The title of Chapter 10 is "Tools, Rules and the Jewels of Being a Flat Army Leader" This 94 second video snippet sees me (Dan Pontefract) describe the background to Chapter 10 of the book Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. Collaborative technologies should not be frowned upon as a Flat Army leader. In fact, they should be endorsed and heavily utilized. I describe three brackets of tools (Converse, Content and Context) to aid in the Flat Army quest. Related Posts:Flat Army: Chapter 11 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 12 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 6 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 5 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 9 Overview

Thanks to the power of planetary physics and NASA's viz team, you can watch New Horizons pass by Pluto on your computer right now. The post Watch: Here’s What New Horizons’ Pluto Flyby Will Look Like appeared first on WIRED.

In advance of the book actually publishing, I’m releasing the dedication: Enigma Some men are born to gather women’s tears, To give a harbour to their timorous fears, To take them as the dry earth takes the rain, As the dark wood the warm wind from the plain; Yet their own tears remain unshed, Their own tumultuous fears unsaid, And, seeming steadfast as the forest and the earth Shaken are they with pain. They cry for voice as earth might cry for the sea Or the wood for consuming fire; Unanswered they remain Subject to the sorrows of women utterly— Heart and mind, Subject as the dry earth to the rain Or the dark wood to the wind. —Duncan Campbell Scott For Denise: May you continue to catch my tears and debunk my fears. For all the years. You prove the paradox wrong. Related Posts:We Are All BostonLearn-kuFor Don …dan pontefractWordle Graphic of Flat Army

Flipped Classroom (sometimes called flipped teaching) is an approach to education that blends both online instruction and offline learning. Generally in Flipped Classrooms the online learning is done with videos and quizzes offered offline and this gives the teacher more time to spend engaging directly with learners in activities and exercises during class. It earned […]

Facebook's head of security is the latest to join the chorus calling for the death of Adobe Flash. The post Facebook’s Security Chief Says Adobe Flash Must Die appeared first on WIRED.

The title of Chapter 11 is "Flat Army in Action" This 90 second video snippet sees me (Dan Pontefract) describe the background to Chapter 11 of the book Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. There are some organizations that are already ‘Flat Army’ in nature, and there are a few that aren’t. In this chapter, I dissect a few and indicate whether they’re worthy of the Flat Army badge or not. Related Posts:Flat Army: Chapter 12 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 10 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 9 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 5 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 6 Overview

Topic: Build 21st Century Skills in Media Literacy in Your Classroom Date and time: Wednesday, 4th September, 2013 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM US/Pacific Description: Are you still feeling challenged to provide your students with the domains identified for 21st century learners, yet at a loss for how to begin? Integrating media literacy into your […]

Barring HDMI cable contortions, this is for people who only want to watch television on the smallest screens they own. The post Comcast’s Streaming Service Sounds as Bad as You’d Expect appeared first on WIRED.

The Social C-Suite By Dan Pontefract for CLO Magazine Among the 47,361 employees surveyed in 120 countries worldwide, Gallup - a research-based performance-management consulting company - pegs the percentage of employees who are engaged at 11 percent. In Canada employee engagement creeps up to 20 percent and in the United States it’s slightly better at 28 percent. BlessingWhite, a competitor to Gallup, indicates only 33 percent of North Americans and 30 percent of European-based employees are in fact engaged in their place of work. To be engaged - whether for Gallup, BlessingWhite or any other HR consulting firm - is for an employee to feel a part of the organization, like she wants to go the extra mile, is willing to stay and will recommend her place of employment - and products and services - to others. In short, the state of employee engagement is still a troubling if not puzzling organizational predicament. Is the use of internal social media and social learning helping to drive up employee engagement? Should the C-Suite become more involved in social? How does the use of social by the C-Suite affect adoption of social learning in the organization? Is it the CLO’s responsibility? In a 2012 study conducted and sponsored by Domo and CEO.com, the researchers found that 70 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs had no social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Google Plus. Interestingly, 26 percent of them had a LinkedIn profile whereas only 4 percent were on Twitter. BRANDfog - an external consulting firm - conducted a survey in 2012 and discovered when members of the C-Suite began engaging in external social media (like Twitter, Facebook, etc.) there was a correlation to their consumer’s level of trust. The company found that 82 percent of consumers would be more trusting of a company if their C-Suite were active in external social media. And venerable powerhouse IBM conducted research with over 1,700 CEO’s across 64 countries in their landmark report entitled, "2012 Global CEO Study" where a key theme emerged. 75 percent of CEO’s believed collaboration was the number one attribute that they were seeking in their employee base. What am I getting at? If we were to borrow from Winston Churchill, it seems we’re nearing the ‘end of the beginning’ of social in the enterprise, both internally and externally. It’s slowly happening but there isn’t widespread use by the C-Suite. What if we were to see the C-Suite increase their use of social media both externally and internally? Would it address organizational competence? What I believe it comes down to is that the C-Suite should be adapting their leadership style to incorporate social as a way in which to both give back their knowledge to the organization and to endorse collaborative-based practices that enrich the various depths of employee competence. It’s not happening enough, and it needs to change. I believe there are a few reasons why social inside the organization isn’t happening by the C-Suite. Time management is a big one. If you’re a CEO, CIO, CFO, CHRO amongst other Chief titles, chances are you’re busy and may think you don’t have time to ‘do social’. The Executive Time Use Project found C-Suite members spend 55 hours per week at work. It’s their past leadership style, however, that got them to the C-Suite in the first place, so there is an argument of C-Suite perception to be made that those 55 hours a week has no room to include ‘social’ … wrong as that perception may be. Fear is another reason. Specifically fear of failure and a fear of being open. India-based HR social consultant Guatam Ghosh said to me, "the C-Suite needs to stop thinking of the boundaries as opaque walls - both internally and externally. Think of them as porous, translucent membranes. Be ready to fail. Remember, it’s a world of flows." In other words, the C-Suite should get over their fears of failure, openness and tentativeness in order to partake in the flow. One other issue that may be causing this dearth of C-Suite social participation is the misperception of it being a time waster. McKinsey Global Institute, however, finds the opposite to be true. After analyzing over 4,200 companies, McKinsey found in 2012 that if social technologies were to be used more effectively in the workplace, $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in total value would be garnered by these companies. In fact the report suggested social technologies in the organization demonstrated "improved communications and collaboration within and across enterprises." Is that really what we call ‘time wasting’? When we’re communicating and collaborating, aren’t we in fact sharing knowledge which then might increase organization competence? Ryan Holmes is the CEO of HootSuite - a social media management system that executes campaigns across multiple social networks from a web-based dashboard - and who believes (rather obviously) that social media is an important asset inside and outside the organization. In a 2012 Fast Company article titled, The $1.3 Trillion Price Of Not Tweeting At Work he penned, Holmes stated, "Social technologies have the potential to free up expertise trapped in departmental silos. High-skill workers can now be tapped company-wide." I asked Ryan what the overarching benefit of social is for the C-Suite and he said, "I believe that social media is the new water cooler, in the sense that more and more people are talking, sharing stories and generally bonding through social channels like Facebook and Twitter. In this way, social media is like an ongoing team building exercise. When C-Suite members join that conversation, they become more in touch with their employees and only then can they use those channels to drive internal engagement." This leads us nicely to the three corrective actions the C-Suite must now take. 1)      Get Social 2)      Utilize CARE 3)      Be Real Get Social There is no excuse. The C-Suite must get on the social train. As a first step, the C-Suite must ensure the organization is well equipped to utilize social technologies inside the organization. Ask your employees if there are any tools like blogging, micro-blogging, video sharing or photo sharing being used inside the organization. If not, draft a cross functional team, including the learning team, to begin bringing these tools into the organization. Afterward, the C-Suite must begin utilizing these tools to connect, collaborate and communicate with its employee-base. The C-Suite can start easy with a few micro-blog posts (think Twitter) and then eventually graduate to full-blown blog posts and video sharing snippets. Share knowledge. Recognize someone. Better yet, they can point to fabulous external sources of information and learning. The next step is to think about using external facing social tools, but they should focus first on their own internal engagement, knowledge sharing and silo-busting inside the organization. I asked Alan Lepofsky, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc what the benefits of ‘being social’ were for the C-Suite and the organization and he honed in on openness. "Traditional organizational structures are removed," said Alan, "and executives can have conversations with people they otherwise would rarely have the opportunity to interact with." Alan believes bi-directional conversation is an important cultural trait in the organization and the C-Suite should begin to use social software to communicate important company information - such as sharing their corporate vision and strategy - or to solicit process improvements and innovative ideas. "Just like in personal relationships, communication is the key to success - and an organization that communicates well is one where you’ll find happier and more motivated employees," said Alan. In my opinion, Alan is right and the C-Suite simply needs to ‘Get Social’. Utilize CARE In my book, Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization (Wiley) I introduce something called the Participative Leader Framework. Within this model is the CARE principle where I argue a leader must demonstrate the holistic behaviours of being Continuous, Authentic, Reciprocal and Educating (CARE) throughout the organization at all times. This principle can be adapted to the use of social tools inside the organization by the C-Suite as well. Once tools like micro-blogging, wikis, video sharing, virtual worlds and blogging are up and running inside the organization, the C-Suite not only needs to utilize the tools, she has a responsibility to continuously post and connect to others, while being truly authentic in her contributions. She must reciprocate and not merely lurk. Perhaps the CLO might even institute a way in which to measure levels of reciprocity in the organization? Who is contributing versus merely consuming?  At all times she should be using social tools as a way to educate those around him. IBM Social Business Strategist Rawn Shah, (and Forbes.com blogger) believes ‘responsiveness’ and ‘supportiveness’ are also key attributes. Both align nicely to the CARE principle outlined above. Shah said to me in an interview, "the C-Suite needs to be ready to respond to employee questions regardless of rank in a timely manner whenever possible. It shows they are willing to pay attention to detail and the needs of employees." He went on to say the C-Suite should choose "to support individual employee’s messages shared in public or widely seen internal social spaces when they help to promote the activities and messages of their area of business." Shah indicated this would demonstrate an unsolicited level of support and endorsement. It sounds pretty good to me. Be Real If the C-Suite is on the social train and can employ CARE, responsiveness and supportiveness attributes, there is also the need to ‘be real’. Kevin Akeroyd is the Senior Vice-President of Field Operations at Badgeville. He thinks social media and the C-Suite are important for one another, so long as those occupying the Chief seats keep it real. Kevin says, "social isn’t going to be enough unless the C-Suite invests the time in engagement and motivation mechanics to help drive overall happiness at the company." In his experience - through the companies he works with - reputation and status will only go as far as the C-Suite’s ability to be clear about what they’re doing, their level of openness, transparency and ability to keep it real. It’s hard to argue with that. The last thing the C-Suite should be doing is having ghost bloggers or micro-bloggers inside the organization. If they’re on the social train, it better be their voice that is participating and it had better be ‘straight talk’. If the C-Suite thinks it can get away with being a robot or if they believe their internal communications team can act or speak on their behalf, it’s going to come across as real as the Loch Ness monster. In Summary According to a study by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte released in May 2012, "55 percent of shoppers share their purchases on Facebook" while "98 percent of shoppers say that online customer reviews have a major influence on their decision to purchase a product or service," It went on to report that "68 percent of shoppers rate and review products on a regular basis." When I look at data points like this, I mentally muse about the organization. What if the C-Suite increased their participation with internal social tools like blogs, micro-blogging, commenting and videos to mimic what consumers and shoppers are doing? What if they openly encouraged their employees to behave in this manner as well - transparently and freely inside the organization? Would we see better spikes in employee engagement, collaboration, knowledge sharing and organizational competence? I think this is something every Chief Learning Officer out there needs to take on as a challenge. CLO’s could become the social change agent for the entire C-Suite. I’m willing to go out on a limb and argue - as is Ryan Holmes - the more participative the C-Suite becomes with social media and employees the more engaged the organization will become. And once the organization is engaged, levels of trust, competence, intellect and productivity will swell. That can only be a good thing when it comes to customer satisfaction and profitability, right? Originally published to CLO Magazine. Related Posts:5 Use Cases for a Corporate YouTube in OrganizationsGoing Forward to the Past: Management Yahooliganism &…Flexible Working WorksLearning With and From Others: Restructuring Budgets for…Where Does Leadership of Social Media Lie?

Comcast may soon offer fiber Internet connections twice as fast as Google Fiber. But it'll cost you. The post Comcast’s Google Fiber Rival Will Be Laughably Expensive appeared first on WIRED.

A few months back, I had created an interactive eBook for iPad using different tools like Adobe InDesign, Adobe Edge Animate, Adobe Presenter, Adobe Captivate, Adobe Photoshop, and Digital Publishing Suite, and wish I could add a few more tools to this list… LOL To be true, I had no experience whatsoever to create InDesign […]

The title of Chapter 12 is "The Culture Quest of Flat Army" This 90 second video snippet sees me (Dan Pontefract) describe the background to Chapter 12 of the book Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. How do you actually roll out ‘Flat Army’ in your team or in your organization? Chapter 12 focuses solely on this aspect. Related Posts:Flat Army: Chapter 11 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 10 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 9 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 5 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 6 Overview

In a landmark 2007 paper published in the Journal of Applied Psychology called "The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown About Telecommuting: Meta-Analysis of Psychological Mediators and Individual Consequences", authors Ravi Gajendran and David Harrison of the Department of Management and Organization at Pennsylvania State University dispelled the notion that working from home was bad for business or bad for employee morale. It’s a paper I’m certain the internet company Yahoo! failed to read when they recently announced all 12,000+ employees had to begin working from Yahoo! offices 100 percent of the time effective June 2013. What did Gajendran and Harrison prove? Through the review and analysis of 46 individual studies that featured 12,883 employees, these researchers determined working from home demonstrated seven positive outcomes: Employees had greater control over their environment proving causality to increased results and productivity Due to less face-to-face interaction between the manager and the employee, the quality of their interactions actually increased The balance of life and work - allowing for the flexibility of life’s curveballs and family matters - extended their wishes to do a good job With an increase in autonomy came an increase in job retention and satisfaction Stress was reduced due to a decrease in commuting, money on lunches and business attire Commitment to the company increased - what we might call a likelihood to stay - due to the work from home option Distractions decreased and performance increased whilst managers shifted their adjudication on results versus face-time I’ve noted previously that I’m a ‘Corporate Floater’ working wherever the wind takes me. This geographic flexibility sees me working from home roughly 50 percent of the time. The other 50 percent sees me in meeting rooms, hoteling stations, hotels, airplanes, lounges and coffee shops. (I prefer an extra-hot double shot 8oz decaf latte if you must know) Through my travels I am constantly plugged in, constantly in touch with everyone and anyone. When I think back to the research of Gajendran and Harrison, I often smile. Why? Because for me personally, they are absolutely right. If I was shackled to a desk or an office 100 percent of the time, there is not a chance I’d be as motivated, engaged or productive as I am in my life today. I might not even use the collaborative technologies available to me as much as I do today. I am a direct leader of 25 people strong and an indirect leader in an organization of 40,000 across many time-zones and countries. If I didn’t have the flexibility to work from home I don’t believe I’d be the leader, employee or performer I am today. As the Head of Learning and Collaboration I’m very interested (obviously, you might say) in employee engagement. Our team has an employee engagement score of 96 percent. Each of the team members has an opportunity to work from home whether it’s a little or a lot. Each of those employees use our collaborative technologies to be productive and to get their objectives accomplished. Employee engagement across my entire organization is 80 percent and we’re on a quest to see 70 percent of the organization working from home on a part or full-time basis by 2015. Did I mention we had over five million social interactions in 2012 through our collaborative technologies? I personally believe - and can attest to - the seven positive outcomes outlined by the research above ring true for me, the team I’m a part of as well as the organization I’m employed by. There are many ingredients to creating an engaged team and/or workforce, but one that is crucial is offering a flexible work environment coupled by collaborative technologies. Collaborative tools like virtual worlds, instant messaging, webcams, telepresence, micro-blogging, blogging, video/photo sharing in addition to good ole email helps reinforce connections to continue and productivity to swell. If you believe a ‘work from home’ program can be successful without at least some of the aforementioned tools, you are as misguided as whoever accepts hosting duties at the next Oscars. It is in stark contrast to not only the recent decision made by Yahoo! but by countless organizations who continue to believe a 100 percent work-from-the-office strategy is better for morale, productivity, innovation and collaboration. And let us not forget the corporate bottom line. In 2009, Cisco reported its telecommuting and flexible work environment not only increased productivity and job satisfaction, it saved the company $277 million. Make it your mission to help drive flexible working in your work, and use it as an opportunity to build out your set of collaborative technologies. At that point, you can cheekily say to yourself, "ya, who is working from home today?" Originally posted to IBF Forums. Related Posts:Going Forward to the Past: Management Yahooliganism &…I Am A Corporate FloaterI’m Speaking at the World Business of Leadership…Give Piece a ChanceThe Social C-Suite

If you have been learning through video playlists and always thought: Wouldn’t it be great it I could scribble notes on top of the video? Why not add text in the context of the video I am learning from? Why can’t I go back and forth between videos easily? You are not alone. We believe […]

When Berkeley Breathed shared a photo himself drawing a new strip, people justifiably freaked out. Turns out they didn't have long to wait. The post Ack! After 25 Years, Bloom County is Back appeared first on WIRED.

The title of the Afterword is "In Collaborative Conclusion" This 2-minute video snippet sees me (Dan Pontefract) describe the background to the Afterword of the book Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. This final vignette contains three special guest-star co-hosts. Who might they be? Related Posts:Flat Army: Chapter 11 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 12 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 10 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 9 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 2 Overview

Do you have courses with images or photos that you wanted to edit to make them look better or relevant for your course? Captivate and Photoshop make a powerful combination to put that to work. Here is a free comprehensive 13-hour-course on Photoshop This will teach you the fundamentals of Adobe Photoshop with easy to […]

When the new E-Class senses a crash coming, it triggers a sound to prepare your ears for the much louder noise to come. The post Mercedes Is Using Loud Static to Protect Fancy Ears in Crashes appeared first on WIRED.

I’m proud to let you know Chapter 1 of my first book — Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization — is now available as a free download. The title of the Chapter is "The Mona is So Small!" (it makes more sense when you actually read the chapter) If you missed it, I created a 90-second video outlining Chapter 1 as well. I’d be delighted to hear your thoughts in this space. (aka … leave a comment) If you’re interested to purchase the book, feel free to visit any of the online or onsite shops listed over here. Related Posts:Flat Army: Chapter 1 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 11 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 5 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 6 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 12 Overview

The Dutch city Rotterdam is seriously considering a greener alternative to asphalt called Plastic Road. The post Future Highways Could Be Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles appeared first on WIRED.

It’s no secret that Educators and trainers have been flirting with virtually any solution that will alleviate the doldrum of yet another mind numbing info-dump. Learners hate cycling through countless pages of online reading - only to be challenged with a ‘quiz’ to demonstrate that they’ve either read or already knew everything that was contained […]

Do you receive texts? Seems like an innocuous question, right? According to Portio Research, 7.8 trillion texts were sent in 2011 and 8.6 trillion in 2012. By 2016 they predict earthlings will send almost 10 trillion texts. That’s even more than the total number of complaints Yahoo! employees sent to their HR office this past February. What’s the rule of thumb for answering a text? Is it immediate? Do you feel the urge to answer a text right away because you’ve set your phone settings to vibrate whereas other notifications — like email, Facebook,,etc. — are simply in your to do list queue? Is there any psychology research behind our beliefs in texts versus other forms of digital communication? Have you stopped reading because you’re now answering a text? Research from Kansas University in 2012 suggested young adults weren’t addicted to texting rather they have developed a compulsion. If a text sat unanswered, after four hours it might be deemed useless thus creating the compulsion to answer quickly. I wonder if it’s similar to the delayed gratification ‘marshmallow’ experiment made famous by Walter Mischel.         Sorry for the white space, I had to answer a text. As texting becomes the new email for many of us, do we need to think about textpectations? Why is it for many of us texts feel as though they have to be answered immediately? Perhaps we need to establish textiquette. Or has the text already left the device? Related Posts:I’m Not Scared of Email; I Developed a System called…Year Zero: The Future of Communication Skills in…How did you learn about #OBL? A series of questions.dan pontefractQuora: Questions & Opinions not Questions &…

Warner Bros. has finally released an official version of the teaser that leaked online over the weekend. The post Here’s the Suicide Squad Trailer That Freaked Out Comic-Con appeared first on WIRED.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (the publisher) and I are giving away 10 free copies of my book Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. Hooray! It wouldn’t be in my Flat Army conscience to simply give away the books without some form of collaboration, connection or participation. Sorry. To win a book - and yes, it will be shipped to you directly by Wiley anywhere in the world - write down your thoughts in the comment box below as it relates to this simple question: What is the biggest culture issue facing our organizations today and why? It doesn’t have to be about your organization specifically, if you work for one, and it doesn’t need to name names either. There is no length requirement to your response and you can only enter one comment to be eligible. You can submit a comment up until March 31, 2013. The 10 winners will be selected by me and announced in this space on Monday, April 1, 2013. (no it’s not an April Fool’s joke, I promise you) I’ll enjoy reading the issues and your reasons why. UPDATE: the winners have been selected and books have been shipped. Thanks for participating. 31 total views, 26 views today Related Posts:The 10 Winners of Flat Army Copies Are …Friday Fun: You Don’t Have an Office?Download Chapter 1 for Free - Flat Army: Creating a…Credo of the Collaboration CanoeAnnouncing the Full Book Cover Jacket of Flat Army