connecting - Blogs - DPG Community2024-03-28T20:41:43Zhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/feed/tag/connectingUsing Social Tools to Support Professional Developmenthttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/using-social-tools-to-support-professional-development2012-12-12T11:00:00.000Z2012-12-12T11:00:00.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357158?profile=original"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357158?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100"></a>I was lucky enough to speak at the recent <a href="http://www.trainingjournal.com/event/marketplace-events-winter-conference-2012-using-social-media-in-learning/" target="_blank">Training Journal Winter Conference on using Social Media in Learning</a>, it was a great event. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the presentations from each of the speakers and chatting with fellow attendees on a subject that is very close to my heart.</p>
<p>My slot focused on how using social tools have support by own career progression and professional development and it was interesting reflecting on the last 6 years since I joined L&D and how social tools have played a part.</p>
<p>From a personal perspective social tools have allowed me to connect with other like-minded professionals and thought leaders and to access a huge amount of information that I would not have known existed otherwise. I believe my development has been fast tracked through using these tools and building relationships as part of my personal learning network. It hasn't been about the tools it's been about the people that I've connected with through the tools. Technology is merely the enabler.</p>
<p>From a career perspective social tools have provided opportunities for me to be brave and try new things, they have allowed me to challenge tradition and to bring networks and social tools in to the workplace that evolve the methods of communication and the way information can flow through an organisation. Social tools aren't a fad or a time waster they bring genuine and tangible business benefits that can be harnessed and directed by both L&D and HR. In fact I believe that L&D and HR MUST understand the value that social can bring to an organisation and the impact it can have on (to name a few) leadership, communication, engagement, recruitment, learning, performance management and CULTURE.</p>
<p>The world has changed, sounds a cliche but it has. The ways and means in which people can share, connect and access information has evolved, why won't this change the way in which we work?</p>
<p>It will.....the rate of this change in your business is likely down to you, so it is time to start thinking in new ways about professional development and what is (and who is) available to support this development. The need to understand the business benefits and the value that these tools can provide is no longer an option it is a necessity. Saying I'm not in to technology or I don't have time or that it is something that kids do is not a valid reason, it's an excuse.</p>
<p>This is why I'm excited about the DPG Community as it can really support people on this journey and demonstrate the value of using social tools and networks. Next year we will be focusing on running some webinars on using social tools to support your professional development so watch this space.</p>
<p>Here is my presentation that I used, it's a bit different but tells a great story - what's going to happen next? Who knows that's the exciting thing:</p>
<p><a href="http://prezi.com/pcrmorfpsq3s/social-media-to-support-professional-development/?kw=view-pcrmorfpsq3s&rc=ref-11823700" target="_blank">Using Social Tools to Support Professional Development</a></p>
<p>If you have any questions about the conference or any of the things I mention in this blog then I'd love to hear them.</p>
<p>Some questions for you to ponder over if I may....</p>
<p><em>What social tools are you currently using to support your professional development?</em></p>
<p><em>What does your online identity say about you?</em></p>
<p><em>Who is having the conversations around social in your organisation?</em></p>
<p><em>What the barriers you see personally or professionally to using social tools?<br></em></p>
<p>Be great to hear from you</p></div>I'm a member of a community of practice - so what?https://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/i-m-a-member-of-a-community-of-practice-so-what2012-08-22T15:00:00.000Z2012-08-22T15:00:00.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><p>It's a very exciting time for DPG as we start to use our online community to support our CIPD programmes from September. This network is a community of practice (CoP) for Learning & HR Professionals, but what exactly is a CoP?</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357074?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357074?profile=original" width="160"></a></p>
<p>A Community of Practice (CoP) is defined by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> as</p>
<p><em>"a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession. The group can evolve naturally because of the members' common interest in a particular domain or area, or it can be created specifically with the goal of gaining knowledge related to their field. It is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that the members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally. CoPs can exist online, such as within discussion boards and, or in real life, such as in a lunch room at work, in a field setting, on a factory floor, or elsewhere in the environment."</em></p>
<p>The DPG Community is a community of people brought together through an interest in Learning & HR and consists of both face to face and online elements. Our online community includes all the features covered below and in the case of CIPD programmes is used to support face to face workshops designed around a CIPD qualification. It's primary aim to provide an online space for people to connect, share and network.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">So how can you use the DPG Community?</span></p>
<p><strong>Home Page</strong> > The 'hub', all activity can be seen by the forum latest activity stream. Community members can see new content being posted and people can see their activity and what others are posting and are up to. The web parts (or widgets) for each feature can edited, added or removed and feature all the current tabs seen at the top of the page</p>
<p><strong>My Profile</strong> > You can add your own profile and tell other community members about yourself and your experiences. This page also lists groups that you belong to, any discussions or blogs you've added and also who you've connected with (friends).</p>
<p><strong>Resources</strong> > There are some great resources on the DPG Community which you can find in the <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/page/resources-1" target="_self">resources section</a> and we also share a daily newspaper and an online magazine to share interested news articles and posts relating to Learning, HR and Leadership. Keep checking for new resources added on a weekly basis.</p>
<p><strong>Network Tutorials</strong> > A number of short screen casts explaining what the features on the community do and how you can use them e.g. add a profile picture, change email notifications etc</p>
<p><strong>Groups</strong> > There will be specific CIPD groups by location and a number of interest groups. Groups can be used to share experiences and knowledge and for facilitators to provide help and guidance on work.</p>
<p><strong>Forum</strong> > The <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/forum" target="_self">main community forum</a> is split in to a number of categories so any discussions can be defined by content or question. These discussions are accessible to any community members who can respond and comment.</p>
<p><strong>Chat</strong> > Another great feature of the community is that chat can be used to provide real time support to learners. The chat feature shows who's online and has a main chat room as well as private chat. We also run community chats where any community member is welcome to join and discuss a subject of interest</p>
<p><strong>Blogs</strong> > Anyone can add a blog and latest blogs are added to the <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/profiles/blog/list" target="_self">Home Page Blog Feature</a> - you can identify blogs by popularity or search as you can tag all blogs.</p>
<p><strong>Events</strong> > Add any event, conference or programme specific events such as a webinar or a community chat so the community know about them and can look forward to them or comment / wish people luck etc</p>
<p><strong>Videos</strong> > Upload any <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/video" target="_self">video</a> or embed a video from YouTube or any video site that provides the embed code. Comments can be added and all content can be rated or 'liked'. You can also feature videos / photos and blogs</p>
<p><strong>Photos</strong> > You can create albums e.g. Group albums or event albums, you can tag them so they can found by search. Community members can add their own <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/photo" target="_self">photos</a> and add to their album.</p>
<p><strong>Members</strong> > You can easily view or find community members across all groups</p>
<p>The community will continue to grow in membership as our CIPD programmes are delivered and also as we use the community to support our other products and services and provide a space for people to connect.</p>
<p>It's a community that we hope will support you throughout your career and become a valuable asset to your professional growth and development.</p>
<p>What do you think? Does this answer the <em>so what</em>?</p>
<p>Are there any other benefits you can see to being a member of the DPG Community?</p>
<p>Be great to hear your thoughts</p>
<p>Mike</p>
<p></p></div>You can't force social......or can you?https://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/you-can-t-force-social-or-can-you2012-08-22T13:30:00.000Z2012-08-22T13:30:00.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><p>The picture below shows my artistic scribblings on a table cloth from the (now not so) recent Connect HR Unconference “<a href="http://www.learningasylum.co.uk/2012/06/chru4-visual-minutes/">The power of a social engaged organisation</a>“.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.learningasylum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cant-force-social.jpg"><img class="align-left" src="http://www.learningasylum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cant-force-social-196x300.jpg?width=259" width="259" /></a>We were asked to write things down for the afternoon sessions that would give us some meaty topics to discuss.You can see from what I wrote the sort of things that were going through my head at the time. The thing that stands out and what I wrote in bigger writing with a squiggly circle (symbolising importance of course) were the words “<em><strong>You can’t force social”.</strong></em></p>
<p>So a few months on and now in new employment, do I feel the same? Well actually no I don’t. I believe you can force social, in fact you must, otherwise it’s not going to happen and things will not change now or in the future. I know the cliche, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink” but who’s leading the horses?</p>
<p>If given a choice, it’s easy to choose not to do anything, it’s easy to leave things the way they are, driving and managing change is difficult in any setting. Making change happen is relatively easy compared to making change stick.</p>
<p>When the change in question is encouraging adoption of social tools however, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this would be easy. After all over 700 million people use Facebook, millions of people use Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn so the knowledge of using these tools and what benefits they bring is out there. People have the capability to use these tools and many do so every day in their personal lives. So why is the shift to using these tools to work, to learn and to share in a professional capacity so difficult?</p>
<p>I wrote about the hardships of encouraging the use of networks in the workplace recently in <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/profiles/blogs/6489007:BlogPost:827" target="_self">WARNING socialnetWORK AHEAD</a>. The post came about after working on an online team community for over 12 months, I was told at times by my colleagues to stop going on about it and at one point was told quite openly in a meeting to “give it a rest, we get it you don’t to keep going on about it”. Looking back I had enough eye rolling moments and “here we go again's” to last a lifetime but it served as inspiration rather than anything else. This was a team of Learning & Development professionals and it was hard going making breakthroughs but they came at different times through different people. As I left the organisation the same community had grown and matured. It was being used by a much larger number of people and the person who had benefited from it the most and provided the most value was a certain Mr “give it a rest Mike”.</p>
<p>It’s fantastic to see people who were once sceptical really benefit from using social tools to engage with others and to achieve things that they couldn’t have done without them. The light bulb moments rock!</p>
<p>So what prompted the change in this particular person?</p>
<p>This person found the need. The network provided a means to connect and talk to people that were directly involved in their work. It enabled suggestions and feedback to be collated from a large number of people in a very short space of time. Improvements were made in days rather than weeks and people across the team were able to give their ideas and opinions on things that mattered to them. Feedback before had been collated in silos and rarely acted upon. This was different, it was open for all to see and as a result things happened. Social added a layer of accountability and credibility and those who had something to say and could add value started to appear.</p>
<p>I’ve written about the importance of <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/profiles/blogs/find-the-need-demonstrate-the-value" target="_self">finding the need and demonstrating the value</a> in relation to using something new or different before. This is just as critical when it comes to changing work practices, learning habits and traditional communication channels when using social tools.</p>
<p>You can’t force people to be social but guess what, you don’t need to, people are social by their very nature. It’s what comes with being human so that shouldn’t be our aim or focus, instead our aim and focus should be to create conditions and means for people to connect in the workplace or in communities where a common goal, objective or interest is shared. To show them the possibilities and help people find their own need that in turn provides value for them.</p>
<p>Here is another cliche <em>“You don’t know what you don’t</em> <em>know</em>” and this is why we must force social technologies and practices in the workplace or  to educate and raise awareness where there is currently little or none. I joined the latest @chat2lrn Twitter chat last week entitled <a href="http://chat2lrn.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/what-will-training-departments-be-doing-in-2020/">What Will Training Departments be doing in 2020</a>, I only made the last couple of questions but I recommend you check the <a href="http://chat2lrn.wordpress.com/transcripts-summaries/transcript-2082012-training-departments-in-2020/">transcript</a>.</p>
<p>2020 is only 8 years in the future and think back to 2004 have things really changed that much? I was having a chat with <a href="https://twitter.com/lesleywprice">@lesleywprice</a> of the <a href="http://www.learningandperformanceinstitute.com/">Learning and Performance institute</a> and Lesley mentioned she was using a Virtual Learning Environment in 1998. So whilst somethings have undoubtedly moved on they haven’t moved onto to the point where social is part of what we do. What it is and what is does is still misunderstood, misrepresented and not recognised as the power that it can be.</p>
<p>So what’s the answer?</p>
<p>Be open to change and trying something different. Don’t be afraid to introduce your beliefs that social is good and share your ideas on how the tools can be used to drive value. Engineer those conversations with IT, HR, Operations and people who openly admit “I don’t do technology” or “I don’t get these social tools” even if they are your managers or senior leadership teams. Challenge those who resist and look for opportunities to introduce social technologies to support your current team, your current project, your next learning solution. Be the positive disruptor, role model and lead from the front, even if it means starting small you can demonstrate the benefits and begin to create the sort of cultural shift that WILL make 2020 feel different.</p>
<p>With DPG using a social community to support CIPD programmes it's going to be an interesting journey as people new to Learning & Development and Human Resources will see how social tools can support learning and collaboration and provide a much more open way to communicate and share amongst each other. It's about building confidence and capability in using these tools in a professional context and I for one can't wait to see where the journey takes us.</p>
<p><em>I'd be interested in your social journey so far and understanding is social tools are being used in your organisation?</em></p>
<p><em>How are they being used and what has your experience been like so far?</em></p>
<p>Mike</p>
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