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?

MIT Weighs in on Collective Intelligence

Citing the work of MIT's Center for Collective Intelligence (CCI) and best-selling book The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, CIO Magazine has an interesting article MIT Puts Its Mind to Collective Intelligence where they explain MIT's desire to study how individuals harness technology to act intelligently.

There are people who think that collective intelligence is magic, and if you just add it, it'll make everything wonderful.

--Thomas Malone, CCI Director

What do you do when the "crowd" is wrong?

Social Networking and Productivity/Satisfaction

In a recent article from Workforce Performance Solutions, I agree with the author's assertion and title that Strong Social Relationships Increase Productivity, Job Satisfaction.

As we wrestle with this topic as it relates to technology, what is your reaction to the following quote:

...online social networking platforms go a long way toward introducing people and getting them to work together, but strategically planned events and meetings are the best way to encourage true cooperation.

It's the classic chicken/egg question:

Do we need to meet and interact face-to-face before technology can be leveraged? Or, can we leverage technology first?

How do we accommodate the growing number of telecommuting workers?

Social Networking as a Learning Tool

I recently ran across an article from CLO Magazine which is worth wrestling with. After you read the CLO article, I am interested in your thoughts on the following:

Do you believe this "socially motivated Internet activity" has implications to the CLO?

In the article, Alterman says "social networking as a learning tool has to be fun." Do you agree/disagree?

How do you envision the empowerment sites like MySpace, YouTube, etc. have conditioned users will play in an organization that tends to want to monitor and measure what is said?