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The end of each year provides an opportunity for reflection on the past and preparation for the future. 2009 was quite a year – filled with new challenges and opportunities. But through it all, lessons were learned as people began to navigate through a changed business environment. In our series of Blogs “2009 Reflections,” we will be sharing interviews with Five Star team members who tell what they learned in 2009 and what they are preparing for in 2010.

In this blog post we will be sharing our recent interview with Rick Wagner.

Rick Wagner
Director, Client Services

What has ’09 taught you?
’09 has taught me that we are still finding new ways to apply technology to improve training and performance support. Advancements in video, social media, and online help systems have increased the opportunities to provide employees with the information they need in the format that works best for them.

What is the one big lesson that you learned this year?
In tough economic times the importance of strong relationships with clients, internal teams, and partners becomes that much more vital. The challenge of being even more efficient and finding new ways to achieve our clients’ goals has been hard work, but it has also been very rewarding.

What is your biggest personal accomplishment?
On a personal level, I am very excited that my youngest is now potty trained. Eleven years and four children later, there is no more diaper changing in the Wagner house!

Another big accomplishment was the development of an eCommerce site for the Western Pennsylvania Habitat for Humanity’s largest fundraiser. Five Star helped the Habitat for Humanity raise over $60,000!

What do you believe is Five Star’s biggest accomplishment this year?
From a Client Services standpoint; we were able to add new clients locally and nationally in a tough economic climate.

How are you going to transfer what you learned in 2009 to 2010?
I think 2009 challenged us to really be creative and to do more with less. I hope to continue to challenge myself, our internal team, and our clients to find new and better ways to solve problems. I am very optimistic about 2010!

What do you hope to learn in 2010?
I would like to explore tangible ways to help people perform better at their job and share information with others using social media and other technologies. I think we have only scratched the surface of applying these strategies to workplace performance.

Final thoughts
Is it really 2010 already?

I recently attended a webinar hosted by LearnShare on the topic of “Learning with Social Networking Tools”. In the webinar, Dr. Art Paton of Motorola presented some stories and experiences in creating and sustaining online communities focused on knowledge sharing and learning. The webinar provided some value information on how Motorola has used online communities of practice websites (that leverage Social Media tools) to solve business challenges and deliver measurable results.

In the question-and-answer period of the webinar, an attendee asked a great question: “How did you encourage initial participation in new communities that are created?” I found his response to be very insightful, and worthy of sharing. As new communities of practice are created around specific topics, interests, initiatives, and projects, Motorola employs four best practices to gain and sustain involvement in the community. Below are some of the key points discussed and commentary based on our experiences in similar capacities.

1. Encourage community leaders (people with direct leadership and management responsibilities of the community) to reach out to members to populate the community very quickly. The reason offered for doing this is that people will not see value in joining a community until they start to quickly see the richness and diversity of information they can obtain by joining and participating the community.
2. Encourage the use of initial and ongoing incentives for joining and participating in the community. The types of incentives can vary greatly based on the culture of the organization; however not all incentives have to be monetary in nature. In some cases, featuring or spotlighting good ideas or contributions can be just as or even more powerful as the mighty dollar.
3. After the community has been established, educate and encourage community leaders to consistently encourage members to share ideas and information in the community. At Motorola, they described this as the “Dispatch Mode”. In this mode, the community leaders are encouraged to reconnect with members on a frequent basis to reinforce the value of placing new knowledge and information into the online community. Also, as knowledge is gathered and shared and the community becomes more tacit, the community leader should encourage the community to create more formal training (e-learning, white papers, presentations, etc.) so that they can be distributed throughout the organization.
4. Provide community leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to educate their community members on how to best use the technology available on the community of practice site. People have varying levels of comfort with technology, and often they are unaware of the capabilities of the technology available to them. By educating community leaders (who are often viewed as trusted resources to community members), a larger population of the workforce is able to learn and begin leveraging the value the online community.

A big thank you to Dr. Paton for sharing his experiences!

Recently we have been actively seeking stories from clients and other organizations that have used Social Media to enable learning within their organization. In our discussions, it has become apparent that that the big four Social Media sites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube) are dominating the conversation, and rightfully so. These four sites illustrate the value that Social Media adds to human interaction – each connects people and creates a means for individuals to share and discuss things that are of personal interest.

Many corporations and organizations are using these sites to connect externally with customers, partners, and supplies. However, in our research and conversations it has become quickly apparent that these four sites are being used limitedly within organizations to enable learning and knowledge-sharing between employees. Many factors could be contributing to this, including the security and legal challenges with exposing sensitive information to the general public. Yet, in the face of these challenges, something that organizations must be careful to avoid is dismissing the value that the Social Media “framework” (established by the big four sites) can bring to the learning and knowledge-sharing functions within organizations.

The emergence of Social Media ushers in a new paradigm or way of thinking about learning within organizations. Traditionally, learning and knowledge management have been viewed as functions within organizations that have staff with direct responsibility for their daily management. Although this paradigm still remains mostly intact, the emergence of Social Media has presented organizations with the opportunity to reevaluate how and when learning can take place and who is responsible for creating the content. In short, Social Media provides organizations with a means for enabling learning to occur in real-time between employees using technology that supports human interaction.

Do you have any stories of how your organization is using Social Media to enable learning and knowledge-sharing within your organization? If so, please contact us. We are seeking stories that can be shared in a series of upcoming seminars and research papers.

Content is an extremely valuable asset for organizations; so much so that most have established guidelines and procedures defining how it should be developed and distributed. Yet with the emergence of Social Media, organizations large and small are faced with this question: “How should an organization respond to the prospect that virtually anyone can create and distribute content?”

Ultimately, there are three ways organizations can respond.

1. Ignore it and pretend that it does not exist (sadly, the most common response).
2. Establish strict policies, procedures, and guidelines that drive people away and discourage use.
3. Embrace it and seek ways to effectively implement it.

Unfortunately, most organizations have embraced either the ignore it or over-regulate it path when faced with creating a response to Social Media. However, some organizations, like Sun Microsystems, have responded appropriately by acknowledging the value of Social Media and establishing initial guidelines to establish expectations for using these tools. Let’s take a look at what they have done well.

If you visit www.sun.com/communities/guidelines.jsp you will see that Sun has published its “Guidelines on Public Discourse.” There are three things that become quickly apparent as one reads this note.

1. Sun acknowledges that Social Media tools can change way people work, and people should be using them. In fact, this message becomes obvious as soon as visitors enter the site: “Many of us at Sun are doing work that could change the world. Contributing to online communities by blogging, wiki posting, participating in forums, etc., is a good way to do this. You are encouraged to tell the world about your work, without asking permission first, but we expect you to read and follow the advice in this note.”
2. Sun believes that Social Media has great value in creating and enabling conversations. “Remember the Web is all about links; when you see something interesting and relevant, link to it; you’ll be doing your readers a service, and you’ll also generate links back to you; a win-win.“
3. There is a place for guidelines and acceptable practices in the world of free thought. By offering advice on how to write content, use other people’s content, and discuss company-related issues, Sun establishes a baseline for conduct while giving people the liberty to be themselves.

As you begin to build you Social Media strategy, we would recommend that you check out Sun’s Guidelines and use them as a reference. They have done an excellent job in carefully outlining baseline expectations, while not hindering people from using Social Media. As always, we would like to hear what you think. Use the comments link below to discuss.

So, you have decided to implement Social Media within your organization. Now, what?
By nature, Social Media provides people with resources and tools for accessing information they deem valuable. However, the ability to access this information is not always reason enough to motivate people to adopt and use new Social Media. Knowing this, what steps should you take to get people excited and motivated to start using your new Social Media?

Consider the following as you create an implementation strategy:

1. Identify your application’s purpose and communicate it!
   There are many reasons why people choose to use Social Media, but at the root of it all are three desires: connect with others, build relationships, and create shared communities. What makes Social Media unique among all new technology is its ability to provide people who have similar interests and passions with a way to connect and create shared communities of common interest. As you build your implementation strategy, is it vital that you keep these desires front-of-mind and communicate how your application will either improve or help to remove obstacles hindering people from doing any or all of them.
2. Engage early adopters and share their thoughts with others.
   Engaging people who are already using other Social Media applications or who are early adopters can help you do three things. First, by engaging these people you are able to quickly gather insights into the perceived value of your application so that you can make changes that will benefit the larger population. Next, feedback from these people can be used to actively market the application to others. Most importantly, word-of-mouth recommendations and referrals from these people help to create buzz and raise awareness about your application and its value to others.
3. Don’t forget to engage the big cheese.
   People want to feel that their contributions are of value and that they play an active role in shaping the quality of their own lives and the quality of their future work. Therefore, it goes without saying that if people feel that their contributions are of no value, they will not participate. It is for this reason that getting influential people (like senior leaders and executives) within the organization informed and engaged is so important. A great example of this was illustrated by Bell Canada’s implementation of “ID-ah!” (a Social Media application for gathering and rank ordering ideas for improving the company). Once employees knew that senior leaders of the company were reading the posts and had a sincere desire to implement the best ideas (a total of 12 ideas have been implemented), the adoption and usage of the application rapidly increased.
4. Promote through other technology and think interactive.
   As you actively market and promote your new Social Media, be sure to seek ways to link and promote it on other heavily trafficked sites and resources being used within your organization. For example, if your organization has an Internet site or enterprise portal, look for ways to partner with the owners of these sites. Some ideas include trading links or creating interactive campaigns that “drive” users from their site to yours.

As you roll out new Social Media applications, be sure to focus on these considerations. We would like to learn more about how you are exciting and motivating people in your organization to use new Social Media. Feel free to comment below!

Navigating through many available Social Media technologies can be challenging. The options and types of technologies are endless, and like most technology solutions, finding the best solution to meet your organization’s needs is not easy. Recently, many members of our team read the book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. This book is an excellent resource and provides research and practical recommendations for evaluating and building a Social Media strategy. In today’s post, we will outline the book’s four-step planning process to building a Social Media strategy, as we have found this to be of great value.

When building a Social Media strategy, Li and Bernoff recommend that you use the POST method (People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology) to guide your planning process.

1. People – You must first ask yourself, “What are my customers ready for?” As a first step, it is important that you assess what technologies your customers are currently using. For example, if the majority of your consumers are seeking a way to write reviews and rate other comments, then tools that employ more robust social networking uses might not be necessary or applicable to your audience. The authors offer a tool to help you determine your customers’ profile, for more information click here.
2. Objectives – What are your company’s’ goals? Are you likely to utilize social technologies to achieve marketing objectives or to achieve sales goals? It is crucial that you determine what you plan to accomplish with Social Media before you choose a technology.
3. Strategy – How do you want relationships with your customers to change? Do you want your customers to become engaged with your company, or do you want them to help you carry out messages to others? By deciding how you want your customers to change, you can plan for that change and determine how to measure it once the strategy is underway.
4. Technology – Which applications should you build? Once you have addressed the people, objectives, and strategy concerns, you can then begin the process of evaluating possible technology solutions.

A high-performing organization is one that can adapt to new technologies successfully so choosing the correct social media is crucial. There are many other factors that should be considered when choosing the correct Social Media technology (e.g. Will your customers feel secure using the technology?). Yet, the POST framework provides you with a solid foundation to build your strategy. We’re interested to hear what you think about a social media strategy for your company, so feel free to share your thoughts and opinions.

In a recent post, we discussed how Social Media is making its mark on the corporate landscape. In that post, we talked at a high level about the reasons why corporations are using Social Media. These reasons included enabling communication, collaboration, and media sharing within organizations. If you have not had a chance to check out this post, you can do so here.

In today’s post, we are going to continue the discussion by specifically focusing on how organizations are applying Social Media technology to solve real business challenges. There are many applications of Social Media. Although there are many nuances in implementation applications, seven common types have bubbled to the top.

• Organizational learning, , communication, and collaboration – Resources used for people to create virtual communities focused on specific interests, roles, geographies, and professional networks.
• Innovation management – Resources used to leverage the content sharing, rating, and discussion aspects of Social Media in order to ask a population of people, “How would you solve this challenge?”
• Customer engagement and relationship building – Resources used to connect customers based on needs, purchases, and shared interests. Content and media can be shared, rated, and distributed only to those who choose to see that content.
• Recruitment – Resources used to communicate the status of job openings and recruitment events and connect applicants who share the common interest of gaining employment with an organization.
• Marketing and brand building – Resources and sites to enforce an organization’s brand by providing collaborative tools and resources for people who share common needs, experiences, and interests.
• Partner relationship – Resources used to connect partner organizations together based on needs, purchases, markets, verticals, and shared interests. Content and media can be shared, rated, and distributed only to those who choose to see that content.
• On-boarding – Websites and resources used to connect newly hired employees together so that they can share knowledge and information with each other and collaborate with seasoned employees on how to successfully navigate a new work environment.

As you plan to implement a Social Media application, it is important to point out two things:

1. Before implementing any technology, including Social Media, there must be a compelling reason for doing so. Ideally, this purpose should be rooted in the pursuit of helping solve the felt needs of the end users. Most organizations cannot afford to implement novel technology. Therefore, as you explore how your organization can employ Social Media, be sure to take the time to understand your audience and their felt needs so that you can adequately implement technology to meet those needs.
2. Although Social Media applications tend to be much more organic in nature than other enterprise technology, this does not undervalue of good implementation plan. A good implementation plan outlines a clear strategy for how the technology will be deployed and communicated. Most importantly, this plan should identify the feedback mechanisms that will be put in place to ensure that end user comments are gathered and responded to in a strategic and timely manner.

Over the last five years, the emergence of Social Media and its impact on society has been well documented. Social Media connects people with similar interests through technology, enabling them to share ideas/thoughts and media and collaborate around common interests. What separates Social Media from all of the previous technology-enabled movements is the dramatic paradigm shift in who drives and owns the content. Check out this great YouTube clip, which illustrates this point and demonstrates how Social Media works.

A recent Harris poll found that 49% of Americans are using Social Networking tools. This is an amazing statistic if one considers that most of these tools did not exist several years ago. The growth and popularity of these tools is going to continue to grow as they continue to gain acceptance and utility within the workplace. Some might argue that the adoption and use of these tools represents the next great opportunity for corporations.

But, how exactly can corporations use Social Media? To answer this question, it is important to understand the value that Social Media brings to a corporation. There are several key reasons why corporations are using or plan to adopt Social Media. These include:

• Communication – Enabling people to communicate with each other when they need to and about topics they find most important. Some examples of applications that are now in use include Blogs (Blogger, WordPress, and Vox), Microblogs (Twitter and Yammer), Social Networking (LinkedIn), and Events (Meetup and Upcoming).
• Collaboration – Tools to enable people to work together more efficiently and share common information that they deem important. Some examples of these tools include Social Tagging tools (Delicious and Digg), Wikis (Wikipedia), Virtual Environments (SecondLife), and Ratings Tools (Answers sites).
• Media Sharing – Sites and tools that enable people to share media about a specific topic or area with each other. Some examples of these tools include Photo Sharing (Flickr), Video Sharing (YouTube and Vimeo), LiveCasting (Ustream and Justin.tv), and Audio Sharing (Podcasts).

We are interested in finding out more about how your organization has implemented or plans to implement Social Media. Use the comments box below to submit your ideas and discuss them with us.