Some highlights that jumped out for me:

72% of organisations believe that learning technologies will help them respond faster to changing business conditions. For example: by increasing the sharing of good practice and to support organisational change.

In house social networks are not rising as fast as expected, however 41% are using 3rd party social networks in L&D. (up from 11% in 2010) However this growth may be due to experimentation.

The top barrier to adoption of learning technologies is the skills, knowledge and confidence to adopt new ways of learning.

This is open until May 14th so please feel free to contribute your views on how you think social media can (or not) support face to face coaching

Full information on this can be found in the post below  and here’s a link that will take you to the questionnaire

Click here

My next step will be analysis.

The purpose of my research is to investigate the extent to which social media tools and materials are currently being used to support face to face coaching, within the context of private, public or voluntary organisations.

The research objectives are to:

1. Identify whether social media tools and materials are being used by coaches to support face to face coaching

2. Explore which social media tools and materials are being used by coaches and how they are being used to support face to face coaching

3. Investigate perceived outcomes, benefits and disadvantages of using social media tools and materials to support face to face coaching

4. Investigate the barriers to using social media tools and materials to support face to face coaching

5. Formulate recommendations for ways in which social media tools and materials could be used to support face to face coaching

I would like to invite you to participate in this research by completing a short questionnaire. This should only take between 10-20 minutes to complete. You will not be identifiable in any resulting reports, articles or publications, unless you expressly wish to be

More Information about this research and what’s involved can be viewed here

I hope that the resulting written work (which I will share) will highlight ways in which social media tools are/could be used by internal and external coaches to support face to face coaching in an organisational setting.

In addition I hope that information shared about perceived benefits, barriers and disadvantages will be useful in raising potential issues and informing and enhancing future coaching practice.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me

Thank you

The purpose of this research is to investigate the extent to which social media tools and materials are currently being used by internal or external coaches to support face to face coaching in an organisational context. The organisation may be public, private or voluntary.

Specifically within the context of the organisation, the objectives of this research are to:

1. Identify whether social media tools and materials are being used by coaches to support face to face coaching

2. Explore which social media tools and materials are being used by coaches and how they are being used to support face to face coaching

3. Investigate perceived outcomes, benefits and disadvantages of using social media tools and materials to support face to face coaching

4. Investigate the barriers to using social media tools and materials to support face to face coaching

5. Formulate recommendations for ways in which social media tools and materials could be used to support face to face coaching

They include; Cloud computing, mobile applications and media tablets and video.

I found it interesting how they have categorised social communications and collaboration technologies which is also on the list as follows

Social Networking: social profile management such as Facebook, LinkedIn

Social Collaboration: such as wikis, blogs, collaborative office

Social publishing: “technologies that assist communities in pooling individual content into a usable and community accessible content repository” such as YouTube and Flikr

Social Feedback: “gaining feedback and opinion from the community on specific items” such as  Del.icio.us, YouTube and Amazon

I wonder what’s missing?

“Gartner predicts that by 2016, social technologies will be integrated with most business applications. Companies should bring together their social CRM, internal communications and collaboration, and public social site initiatives into a coordinated strategy”

Here they are

itunes; for syncs to my iphone and ipad as well as access to music

Tweetdeck and twitter; a great way to keep up to date, share with others and engage in conversations

Google search; to search and filter on the web

WordPress; for blogging and engaging in conversations

Facebook; for keeping in touch with family and close colleagues. Mostly use this via my mobile

igoogle; my personalised homepage where I can easily access resources I use on a regular basis as well as my reader

Mobileme; for backup of contacts &  diary as well as an extra email address

Ning; for setting up and participation in various groups. Am just exploring transfering over to grou.ps since free access to ning is due to end soon

Firefox; web browser

Google groups; have used this a lot for workplace groups when other providers have been blocked by organisations

Other tools that I use regularly are googlemaps, LinkedIn, Youtube, google earth, GPS, microsoft office and outlook.

I’ve recently started using some other tools which I think by the end of the year will be higher up my list. They are Dropbox, Docs to go, pages and keynote.

“an explosion of capacity thrust into the hands of people worldwide, the instrument not only for the greatest outburst of creativity and self-expression ever seen, but also of the greatest autonomy and self-determination, and as well on top of that an unparalleled mechanism for cooperation and cohesion”

“the meaning of the internet boils down to a simple utility. One person, one voice. The freedom of each of us to form and to have and to share our own thoughts, created by us, contributed freely to the world, and a society built, not on the basis of a propagation of ideas, but rather, on the basis of a gathering of them.”

Here are some reflections and key points that I have taken away from the session run by Charles Jennings.

When working is learning then learning is working

The seller sets the price but the buyer/stakeholder determines the value. People have different views of what value is.

For L&D, performance consulting yields the greatest value

If HR and L&D strategy are aligned to business objectives then there will be a 250% increase in business performance

When designing, analysis is key

It’s all about trust when working with managers

Understand business challenges and respond quickly. This reminds me of Mark Oelhert‘s quotes from the conference in January. “Think big, start small, move fast”

Workforce development is too important to be left to L&D alone. Engage managers in the journey. Build strong collaborative partnerships and influence strategies and direction

The most significant learning experiences happen outside of the formal environment

L&D professionals need to understand the balance sheet, understand business, understand the technology and use performance consulting skills

As much as I’d like things to move faster, I’ve found that leading change in the real world takes lots of time, empathy  and patience.  The following list is a combination of pragmatic suggestions (perhaps some are wishes!) based on my reality of working in organisations over a number of years.

There is a mainstreaming of much of the under the wire activity that is happening at the moment

Mobile learning is becoming the norm in line with increasing flexible working

Performance and outcomes become even bigger drivers in L&D and OD

More L&D professionals and departments merge with OD and rebrand themselves as business partners, performance specialists and business consultants.

The LMS is dying (but not dead!)

There is more acceptance in organisations of the need to offer flexibility and choice to learners. The pressure of PULL is taking hold

More value is placed on user generated content and awarding bodies enable this to be included in qualification routes

Social media is embedded and widely used in many organisation

There is a rise in shared HR services and this helps to drive the wider use of technology to enhance learning and performance

Face to face workshops are still offered as part of a blended solution

Wider organisational talent is harnessed and there is more collaborative working between managers and L&D business partners to find innovative solutions to business challenges

The sunshine comes out from behind the clouds but data security is still a big issue

Online performance coaching is the norm

Coaches and coachees embrace the use of informal mentors (via social media) to enhance the coaching experience

A few stats mentioned;

Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30-years-old

96% of them have joined a social network

Years to Reach 50 millions Users:  Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…

2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction

Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate

The ROI of social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years