Yearsago, when McDonalds introduced the Big Mac, it wanted to separate itsnew sandwich from the rest of the crowd. It was the sauce, they said,that made it unique. The secret, special sauce made the Big Mac asuccess.
Inthe new era of social media, we must fully understand what makes onesocial learning experience stand out and another peter out. That’sour special sauce. With all the excitement over social learning, wecan lose focus as to how difficult it can really be to do it well.Hype can only go so far. The good news is that several key successfactors are emerging, beyond just getting the technology up andrunning, that make social media work in a learning context.
The eight ingredients of great social learning
These efforts are organizational,cultural, and strategic in nature, as well as technological. Unlikethe Big Mac however, smothering social media with just one newingredient will not be enough. In our special sauce for sociallearning, there are eight equally important ingredients we must blendin just the right way to make it all taste great.
Make the tools and technology insanely easy to use. Technology is not the end game, but a critical enabler. As such, if it doesn’t work or if it’s too difficult to use, the game is over. To paraphrase a popular commercial, the technology should be so easy, “a CEO can do it.” Today, it takes very little effort to start a blog or a wiki, to create a video on YouTube or publish a Podcast. Easy-to-use tools that support social networking abound. Facebook, for example, would have never been a great success if it wasn’t practically effortless. Putting the means of content creation into the hands of all makes everyone an author, a far cry from the more complex authoring and design tools that remain the exclusive domain of a small group of select developers and e Learning specialists.
Ourrole: Focus more oncontent and design and less on the latest gizmo. Partner with I.T. ontechnology infrastructure, platforms, policies, etc. If thetechnology is as easy to use as it should be, it will take care ofitself.
Nurture authorship. When everyone has the means to create and publish content, you just know that not all of it is going to be good. Mastering Microsoft Word does not guarantee that you will be the next Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. While the technology may be painless, creating and communicating information, from tweets to blogs to Podcasts, in ways that are useful for the content consumer, is not so simple, and being a subject-matter expert does not necessarily imply solid communication expertise. Yet such skills are critical.
Ourrole: Provide guidanceand training to help people become better authors, or, in some cases,understand their limitations and defer to others. Templates, tools,and other job aids help, but the ability to write and discernimportant knowledge from trivia cannot be developed instantaneously;it is a critical long-term support issue. Lots of coaching, feedback,role models, and work product examples will be of great value.
Support mobility. You cannot schedule social learning; it cannot have a start and stop time, and it cannot be limited to certain places. Scheduling, an artifact of traditional training, won’t work here. The ability to interact with colleagues, experts, and others — wherever and whenever — is an essential requirement for social learning. Nor can you predict the need to collaborate, but when it occurs, it must be met quickly — and at the user’s convenience — or the enthusiasm for the process will wane just as quickly.
Ourrole: Support acollaborative learning environment that is mobile, immediate, and24x7. Remove barriers to anytime, anywhere, and any device, whilestill making the whole process as trouble-free as possible to use.
Have a clear purpose or goal that’s actually important. Unlike the movie “Field of Dreams,” if you build it, they will not necessarily come. Establishing a social learning environment and then simply hoping people will use it effectively can be a fool’s errand. There must be compelling reasons to get involved. Social media, especially when just being introduced, benefits from a razor-like focus on the most important or challenging tasks at hand. Social networks will certainly be, well, “social,” but one of the most compelling reasons to participate is when doing so truly leads to new knowledge or an accomplishment that has great value for the individual and the organization.
Ourrole: Establishinitial social networks and communities of practice around compellingtasks, problems, or other aspects of the business. Make sure everyoneknows why the community is forming and what it hopes to accomplish.Then let users “have at it.”
Make membership valuable. It’s no secret why successful social networks use phrases like “join us” and “become a member,” and eschew terms like “customer” or “learner” (Facebook’s use of the term “friend” isn’t happenstance). A sense of belonging is very important to an individual’s motivation to stay involved long after the initial curiosity with the medium has faded. Some social networks can be wide open to all, but others might benefit when membership is limited to those who truly want to participate, either because of their own interests or because of their job roles. In some cases, nomination strategies can help make membership in a community more valuable to those involved and a goal for others to achieve.
Ourrole: Set up properincentives for participation in social learning. Help organizationscarve out time for people to get involved, and not attach anynegative connotations to participation (e.g.,it’s not real work, just goofing off). Refrain from too muchoversight to avoid a “big brother” culture. Whatever approach youtake, strive to create an environment where individuals wantto be a part of a network or community.
Put effort into facilitation. There are times when you should leave members to their own devices when interacting in social networks, but there are many situations where some guidance and facilitation will not only move the group along, but members will welcome it. Facilitators can come from outside or inside communities, they can be peers or experts, and they can be part or full time. Facilitation may also represent an important new role for trainers. How it is structured depends on the organizational need and culture, but no one disputes that facilitation can be the engine that drives a social network from just a place to meet and chat, to a true and valued collaborative learning environment.
Ourrole: Tap theconsiderable teaching and facilitation know-how within the trainingorganization to create role models and implement development programsfor facilitators. Advocate for specific full- or part-time job rolesand competencies in this area.
Align with formal learning. The dichotomy between formal and informal learning is quite useful, but this does not mean that social learning and formal learning should be estranged from one another. Formal learning environments can be excellent starting points for introducing people to social media, which they can then carry forward to more informal learning situations. Furthermore, social networking can be indispensible for bridging the time between formal training events.
Ourrole: Integrate socialmedia into formal training curricula and use it to support informallearning outside of class. Training and learning departments can beexcellent initial catalysts of social learning long after the formalcourse has ended. Broaden instructional design toolkits byincorporating informal learning and social media into mainstreamdesign strategies, methodologies, and technologies. Use part offormal training courses to help learners become comfortable withsocial learning tools and practices, and create a partnership withclient organizations to develop transitions from formal to informallearning.
Develop a long-term strategy to build a knowledge-sharing culture. Creating social networks is relatively easy; integrating them into the mainstream of the organization is quite another thing. Social learning will fail if the culture does not support it. No technology by itself can overcome a restrictive or non-existent knowledge sharing culture. Social learning may not be something implementable overnight, or over several months or even a year. This is a change management challenge and it will take time.
Ourrole: Infuse sociallearning into the long-term enterprise learning and performancestrategy, and work with senior management and line organizations toget their support. Build on and support social networks that alreadyoperate in the business, beyond the training/learning realm. Helpchange the performance management process to encourage and rewardknowledge sharing, and integrate social media and social learninginto management training and talent management programs.
Make it all-natural
Thebottom line is that for people to accept and use social learning, itmust be a seamless and natural part of the workplace, and the work.Failure to focus on allthe ingredients for successful social learning is a showstopper andwill kill it in its tracks. Getting the technology in place andoperating is a good start, but the work is just beginning; there ismuch more to do to get the special sauce of social learning right.
Remember,social media technologies have no value. Only the people who usethose technologies, and the knowledge that people share through, themhave value. And that’s where the focus must be.
