social tools - Blogs - DPG Community2024-03-28T19:56:41Zhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/feed/tag/social+toolsLeadership Qualities in a Changing Worldhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/leadership-qualities-in-a-changing-world2013-08-09T11:30:00.000Z2013-08-09T11:30:00.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><p>I recently attended a workshop entitled “<strong>Getting the most from your Apprentice</strong>” hosted by the <a title="Apprentice Academy" href="http://theapprenticeacademy.co.uk/" target="_blank">Apprentice Academy</a>. It was an interesting session that I wanted to play back, as it looked at starting work through the eyes of 16-18 yr old. Without showing my age too much we started the day with a music quiz and the first 8 songs (I knew) were made and released before our Apprentice <a title="@Little_Figs" href="https://twitter.com/Little_Figs" target="_blank">@Little_Figs</a> was even born! A point well made as what ever you make of the Generation X, Y & Z debate <span style="text-decoration: underline;">there are</span> differences in attitude, behaviour and expectations of a 16 yr old starting work than anyone else already in the workplace.</p>
<p>We discussed what these differences could be and the conversation centered around 4 key areas and the changes we’d seen in these areas in the last 10 years. These were:</p>
<ul>
<li>Technology</li>
<li>Entertainment</li>
<li>Science</li>
<li>Attitudes</li>
</ul>
<p>In terms of <strong>technology</strong> we’ve had the advent of the smart phone and apps plus the meteoric rise in social networks.It’s incredible to think that a 64Gb memory card can now fit on the end of your finger.</p>
<p><strong>Entertainment</strong> has changed to become on-demand – arranged around your lifestyle and the rise in reality TV has led to instant fame / celebrity obsessed generation. Internet streaming / downloading has changed the landscape (and industries) of music, TV and film and can you compare a Commodore 64 with a Playstation 4….</p>
<p>For <strong>science</strong> we discussed breakthroughs in cures for diseases and GM foods, global warming and an aging population as people are living longer.</p>
<p>Finally we discussed a change in <strong>attitudes</strong> towards things like gay marriage, female vicars and an understanding of other cultures. Growing up in a post 9/11 world and how this would influence how you view the world.</p>
<p>Remember 10 years ago most apprentices were 6-8 years old so growing up in this world I’ve briefly described above will have had a massive impact and a great influence on them. So what does this mean for the workplace?</p>
<p>The conversation then turned to discuss what the needs and wants of an apprentice were and we (rightly or wrongly) used <a title="maslow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs" target="_blank">Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs</a> to understand what this looks like for a 16 yr old entering the workplace. I quite enjoyed this session as it made me question everything I consider to be important and made me look at starting work from a totally different perspective. What are the safety needs of a young 16 yr old and how do their social needs differ to mine? How do you develop a sense of self and confidence in a 16 yr old? These are things that must be considered and thought through in order to make an apprenticeship work and more importantly to coin the phrase from the workshop, “to get the most out of your apprentice.”</p>
<p>Finally we talked about leadership and what were the qualities that people (not just apprentices) looked for in a leader. I’ve got a vested interest here as I’ve talked about the role of leaders in a social age <a title="here" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCttRc2TWzE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUzhN8k56gbf_4pxxIL_83Hw" target="_blank">here</a> and taken the conversation further with <a title="@JulianStaddon" href="http://twitter.com/JulianStaddon" target="_blank">@JulianStaddon</a> & <a title="@MartinCouzins" href="http://twitter.com/martincouzins" target="_blank">@MartinCouzins</a> <a title="here" href="http://learnpatch.com/2013/08/the-social-leadership-discussion-six-months-on/" target="_blank">here</a>. <a title="@Doushaw1" href="http://twitter.com/dougshaw1" target="_blank">@DougShaw1</a> has also penned a short series on Social Leadership <a title="here" href="http://www.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/2013/7/25/social-leadership-authenticity.aspx" target="_blank">here</a> . It’s something I’m interested in from the perspective of a community manager and how social networks are changing how leaders can be more human, more accessible, become better communicators and inspire change.</p>
<p>We were given a list of leadership qualities and were asked to select 7 that were most important to us as individuals and prioritise our choices with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important</p>
<p>This was the list provided</p>
<ul>
<li>Is able to analyse and think creatively</li>
<li>Encourages challenges to the status quo</li>
<li>Is honest and consistent</li>
<li>Remains aloof from people he/she leads</li>
<li>Seen as a communicator, networker and achiever</li>
<li>Sacrifices himsef/herself in the interests of their work</li>
<li>Is able to draw people together with a shared vision</li>
<li>Seen to be the best professional</li>
<li>Is decisive, determined and ready to take risks</li>
<li>Trusts others to lead</li>
<li>His/her view of reality is the only one that counts</li>
<li>Is Charismatic</li>
<li>Shows genuine concern for others</li>
<li>Knows all the answers all the time</li>
<li>Is accessible, approachable and flexible</li>
<li>Manages changes sensitively and skilfully</li>
<li>Never be seen to be vulnerable</li>
</ul>
<p>Wowsers, quite a list and one that I worked through diligently and thought through carefully. I then came up with my 7 which you can see below:</p>
<ol>
<li>Is able to draw people together with a shared vision</li>
<li>Is honest and consistent</li>
<li>Trusts others to lead</li>
<li>Is accessible, approachable and flexible</li>
<li>Manages change sensitively and skilfully</li>
<li>Seen as a communicator , networker and achiever</li>
<li>Shows genuine concern for others</li>
</ol>
<p>Unfortunately there was a right answer as this exercise was linked to validated and recent research which I’ll share in my next post. What I’d be interested in if you’re not familiar with the research is thinking through the list and picking out and prioritising what your 7 leadership qualities would be.</p>
<p>Thinking through the change that we’ve had in the last 10 years and how quickly the world is changing around us what leadership qualities are most important and relevant now. What sort of leaders are going to inspire the apprentices that are entering the workplace given the up-bringing and change they have seen in the last 10 years as they’ve grown up.</p>
<p>I’ll share the top 7 according to the research next week but in the meantime – what’s important to you?</p>
<p>Let me know the top 7 leadership qualities that are most important for you in comments below</p>
</div>My Story : Aus to UK : Nothing to a Lothttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/my-story-aus-to-uk-nothing-to-a-lot2013-07-17T20:30:00.000Z2013-07-17T20:30:00.000ZSamantha Patersonhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/SamanthaPaterson<div><p>Last month I stepped out. Way out. Like many people the thought of public speaking to a large group of your peers is daunting. Yet, I did that. A few weeks ago Mike Collins, DPG’s Community Manager asked me to come along and be the sprinkles and topping for his presentation at the Peer Awards where he had entered the DPG Community in the Technology for Engagement category. With strong reservations I agreed but only because I believed in the cause.</p>
<p>Rewind 14 months. Having arrived in the UK here with only 2 years experience as a trainer my public speaking experience was limited to small groups of people who hung on my every word for the sake of missing a vital piece of information. In those days I knew my content. I set the agendas. I decided on how the session would run. I, I, I, I, I………….the Peer Awards were all about collaboration, Mike, the DPG Community. It was about illustrating the impact that the DPG Community.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357322?profile=original"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357322?profile=original" width="285"></a>Rewind 10 months. Having arrived in the UK without any contacts, minimal experience in the L&D world, no networks in the industry blah blah blah, finding a job was only just marginally less frightening than publicspeaking. Through LinkedIn the acronym ‘DPG’ kept appearing with a positive brand association. I enrolled in their CIPD Level 3 L&D Practitioner course. Prior to the course commencement date I was given a logon to their ‘Community’. With a glass of wine, the fire on and laptop on knees I logged in. Within seconds I heard the ‘bling’ of the chat box opening……..’Hi Sam. It’s Mike Collins here’. This Community and Mike (the self confessed ‘Geek with Pom Poms’) became my virtual career and learning partner.</p>
<p>I felt the warmth. I felt the community spirit. I felt the support. I started to feel confident. I revamped my CV in a creatively risky fashion. It was a bit off the wall and not down the standard CV lines . I sent it to Mike via the Community. He supported my ideas. Phew! Again, I felt the support. So off my newly designed CV flew into the virtual world of potential employers.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I kept logging into the DPG Community every evening (some times in the morning too just to see what had changed during my slumber. Okay, okay perhaps I logged in at lunch time too. These things can get a tad addictive). Mike had created a group for all of the students I would be studying with. Naturally I entered to get a taste of what I was in for. I was hesitant about going back to study, let alone in a new country where I could spotted as the alien as soon as my Australian twang filled the air. I was pleased to connect with many like minded people. I met a single mum who was scared about hitting the books again. I met al ‘older’ woman who thought that perhaps she had already reached her intellectual potential. I met a young man who had entered the L&D World but thought that he needed the course to build respect at his work place. Their words were different but their stories were the same as mine. Big sigh. Every thing was going to be okay.</p>
<p>Throughout the course the community was used for live Q&A sessions by our amazing facilitator, Howard Rose. He posted articles, documents, useful links and other course related information. Mike instigated discussions, forums and bulletin boards. When I had questions about the course itself (not just the content) I used the Community to find the person who could directly give me the answer. It was always my first port of call.</p>
<p>Back to the CV sub story of this blog. My newly designed CV was well received (Phew! X2) and a couple of weeks later I landed an interview for an L&D role at the FMCG Multinational, Unilever. With newly found confidence in hand, I set off to the interview and was offered the job on the spot. Win! </p>
<p>Reality check – L&D role in an awesome company that is family friendly, doing a course that I love with awesome people. How did all that happen so fast?</p>
<p>Fast forward to present time…………….Course contact time done. Assessments nearly done. My time using the Community no where near done. It’s called a Community for a reason and it’s not just a social media buzz word. It’s value cannot be put into a spreadsheet. You can’t write a formula with support, belonging, encouragement, confidence building, networking etc that then calculates the infamous ROI figure that companies are forever seeking. </p>
<p>So when Mike asked me to publicly speak at the Peer Awards I was happy to accept. I felt almost indebted to the DPG Community. I wanted to endorse something that I believed in. The DPG Community does what it says on the box. It builds Communities. End of story.</p></div>The DPG Community Birthday Timelinehttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/the-dpg-community-birthday-timeline2013-07-04T12:00:55.000Z2013-07-04T12:00:55.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><p>In 6 days, the <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/" target="_blank" title="DPG Community">DPG Community</a> will be officially one year old. Where has the time gone? It feels like only yesterday I left the corporate world of RBS to join DPG. I've been reflecting a lot over the last few weeks about the reasons why I joined DPG and the wonderful opportunity that was presented to me that I grabbed with both hands.</p>
<p>Looking back over this journey I wanted to share and describe creating the DPG Community in a different way. It has been a journey which we've really only just started, but in 12 months we've fundamentally changed our approach to supporting professional development. The way we facilitate our programmes and qualifications has changed forever.</p>
<p><em>So how could I tell this story in a unique way?</em></p>
<p>I've always loved the RSA Animate videos and being quite creative love seeing talented artists doing their thing so who better to team up with than the ultra-talented <a href="https://twitter.com/simonheath1" target="_blank" title="Simon Heath">Simon Heath</a>.</p>
<p><strong>My mission: to tell the story of the DPG Community in a visual & creative way<br /></strong></p>
<p>Mission accepted: Simon and I had a quick chat about the concept and how best to work together and off we went. For me this is about sharing what we have done and how we've done it.</p>
<p>I first studied with DPG myself in 2006 when I became CIPD qualified and the programme felt fresh and leading edge. I have never looked back since becoming qualified and enjoyed a great career so far. DPG have been pioneers in creating fantastic learning experiences and in their 21 year history they have continued to evolve and push boundaries.</p>
<p>To be able to join an organisation that shares my own passions and enthusiasm for professional development is fantastic. As a Learning Professional I'm still so excited by the potential of the DPG Community and its role in not only developing role models in our organisations but leaders and future leaders in our industry. That's you!</p>
<p>Through the DPG Community you are buying an experience not a programme or qualification. Many of our competitors offer the same piece of paper at the end of the programme however I'm proud to say the DPG Community gives something truly unique and adds to the DPG Difference.</p>
<p>As I sat and thought about all the things we've done to create and develop this thriving community. A community that supports peer to peer collaborative learning, a community that isn't about technology but the relationships it creates and the conversations it enables, an image started to appear.</p>
<p>Thanks so much to <a href="https://twitter.com/simonheath1" target="_blank" title="Simon Heath">Simon Heath</a> for making this image a reality and for bringing this journey to life for us. The images all represent important milestones on our journey and are symbols of how to use social tools to support learning, sharing and collaboration.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.dpgplc.co.uk/media/214598/the_dpg_community_12_month_timeline_499x203.jpg" alt="DPG Birthday Timeline" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" height="203" width="499" /></p>
<p><br />
<a href="http://www.dpgplc.co.uk/media/214598/the_dpg_community_12_month_timeline.jpg" target="_blank" title="DPG Community Birthday Timeline">Click on the link here</a> to get a full size image and follow the journey to our 1st birthday.</p>
<p>Over the next few days I'm going to write more on each stage of the journey and bring some of the images to life and share the why, the what and the how.</p>
<p><br />
Hope you like the picture and watch out for the first instalment of the DPG Community story coming soon.</p>
</div>Rebel with a causehttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/rebel-with-a-cause2013-04-21T11:30:00.000Z2013-04-21T11:30:00.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><p>Another new experience under the belt. This time a short talk at the PPMA conference (not the Processing and Packaging Machinery Association) rather the <a href="http://www.ppma.org.uk/">Public Sector People Manager’s conference</a> – you can check the #ppmahr13 hashtag for tweets from the day.</p>
<p>This is a quick summary of my session and I want to thank <a href="https://twitter.com/perrytimms" target="_blank">Perry Timms</a> for getting me involved and <a href="https://twitter.com/academyofrock" target="_blank">Peter Cook</a> for delivering an inspiring session that I was able to play a part in. Although how you follow someone who plays a guitar round the back of his head beats me.</p>
<p>So what was it about? Well it was primarily about <a href="http://itsdevelopmental.com/2013/what-is-punk-rock-hr/" target="_blank">Punk HR</a> as Martin Couzins (aka <a href="https://twitter.com/learnpatch" target="_blank">LearnPatch</a>) caught up with Peter to find out a little more.</p>
<p>I’ll be up front and say my knowledge of punk is limited, those who read my <a href="http://www.learningasylum.co.uk/2013/03/alter-egos/" target="_blank">recent post</a> will know I’m all about the beats but this doesn’t stop me getting involved in some of the things that punk stood for. My session was short maybe 10 mins so I had to keep it brief and to the point but make people think differently about social tools and I named my session a rather dramatic “The Social Revolution”.</p>
<ul>
<li>I opened my session asking those in the room if they considered themselves to be in a senior manager role, approx 80% of the room put their hand up.</li>
<li>I then asked for those same people to put their hand up if they had an active Twitter account, approx 5% of those kept their hand up – ouch!</li>
<li>My last question was based around how many people in the room were already using social tools in their organisations, may be 10% of the room put their hand up.</li>
</ul>
<p>So lots of senior managers, very few of them using Twitter (appreciate this is not a definitive method of gauging knowledge / attitude toward social) but indicates they are not active social media users and only 10% of those in the room are using social in their organisations. This was going to be interesting.</p>
<p>I will start my saying one thing (I wish I had said this and been more challenging), if you do not use social media yourself then you will not understand it. If you do not understand it then how can you see the value social tools can provide and lead change and role model this change. You can’t! Senior HR managers, in fact any HR managers…. in fact anyone in HR right now beware……ignoring it and thinking you don’t need to bother or saying things like “I don’t get all this social stuff”, “I don’t need to get it”, “that’s for other people not me” will not wash any longer. If you persist with this attitude your days are numbered as change is happening, you can either get involved, support and lead this change OR you can get out of the way. It isn’t about ‘social media’ as many might think of it but solving real business problems with a new and exciting tool set.</p>
<p>Why do I have this view? In my humble opinion it’s fundamentally about changing our approach to the way we do things, it’s more than thinking differently it’s doing things differently, it’s about bringing different behaviours and a different attitude to how we operate in the workplace alive through ACTION. An open approach to leadership and an attitude that isn’t preoccupied by title or seniority but focuses on getting things done in a different, more open and authentic way. The behaviours of great leaders haven’t really changed but the way and means we can bring these behaviours to life have changed. The focus is not on social technology but what these tools enable us to do and the value they can create when used correctly and productively. How can this happen when the tools aren’t understood?</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357206?profile=original"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357206?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300"></a>I opened my session proper with a quick reference to the punk attitude. Even though I wasn’t part of the punk movement I understand it was about making change and a gathering of people who believed in the same thing. People who through music found a way to come together and share what they are interesting in and what they were passionate about to make lasting change themselves.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357225?profile=original"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357225?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300"></a></p>
<p>I then spoke about 5 areas in brief and have summarised them below:</p>
<p><strong>Choice</strong> – using social tools you have a choice to contribute and be part of the open conversation. You can choose to engineer conversations and bring others in to the conversation. You can choose to encourage others and help people and provide information and you can choose what message you share and what form this message comes in. Alternatively you can choose to do nothing.</p>
<p><strong>Attitude</strong> – who are the people you like working with? What are the things you hire people for? We need more positive deviants and those not afraid to disrupt the status quo. We need people in your organisations – not sorry YOU must have an attitude that says I will do things differently. I want to see attitudes that inspire and motivate – to lead and share not hoard. Engage and nurture NOT command & Control.</p>
<p><strong>Curiosity</strong> – I’m curious, what happens if, what happens when, ask questions – challenge what has gone before – more importantly what happens when you give people a voice and the opportunity to get involved? Does this scare you or does it excite you?</p>
<p><strong>Rebel with a cause</strong> – if you always do what you’ve always done you’ll always get what you’ve always got. It’s time to challenge the ways in which HR communicate and work with the people we are here to help and serve. That doesn’t mean anarchy and anti-establishment but it does mean empowering others to reach their potential and a shift in the way people use open forms of communication and work together. Which leads to….</p>
<p><strong>Collaboration</strong> – This is where the revolution is…connecting your workforce, bringing people together to work and achieve their goals in an open way that over time with YOUR support and influence will change our workplace culture for the better. You need to be leading this change and role modelling how these tools can be used for the greater good not looking at social tools as a negative thing that will bring about tension and unproductive staff. This is a change we can and must influence and drive to enable the people we work with to be more effective in their jobs and to work together more openly.</p>
<p>I summed up with a music analogy as this was the order of the day. I believe HR need to be leading this social revolution and <b>making the music</b> not listening to it from the side lines or worse still turning the music off because it’s too loud or different to what you’re used to.</p>
<p><strong>The revolution is happening………will you be dancing to the beat or sat round the dance floor?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Are you involved in bringing this change to your workplace? Are you a rebel with a cause?</strong></p></div>A funny thing happened last night.....https://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/a-funny-thing-happened-last-night2013-03-04T07:55:39.000Z2013-03-04T07:55:39.000ZLorna Mattyhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/LornaMatty<div><div>It's 8pm. Hubby and I have just eaten our dinner. Do I watch channel 4: secret world of shoppers and learn how to bag a £12K Magnet kitchen for £5K (impossible) or power up my laptop, pay some bills and check my emails? Of course I decide to do both!<div> </div>In checking my emails I spot one from DPG communities. I'm feeling guilty as I haven't visited the site for a few weeks. Anyway I see Mike has posted something about an event: <strong>Using Social Tools to support professional development</strong>. Liking the sound of that. </div><div> </div><div>It's going to take place using Google Hangout. Now I'm curious as by chance I had a conversation with Colin Steed that afternoon about this via one of my yammer networks.</div><div> </div><div>Then I realised it's happening this evening in 20 minutes!<div> </div>Impulse takes over and I ping Mike a message to find out if any seats are left. The man from DPG says "yes"'. Clicked a link, followed the instructions and felt pleased with myself when I get a message to say I had joined a hangout. Hmmmm - no one else is there. Ok not quite what I was expecting! Realised I was in the wrong place - yes I am a smart cookie - and after a few more clicks, I suddenly found myself hanging out with 5 men. Now you're talking.<div> </div>The 5 men were Mike Collins, Sam Burroughs, Adam Harwood, Phil Wilcox and Damian Farrell. I was quickly introduced and spent an hour or so hearing and sharing experiences of using social tools. I am a newbie so it was great hearing from seasoned practitioners and gaining reassurance that the journey I have been traveling is not unique.<div> </div>One of the interesting discussion we had was about blogging - something I had thought about, but never had the confidence to try. So it was interesting to learn the benefits Sam felt he derived from being a serial blogger: helping to reinforce understanding of a topic and attract useful insight from others, some of whom may be experts. I hadn't really thought about it in those terms before.<div><br/>It was so lovely being with people with a shared passion who were happy to share their knowledge and connections. Phil kindly introduced me to someone who would be able to help me bring my colleagues on board and by the morning I was tweeting with them making arrangements to link up.</div><div> </div>So what is a hangout?<div><br/>It's a space where you can hangout with a max of 9 people via webcam. If someone leaves, someone can replace them so I suppose it's a bit like queuing for a nightclub but without a bouncer at the door! Mike facilitated the discussion but there was also a chat feed and probably other features, but I was too engrossed to explore.</div><div><br/>Given this was the first event, it went really well. Only a couple of minor hiccups and one major one: My husband unloading the dishwasher midway could be heard by everyone, Adam's mobile phone suddenly emitted a signal which interfered with the audio which sounded like aliens were invading and I had to turn off the TV, so I never found out if they managed to bag that Magnet kitchen for £5K!</div><div> </div>So if you ever needed evidence of the merits of social tools, here's one. To think I could spontaneously decide to meet with like-minded people in real time from across the UK, discuss ideas gain insights and make new connections - all from the comfort of my dining room table- well need I say more? For someone like me who doesn't work in an L&D team, social tools are invaluable and have not only helped me keep up-to-date with what's happening in my industry, but has also provided a network that I know I can seek help from when needed.<div><br/>Inspired by the blogging discussion, and with the help of my Kindle and Evernote app, I ditched the Metro newspaper the next morning and wrote this piece as I travelled on the First Capital Connect train to St Pancras. The process helped me to realise that it's not as hard as I imagined because you don't need to be an expert - and trust me, I'm not! But blogging is about capturing your thoughts and reflecting on what you've learnt. And learning is something we do everyday.</div><div><br/>So ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my first blog.</div><div><br/>Look forward to the next hangout Mike. Thanks for organising.</div></div></div>