Chief Learning Officer [CLO] Media recently printed an online feature titled “Transform Corporate Learning with a User Network.”  In it the authors begin by talking about how different learning styles affect the absorption rate of different learners and then move into some suggestions on how to address these different styles given the constraints of working in any given organization.

Essentially where they land is telling organizations to put the power of learning into the hands of the users and then they will ensure that any learning created will be customized to the learning style of that person.  I agree with them in principle - in practice I would not like to be the one to roll-out this program.

I feel this way because I’ve tried similar approaches with clients and while people agree that they want to learn more just-in-time and informally from their peers they struggle to find the time to add another task item to their already busy day.  To many people, simply saying the word ‘wiki’ will make them cringe.  The thought of having to learn the new technologies of wikis, blogs, rapid elearning, etc. can put the brakes on the momentum of the best intentions.

As we forge forward into our knowledge-based economy it’s my belief that additional resources will need to be deployed [or current ones redeployed] to work alongside people and capture the knowledge artifacts that are produced throughout a routine day.  It is then this person’s job to take these knowledge artifacts and edit/assemble them into a format that is meaningful to the originator as well as any seeker that may come along in the future.

The collective intelligence of an organizational network is a powerful force and thus it is time to start dedicating resources to this force rather than requesting that the people contributing to the knowledge are also the ones that need to manage it.  By dedicating resources to knowledge workers an organization can begin to harness the collaboration and innovation that is occurring in pockets around the organization - making this part of a learning strategy frees up the knowledge workers to work at their day jobs while still addressing their learning needs as the authors rightly suggest.

Communities of practice [CoPs] certainly are a great step in this direction - and they often have a ‘cybrarian’ to manage the knowledge artifacts that are uncovered.  Having the cybrarian, or an equivalent position, be responsible for turning these artifacts into learning modules is a natural extension of this role and one that is well received by the members that don’t have to interupt their normal workflow to do it.

I was having a conversation with someone yesterday afternoon about how the number of software vendors offering wikis, blogs, discussions boards, rapid elearning, etc. was enormous and that there would certainly come a time when things would begin to consolidate and major players would begin to emerge.  This will prevent organizations from having to cobble together these elements and the pain and inefficiencies associated with cobbling.

An ‘ERP of Learning’ is sure to be on the horizon was the synopsis of our talk - then I saw a press release from OutStart today [note - this is not my prediction that this is the 'Learning ERP'...just an indication that it's a comin'] detailing the merger of OutStart and Eedo.

As Chief Learning Officers become more prevalent and powerful and as the trends in learning continue to incorporate elements of informal learning (i.e. communities of practice) and others suitable for knowledge workers it will be an exciting time to watch as the various software offerings in the learning space make moves to secure their future or their fate - there are certainly demands in the market for this functionality and a sole source vendor to provide it doesn’t exist yet.

CLO Media posted a recent executive briefing where they provide four things that CEOs and Chief Learning Officers [CLOs] should be considering when operating their business.  I agree with the categories listed in the article but they are quite high level (it is a ‘briefing’ for a reason I suppose) and allow the reader to determine how each would be executed.

For a CEO or CLO that is planning to ramp up efforts in these areas it provides an opportunity to do things a bit more progressively in implementation - examples provided as they relate to the four CLO suggestions…

1. Develop strategically with purpose: one of the snippets from this section is “have a clear definition of a desired future” - in today’s rapidly changing world it’s difficult to have a static vision of a future that will be the basis for processes and decisions implemented now; utilizing the process of scenario planning is a way to identify multiple futures (scenarios) and then determine the common denominators threaded throughout.  These common elements can then be used by the CLO to begin looking at high-level competencies that would be valuable regardless of which future the organization ends up living.
2. Focus on core competencies first: I would describe core competencies as those that will not be changing in the foreseeable future.  Competency development initiatives are often centered around the current state of the organization, market, product portfolio, etc.  All of those factors (plus many others) can change quickly and having competencies that will prevail through all conditions are what I would truly consider ‘core.’  Referring back to #1, scenario planning is a great way to plan for the competencies that will be crucial in many different settings.
3. Target opportunities intentionally instead of reacting to problems: reacting to problems often results in Band-Aid solutions that may mask symptoms for a few days, weeks or even years before they come back to haunt the original target or manifest themselves in a new way in a different part of the organization.  [A classic example is a company with lagging sales that launches a large price cut promotion and due to the diminished revenue from the price cut is unable to meet the demand generated by the promotion and now faces quality and customer service issues.]  An effective and progressive way of addressing this is by viewing the organization as a system - an interdependent collection of pieces where action in one area will result in consequences [good or bad] in another.  This approach is known as systems thinking and has yielded impressive results for organizations around the world - utilizing it provides a way to identify opportunities to tweak operations and model potential outcomes that would otherwise be left to chance.
4. Embrace change: harnessing incremental change and having a progressive approach to change management are certainly crucial but often challenging.  People are often creatures of habit and start to like that with which they become familiar.  So changing that can be difficult.  Utilizing a social network analysis is a powerful tool that provides an organizational x-ray showing how information is transferred around the network that comprises an organization.  Information from a network analysis can be used to identify people in the organization that are sought out most often - the influencers.  Utilizing these individuals in change management results in a much more targeted effort to managing change than the traditional shotgun approach.

As I mentioned above, the tenets offered in the original briefing by CLO Media are valid ones and their high-level descriptions leave the interpretation of implementation to the reader.  Each of the topics listed offers an opportunity to do something a little more progressive and effective than the norm, to embrace our transition to a knowledge society teeming with fluid, dynamic learning organizations in which tools and tactics from yesteryear will be rendered obsolete.

It’s our combined thoughts that bring us great things.

What a great quote, eh?

This came straight from my wife after a couple years of explaining to her what I do for a living.  After all the talk of wikis, social networking, collective intelligence, blogs, knowledge management, Web 2.0, etc. it was her that boiled it down to that statement.

Being so mired in the world of next-generation learning and development I am accustomed to, and comfortable with, the buzzwords of the trade but it’s sometimes difficult to translate the purpose and benefit of all of these funny sounding things to someone that has little insight into this world.

And her statement summed up quite a bit of it.  So much so that when she said it I sat up straight and wrote it down on a bar napkin [a relic of pre-Web 2.0 for any Gen Nexters that may be reading].

The more I thought about it this really encompasses the theory driving this revolution in how people learn, collaborate, innovate, communicate, etc. and the buzzwords are really just the ‘how.’  Communities of practice, social network analysis, rapid elearning, knowledge management and many others are just methods to accomplish the purpose of my wife’s synopsis - harnessing the power of people connected.

As with many other examples, it takes an outsider’s lens to shed a light of clarity on a topic that can become quite complex when left to the experts.

In case you haven’t heard Apple is releasing the second version of its mega-popular iPhone tomorrow.  People have been lined up for days to get their hands on this device.

Beyond the slick exterior and sexy buttons of the phone, though, I think the main attraction to this engineering marvel is the ease and speed at which it allows users to find the information they need.

As we move further and further through our transition to a knowledge society it’s my belief that learning solutions will need to focus more on allowing people to find what they need quickly and less on providing content.  The iPhone looks like a device well positioned to do that for personal use and no doubt for corporate learning initiatives.

I’m purchasing one over the weekend or soon after to complement my growing Mac suite of devices that all incorporate this notion of quickly and easily being able to find what you need.  

I’ll let you know how iLike it…

Over the last few years the nationwide real estate market enjoyed tremendous growth followed by a bursting bubble to level-set prices.  I see the same trend a comin’ in the learning and development field…

Traditional formal training has been classically overvalued and is now up against many alternatives for the learning practitioner.  My prediction is that over time this will level-set the contributions of various forms of learning and development.  Formal training has been shown to provide about 25% of the information people need to do their jobs yet it is currently the most highly sought after tool for many training departments.

As the market becomes saturated with more and more options (i.e. communities of practice, action learning) for use in learning and development I feel that CLOs will begin to leverage a more diversified portfolio for their investment and that formal training’s role will be diminished.

Too much infrastructure and ego exist for the bubble to burst as quickly as it did in the real estate market but I’m confident it’s coming…

LMS For Sale: custom app, barely used, functions well but realized we need something better suited to our needs

This month’s Big Question from Learning Circuits blog asks us to ponder what we’d like to do better as learning professionals.

As I look at my ever-growing task list it seems there is an endless stream of possible angles with which to begin so I’ll take the high-level road…

What I’d like to do better is more effectively get the message out about the power and application of non-traditional forms of learning and development (i.e. communities of practice, action learning, social networks…). I feel that these services are under served in the market and that organizations can benefit greatly by integrating them within their portfolio of learning tools.

As with any message it has to be palatable. So as part of what I would like to do better, I want to make sure the message(s) are in a form that get attention - this includes videos, podcasts and literature. Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me for the foreseeable future…

If you keep up with tech even the slightest bit you know that Apple, Inc. overall and especially it’s Mac line of computers are red hot. I have several friends that have made the switch and have suggested for a long time that I do the same. For reasons that span from frustration with PCs to video/photo/audio editing needs to an organizational philosophy that better aligns with that of Orbital RPM, I decided to take the plunge. I converted.

Beyond just switching to a Mac I intended to jump in with both feet. I wanted to ween myself of Outlook in favor of Mail, iCal and Address Book. I would embrace iTunes for my digital entertainment needs and write these posts on a Safari bowser. While not giving up Word, Excel & Powerpoint for client work I committed to learning Numbers, Pages and Keynote for things that could live within Orbital RPM’s walls.

I misjudged how difficult a transition this would be. My computer is something that is tethered to me for the better part of everyday. Although my old PC had plenty of idiosyncrasies at least I was aware of them and usually sometimes knew what to do about them. We’d been through a lot together. The switch to Mac felt like moving into a foreign and unfamiliar new house built on green engineering after coming home to the same, outdated home in an aging subdivision for about 13 years. I liked the possibilities that were now offered to me but it was going to take some getting used to.

This is where the comprehensiveness of Apple’s strategy shone through. Apple asked the question, “Who do we count on for success?” Engineers, programmers and sales people are all obviously contained in there as they are for Apple’s competition. Apple applied the question to their entire value-chain, though, and concluded that customers were also an important part of this strategy working. Seems silly I know but stay with me here. Since Apple counts on its customers for success, they decided to include them in their learning strategy. They invested in my learning.

For $99 I chose to become a member of the One-to-One program. This program allowed me to take one hour of individual training per week for a year. That means I can get 52 [edit] hours of custom, just-in-time education for $99. This is clearly not a profit center for Apple. But is it a wise investment?

For their part of the deal Apple gets customers that are well versed in the unique features and benefits of their product. A product that is different from the one that all of their competitors offer and one that is different from what about 93% of their marketshare uses. To me it seems like a worthwhile expenditure to subsidize a learning strategy that will ensure newly converted customers will stay with their new product and of course buy more in the future.

The One-to-One program has been instrumental in my satisfaction with the new computer. Having to re-learn so many new things comes with a long list of questions. Knowing that I can have them answered weekly by a person that I’m sitting down with face-to-face instills a sense of calm in a situation that would normally produce high levels of anxiety. Oh…I forgot to mention that each time I’ve been in the retail store for my lessons I’ve bought peripherals that probably average $250 per trip; that will (hopefully) go down since I’ve only been to three classes but it definitely influences buying behavior to know that I’ll be in their store often

An important lesson is contained within Apple’s strategy. If they only focused on making great products but not ensuring people were able to use them I highly doubt they would be enjoying the success they are…I know that I would not be a Mac owner. By determining who an organization counts on for their success and considering those groups for inclusion in their overall learning strategy it serves to benefit the sponsoring organization.

Who all do you count on for success in your organization? Are any of them outside of your organization’s walls? What could they know more of, better or different that would increase your success? How can they be incorporated into your learning strategy?

Then someone came along and proposed that perhaps nature and nurture each had a part in developing the whole person. This argument was of course called ‘nature/nurture.’

My reaction to this revelation? Duh.

Of course our genes shape who we are. Of course our experiences do too. The warring camps seemed too extreme and too black and white for me. It was clear that some interaction of how we are nurtured built upon how we are naturally resulted in what we become when we grow up.

I felt the same when reading the recent article in Fast Company, Is the Tipping Point Toast?

The author profiles Duncan Watts and his research that theorizes that the Influentials from Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point are a misnomer. Watts suggests that trends ebb and flow more as a factor of the population’s readiness for them as opposed to the people that started them.

I think Watts makes interesting points and that they’re right some of the time. Am I to believe, though, that a popular blogger with a solid reputation for cogent insight is just as likely to stir up interest about something as someone that’s a known spammer? Tough to swallow…

In our work with clients we often start projects with a social network analysis. This dandy piece of software spits out network maps that provide us an x-ray into how information flows through an organization. We can clearly see the people within organizations that are sought out the most often. And they’re not random.

Individuals can become go-to/influential people due to their personality, insight, access or any number of other variables. It’s helpful to identify these individuals and utilize them in a new twist on change management [where influentials are selected to help with communication rather than the shotgun approach of most change initiatives] or knowledge transfer [where knowledge is downloaded from influentials prior to them being transfered or retiring and leaving a knowledge void in the network]. And it’s always been a foundational element in building a thriving learning community/community of practice [CoP].

So while there are elements of a given population having to be ready to accept a trend, there are also certainly factors emanating from different people that will affect the reach and rate of a trend that they [willingly or otherwise] attempt to start. Similar to the nature/nurture debate, there are elements from both sides that come into play when looking at the final outcome.