Utilizing Social Media and Cloud-Based Collaboration

Reprinted from Utilizing Social Media and Cloud-Based Collaboration

by Omar Nielsen, 2011. SPBT.org

Utilizing Social Media and Cloud-Based Collaboration

By Omar Nielsen

Next week, Kira will start managing a team with members in multiple time zones. Too bad the next Managing Remote Employees course is not scheduled until next month.  What if Kira could go to a manager’s learning portal to search for – and interact with – other managers virtually?

Jake has to manage a project until a replacement project manager takes over in a month, so he needs to brush up on the project management tracking software used. Too bad the two-hour online module he took didn’t go into depth on the one feature that’s been giving him trouble. What if Jake could access the online forum to search for answers?

Samir is new to a sales team that has just hired several new employees to support a new product launch. He’s completed a full schedule of instructor-led trainings, but a related question has come up in his first week. Too bad there is no way for him to contact his instructor and ask. What if Samir could access an onboarding collaboration site, and post a question to that instructor?

In progressive companies today, learning professionals are finding ways to utilize available online collaboration technologies to support informal knowledge transfer and performance support (just-in-time content delivery), as well as formal training solutions. The familiar social media tools (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) go by different names within the enterprise, but are still used to connect employees. Online networking activities are driven by the use of wikis, micro/blogs, discussion forums, video/audio file sharing, polls, live chat, etc – powered by open source tools or off-the-shelf solutions such as those offered by Yammer, Clearspace, mZinga, Google Sites/Docs, and SharePoint. Fusing these social tools with learning activities has become a conscious strategy in some learning departments.

Within Genentech’s HR Learning & Development group, online collaboration sites and moderated social spaces support formal classes and informal knowledge exchange for managers and their employees. Using a variety of enterprise social software tools, paired for each course offering or subject area, employees are encouraged to engage the expert moderators/facilitators and learning cohorts, as well as each other. All of these strategies help employees access information when it is needed most.

For example, the Management Fundamentals course offers employees a multi-phased approach for digesting the new curriculum. Content is unveiled over a couple of months as opposed to crammed into a two-day workshop. This allows for time to apply new skills on the job and make adjustments. An online program collaboration space (a Google site) is refreshed for each learning cohort and provides participants a place to post their results to specific exercises assigned. All exercises are tied to the employee’s actual project work. The online space is also used by attendees to get acquainted before and in between session dates. 

The costs associated in the support of this “informal learning process model” and informal online collaboration technology are equal to or less than the costs associated with more traditional methods of training delivery. In this case, the social learner is the focus and the design allows for new skills to be exercised on real work, with peer coaching and online support throughout the process.

Omar Nielsen is Senior Manager, Learning Technologies for Genentech. You can reach Omar at nielsen.omar@gene.com. 

Reprinted from Utilizing Social Media and Cloud-Based Collaboration

by Omar Nielsen, 2011. SPBT.org, 

The Sleeping Giant & the Social GPS

On social media for learning and development programs within the enterprise:

The giant, in this case, is the “power of social media” within the workplace. And the “opportunity” is sleeping. Here is a little analogy to describe what I mean. If you have ever been driving around San Francisco (or any major city for that matter) during the height of the tourist season and noticed those little noisy GoCars zipping up and down the streets while blasting GPS directions to the occupants… you might have an idea or understand what I'm about to describe.

Introducing social media for learning and development programs within the enterprise environment is like telling someone how and where to drive their own car. 1) They already know how to drive their car and 2) they usually know how they want to get where they are going. Well, those GoCars tell the drivers not only where to drive but where to stop, where to look and even when to look (out for special landmarks) to make sure the operator gets the full value of their tour. Furthermore, they might even make you (the GoCar operator) look like a complete child as you obviously don’t fit in…you’re smaller, need to wear a helmet as if you are going to get into a crash at any minute, and on top of that your parent (the GPS audio tour) is yelling at you half the time about what you should and should not do because your engine is too noisy to be able to hear properly.

Bringing it home, this image conjures similar resemblance to launching learning programs utilizing collaborative learning technologies for employees who 1) already know how to use their computer and can fill in a simple web form in order to contribute to an online discussion for example, 2) are going to be told by a facilitator when to post and how often in order to get credit for attending the program, and 3) are not in control of where the end of the program is for them. In other words, participants enrolled cannot (currently) drop out and still get “credit” for attending– as if that really matters for the attendee. (Today this matters more for the hosting L&D group that may incurs cost to put on such learning program.)

The fact is, a learning “program”, by definition being formal, has a starting point and a stopping point right? But learning itself..not so much. In comes “informal” support and design. Granted without some structure, how would anyone ever really benefit from a shared discussion that only lasted one week tops for instance –-some amount of moderation is always recommended to help reveal those precious “learning nuggets” at the end of a discussion. But what I am pulling at here is a recognition that controlling the use of a tool that was designed to be self-initiating by design (such as creating a discussion or adding to an online shared document (a.k.a. wiki), is like fixing something that ‘aint broke – or formalizing a natural tendency to express and share freely (e.g., via Yammer, Flickr, Screencast/Jing, Facebook etc).

Some credit is due however. Not everyone is a good driver on the roads and a little guidance (like an onboard GPS system) can come in handy. Likewise, the online savvy crowd is growing and amongst all the fluff, a little “Social GPS” might also come in handy. Perhaps the learning technician can help out here. Time to wake up sleepy giant -- better get up and get organized, else your breakfast of tasty digital natives (a.k.a.“opportunity”) is going to get cold.

This blog is new and will share my anecdotes, reflections, and above all lessons learned surrounding best practices in instructional technology.