E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

Redefine the Workplace of the Future with Social Learning

it’s been a long while since last time that I participated on a Blog Carnival, specially around the topic of Collaboration, Knowledge Sharing and Learning. In fact, I would think that there aren’t many out there anymore since most folks tend to spend the vast majority of their time in whatever the social networking site interacting with their network(s). So when I received an invitation a few days ago from my good friend Félix Escribano, over at adidas, where they are currently hosting one around those topics with a specific focus on Learning and how it’s helping redefine the workplace of the future, I just couldn’t help myself diving into it adding my two cents to the conversation. And if there is a topic dear to my heart around learning and education in general, specifically, in a corporate environment, that would have to be Informal / Social Learning. What else?

That’s why today I thought I would share a couple of reflections that have been going on in my mind on something that I have noticed, for a while now, that’s happening around social learning and which showcases how we may not have learned much about how we did things in the past. Now, if yesterday I was musing about how Social Business and Social Evangelists are becoming more and more industrialized by the day, it looks like we are starting to witness how social learning is trying to get formalised just as well, thinking that we can control it in pretty much the same way that we did with formal learning. How unfortunate! How can you try to formalise what you just simply don’t know, can’t grasp, nor comprehend, or put any kind of physical or virtual barriers around it? It is just pretty much the same thing as trying to find the answer to that on-going debate of how can you manage knowledge when you just simply don’t know what you know till someone may prompt it to come out of you? 

I am finding it all rather fascinating, to say the least!, because as we get to witness how social networking tools are helping accelerate how effective we are not only at getting work done, but also learning efficiently while on the job (Yes, we are finally coming to terms with the fact that Learning is work, work is learning!, -thanks to social technologies- About time!!), time and time again we seem to be very keen on putting borders around such learning activities thinking that we can streamlined them and industrialise them accordingly, because otherwise that learning never happened. And yet, we all know that we just can’t do that. We just can’t formalise what we don’t even know, i.e. how people learn while on the job. They just do. 

Now, there are plenty of people out there who have been talking about this topic for a while, but there is in particular a group of very smart and talented folks that have been trying to set up the right landscape of how organizations should be embracing Informal, Social Learning. Of course, I am referring to the Internet Time Alliance folks (Jay Cross, Jane Hart, Harold Jarche, Clark Quinn, Paul Simbeck-Hampson and Charles Jennings), all of whom I can strongly suggest and encourage you all to follow up on if you would be interested in the kind of work they do. 

In particular, and for the purpose of this Blog Carnival Post on the topic of Social Learning at the Workplace, I would love to point you to a superb presentation Charles himself did a couple of years ago and that, still today, it is more relevant and descriptive than ever: 8 Reasons to Focus on Informal & Social Learning, where not only does he get to describe what social learning itself is all about, and, most importantly, what it is not!, but it also covers some of the most fundamental aspects as to why every single organisation out there would need to embrace it and for a rather simple reason: knowledge workers are already doing it! (Whether organisations like it or not…). 

Indeed, in that rather thought provoking presentation Charles gets to detail two of the main key drivers behind informal learning: “We’re working in an always-on, beta world” and “Learning often isn’t what we think it is“, as well as detail a good bunch of insights on why businesses won’t be getting the most out of it by trying to formalise what can’t be formalised and for that purpose he mentions 8 different reasons that I thought would be worth while mentioning over here as well to set the right context on why we need to look at Learning with new eyes, trying to understand the needs and wants from knowledge workers – learners in such a way that they can define for themselves how that embedded learning would be taking place eventually. To name: 

1. “There are imperatives for continual learning
2. Learning is a process, not a series of events
3. Most learning occurs outside classrooms
4. The vast majority of learning is social
5. A lot of formal learning is ineffective
6. People learn better when they are in charge
7. There’s inherent inertia in formal approaches
8. Information and social learning are cost-effective”

No, don’t worry, I am not going to spoil the rest of the fun talking about the remaining insights that Charles gets to cover on that set of slides. Instead I would strongly encourage you all to have a look into them with the embedded code of the deck itself shared below, so that you can see what he is aiming at and that we should all be considering as we keep redefining the role of Learning in a now more than ever Connected / Social Enterprise environment: 

Some really good stuff, don’t you think? To me, the key messages, which are also pretty good sound advice on how to tackle informal learning in the corporate world, as social networking for business keeps taking us all by storm, it would be to instead of trying to formalise it, so that it would become much easier to measuring it, we should “focus instead on helping people do their jobs well and work smarter“.  And let the learning be up to them, the knowledge workers themselves, because, amongst several other things, they probably know, much better than you do, what they need, and what they don’t need. And it would be through that autonomy, decision power shift and that lowering of the centre of gravity that their learning would accelerate to places you even didn’t think they could happen at any given point. Yet, there they are, getting work done, now much more effective than ever, and learning along the way. Still think that you need to justify it with formal processes and measurements? What else can you, or should you, expect from social learning? 

Not much, I can tell you. That’s probably as good as it gets…

Dear Social Business Evangelist, Where Art Thou?

There used to be a time when social business evangelists were perceived, mainly, as disruptors, to a certain degree, of any given status quo within the corporate environment out there at large. They were optimists, outrageous, somewhat heretic, true rebels at work, free radicals to some extent. Perhaps even a bit of hippie 2.0 in each and every one of them. They were, essentially, the change agents who were helping act as catalysts for that business transformation that was becoming a full socially integrated enterprise.

What happened to them though? I mean, I believe that social business evangelists, in general, are still breathing those very same traits I just mentioned above, but where are they? Have they become a bit too complacent with their own beliefs, needs and wants, and several other aspirations to want to change the way business gets done today, now that the corporate world by and large is, finally, becoming more savvy around Social Business itself? Have they moved on to something else already? I am not sure what you folks would think about, but I’m starting to see that trend more and more and it worries me. It worries me a lot! More than anything else, because we are not done at all with our Intrapreneurship efforts, as my good friend David Armano would claim, and by far! but yet again it looks like we all may seem to be content with how things are going. Is it time to bounce back?

It probably is, because, like I have mentioned above, there is still a lot of work to be done! Yet, I cannot get off my head that feeling of seeing how those social evangelists may have become a bit too complacent within their own role of becoming a disruptor and eventually fade away (into other things), because they feel their role is no longer needed. That was essentially one of the several perceptions I experienced, while attending the premier event on Social Business over here in Europe at the Social Business Forum event held in Milan, Italy. That’s why during Day One of the event itself I may have been perceived, in several conversations, as a bit too pessimistic about the state of things. Quite the opposite though. And for a good reason. We are not done, by and large; no matter what people may tell you, we are just getting started!

In a superb blog post, my good friend Cecil Dijoux, highlighted plenty of the good work that still needs to be done. Go and have a look and read through that highlights article to get a glimpse of what he perceived from the overall event as well. It will be worth while your time, I can surely guarantee you that! And as a teaser, here’s a golden quote that he reproduced from the thought provoking keynote session from another good friend, the always inspiring, mind-blowing, John Hagel, which highlights pretty much where we are today:

“Information is power. Institutions are designed to provide some people with information which is power. If knowledge flows, it is undermining the foundation of people power in organisations. How do we confront that power?”

Then allow me to be a bit too provocative as well with this particular follow-up commentary. Remember when perhaps 3 to 4 years ago we used to go to all of these social networking for business events and suit and ties were just missing from the equation? You could hardly see one or two in a large room. They were the outcasts, to a certain degree, and perhaps frown upon for no good, nor apparent, reason. But if felt good. It felt disruptive, provocative, heretic, even a bit rebellious of what you have been experiencing all along. Well, fast forward to today and it looks like in a good number of social business related events the suits and ties are back! Have we become a bit too formal and given up on our outrageous, heretic ways? We are no longer seeing ourselves, social business evangelists as disruptors? Have we, finally, been assimilated by the corporate world, before our job is done and completed? What do you think?

That’s essentially part of a reflection I went through with a good number of friends at the Social Business Forum event that then crystalized on this nearly 8 minute long conversation I had with the always knowledgeable Bjoern Negelman, which he then shared later on in YouTube:

In that short video interview we talked about the need to bounce back; to shake off our very own complacency with the fact that now that businesses are starting to live social our job may be done; to bring back those weird, fancy, crazy (t-)shirts we once wore vs. those lovely suits and ties we know well from all along; to essentially realise that now that we have got the right level of attention our role as social evangelists is more critical than ever not just to help early adopters make their move into getting the most out of social networking, but helping businesses understand how the whole paradigm of work is shifting into a much more open, trustworthy, collaborative, knowledge sharing prone, transparent and nimble workplace and therefore it would require a new mindset, a new set of behaviours to be lived and enjoyed by each and everyone of us. With perhaps no exceptions.

That’s where the challenge still remains. We may have prepared rather well the way for those various different waves of (early) adopters, but our job is far from done! Remember? “90 percent of transactions for customer service happen offline“, or “70% of social media complaints are ignored!“, amongst several others… That’s why we need to bounce back. That’s why we need to shake off our very own comfort zone(s) and soon enough, before it’s just too late! The fight is still on!

And this is, once again, one of those times when I am going to be rather grateful to serendipity itself, for having played its magic one more time incredibly well, by pointing me into this rather short video clip, that lasts for a bit over 90 seconds, under the suggestive title “The Branding of Culture” and which has got plenty of really interesting, insightful and relevant tag lines all over around social business. Yes, I know, I know, the usual disclaimer would apply here, once more, since it’s an IBM video clip, but you would see what I mean with what is, to me, the key message I got from the clip itself and which would be spot on for today’s reflection on the key, essential, critical role that Social Business Evangelists would still need to keep playing for many more moons to come: 

“Practice what you preach” (Always!)

My dear fellow Social Business Evangelists, be honest, be authentic, be open, be transparent, in short, be yourself! We are now, more than ever, very much needed by the businesses who employed us in the first place to complete that shift into realising that full socially integrated enterprise. Your business. Our business. And everyone else’s for that matter.

Reinventing Relationships with Social Business

It’s been nearly two weeks already since the last time I put together a blog post over here, on purpose, and, yet again, another round of business trips is now done and dealt with. Phew! What a rush! As I have mentioned back then, this last time I participated in the Social Business Strategy Summit in London and then off to present in Milan at the quite amazingly insightful Social Business Forum event. Yet, as a surprising fact, why am I mentioning that I didn’t blog on purpose this time around, you may be wondering, right? Specially, since time and time again I kept relating how I struggle constantly getting connected, finding the time and eventually write down a blur of entries while on the road. Well, basically, because I wanted to wait and see what digital customer service was going to be like. Once again, I was not disappointed. To summarise it all in a single word I could probably use this one: non-existent.

Indeed, in my last article over here, under the heading “The Trials and Tribulations of a Mobile Knowledge Worker in a Social Business World“, I mentioned how a bunch of businesses have been providing, consistently, quite an appalling set of digital (customer) services and how, two weeks later, I am still waiting for a response from Quadriga, Swisscom, NH Hotels and my all time favourite one: Movistar (Who coincidentally has just taken things into the next level of insultingly poor customer service when, upon my return back home they have downgraded my home office ADSL connection from the 10MB I am still paying to a mere 6MB download. And all of that without asking!!) #lesigh

Things haven’t improved much, it seems, or have they? It looks like they haven’t and I guess at this point in time I’m on the brink of giving up altogether on getting some decent customer service through social digital channels, specially, for those rather expensive offerings one has got to endure in order to get work done. It looks like it’s just not happening and I guess from now onwards you would have to colour me skeptic with regards to the role of digital when providing good, solid, overall customer service. Again, so far, non-existent.

And it is just way too funny, because as we are fully immersed in the world of the Social Web, in the new, exciting era of Social Businesses, yet, plenty of companies out there keep failing on delivering. Time and time again. Not even thinking about engaging through digital channels to keep their customers happy. Brand loyalty, anyone? No wonder we bump into research studies that confirm how poor customer loyalty has been in the last couple of years and counting. In fact, I would venture to state that, if anything, it’s deteriorated big time and from a very dangerous point of view: not just from customers to vendors, but, more worryingly, from vendors themselves to their customers. And that’s just what I would not have expected to experience till today, hoping that most businesses would wake up eventually to a new era of engagement or involvement with their customer base. Or is it?

While at the Social Business Forum (#sbf12), held in Milan, Italy, a week ago exactly, there were plenty of incredibly insightful highlights that will come through over the course of time in several blog entries from yours truly, plus a nice new experiment I have been playing with that I am hoping folks out there would enjoy as well (More on that shortly…), but one of the most revealing and eye-opening ones was the absolutely stunning couple of presentations that my good friend Esteban Kolsky did on the topic of Social CRM (As in Social Customer Relationship Management) under the rather suggestive title “The way we will complain. How customer service is going to evolve over the next 10 years“, which he also covered, some of the materials, that is, at the Social Business Strategy Summit as he documented well on this article. 

As a starting point here are some great quotes from some of his initial, starting slides: “90 percent of transactions for customer service happen offline” or this other gem: “80 percent of organisations think their experiences are good (8% of customers agree)” or, finally, this other one that clearly blew me away when we got exposed to it: “66 percent have no defined processes for customer service over social channels“. Yes, that’s right, you are reading it correctly: 66% of businesses out there have no defined processes to engage with their customers through social channels. Whoahhh! Still think we are living on a Social Business Era? 

Ha! Absolutely!! We all are! It’s that we are just getting started! Remember, this whole thing about Social Business is not only a destination, the final frontier, but also quite an amazing journey, one where we are all embarking on it as we speak, and one where we can see how some businesses are more ready than others. But, we will all eventually get there as Esteban himself pointed out very clearly throughout the remaining of his presentations and the blog post he put together on the subject, which I would strongly encourage you all to take a look, including the slide decks!!, specially, the piece around the essence of social business which drives around three major, core concepts that I just couldn’t have agreed more with him when he explained them together in context: 

• “Channels (Social)
• Engagement (Connected)
• Collaboration (Collaborative)”

Brilliant stuff altogether and clearly very thought provoking on laying down for all of us, what lies ahead, including the various different opportunities, but just as well the many challenges. Fascinating altogether, to say the least!

So I guess I shouldn’t have held my hopes too high to get some decent customer service through digital / social channels for all of those businesses when they may not have even planned accordingly for them in the first place. Perhaps I should try out the next time the offline approach and see how that works. But then again, I would still want to muse further along about the whole subject behind customer / vendor loyalty. Because it is still there, isn’t it? Or have we lost it for good altogether? What do you think?

While you, too, keep pondering about it further along, and would love to read your thoughts in the comments, please!, here’s something that I would want to throw out there on the table as well for all of us to consider… How about Reinventing Relationships with Social Business?

That’s the interesting and rather intriguing title from a recent short video clip that IBMSocialBiz has put together and which, when going through it, I am sure it will help reframe these questions about managing, or better, facilitating customer relationships, vendor relationships or even just your employees, your partners, even your competitors. All part of a giant ecosystem where there is no way back, apparently.

Now, you all know that I work for IBM, so I suppose the usual disclaimer applies in here, but must admit that the video clip itself even made me think about my own relationships as a customer, as a vendor, as an employee, as a partner, as a competitor, even as myself! to the point where it may well be rather accurate to start reinventing those business relationships into rather personal business ones where we try to apply lots of fresh thinking on how we engage with those around us, because by just thinking about reinventing those relationships we are probably considering what may be the critical success factor around them: how to make them better, that is, more beneficial for all parties involved? 

Perhaps it’s all part of that behavioural change we should ALL aim at in order to become successful social business. Perhaps it’s all about building up new, more empowering and inspiring loyalties, or learn in a different way, or maybe develop altogether a new model of trust that would work both ways, mutual and beneficial for everyone, one where the whole focus would be on providing overall exceptional experiences. Wouldn’t that be quite something? Still a utopia? Or today’s reality, perhaps?

Well, let’s make it happen then! Let’s go and Reinvent Relationships with Social Business. Together!

It’s time. The right time.