Social learning - an evolution

I have been doing a lot of work these past couple of weeks on a leadership development course I am piloting that is done entirely using social media (although I still have A LOT of work to do). So I’m going to kill two birds with one stone this week. I needed to write an introduction to the course, explaining what we were doing and why we were doing it that way. I was a bit stuck for ideas on how to do this. It makes entire sense to me, but how do I convey that to people who are new to it? My breakthrough moment came when a good friend of mine (thanks Heather!!) sent me through some links to stuff written by a guy called Harold Jarche who is very much in the social learning space – this inspired me. So here goes, my (first draft) introduction to the ‘Leadership development using social media course’:

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Welcome to the very first course in New Zealand on leadership, done entirely through social media. You probably don’t really know how this is all going to pan out, and quite frankly neither do I, but what an exciting journey! I’d like to thank you for taking this leap of faith with me and, whatever happens, I think we are all going to learn a lot along the way.

I’m going to explain to you what social learning is all about, why we are doing this and how it works.

Social learning is about connecting with others to share and make sense of information. This course has some framework around it. There are topics we will examine each week, but it will otherwise by fluid. You can expect it to be complex and evolving.  Hey, but you are the experts here.

With rapid changes in technology, information is now being widely accessible and not owned by any one person. Do you remember encyclopedias? And how expensive they were? Now we have Wikipedia and people are sharing this information for free! I believe that all learning will be free one day. The skill will be in how we seek out, analyze and condense this information.

This course is putting the learning into your own hands. I won’t be giving you the answers. More likely, I will be asking you a lot of questions. It is up to you to find, share and reflect on information around leadership.  The key element is for you to communicate with each other. There are no rules here. But I do want you to keep in mind the fundamental principles of communication. It’s a two-way street- you speak and you listen.

Your first week in this course is all about setting you up in the foundations of the course, using social media for learning. So let’s get into it.

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Yes, still a lot more work to do and I’m probably going to be pushing out the start date because I also committed to writing a research article, but what exciting stuff. Do you want to join me on the journey?

A lesson in humility

Now I’m not up myself, but I do think I do a pretty good job of the stuff that I do and not getting a job in my chosen profession is a bit of an affront to my sense of self-worth. What is also challenging is doing secretarial temp work to make ends meet, because I can’t get a job doing what I really want to do (or should be doing). I am actually a bit embarrassed to admit to people that that is what I’m doing. I do feel like I’ve taken a bit of a step backwards. However, I do see the other side of the coin here and it’s actually a really good learning curve for me.

I am working in jobs that some people might consider the lowliest in the office, the bottom of the pecking order if you will. I used to do these kinds of jobs back when I started my career, and was quite excited about them at the time, but I always had in the back of my mind that I was going to go on and do bigger and better things. That this was not it for me. And it’s still, most definitely, not it for me. But for the people whose roles I am filling, it is. Not only that, but they are happy with that and really proud of the jobs they are doing. And why shouldn’t they be proud of doing a really good job, at the things that really need to be done around the office?

I'm learning from these jobs because they give me the opportunity to observe people and their natural behavior. I’ve been intrigued by how people are treated around the office. There’s the CEO who stopped to shake my hand, ask my name and how I was settling in (I was really impressed by that and that kind of attitude is definitely reflected in the company culture). There’s the leadership development ‘expert’ who seemed to really struggle to acknowledge my presence and last, but not least, the HR people who don’t even say hello. There are definitely exceptions, but it’s amazing how many people look down on you for the position you hold and not who you are. I am probably guilty of that too sometimes – but I don’t want to be.

I think it goes to show that, no matter who you are, always treat people the way you want to be treated. My grandmother has always been really good at this, treating people with courtesy and kindness. I try as much as possible to take example from her. So I think taking a step backwards is a good thing, you can see who you would rather be in the future.

What to do when not doing anything

It’s amazing how little you can get done when you’ve got very little to do. But I’ve never been one of those people who are comfortable doing nothing. It’s just a bit harder to do something when there is nothing much to do. So, rather than do a blog on something deep, meaningful and intelligent, I thought I’d give a little update of what I’m up to at the moment, or not up to, which the case may be.

Firstly, and most importantly, I’ve gone on a bit of a 7-day detox. It’s not that extreme really. I’m practicing yoga every day, drinking lots of water, and forgoing coffee, alcohol and junk food. I thought that the yoga part would be the hardest, but it’s actually the easiest. It’s where I feel most grounded and in control of my life. It’s kind of my happy place. Coffee has been the hardest, and I only have one cup a day. The first few days were a bit of a bitch – I felt like someone had hit me with a pole. But now I’m not getting the afternoon crash I normally do and am considering giving it up for good. I said considering. Now alcohol has also been difficult to give up, but I think that’s because when people upset me my outlet is to have a glass of wine (only one glass, or two). It’s kind of a crutch to make myself feel better, when really I should use more yogi principles and just let it pass me by – like the wind…. Woooo

Speaking of things that are challenging – job hunting has to be up there. Not having found my dream job aside, recruitment agents make me want to reach for that glass of wine (or two, or three). Now, I know some really wonderful recruitment agents, who are just awesome people as well as being fantastic at their jobs, so I’m not throwing them all in the same basket. But I’ve come across some real pearlers in the last few weeks. There was the one who asked me what other roles I was interviewing for and, when I told her, she was really surprised that one of them she had placed someone in a couple of months before. Who am I to tell you if that person left shortly after they started? Isn’t that something you should follow up? That was really uncomfortable. There was the also the one who didn’t directly ask me whether I was married or planning on having kids but instead asked, “what does your husband do for a living?” (bit of a sure gamble because I had my wedding rings on) and “you’ll probably want to focus on your career for the next few years, right?” (aka, you’re not having kids anytime soon?). I'm not really bothered if people ask those questions if we've built a bit of rapport. However, I was a bit offended about being called “soft-spoken” and the agent telling me that they wouldn’t want to put me in somewhere where I might be eaten alive. Last I checked, I’ve been pretty capable of holding my own under pressure.  And I am getting pretty tired of people putting me into the young, cute, pushover basket. I’m older than I look, looks can be deceiving and I am NOT a pushover!

On a very much happier note, the research article I am writing with Peter Boxall on lean manufacturing is almost good to go for publication. The Human Resources Management Journal (HRMJ) gave us ‘revise and resubmit’ feedback saying “there is strong potential in the paper to make a valuable contribution in the area”. We have since revised and resubmitted and I must say it is simply an awesome piece of writing. Much of this credit has to be given to Peter though – he does have an ability to make things flow really nicely. Even after the umpteenth time reading it, I’m still riveted. So watch this space people, we may be published soon! I am also presenting at the HRINZ research forum in November – so register for it! It will be really useful for you if you are thinking of doing anything with lean, kaizen or continuous improvement.

So after this week, what have I learnt? Well I have learnt that I place a lot of self worth in the job that I hold. I need to put more self worth in just being me, and not let someone else define how great I am. I have learnt more about how I react to things that derail me, and how to respond in a way that has more positive consequences for me. It’s still hard, and I’m still learning. But isn’t that what it’s all about?