After reading this Jeff Howe's book on "CrowdSourcing', i felt that 'community' is a 'resource' that i have wasted. Being in Learning and development, i could find multiple ways of using communities for fulfilling many needs of learning and development. Practically every functional expert can use it for some use.
Communities can be used for multiple purpose. Here are some of the uses the author has listed in his book:
1. Use communities for problem solving: Example of Innocentive is a wonderful example. Companies use external community to 'solve' their tough problems by offering monetary incentive. It could be very useful to visit this website, both as a user as well as 'provider'.
2. Use communities to do your work: Example of TopCoder is a very disturbing example, because this innovator has created a community of about 50,000 programmers to get the 'programming work' done for a client, AT&T. This example shows a how the nature of 'firm' is changing. US patent office is planning to use 'crowd' evaluate 'patents', a very radical idea.
3. Use communities to predict events like elections. A company known as 'marketocracy' is using it beat 'stock market'. Companies are using it even to predict next quarterly results. This is the most innovative use one can think of. Like a stock market, there is a 'trading' market for help you do this. For more details of how this works, you may like to read James Surowiecki's Wisdom of crowds.
4. Use communities to rate each other's work or each other's performance. This is called as 'crowd voting'. This is a common use of community and is a very useful proposition for companies, say for example, to evaluate their best talent. It rests on the presumption that 'A Dot net coder can evaluate another dot net coder better than any one'.
5. Use communities to generate ideas. This is similar to 'suggestion box', but is more useful when done with people outside companies, especially the customers. Dell Idea storm is the quoted example.
6. Use communities to 'fund' ideas: Examples of Kiva.org ( donors lend money for small entreprenuers) is an eye-opener.One wonders how people actually 'contribute' money for good causes and how this can be channelised for better use.
7. Use communities to fund ideas as well as create market: Sellaband ( fans lend money to have their bands create music albums) is a classic example of creating market for music album as well as funding it. Threadless is infact a better idea of creating 'market' within the community.
If you know of any other use, i would be glad to know.
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
IPL-2
It has been one year since i wrote my last blog. I have been occupied fully in many activities: writing a book for students of 10th standard for choosing their careers, developing a leadership architecture for an organisation, and above all, coaching.
IPL-2 ended with a bang. Due to the twists and turns of the security issues, IPL this time got hosted in a country, that i am fascinated with. I have stayed in Johannesburg for 10 months, and have seen their cricket craze from very close. South Africans are as religious about cricket as Indians.
More than IPL-1, this IPL proved that IPL has been a best training ground for training our budding cricketers. Because of the four-foreigners restriction, this has helped many youngsters to experience the rivalry and test their skills in the international cricket conditions from close. The tougher wickets of RSA further have further increase the bar and know where they stand in the pecking order.
If you have read the posts of Adam Gilchrist or Lehman, you will realise that even they consider their highest personal satisfaction as ' grooming raw Indian talent'. I was more surprised to read Adam Gilchrist observations that 20-20 cricket is more testing than Test cricket, because it forces one to focus on the game 100% as it leaves little chance of recovering from a lapse. In other words, every brand of cricket tests different skill sets. Although purists may disagree, it is obvious that this '100% focus' will also help test cricketer.
I hope our training manager, Lalit Modi, does not heed to the cry of some of the team franchisees of relaxing the four-foreigner rule. Although ILP-2 happened in RSA due to chance, he could use this serendiptious event to plan the next IPLs in different countries and conditions.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Lalit Modi: the best Learning and development manager on hire
If you do not believe me, please consider these elements he has juggled in 20-20 tournament of IPL ( Indian Premier Leage ) and judge for yourself:
1. He is developing the young crop of Indian cricketers by providing the best platform of learning for them: real playground with real life situation. No training in the class room. No computerised web based training. No simulations. Direct real-life situations.
2. By pitting best cricketers in the world with the junior cricketers, he has compelled compulsory knowledge transfer of insights, tricks and ideas. I remember Kapil Dev saying in his interview that 'Had he learnt reverse swing early in his career, he would have got 100 more wickets'. This is a biggest bane in Knowledge management in real life organisations. Experts in an organisation do not share their knowledge even in the most knowledge intensive organisations. Organisation further compound their difficulties by 'promoting' competition in favour of collaboration.
3. The learning is not just confined in downloading 'content' ( what to do) but also applying content. Organisations, who pride in spending huge money in learning and development, spend money in downloading content, hoping that individuals will learn to apply content by themselves. Instead Lalit Modi has incorporated both in his IPL format. In order to win matches, senior cricketers have to teach juniors how to sum the situation, how to find ways to score,how to construct an over, how to be positive in the head despite the onslaught, how to anticipate the next action of a batsman and so on.
4. He has roped in ICL in the format by including foreign players so that the tournament can find a time window in the ICL match schedules. By doing this, he has killed two birds with one arrow. One, he has got the best talent in the world. Two, by restricting the foreign players to four in a team, he has got the best cricketers in the world to rub shoulder in junior cricketers. Organisations plan their learning and developement in isolation with rest of the organisation. Even Leadership development programs are planned in isolation with the real-life work in an organisation. Therefore these programs are shunned by the best in the organisation, or worse still, are treated as 'sight seeing' programs.
5. The best part of this development story is that he has 'not asked' for any funds from BCCI. Instead, he has generated funds. Organisation worry about 'return on investment in the development of their employees'. What else one can ask for from their learning and development manager?
So, do you agree with me?
1. He is developing the young crop of Indian cricketers by providing the best platform of learning for them: real playground with real life situation. No training in the class room. No computerised web based training. No simulations. Direct real-life situations.
2. By pitting best cricketers in the world with the junior cricketers, he has compelled compulsory knowledge transfer of insights, tricks and ideas. I remember Kapil Dev saying in his interview that 'Had he learnt reverse swing early in his career, he would have got 100 more wickets'. This is a biggest bane in Knowledge management in real life organisations. Experts in an organisation do not share their knowledge even in the most knowledge intensive organisations. Organisation further compound their difficulties by 'promoting' competition in favour of collaboration.
3. The learning is not just confined in downloading 'content' ( what to do) but also applying content. Organisations, who pride in spending huge money in learning and development, spend money in downloading content, hoping that individuals will learn to apply content by themselves. Instead Lalit Modi has incorporated both in his IPL format. In order to win matches, senior cricketers have to teach juniors how to sum the situation, how to find ways to score,how to construct an over, how to be positive in the head despite the onslaught, how to anticipate the next action of a batsman and so on.
4. He has roped in ICL in the format by including foreign players so that the tournament can find a time window in the ICL match schedules. By doing this, he has killed two birds with one arrow. One, he has got the best talent in the world. Two, by restricting the foreign players to four in a team, he has got the best cricketers in the world to rub shoulder in junior cricketers. Organisations plan their learning and developement in isolation with rest of the organisation. Even Leadership development programs are planned in isolation with the real-life work in an organisation. Therefore these programs are shunned by the best in the organisation, or worse still, are treated as 'sight seeing' programs.
5. The best part of this development story is that he has 'not asked' for any funds from BCCI. Instead, he has generated funds. Organisation worry about 'return on investment in the development of their employees'. What else one can ask for from their learning and development manager?
So, do you agree with me?
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Four steps to make learning effective
If learning is considered as a corrective step by an organisation ( based on my last week's definition of learning and development) to fill the gaps in competencies, we can exactly specify what can be done to make the learning effective and efficient. This is one of the benefit of defining vague terms like 'learning and development' in a precise manner. I suggest four steps that can make learning effective in an organisation.
First step is to diagnose the 'gaps' effectively. If, for instance, HR is told to fill the gap in team building, HR should avoid the temptation of conducting the 'one size all' team building program. Instead HR should meet the affected group and find 'the exact reason' that prevents 'team from gelling' together. It should ask tough questions to the affected group: why suddenly the team has got affected, find if new member joining the team has changed the equation, or if the team environment has been spoilt due to 'competition' arising from the impending appraisal time, or if new team member has been promoted as module leader, and so on. Very often HR avoids conducting the diagnosis which spells doom to the learning program right at the start. At the end of step one, the specific objectives of 'learning program' should be clearly spelt out.
Second step is designing the 'training program' to teach team building. Both the trainers and HR have a role to play in this stage. While trainer's role is to add games and ideas to increase the participation, HR's role is to bring context to the training lesson. For instance, a training program on interviewing skills should specifically bring the context of 'whether the interviewee is a fresher or an experienced professional'. By using mix of games, directed learning, and carefully drafted case studies ( studies based on organisational context) the training program can be made both enjoyable and instructing. Often the participatory aspect of design is overstressed at the cost of building requisite competency. The popularity of outbound programs is one of the offshoot of this trend. They are very enjoyable and fun, but fail to build any competency.
Third step is the offshot of the second step. It is designing the feedback form for the participants. Instead of the generic feedback form that asks for the content and quality, the feedback should specifically find if the objective of training program has been achieved or not. The feedback should specifically measure if the 'content and context' of the lessons have been understood by the participant. If necessary, a test may also be designed to ensure that the participants have learnt the requisite content and context.
Fourth step is ensuring that the participants are able to use the content+context in an appropriate situation. For instance, can the participants use the interviewing skills. This is the critical step in which the participants learn to apply the content in a specific situation and either fail or succeed in the application. It is here some support has to be provided either in the form of mentoring or on web. In case of interviewing skill, a company can keep a senior interviewer with the trainee interviewer to find how the trainee was applying the interviewing skill.
All these four steps need to be used to ensure that learning gaps are filled competently. Even if a learning program fails, one knows one has failed. Failure itself becomes a feedback to question everything. I know of a company who questioned the learning objective itself of their program on delegation.
First step is to diagnose the 'gaps' effectively. If, for instance, HR is told to fill the gap in team building, HR should avoid the temptation of conducting the 'one size all' team building program. Instead HR should meet the affected group and find 'the exact reason' that prevents 'team from gelling' together. It should ask tough questions to the affected group: why suddenly the team has got affected, find if new member joining the team has changed the equation, or if the team environment has been spoilt due to 'competition' arising from the impending appraisal time, or if new team member has been promoted as module leader, and so on. Very often HR avoids conducting the diagnosis which spells doom to the learning program right at the start. At the end of step one, the specific objectives of 'learning program' should be clearly spelt out.
Second step is designing the 'training program' to teach team building. Both the trainers and HR have a role to play in this stage. While trainer's role is to add games and ideas to increase the participation, HR's role is to bring context to the training lesson. For instance, a training program on interviewing skills should specifically bring the context of 'whether the interviewee is a fresher or an experienced professional'. By using mix of games, directed learning, and carefully drafted case studies ( studies based on organisational context) the training program can be made both enjoyable and instructing. Often the participatory aspect of design is overstressed at the cost of building requisite competency. The popularity of outbound programs is one of the offshoot of this trend. They are very enjoyable and fun, but fail to build any competency.
Third step is the offshot of the second step. It is designing the feedback form for the participants. Instead of the generic feedback form that asks for the content and quality, the feedback should specifically find if the objective of training program has been achieved or not. The feedback should specifically measure if the 'content and context' of the lessons have been understood by the participant. If necessary, a test may also be designed to ensure that the participants have learnt the requisite content and context.
Fourth step is ensuring that the participants are able to use the content+context in an appropriate situation. For instance, can the participants use the interviewing skills. This is the critical step in which the participants learn to apply the content in a specific situation and either fail or succeed in the application. It is here some support has to be provided either in the form of mentoring or on web. In case of interviewing skill, a company can keep a senior interviewer with the trainee interviewer to find how the trainee was applying the interviewing skill.
All these four steps need to be used to ensure that learning gaps are filled competently. Even if a learning program fails, one knows one has failed. Failure itself becomes a feedback to question everything. I know of a company who questioned the learning objective itself of their program on delegation.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Misunderstanding of data and knowledge can derail training
Training function is now called as Learning and development. It is my hypothesis that the new name is more apt because it balances both the organisational and individual needs.While learning can be organisation-centric, development can be individual- centric. Both are required to create a sustainable learning institution. Both are complementary to each other.
Learning is needed because organisational requirement drives the needs to teach individuals the gaps in technology, managerial or other competencies, while development is needed to align individual's goals to organisational goals. Learning effectiveness is higher if it is corrective while development effectiveness is higher if it is preventive. Organisation can use 'development' goals if it can anticipate issues that will crop up, while it can use learning goals to rectify the situation quickly.
Both learning and development can be problem centric or solution centric depending on the saliency of the situation. Both learning and development however have one feature in common: they are effective when they follow the path of data > information > knowledge.
Very often learning in an organisation stops at data stage, because training is downloaded without any 'context'. For instance a training program in presentation is conducted without bringing the context of inhouse team presentation,client presentation or presentation outside the team. All three contexts require different set of variables to learn. The same is true for programs in communications, delegation, time management and or interviewing skill.
Worse still, organisation provides little support for moving the learning into knowledge stage. If information is 'data with context', knowledge is 'information with action'. For instance, when a presentation is made to a boss/senior management, it is necessary to understand the 'background context' within which the presentation is being made: the expectations of boss, the possible questions of boss, the perception that boss carries about the issue at hand and the 'time' in which that presentation is being asked to made. All this determines whether the presentation will be effective or not. Without bringing the variables involved in 'situational action', one cannot make an effective presentation. This is the last stage of knowledge.
Surprisingly, very few training departments support this stage, hoping that individuals will cross this stage by themselves. They measure effectiveness of training program by asking a feedback from the participants immediately at the end of the program. This feedback, at the best, can capture if the participant have understood the 'contextual data'.
Some training departments capture the participant feedback after a delay of some period, say 3 months. This also fails to capture the real feedback, because participants can never say that 'training program was not useful'. They assume that it is their responsibility to apply the knowledge. When they fail, they wrongly ascribe this to their lack of effort. Training department never knows the effectiveness of their program.
If, however the path of data to knowledge is known and monitored, both types of training ( whether it is learning or development) can be made effective.
Learning is needed because organisational requirement drives the needs to teach individuals the gaps in technology, managerial or other competencies, while development is needed to align individual's goals to organisational goals. Learning effectiveness is higher if it is corrective while development effectiveness is higher if it is preventive. Organisation can use 'development' goals if it can anticipate issues that will crop up, while it can use learning goals to rectify the situation quickly.
Both learning and development can be problem centric or solution centric depending on the saliency of the situation. Both learning and development however have one feature in common: they are effective when they follow the path of data > information > knowledge.
Very often learning in an organisation stops at data stage, because training is downloaded without any 'context'. For instance a training program in presentation is conducted without bringing the context of inhouse team presentation,client presentation or presentation outside the team. All three contexts require different set of variables to learn. The same is true for programs in communications, delegation, time management and or interviewing skill.
Worse still, organisation provides little support for moving the learning into knowledge stage. If information is 'data with context', knowledge is 'information with action'. For instance, when a presentation is made to a boss/senior management, it is necessary to understand the 'background context' within which the presentation is being made: the expectations of boss, the possible questions of boss, the perception that boss carries about the issue at hand and the 'time' in which that presentation is being asked to made. All this determines whether the presentation will be effective or not. Without bringing the variables involved in 'situational action', one cannot make an effective presentation. This is the last stage of knowledge.
Surprisingly, very few training departments support this stage, hoping that individuals will cross this stage by themselves. They measure effectiveness of training program by asking a feedback from the participants immediately at the end of the program. This feedback, at the best, can capture if the participant have understood the 'contextual data'.
Some training departments capture the participant feedback after a delay of some period, say 3 months. This also fails to capture the real feedback, because participants can never say that 'training program was not useful'. They assume that it is their responsibility to apply the knowledge. When they fail, they wrongly ascribe this to their lack of effort. Training department never knows the effectiveness of their program.
If, however the path of data to knowledge is known and monitored, both types of training ( whether it is learning or development) can be made effective.
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