Pictures sometimes speak louder than words. Courtesy Leslie-Ann Miller of @RippleThink Dan's Related Posts:Wordle Graphic of Flat ArmyAnnouncing the Full Book Cover Jacket of Flat ArmyFlat Army: An Overview of the BookDownload Chapter 1 for Free - Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged…Kudos Jacques Godin, an Engaged Air Canada Employee

HTML 5 courses published from Adobe Captivate freezes  on the latest versions of Google Chrome Browser - 36.0.1985.125. We have investigated the issue and our findings are listed below . BTW ,we are still continuing to investigate if there any potential issue which is unknown at the moment  and will keep you folks posted. So […]

It’s my belief we are conditioned as children—through the hierarchy of a centuries-old schooling system—to believe the oldest person in the room (the teacher) is the smartest. That works only for so long. We are further conditioned to believe that when we’re extremely smart we’ll be recognized by the highest authority—the school principal—through commendations and "bravos" on our report cards. Conversely, when things go awry, the teacher (or perhaps the manager in a corporate comparison)—and/or the principal (the vice president or CEO in a corporate comparison) may sternly call us out for unruliness, poor grades, or anything in between. Do you remember the absolute fear of being called into the principal’s office? Particularly so if you hadn’t a clue as to why you were being summoned to the office via the PA system, an office administrator or a student runner. Now that was stressful—and it was not unlike an archaic, antiquated and classically hierarchical annual performance review is in today’s organization. We are conditioned at a very young age, through the kindergarten-to-higher-education continuum, to believe that it is our individual accomplishments that allow us the chance to achieve great things in life. But success in today’s world is not merely about academic prowess or individual accomplishments alone. Success is not about power, greed and stockpiling knowledge in a vault. Success can’t be found by proficiently ruling in a silo. Nor is success found through a hierarchical, command and control philosophy. If we’re trained as children and teenagers to believe that it is the school system of master and apprentice that breeds success, is there any hope for a more collaborative work experience after high school or higher education? Is there any hope for a more creative, innovative and open thinking organization? As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "You send your child to the schoolmaster, but ’tis the schoolboys who educate him." <Adapted from Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization> Dan's Related Posts:Hierarchy starts with a ‘Higher Arc & Key’Let’s N-Screen the ClassroomDear Mr. Pontefract - I Need a Connected Learning PlatformGreat Work Interview - Flat Army & Michael Bungay StanierHigher Education & Budgets: Collaborative or Not?

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It’s the weekend and I’m in a giving mood. If you would like a free copy of Flat Army, please leave a comment below. First 8 to respond will get a book. 705 total views, 1 views today Dan's Related Posts:10 Free Copies of Flat Army … Participate to WinAnnouncing the Front Cover of Flat ArmyDownload Chapter 1 for Free - Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged…The 10 Winners of Flat Army Copies Are …Connected Leader Attributes Graphic from Flat Army

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In 2012, Peter Aceto, the President and CEO of ING DIRECT - a Canadian bank with 1.78 million customers and over $38 billion in assets - delivered a speech where he waxed lyrical about being a social CEO. Two points come to mind from that speech. Early on in the talk, Peter said, "I believe we are at the confluence of two revolutions - a social revolution and a technology revolution." He went on to say later in the speech, "How people work and make decisions is not new, however, technology and social networks has allowed this type of sharing to happen faster, with a broader group of people and outside of traditional boundaries." Did I mention Peter is a President and a Chief Executive Officer of a bank? It’s time to help the C-Suite - aside from Peter Aceto and other learning savvy and employee engagement focused C-Suite leaders - to appreciate and understand that organizations don’t do training anymore. Sure, for the purists and traditionalists in the learning space who are hell-bent to ensure the ‘sage on the stage’ continues, I’m certain they will scoff at the very mention of trying to erase the term training from Oxford’s illustrious dictionary. But it is my argument learning professionals must help the C-Suite understand that training is merely an event and that learning must now be defined as a connected, collaborative and continuous process. Learning can happen in formal, informal, social, non-formal and experiential ways but it does not solely happen - as is traditionally defined in C-Suite circles - as training. That is, we must help re-educate (and coach) C-Suite executives.  Learning is not merely a classroom event or an eLearning course, and training isn’t learning. As my colleague Dennis Callahan once wrote, "learning happens everywhere not somewhere." I liken it to what I call ‘pervasive learning’. John Hagel, Co-Chairman at the Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation and author of several books including The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion, also tends to agree. "I am struck by the fact that," he said to me in an interview, "when I broach the subject of talent development with C-level executives, they almost invariably have two reactions: this is about training programs and that’s the responsibility of our HR Department." John went on to say, "as a result, they tend to view it as an expense item and it tends to be one of the first things cut in times of pressure." Jane Hart, founder and principal of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, says, "formal training has been the standard way of developing people for so long now that it has just become accepted practice that this is the way things are done." She went on in our interview to assert, "we do know from studies, however, that senior managers don’t really believe formal training brings significant rewards, so many retain their training departments because they are expected to do so." If the C-Suite thinks talent development is solely about training — a term with which we now abhor — and they leave it to Human Resources (or the Learning Department within HR) to execute, yet the Learning Department itself is there delivering formal courses because ‘that’s how it’s always been done’, it’s no wonder the C-Suite’s view is that learning is in fact training. HR and/or the Learning Department aren’t doing anything to change the fixed mindset of the C-Suite on the definition of learning in the first place so how could they possibly change their own views? It’s not as though the C-Suite spends a lot of time thinking about this particular issue. And, if the C-Suite believes training equates to a fixed expense line item (think external vendors, T&E, muffins in the classroom, etc.) and the organization happens to run into a quarterly budget or financial issue, it’s no wonder they immediately think, "cut the training". Jenny Dearborn is the CLO at SuccessFactors and SAP Cloud and sees a disconnect between the definition of learning in the organization and how the C-Suite actually learned things themselves before they got to the C-Suite. She said to me, "if you ask anyone in the C-Suite what was their most impactful and career advancing learning or development experience, it would not be a formal training course or even their formal education or degree program." She didn’t stop there with the irony dripping. "Their career-changing learning experience was a job rotation, stretch assignment, or special project," she passionately added, "and the coaching and mentoring that went along with it on-the-job to ensure professional growth and success." Jenny is right. The irony with the C-Suite is they think training is simply an event and thus an expense, yet their own best learning experience has most likely come from the informal, non-formal or social learning opportunities she so deftly outlined above. In the summer 2013 issue of MITSloan Management Review Magazine, an article appeared entitled, "The Executive’s Role in Social Business". The piece provides a fabulous point for learning leaders to contemplate: "Adopting social technologies can often mean changing the way people work, and that means leaders need to invest time and effort in explaining the purpose and value of the new tools as well as providing the necessary financial and organizational support to sustain these workflow changes over time." What can learning leaders contemplate? They need to invest the time and effort explaining how important our new definition of learning is to the C-Suite itself. Jane Hart runs a survey every year entitled, "Learning in the Workplace". The 2013 results with over 600 participants continue my premise that learning in the organization is shifting to a combination of formal, informal and social yet learning professionals aren’t doing much to help the C-Suite understand the importance of the shift. In fact, I believe they are abetting the current situation. Jane reports that 68 per cent of those working in HR or L&D consider formal training and eLearning "to be of little or no value for them in the workplace." Now that’s ironical. When cloud-based learning organization Skillsoft surveyed 503 CEOs of organizations with greater than 250 employees across 13 business sectors, quite frankly I was shocked at the results. For example, 42 per cent of the CEOs interviewed remarked "the length of a course was a more important deciding factor than its content." Also from the report was that the "measurable return on investment from training mattered most to only seven per cent of respondents." The good news? It seems as though the C-Suite doesn’t care if the training has ROI but the bad news is they still think the content comes in the form of a course, regardless of whether it’s short (42 per cent) or not short (58 per cent). But the C-Suite still thinks that learning is training, right? And the HR or L&D Department is doing everything they can to help them shift their mindset, right? If, as the ASTD remarks, "U.S. firms spend $1,067 per employee (about 2.7% of the entire staffing budget) to provide employees with an average of 32 hours of training programs annually," how might we switch from a total number of courses and hours of training programs mindset to one that incorporates more of the informal and social learning mechanisms that actually make up a pervasive learning model? I argue we ignore Woodrow Wilson who once said, "If you want to make enemies, try to change something." Let’s prove his quote wrong and instead help the C-Suite understand learning need not be trapped in a box or a classroom or an LMS. It need not solely be considered a line item budget cost. It needs  to incorporate the entire cadre of learning offerings, options and opportunities. John Hagel followed up our conversation with some very sage advice. He believes we need a "holistic approach embracing [the] physical environment, virtual environment and management systems - everything that shapes the environment that we work in." His belief is there are few C-Suite executives who understand that "the most powerful form of learning and talent development occurs in the day-to-day, on-the-job work environment and that it is directly tied to tangible performance improvement in the metrics that matter." It’s time for the HR and Learning Departments to take the proverbial bull by the horns and help the C-Suite understand that the organization doesn’t simply conduct training anymore. Jenny Dearborn also provides us with similar sage counsel. She often asks her C-Suite peers to think back to their own career and determine the most impactful development experience they might have experienced. Jenny says, "100 per cent of the time they say a special project, committee, stretch assignment, or a mentor."  She will then ask her C-Suite peers to think about how best to put structure around those types of informal experiences so it can scale to support their entire business. "Then I lead them down the logic path that points to social and collaborative learning - then they get it," she concluded. Jane Hart wants us to think about Silicon Valley start-ups where they "treat learning in a very different way - and usually adopt very social collaborative approaches to learning and working." Oh, and what about Peter Aceto? Why don’t you visit him on Twitter (@ceo_ingdirect) or his open blog at blog.ingdirect.ca. I can assure you his open, collaborative leadership style he demonstrates externally is equally reciprocated behind the firewall of ING Direct and that he believes learning happens everywhere not somewhere. The combination of social and informal learning alongside new collaborative technologies has created a sharing culture at ING Direct. He is a C-Suite leader who fully embraces ‘pervasive learning’. What actions are you going to take to re-educate your C-Suite? <Originally published to CLO Magazine, November 2013 Edition>   Dan's Related Posts:Learning by OsmosisThe Social C-Suite5 Use Cases for a Corporate YouTube in OrganizationsWhy You Must Define the So-What of LearningWhere Does Leadership of Social Media Lie?

November 17th, 2013 marks my 5-year anniversary since joining TELUS; an organization where I’ve held the position Head of Learning and Collaboration throughout the past half decade of employment. Over the course of those five years I’ve witnessed a remarkable evolution in the culture, not the least of which is the increase in employee engagement … from 53% to 81% (Editor’s Note: now 83% as of Nov 8, 2013) and denoted by AON Hewitt as in "the top 1% globally". In 2013, TELUS was inducted into Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures Hall of Fame, a distinction it shares with only five other organizations, and an event I attended oozing pride. If you’re reading this, you may know a bit about me and my passion for three things: connected and open-based leadership; pervasive learning; and collaborative technologies. These are the central themes to Flat Army, of course, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise.  It’s this Venn diagram that has made up my overarching work over the past five years at TELUS. I am so deeply proud of the entire TELUS team — inclusive of the Learning and Collaboration team — and what has been accomplished. It’s a culture prototype for many organizations, although I am obviously biased. Amongst other key ingredients like the TELUS community programs and the "give where we live" philosophy, the internal ‘Bravo’ recognition program, the TELUS Work Styles initiative (proving a flexible work style can be successful in an $11 billion organization) … I’m not sure there is a better organization to work for on the planet. Which is why we’re hiring my replacement. Odd, I know. Why change? After five years, TELUS has decided to not only replace me — where the successful candidate will be expected to continue to work with the entire TELUS team, fixated on the mission of keeping the organization at as high a level of engagement as is possible — it is venturing into new territory. And if you thought I was leaving TELUS, dream on. At some point in the very near future, TELUS will be launching an initiative known as "TELUS Transformation Office" (or TTO for short) where it intends to help organizations who might be seeking assistance with the various aspects of organizational culture change, adoption, transformation, and so on. Whether an organization is looking to improve its overarching leadership model, career development strategy, flexible work style/telecommuting options, digital/collaborative technology readiness, learning model or even its onboarding and induction programs … TELUS will begin providing various services to help. What has this got to do with me? In a nutshell, I’m being provided the opportunity to lead it. I appreciate various conversations I’ve had with many people — from job opportunities to career advice — but it lead me to staying at TELUS and launching a new venture. Which is why we’re hiring my replacement. I get to continue being a ‘practicing futurist‘, speak, write books/articles/etc and (now) help other organizations who might want or need some help. So, two things to conclude with: If you are interested to learn more about TTO … drop me a line over on my TELUS email address If you are interested in becoming the Head of Learning and Collaboration at TELUS, check out this posting  (and yes, I will still be involved in internal matters at TELUS, and I most certainly will provide mentoring and counsel to the new gal/guy) "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." Winston Churchill   Dan's Related Posts:An Infographic Depicting Learning & Collaboration in ActionFavourite Posts of 2013 That I Wrote & PublishedRethinking the Work of LeadershipThere is Nothing More to Say in 2011 … but ThanksKudos Jacques Godin, an Engaged Air Canada Employee

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It wasn’t long into a trip from Vancouver to Washington, DC when my female seatmate asked the flight attendant for a glass of white wine. Departure time was 9:00am. AM = ante meridian or as I like to say, "aromatic meritage". By 10:00am she was on her third glass and by half past the hour the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc bottle was no more. I asked myself if airlines recycle. I also wondered if I might have to perform CPR or at least donate my ‘sickness bag’. But where would I spit out my gum? Aghast, I ironically suggested to her — after removing my earbuds and pausing Arcade Fire’s Reflektor ("it’s a reflection, of a reflection, of a reflection", etc.) — that she should try the Italian Pinot Grigio next. So she did. I can’t make this stuff up. It was at this precise moment that I sought out some inspiration. At least a distraction from the Rob Ford cousin next to me. (Surely, you’ve heard) Perhaps I needed a little break from the constant waving interruption of a bottle being poured. I needed to divert my attention from the saucy tornado guzzling vino lady beside me drinking as if the apocalypse was upon us. I flipped open the Kobo app on my iPad. There it was. A book I forgot about but knew I had to read. I mean c’mon, if Dave Gray says "she’s funny as hell" I’m in. Besides, there were no empty seats in business class so I was stuck with what’s her name. Fellow Northwest resident Jessica Hagy and I — she’s in Seattle and I’m in Vancouver, and no she’s not the drunk beside me — have never met, but I’ve always enjoyed lurking around her work, be it Forbes, New York Times or even her blog. She’s quirky, insightful and can tell it like it is in cartoons, pictures, doodles or charts. (Yes, she uses words too …. sometimes) The prose I’m referring to is "How To Be Interesting (In 10 Simple Steps)" and it’s unlike any book I’ve read before. (Editor’s note: Dan has only read two books - Flat Army and The Giving Tree) ©Jessica Hagy | Workman Publishing Company First off, it’s light. No, not because I read it as a weightless digital file but because it’s her thoughts and only her thoughts. There are no references whatsoever — no research papers to attribute and nary a single statistic to surface — and there are no stories, quotes or interviews. She wants you to be interesting but if you’re interested in being interesting — see what I did there? — you’ll have to keep interested in her own personal interests of being interesting. (I’ll stop now, but forgive me … the lady beside was a wino whacko) It is written counter to Flat Army. I have a lot of stats, research bits and stories. I was confused at first, but then I got it. It’s Jessica. It’s all Jessica. Her tact is to mix short, specific sentences — often witty, always pertinent, sometimes provocative — with touching, comedic and thoughtful graphics, alongside some larger size bumper sticker-esque slogans in an attempt to persuade you to be — wait for it — more interesting. It’s doodling life lessons. She never once used, "don’t worry, be happy" either. That got points from the Bobby McFerrin hate club. (Editor’s note: Dan loves  a cappella) Her plotline focused on ten simple steps. They are: ©Jessica Hagy | Workman Publishing Company 1) Go Exploring 2) Share What You Discover 3) Do Something, Anything 4) Embrace Your Weirdness (Editor’s note: she had Dan at embrace) 5) Have a Cause 6) Minimize The Swagger (Editor’s note: I think she hates the Fonz) 7) Give It a Shot 8) Hop Off the Bandwagon 9) Grow a Pair (Editor’s note: ummm …) 10) Ignore the Scolds I read her book in about 45 minutes. It was the same amount of time it took my seatmate to ingest the rest of the Pinot Grigio bottle, but hey, who’s counting? (Editor’s note: that’s two bottles in 135 minutes) Truthfully and in all seriousness, I loved "How To Be Interesting". It was full not only of sage advice but of a-ha moments. I thought I might already be performing many of her suggestions so perhaps it was more of a needed affirmation — not because of my now highly intoxicated seatmate but due to the past few years of tough change management actions I’ve encountered and initiated both personally and professionally. Her book spoke to me. (Editor’s note: can books speak?) ©Jessica Hagy | Workman Publishing Company It’s not only a wise piece of prose, it’s got gumption. It’s got punch. It makes you think. It inspires you to think differently. It ensures you contemplate singing out loud and not simply by yourself in the shower. (Editors note: don’t sing out loud if you shower with your wife) That’s what a good book should deliver. It needs to make you do things differently. It at least needs to be contemplative. Some will scoff. A few will coin it fridge magnet material. I disagree. Buy it. At least gift it to someone. (Editor’s note: not Dan, he bought it already) Nice writing and doodling Jessica. Thank you for putting yourself out there. It was very ‘interesting’. (Editor’s note: just stop) Is there white wine in the fridge honey? I’ve developed a wine pang for some odd reason. Dan's Related Posts:Favourite Books of 2013 That I ReadAnnouncing the Full Book Cover Jacket of Flat ArmyAfter Five Years In My Role We’re Hiring My Replacement. Are You Interested?Is George Siemens Right? Social Media is like Letters to the EditorI Wrote a 90,000 Word Book Entirely in Evernote