The Problem of Content - Part 3 - We’re Ready To Be Producer, Director, Actor, and Audience, Mr. DeMille…

Problem: Democratization of Authorship

This post is part of an ongoing series on the content challenges facing today’s modern High Impact Learning Organizations. ™  Be sure to read the whole series. 

By now, most readers of this blog will have heard the term: web 2.0.  Part of the definition of web 2.0 – what separates today’s WWW from yesterday’s – is that most of us now have access to the tools of authorship and venues through which to publish.  Being able to create and distribute content, be it blog article, document, audio, video, film, video game, or even interactive e-learning courseware, is no longer a specialized skill held by an educated few.  On the contrary, the public internet is exploding with sites dedicated to housing and distributing user-generated content. 

And this new found capacity for authorship has not stopped at the door of the workplace either.  Employees have relatively easy access to business productivity tools that take much of the production out of producing business content.  Media development and rapid e-learning tools are giving just about everyone the ability to produce engaging, interactive material.  Cost is not the issue it once was either; the number of free tools available far exceeds those requiring paid licenses.

So, this situation is a good thing, right?  In the last post, we talked about how training organizations are struggling to create content fast enough and in formats accessible enough to meet all learning and knowledge needs.  What better way to solve this problem than to expand the number of sources to – well – everyone?

We know only 10% of learning is formal.  How are we addressing the other 90%?

In short, our research and my own personal opinion would say: yes, user-generated content, thoughtfully supported and leveraged, is the answer to at least a large percentage of organizational learning needs.  However, I have had the opportunity to discuss this issue with several very well-run training departments, and the sense I came away with from those conversations was something akin to – if you would be so kind as to indulge me in a historical analogy – the Romans staring out at the advancing barbarian hordes.  

The thing is, taking this historical analogy much too far, by the time those barbarian tribes were becoming a thorn in Rome’s side, Roman civilization was already on the decline, its way of doing things already falling apart.  The real dynamism of that age was with the so-called barbarian tribes, and those same tribes – once exposed to the knowledge and technology of Roman society – became creators of much of what we know as western civilization.

Many learning organizations are struggling with the issues of informal learning and user-generated content, so if these questions resonate with you - you are not alone.  Take some comfort in knowing that we have found several organizations that are solving for these questions - and in very impactful ways.  These modern learning organizations have recognized that the status quo model of traditional corporate training is just not sufficient any longer to meet all learning needs, and they are working on what's next.  Organizations such as Sun, British Telecom, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Telus, and Best Buy are all finding it both necessary and advantageous to spread authorship of content. Of course, the learning department can and should still develop some content - particularly in areas which directly relate to the core specialties of the organization - domains which make the organizations unique and drive competitive advantage in the marketplace (and that 10% is not going away).  If you need help with this challenge, by all means, come talk to us.  And check out our High Impact Learning Practices study.  Its the Guide to Modernizing Your Training Strategy through Social and Informal Learning.

The challenge for today’s learning organizations with regards to the democratization of authorship is not whether or not to allow it, it is how best to enable and augment it.  Employees create knowledge every day as part of their work.   They have always shared this knowledge.  But up till now the scope of that sharing was typically limited and local.  And while they have access to tools, they may not be very adept at their use, no matter how simple to use they are. Learning organizations need to build processes and structures that focus and channel the power and potential of employee-generated content for the benefit of the organization at large.

Solutions:

How can learning organizations solve for this challenge?

1. Teach them to fish - well.
   Extend content development tools and training to everyone.  Follow the lead of British Telecom.  Go out into the organization and offer training on how to use content tools effectively – for whatever purpose.  Adopt free or near free audio, video, and image editing tools enterprise wide.  Teach good multimedia design.  Teach effective PowerPoint use as a organizational core competency.  In summary, grow the learning team into a center of excellence for content in all its forms.
   
2. Develop the organization’s meta-learning skills.
   As the number of authors increase, so will the amount of content (see problem #1).  Your employees’ effectiveness is now just as much a function of their learning ability as it is what they already know.  Those that learn faster will thrive.  Guess what, you can teach people to learn faster; and you can give them tools with which to be better learners.  The learning department should explicitly own improving the organization’s capacity to learning – one person at a time if necessary.
   
3. Add Community Management to your team's skills.
   Corporate communities won't just happen. You need people to shepherd and instigate, and most importantly to model behavior.  The organizations who are best at corporate knowledge sharing use business leaders, subject matter experts, and learning leaders to be supply energy and direction in the community.  Be careful though.  Community management is a skill, and not everyone will be good at it.  Provide training in it, or hire for it.
   
4. No anonymity in corporate communities.
   A good best practice for any corporate collaboration environment, not allowing anonymity ensures that everyone's name and reputation are on the line whenever they post.  Successful organizations have found that corporate communities are remarkably self policing, mostly because personal prestige and career aspirations can be affected by community activity. 
   

We look forward to seeing you next week for installment #3 on the commoditization of quality and credibility.  See you then.

Best,
David