"Professional" Social Networking

Many professionals are warming up to the idea of using social networking tools to help extend their professional networks--especially those finding themselves in a job search. Popular tools are LinkedIn and Plaxo, but now that FaceBook has opened up to non-students, this is also emerging with some.

What concerns should professionals have when using these tools?

Should professionals keep separation between their "professional" and "personal" networks?

Should employers search these or other internet sources as they recruit or qualify candidates?

Virtually Everywhere

Semper International, along with many other organizations are turning to Web 2.0 technologies for social networking, blogs and other technologies to play a key role in it's recruiting initiatives. Read more in the December 10, 2007 issue of Workforce Management .

How does your organization use MySpace, LinkedIn, Second Life or Facebook for HR-related activities?

MySpace or OurSpace?

Most are now agreeing that social networking has taken the Internet by storm. This "storm" is due in part to the maturity of technical infrastructures and the explosion of self-publishing and social networking applications, but mostly because that is where individuals in mass are gathering.

The real challenge/question for organizations is should they offer similar tools in their corporate communities?

Read the following Talent Management article by associate editor Tegan Jones and join in with your thoughts.

QUESTIONS

What are the corporate fears?

Why the corporate hesitation?

What are the benefits?

How should it be/not be managed?

Adjusting to Generation Y

Barbara Rose reported in an article in Hartford Courant (CT) (03/19/07) recently that:

Employers adopt high-tech training strategies to engage the growing number of Generation Y employees, according to experts. Generation Y is the most rapidly-growing workforce segment, currently making up 20 percent of the private sector. To entertain, teach, and impress those who grew up in the era of gaming and instant messaging, employers are now using computer games and simulations, animated training modules, and video blogs instead of traditional recruitment and training methods. These approaches help new employees memorize job details; the online games and quizzes also weed out those who are adverse to putting in time and effort. The new techniques--used by companies such as Nike, Cisco Systems, and Cold Stone Creamery--accommodate Generation Y's preference for short spurts of information rather than long explanations. Employers are also aware that Generation Y workers typically expect involved managers, rewards, and validation, which forces firms to reform their training strategies to accommodate those expectations. Nike credits its interactive "Sports Knowledge Underground" program with a 5 percent to 6 percent increase in sales. Cisco program manager Jerry Bush points out that after five minutes playing Cisco's binary math computer game, the employee solves 50 problems and is "highly engaged and having a good time."

Questions:

It seems possible that some content may be necessary but unavailable in the higher production values this audience seems to demand. How do you manage the expectations of these learners?

How do you ensure the "short spurts of information" do not lead the learner down an unproductive path or leave out critical information?

Community of Practice

James Paul Gee makes an interesting observation in his book What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003):

It is common today for research on modern workplaces to point out that in today's high-tech and fast-changing world, the most valuable knowledge a business has is the tacit knowledge its workers gain through continually working with others in a 'community of practice' that adapts to specific situations and changes 'on the ground' as they happen. Such knowledge cannot always be verbalized. Even when it can be verbalized and placed in a training manual, by that time it is often out of date.

Questions:

What does this say about the role of social networking in the workplace?

What does this say about the nature of "formal" training versus "informal training in the workplace?

For more information or your own copy, click the link below:

Information Crisis

A colleague recently shared an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education (Source: Section: Information Technology. Volume 53, Issue 27, Page A38).

Information Navigation 101 by Andrea L. Foster explores new programs aimed at teaching undergraduates how to use the Internet and the online card catalog in search of the best sources.

The article expresses the lament from many in academia that "students rely on Google or Wikipedia as sources, as if oblivious to peer-reviewed scholarship."

It reminds me of the often quoted "if you build it they will come" which for the information age may be modified to express what many seem to believe:

If it's published anywhere it is true.

Patricia Senn Breivik and E. Gordon Gee, in their work, Information Literacy: Revolution in the Library (American Council on Education, Macmillan, 1989), effectively express the challenge many are feeling:

"'information explosion' [is] fueling a crisis in the ability of people to solve problems and make decisions."

Question
How do we make advances in technology without negatively impacting critical skills needed in the workplace?

Training Volunteers Needed

Some of you may have seen this ad during the Super Bowl.

Is this your training experience?

How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Learning

In an intriguing work by John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade (Harvard Business School Press, 2004), the authors describe the "basic principles" guiding a new generation of workers:

If you get there first, you win.

There's a limited set of tools, and it is certain that some combination will work. If you choose the right combination, the game will reward you.

Trial and error is the best strategy and the fastest way to learn.

Elders and their received wisdom can't help; they don't understand even the basics of this new world.

You will confront surprises and difficulties that you are not prepared for. But the sum of those risks and dangers, by definition, cannot make the quest foolish.

Once you collect the right "objects" (business plan, prototype, customers, maybe even profits), you'll get an infusion of gold to tide you over.

While there may be momentary setbacks, overall the trend will be up.

And the most basic rule: If you bump into a "game over," no problem. You can always either hit reset and play again just one more time, or turn off the machine and pick up normal life where you left off.

Is this what you see in the workplace? If yes, how is it impacting training programs?

Riding the Next Talent Wave

John Baldoni, in a recent CIO Magazine article Get Ready to Ride the Nexter Wave suggests the following five strategies to "live with" this next generation of workers:

Get used to them

Embrace their tech-savvy orientation

Tap into their aspirations

Roll with the tide

Instill discipline

Baldoni goes on to describe this worker:

Google is a way of life, not simply a search engine. It is the source of information for many things global as well as local. Instant communications is a necessity; these folks are connected wirelessly 24/7. Empowerment is an expectation; I can be my own boss. Flexibility is an entitlement. That is, you conform to me, or I’m gone.

--PBS’s Generation Next Series

What needs to change from a Training & Development perspective to engage this new type of learner?