® Institute UK, chairs a session featuring winners of their award
• Professor Andrew Mayo, frequent speaker, writer and facilitator in international HRM, specialising in people and organisation development, chairs the session on Great Leadership
• Julie Starr, Author of the bestselling “The Coaching Manual” chairs the session on Executive Coaching
• Nick Shackleton-Jones, Online & Informal Learning Manager at the BBC leads a whole-day masterclass with his BBC colleagues, on how to create video on a shoestring
• Jane Hart leads a whole-day masterclass on Learning & Performance 2.0
• Sudhir Giri, Global Head of Learning Technologies at Google, speaks on Sharing Knowledge 2.0
• Clive Shepherd, a consultant specialising in learning and communications technologies, chairs the session on Great e-Learning.

 

The conference will be held at Baker Tilly’s Conference Centre in London from Wednesday 28th to Friday 30th April, 2010.

Can you attend this event?  Book here.

 

Technorati Tags: informatology,2010,Robert Winston,Michael Izza,Jo Causon,Tom O'Byrne,Andrew Mayo,Julie Starr,Nick Shackleton-Jones,Jane Hart,Sudhir Giri,Clive Shepherd,collaboration,2.0,unconference

 

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Social Learning (Talking HR 020)

 

   So Talking HR is finally back with a new show on Social Learning.

What’s that?  Well, in the show I started to define social learning as something more than just the use of social media to support learning.  But I’d now like to elaborate on this (I didn’t want to go on about this before or this one point could have taken over the whole show).

My main point is that learning has always been social.  So social learning can’t just be the application of social media.  But it has to be something different to what learning has been before.

This is a similar argument to the one I’ve used t suggest that HR 2.0 and management 2.0 are approaches aimed at the development of social capital.

And I’d suggest that learning 2.0 is probably about social capital as well.  But I think it’s about one form of social capital in particular – and this is ‘the learning organisation’.

I read somewhere that when the learning organisation first became popular (via Peter Senge and others), it wasn’t really achievable.  Social media has made it much more so.

But I’d suggest that there’s an important distinction between learning that uses social media, and learning that aims to create a learning organisation.

The other way of looking at this, which I also mention on the show, is that when we talk about social learning, we really should mean social learning, ie learning of the social unit (the team or the organisation as a whole) and not just learning socially (generating, co-creating and sharing content, collaborating etc).

It should be about developing a common understanding, a common way of doing things, a new culture even, between people in a team.

This is the real reason that social learning is so important.

 

I also attempted to link Honey & Mumford’s learning styles with Li and Bernoff’s social technographic profiles (the ladder from Groundswell – pictured).

 

 

Listen to the podcast and read the show notes at Blogtalkradio.  You can download the podcast to your hard drive or play it streaming from the web.

Subscribe to the show at itunes.

Talking HR is hosted by Krishna De and Jon Ingham and you can contact them with your thoughts and feedback about the show at talkinghrpodcast(at)gmail.com.

 

 

This post is cross-posted at Strategic HCM.

Technorati Tags: Social learning,learning organisation,Talking HR,podcast,Blogtalkradio,Jon Ingham,Krishna De

 

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Web 2.0 in the Learning Ecosystem

I attended a very interesting Saba webinar a couple of weeks ago.

This featured Gartner Vice President and Distinguished Analyst, Carol Rozwell who covered some of their market and customer research about how organisations are capitalising on the collaborative nature of social software to facilitate learning.

Two main things for me:

1. most companies are investing in social media to increase efficiency (doing more with existing resources) rather than improve effectiveness (creating channels for collaboration). Few are investing to transform their organisations.

2. The most common specific activities they want to include are communication, teamwork and problem solving. I wish I knew more about what they had asked about in terms of 'relating' here.