Practice Makes Permanent

James Tyer and I co-authored this post to share that we are hosting a workshop in Orlando on March 24th at the eLearning Guild's Learning Solutions 2015 conference 'Kick-start Your Personal and Organizational Social Learning Journey'. We have created the agenda based on our experiences developing and supporting personal and organizational social learning practices. The workshop has a simple premise: 

If you don’t practice social, you can’t support it.

Why? Social learning is natural, but the addition of social technology adds a layer of complexity for many. Unfortunately, because of the technology used to extend and expand social interaction, the conversations frequently turn to be about the technology rather than learning. Personal social practice is challenging as it requires an openness that may feel uncomfortable. On top of this, if you haven't developed successful practices, you can’t support others to develop the same. 

How can you make sense of all the information from vendors and consultants? What really works, or doesn’t work? There is no one-size-fits-all answer and social learning is not, as many claim, the solution to all organizational performance problems.

Our workshop is meant to help you find your own answers. Split into two parts, the morning workshop is about your personal practices; in the afternoon it’s about extending these to your organization.

We will draw upon our own experiences to help: stories of success and failure (about 50-50 it always feels!). We invite you to take a look at our agenda and we’ll answer any questions you may have before you sign up.

Morning:

• An introduction to digital literacy and fluency and why our changing world requires a new mindset for all (including L&D/HR).

• Forging your career - finding your purpose, learner autonomy (we can’t depend on organizations to build our skills any more), and mastery

• The internal and external barriers to personal social practice

• Identifying the current state of your network(s)

• Participating in online social learning events

• Reflective practice: blogging and working out loud

• Building, growing, and sustaining your personal networks

Afternoon:

• Understanding the barriers to others developing a social practice

• How social practice fits into newer L&D models: 70:20:10, performance support

• Understanding your organization (business or purpose) and culture

• Communicating value to your peers and leadership

• Identifying and empowering your key organizational partners

• Some starting points: not just adding social to courses

• Nurturing your "trojan mice" and social coaching

• Organizational roadblocks

Post-Workshop:

A significant component of this workshop actually follows the workshop. We aim to continue our conversations afterward in a format decided by the participants, checking on each others’ progress, encouraging new social habits and sharing stories, resources and ideas. 

Let us know what questions you need answering or what you would change to make it more valuable to you!

Our Social Reflex

While being carried, an infant may lose its balance and unconsciously, instinctively, grab on to their mothers. This is known as the Moro Reflex and it is considered to be a sign of our only unlearned fear. For the infant, to disconnect is an emotional and physical fear, possibly one of short-term pain, long-term loss or ultimately death. According to research this reflex typically fades away after 6 months. I wonder though if it may be that we just transferred it? 

It appears that from our earliest days we instinctively require security, the security that comes from contact and support of another. Even without having ever felt the pain of a fall or the uncomfortableness found in a lack of contact, each human cell has been pre-programmed to know that without connection it's existence is in jeopardy. And as we grow from infant to adult our need to be connected continues as we fear not physical falling but emotionally, creatively, socially or financially failing. We instinctively reach, as we once did for the survival, to create relationships because still, deep within each cell, we know that without connection our existence is in jeopardy. 

Of Social Tools And Toys

"Twitter is for morons and b-level actors." 

I remember reading this in a Newsweek article in 2009. Funny thing is five years later I find many still believe this, and why not? Traditional media and late night talk show hosts do a wonderful job of highlighting only the harmful and the humorous. But what they don't know is how powerful this and other social tools are too many people for learning and growing through networks.

This got me wondering about who, how many and what in regard to social tool use.  Might there be a 90-9-1 use of social media?  If you don't recall, the 90-9-1 rule is where 90% of networks are made up of the equivalent of virtual voyeur, 9% contribute periodically, and the golden 1% create all the content that the lurkers and contributors consume or add to. 

I wondered then, when it comes to social tool use, do we have a comparable breakdown?

90% actors

9% marketers

1% makers

The 90%

No doubt social tools are a narcissists dream, where everyone can get their 15 minutes of fame. Traditional media does well to point out the sensationally bad behaviors of individuals and blames the medium as much, if not more than, as those making the blunder. These majority users aren't morons, as they still widely use social tools to connect and learn, yet much use is for telling their personal story with all it's comedy and tragedy displayed for the world to see. 

The 9%

Most businesses only toy with social technology. These "9%ers" build social brand promotion campaigns, sterilizing their customer "engagement" and then push so hard for ROI they excrete their humanity in the process. The hemorrhoids, of course, are too numerous to count. These companies rarely seem to get "it" right, but when they get it wrong, they get it really wrong; enduring black eyes for the silly games they play. Their half-baked approaches get chewed up and spit back in their faces like when they hijack a hashtag to sell a dress in the midst of a shooting or get into pissing matches with unhappy customers for the whole world to see. Who's the moron?

The 1%

The minority however are those getting the greatest value. They are using it in strategic ways that bypass old models, as one group's toy is another group's tool. All their activity is happening under the radar of the status quo; not much mainstream press for their success. Through networking, sharing and collaborating, they are silently growing skills and knowledge. They are finding unique ideas, challenging content, and brilliant minds through open sharing and humility. Each of their engagements is a stretch assignment, a mentor meeting or a chance for large group reflection. They are making progress through relationships. 

Of course we can't be pigeon held to one area. Just like 90-9-1 isn't a hard and fast rule where we are locked into one of three convenient lables of lurker, contributer, or creator. We are all simultaneously actors, weaving our tale. We are marketers, building our brand if we see it or not. And we are all makers, from time to time bringing value to others.  But I do think, through seeking and sincere interactions, the minority today don't just retain their humanity with these tools, they learn more about it and how powerful and rewarding it is to be real.

The Efficacy of Social

Recently it was reported that the Ebola epidemic is not getting the financial support it needs as the donations from wealthy countries is not coming in as hoped. This is surprising due to how horrific and enormous the problem is, and it being coupled with traditional media fear mongering. 

Or is it surprising?

According to Shankar Vedantam @Hiddenbrain, a social researcher with NPR, reporting in Why Your Brain Wants To Help One Child In Need - But Not Millions "as people feel more hopeless about a problem it greatly undermines their desire to do something about it."  There is an emotional conflict where "people decline to do what they can do because they feel bad about what they can't do."

AIDS, Cancer, Global Warming, Ebola all appear hopeless to correct or cure and the reason efforts fade over time is that we can respond to an individual need but as the numbers grow we lose the emotional connection. 

I find this research interesting and wonder at what point does the balance tip towards hopelessness and disconnection? If logic (the data) was tempered, would the emotional connection remain? It's the stories behind the data that maintains our attention.  Social tools are story tools. They support community, collaboration and sharing. They can make and sustain emotional connections. Social tools are personal tools, what you encounter with them always have a name and a face, are personal and can be emotional. Using social media you can directly connect with key people in a cause or even those afflicted. Social tools make the invisible visible and you can easily see the activities of others, maybe unknowingly, chipping away at big problems and the value it brings to them personally - emotional connections amplified. To some extent the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a good example. Although the problem seems hopeless as we appear far from a cure, social media helped people maintain a personal connection to the cause with unbelievable results.

Organizations too face large problems. Fixing revenue stream issues, customer satisfaction, or employee turnover are not insurmountable but can appear very daunting when looking at the data. Social allows you to cut through data and see the people and behaviors behind it. Social tools in organizations can surface individual stories and through open and inclusive conversation, solutions can be more quicker generated and imparted. 

Take the turnover issue for example. We know it's not just monetary rewards that entice people to stay. It's more about feeling connected, finding success, it's about recognition and growth opportunities. Each person has a story, a unique need, and social tools can bring that story to life and allow other individuals to see and to help. The assistance could be in the form of building a stronger relationship; it could be in offering a tip or some coaching; it could be a through a virtual pat on the back.  This is the efficacy of social. The engagement is completely transparent; in solving a small, seemingly personal issue, others vicariously experience the interaction. Maybe it addresses their own need or provides insights on how they can do the same. Think how the manager, who sees another manager offering encouragement or advice, can take on that behavior too and extend the practice in their own area. Social media extend and expand humanity, scaling support, making the big much smaller and seemingly more manageable. It can turn hopeless situations into hopeful ones.

FrankESNstein

"Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator!  Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?"  - Frankenstein's Monster

In 1818 Mary Shelley penned Frankenstein. In part the novel explored how electricity, a strange new power then might be used to create what only occurred naturally- life. 

The take away for me - don't mess with a good thing.

        Well, in the world of Enterprise Social I fear many didn't heed the warning. Our platforms often resemble the hideous Monster with it's parts fused together. Features such as streams, blogs, tags, filters, discussions, status updates, polling, places, groups, etc have value but when jumbled all together and released on the unsuspecting - they litter, complicate and ultimately frustrate and repel employees. It is often that the platforms resemble the 8' man-made man that terrifies the bewildered villagers. In some cases the people will slowly and only partially accept the platforms. In other cases they shun them and destroyed the incarnations through their inactivity versus overt aggression.

       Web 2.0 was a simple concept and simple technology but once brought inside an organization as an ESN it has been perverted and manipulated to mirror the comfortable but outdated systems and structures of the organization itself. 

The spirit of social technology is being crushed. It vaguely resembles the experimental, fun, easy world in which it was born. It is often a tool of the organization but not of the people. I've written about "simplicity" in the past and believe Simple is the New Black. That, like in Frankenstein, we have messed with the natural course. Twitter is a perfect example of "nature". A simple interface w/ simple rules and a simple goal to connect people which millions caught on to. It also had obvious affordances with its open API allowing for fantastic uses and integrations. Web 2.0 like Twitter blended seamlessly into the chaotic World Wide Web. In it's simplicity it amplified humanity, conversation, and sharing. The technology took a back seat. 

Work environments, like the web, are equally complex and growing more so with ever changing technology, system, customer need, and competition. Yet the answer for many is to release monstrous platforms that often add another layer of work to get working done. Ryan Tracy shared this, which I think nailed the issue because of how ridiculous it is. Yet if you swapped Facebook for many ESN implementations, it wouldn't be funny at all. Web2.0 vs. E2.0.

Social technology does work in some organizations but that depends on what one means by work and the organization using it. All are unique and one's definition of success, user adoption, is not the same as another's, work adaptation.   How do we avoid creating a monster enterprise social network? Yes we need advocacy and yes we need to draw on good examples and approaches promoted by the likes of Jane Hart but before that, potential community managers and leaders need to put egos aside and...

1. Ask yourself why? If your answer is to bring the workforce closer together, do they even want to be closer? Are they close now? It's a culture, people issue first.

2. Keep it simple. Start small doesn't mean just starting with a pilot, it means thinking of light design.

3. Play guide, not God. Encourage people to find A way, don't create THE way.

Learn from Dr. Frankenstein's mistake. Just because we can doesn't mean we should. Know the needs. Know the culture. Know your limits.

Learning is in a Holding Pattern

On a flight this week I noticed that safety awareness efforts by flight attendants is slowly being replaced by video demonstration on small monitors in the headrest (newer planes). Outsourcing this task to technology, like in other situations, can free people up to focus on other important tasks.  This is a chance to really improve learning because video has many affordances to increase attention and learning about safety as the demonstration have become white noise; ignored by most everyone. As I watched with great hope, I was disappointed to find the video is only a replica of the flight attendant demonstration... sigh - a common occurrence though where new technology support an old practice.

They chose to infuse humor into the demonstration which frankly only made me remember the corny gags and not the important actions to take or why to take them. That is the real miss. They leave to assumption that one knows why to do or not do something. Yes, making an emotional appeal is the right action but humor is not the right emotion to trigger. The reason we aren't supposed to smoke, we are to remain seated with seat belts on, and know how to use the oxygen masks are for safety and safety is serious.

Why not show me what can happen if my seat is unbuckled or my tray table isn't up? What happens if objects shifted during flight? No, I don't need to see a skull get crushed but this could be done creatively, without instilling fear through evocative reenactment. Video is the perfect medium. Show me the why/ why not and not just the how and where. Connect the right emotion, with the right content, in the right context and one is more apt to remember when it really matters.

Oh, and while your at it, show me why it doesn't hurt to ask the 6' tall guy behind you if it's ok to put your seat back before pinning his knees or snapping his laptop screen.

It's All Training Until It Isn't

The course is a seductive solution. I've written and spoken about this before as I believe it's due in part to years of formal learning dominating our lives, better known as learning learned helplessness. And because employees can't always wait for L&D to develop a solution they will take matters into their own hands. Sometimes this is good as they find the resource (human or material) to solve their own problem or it can be troublesome in that sometimes they create a PowerPoint presentation for others. It's enough to raise the hair on a learning professional's neck... but I say don't fight it. Appreciate their moxie and shift your focus to consultant and help people rethink the decision.

 It's about  an opportunity not ownership.

So what does Consultative L&D look like? Here are 5 short examples of actual engagement with some of our stakeholders that has not only worked to pragmatically solve a business issue, but helped enlighten those we worked with to stop thinking training only. Again, each of these began with something along the lines of "we need a course on..."

1. People Don't Argue with There Own Data 

A senior divisional leader requested training.  Donning Performance Consultant we stepped in to see if there was a skill gap and if it warranted training as a solution.  This is how the conversation went: 

Me:  "How are new employees learning the methodology and approaches today?"

Him: "Our programs that employ it learn on the job. Seasoned developers already know the general methodologies and our rendition is not that much different than industry best practices. The new individuals who are less aware will have a mentor who will sit with them to bring them up to speed.

Me: "What are the biggest gaps in execution today?"

Him: "Nothing that stands out. Each team/project does it slightly different to accommodate their project, environment, customer, etc."

Me: "Since our methodology is very much based on industry methodology how/where is it different?"

Him: "It’s different in just a few ways: it accommodates customer processes, documents, and tools."

Me: The objectives speak to having employees “Understand.” How will we know they understand? i.e. how will success be determined regardless of solution chosen? Are their project executables/deliverables that can be identified that would show knowledge/skill advancement?"

Him: "We are talking about very tightly knitted teams, they “self-organize” and are accountable for what they sign-up for. It’ll become immediately apparent if someone is not keeping up or they just don’t get it." 

As we dialoged it became apparent to him that a training course was inappropriate, too heavy and unnecessary. Today we are working on small modules loosely connected, some may be podcasts, SME video demonstrations, job aids and checklists that people can pull on as needed to supplement time with knowledgeable team members.

2. When a job aid will do, do a job aid.

After a SME crafted a highly visual step-by-step on generating financial reports in a PowerPoint presentation meant for a live session, I aimed to understand the need and overall objectives after the fact. Not one to throw the baby out with the bath water, we determined that simply following each screen could produce the desired results, no direct instruction needed. The next step was to fine tune through some actual user testing, then reproduce as performance support for use when generating the reports.

3. Need a presentation? Flip it.

Sometimes content is so new or the workforce is so new to the process that a more formal solution is warranted. It's important to strive to "do no harm" to the work flow and keep learning opportunities as pull vs. push for our employees. Recently I was approach again to help develop a live presentation. Ultimately it was determined, after a bit of dialog about attention and attendance, to release the session as prerecord and then tag it in our ESN. We'd give the audience a week to view and review as needed and then ask them to post in the ESN their additional questions for the SME to address along with peers.

4. Don't Reinvent the Wheel

In a desire to reaffirm the commitment we have to our client and ensure consistency of execution, the idea of creating a course for a segment of our workforce to complete on a client methodology and tools was promoted. In our analysis we though this would be redundant as much of the material was readily available. Our solution was to curate vs. create. Tapping into the already available formal materials we proposed an internal certification program which modeled similar certifications recognized by our folks. This two level certification not only recognizes employee completion of identified materials but will also acknowledges their successful application in using the materials in the authentic situations. Additionally, they are credited for sharing their knowledge and contributing to the growth of their more novice peers.

5. Pull not Push

Choosing a performance support solution over a course is not always the correct option. People need formal especially when they are new to the content or safety or security is on the line. However when people are more experienced they need less formal and more informal or social opportunities. This was the case with one of my first efforts. Initially a Project Manager's boot camp was proposed but this made little sense for our experience Project Managers just needing to understand the nuances of our organization's project management approach; which for the most part was very similar to what most Project Managers knew from their certification through the Project Management Institute. So instead we leveraged numerous SMEs to co-create job aids, templates and short recorded sessions to orient and reinforce our unique ways of executing project tasks. Each of these could be pulled on in the time of need.

Each of these efforts in and of themselves is small. They grew out of small conversations via email or phone call. In each one we have reinforced the approach I think L&D needs to take; small, embedded, impactful, and integrated with the workforce solutions focused not on just on learning but performing. For L&D to reinvent itself it must not only meet the business need but reframe the thinking throughout the organization one problem, one person, one conversation at a time.