Definitely Not One-Size-Fits-All: Learning and Development Job Titles

About a month ago, I put out a request on Twitter for all learning and development people to add to a list of L&D job titles. I was looking to see what titles existed, as I had been asked to select a new title for my job - a social business, performance supporting, social and informal learning promoting, collaboration and community-encouraging, learning mashup.

The crowdsourced Google Doc is here. Please feel free to add to it at any time.

Some first thought takeaways I discovered from looking at the list:

1. There's no such thing as a Learning and Development "job" any more. I contacted many of those who added to the list and it seems that even if we have a standard title, our jobs encompass many different roles with wider business implications. L&D has evolved such a long way since we just sat in offices in HR. The most interesting L&D people I talked to, who were the most engaged in their jobs, seem to have the kind of mashup job like I do.
2. It's difficult to get across what we do in a title. For me, it takes a description of the projects I'm working on and what business processes these are supporting before people understand what I do.  
3. We are all consultants.  Whether trainers, elearning designers, or performance specialists, everyone I talked to either explicitly or implicitly talked about the consulting skills you need to be a success in an organization.
4. The multitude of job titles makes salary discussions difficult. Patti Shank, the research director at the eLearning Guild, creates an excellent salary report once a year. But it's complicated to talk salaries in an industry with so many complex job roles. Do I benchmark myself to trainers, instructional designers, learning systems designers, performance specialists? I'm not sure. 

The job titles (without heirarchies attached (i.e. no Senior, Director etc., apart from CLO):

Business Interface Representative

Chief Learning Officer

Community Manager

Community consultant

Collaboration specialist

Curator

Curriculum Designer

Curriculum Specialist

Educational Consultant

eLearning Design

eLearning Designer

eLearning Developer

eLearning Manager

eLearning Producer

eLearning Specialist

Employee Experience: Learning

Human Performance Analyst

Information Architect

Innovation and Learning

Innovative Learning

Instructional Design

Instructional Designer

Instructional Technologist

Instructional Technology

Learning Analyst

Learning Consultant

Learning and Collaboration

Learning and Development

Learning and Development Innovation

Learning and Engagement

Learning and Development Facilitator

Learning and Innovation

Learning and Organizational Development

Learning and Performance

Learning and Talent Development

Learning and Technology

Learning Architect

Learning Business Partner

Learning Developer

Learning Engineer

Learning Performance

Learning Systems Engineer

Learning Technologies

Learning Technologist

Learning Technology

Learning Technology and Design

Online Learning

Mobile Learning Architect

Performance Consultant

Performance Improvement Specialist

Performance Specialist

Performance Strategist

Performance Support Architect

Professional Development

Project Consultant

Program Manager

Social Learning

Trainer

Training and Development

Training Specialist

Training and Communication Specialist

Training and Technical Specialist

Workplace Learning

Overcoming Roadblocks to Online Collaboration: A Hangout Recap

What an excellent G+ Hangout on Friday 29th March! Jenn from Solvable and I were joined by strategist of all things social Angela Dunn and the Social Media Research Foundation’s Marc Smith. We had a great discussion on overcoming roadblocks to using social technology for collaboration.

We talked about:

• the return on investing in connected networks: cross-pollination of ideas, collaborative innovation, increased employee engagement.

• the problem of middle manager information hoarding and ways to involve them in collaborative information sharing.

• the benefits of social and organizational network analysis in discovering your best employees and figuring out where your gatekeepers sit.

Why Connected Networks?

Angela spoke about the importance of collaborative networks, using social technologies if appropriate, to innovation and creativity. Using examples from her hosted Twitter chats, #ideachat and #innoidea (bi-monthly with #innochat ), we talked about the ways in which social networks enable organizations to leverage their employees’ or members’ external networks and encourage the development of new ideas.

Different social networks are better for different aspects of collaboration and information sharing. For example, we all like Google+ communities for longer-trend sharing. You can come back to a community and find good information over a longer period of time than Twitter, which moves in real time. As a result, socially networked individuals can access knowledge from multiple fields to incorporate into their own.

It is the ability to curate information from personal networks and disseminate into discussions in other networks (or seed discussions) that is a crucial skill of the 21st century expert generalist.

To find out more grab a transcript from #innoidea. I’d also recommend a read through Harold Jarche’s ideas on collaboration and cooperation.

Roadblocks: Information Gatekeepers

In traditional organizational hierarchies, middle-managers often keep their positions of power by acting as information gatekeepers - keeping a divide between those below and those above. Part of the challenge in using social technology to encourage collaboration in any organization is getting the buy-in of these middle managers. After all, social technology (in theory) allows those at the top to talk directly to those at the bottom (and vice-versa) and therefore can put in jeopardy the position of those who have built a career on being a gatekeeper.

The organizational change piece of any attempt to encourage collaboration - let alone implement social technologies - may be a difficult and long process. Coaching and mentoring to help those unlearn years of outdated management techniques (Jon Husband has a great piece on this here) are required to change mental models and mindsets.

However, Angela had some great simple ideas to help start the unlearning/re-learning process:

1. Stroke the ego. While this might seem counterproductive, talking to gatekeepers about the importance of sharing their (important) knowledge might encourage them to try sharing more often. This does not necessarily require any technology, but can include in-person events, mentoring opportunities etc.
2. Show social in action outside of the workplace. Bring in an outside person who has experience in sharing and collaborating. Have them show the gatekeeper the power of sharing in terms of influence and career development.
3. Partner in the workplace. Partner the gatekeeper with someone who can help them learn skills for sharing with social technology (blogging, wiki-creation, or activity stream posting) internally on team collaboration and the effects of using it (time saved compared to old ways of working, ROI, or other metrics). This is where Jane Hart and others think the future of some learning and development roles lie.

Finding the Gatekeepers and Hidden Stars: Social Network Analysis

Marc Smith at the Social Media Research Foundation explained the benefits of social network analysis (SNA) or organizational network analysis (ONA) in uncovering roadblocks and showing communication and collaboration patterns in an organization.

He pointed us to the fascinating PhD dissertation by Ryerson’s Sean Wise. He used SNA to show that in a Canadian travel company, the offices where employees connected socially through email, raised higher revenues than offices where employees were less connected.

SNA can show where roadblocks occur or, as with the Canadian travel company, show that socially connected employees drive revenue. This may seem counter-intuitive to the CEO who believes that Facebook is a workplace distraction, as Dan Pontefract recently recalled.

This all seemed very relevant to an MIT Sloan article I read last week, “Building a Well-Networked Organization”. SNA can help uncover your hidden talent - the quiet influencers who are actually crucial to your organization’s health. (NB: the article is pay-walled).

Wrapping Up

We all acknowledged that for most organizations, the path to social collaboration is slow.  Marc noted that the financial system does not always reward organizations who care for their employees and members any more than those who don’t.

A collaborative organization’s success depends upon the core foundations of our G+ community: culture + trust + technology + distributed leadership + accountability + shared purpose + metrics

If you haven't already joined us - sign up now.

#P2PCollab: Online Collaboration Discussion Hangout

On Thursday March 14th at 8am PST/11am eastern, Jenn Kramer of Solvable and I will be hosting our first Online Collaboration Discussion via a Google Hangout.  You can also join the conversation on Twitter with our #P2PCollab hashtag.

While there are many excellent online and print resources for both brand and B2B community managers seeking wise counsel, there are fewer options for managers establishing cultures of professional collaboration within their communities.

Jenn and I are partnering here to explore this specialized terrain and welcome the perspectives of others with a stake in successful, collaborative online communities.

As connected learners we appreciate the value that a diverse network brings to the discussion and invite you to join us in exploring the many facets of geographically scattered collaborative communities.

Want to know more about Hangouts - see Google's Guide or Learning Solutions Magazine on Six Practical Uses for Google Hangouts in Online Education.

Interested in using Hangouts in business? HR Virtual Cafe has some interesting ideas.

Mobile Social Learning in Action

I found myself this morning taking part in #chat2lrn (a Twitter chat) and replying to emails on my smartphone. I had wanted to be at work to do all of this, but I needed to get my passport renewed. That meant waiting in long line-ups at the passport office.

Using Hootsuite and Tweetbot on my phone, I was able to keep track and actively take part in the chat. I could also respond to work emails. While this definitely wasn’t as easy as using a laptop, it functioned well.

Why do all companies not support this officially? Actively taking part in #chat2lrn is part of my goals and enables me to share ideas with a group that, due to geographic reasons, only exists virtually. My smartphone enabled me to connect with people in my my Personal Learning Network, ultimately to the benefit of my colleagues.

Learning is everywhere and we should be supporting it with information, coaching, and – if really needed – training, to connect to others. We don’t need courses and curriculum when we can help people connect and learn from each other. As they connect, as Jane Hart suggests, we can move away from always using formal instructional design.

To co-opt David Weinberger, when the smartest thing in a virtual room is the room, our job should be to help others access the room.

In the hour I waited for my passport, I gained a lot of advice on how to pick a good L&D conference and how to best make use of my time when I attend. I also learned about fringe conference gatherings from @learnpatch – exactly the kind of thing I was hoping existed outside of large trade show-style conferences. What course would have helped me learn the same?

Learning and IT Training: Pt 2

As a learning specialist, I have to practice what I preach. As I try to take a lead in improving the effectiveness of the training we offer clients, there’s no place for lecturing on learning theory. Instead, I decided to initiate a social learning experiment and invite everyone to a create a community of new trainers. I started by telling those present in a meeting:

It’s amazing how much people can learn when given just a small amount of information to get started.

And that’s what I gave those present - a small amount of information. In eight minutes I covered the idea of old-school, expert-led training and how it informs our ideas of learning. Then I explained some simple concepts based on research that suggest different ways of thinking about training.  My slides are below (and include slightly more speakers notes than I actually used):

My ideas are a combination of my own views, research and those of the people who helped me get my current job.

Next post, I’ll share some of the examples we came up with and how our social learning experiment is going.

Learning and IT Training

As part of my role as a learning designer for portal/intranet and web design company one of my roles is to help redesign our training offerings. From my experience, software and IT solution training generally looks like this:

Long, in-depth instructor-led classroom or webinar training seems the norm. Naturally, professional consultants want to instruct/tell users the 'correct' way to use a new solution and everything it does. And clients expect traditional training, a requirement to check off on the project plan. Howewever, large IT solutions such as intranets are developed to coincide, create or follow organisational change. Therefore, training on the solution should follow this reasoning.

The company I work for has a very attractive purpose: to help people and organisations thrive. Our training doesn't follow this right now. Next week I'm going to kick off with a presentation on ways to improve our training including: connected social and informal learning, problem-based learning, pull and in-demand learning, lean learning, spaced learning, and user-created/contextualised learning.

To make sure I practice what I preach, I'm going to invite everyone in the company to join the conversation - a social learning experience to create a community of trainers.

As I narrate my experiences, I'll blog about ways we can use each method and incorporate the latest research from education, psychology and neuroscience into IT training.

Posted with Blogsy

Why You Should Join #networkedlearningbc: Reprise

Holly MacDonald and I are hosting a meetup for anyone interested in networked/connected, informal and social learning at the Habanero Consulting Group office (510 - 1111 Melville) on Monday January 28th from 6-8pm. Sign up on our Meetup page.

Holly very eloquently explains the reasons behind this in her blog for our first meetup. However, I wanted to add some reasons that you may want to attend.

As Harold Jarche summarised: you are as good as your network

As good connectivists, we know that we can’t know everything. Instead we “store” our collective knowledge in our networks. It’s no longer a case of retrieving information from memory; it’s knowing how to access and connect with our networks. You can’t network learn by rote (unfortunately the UK Education minister doesn't understand this).

Social media has made international networks accessible to all those who can afford technology. School, university and workplace learning is changing as a result. If you’re interested in how networked learning in it’s many guises (social learning, informal learning, connected learning etc.) changes learning in the workplace or classroom, come and join us.

For our first meetup, we encourage you to bring along a learning-related challenge you have been working on. As a group we can help brainstorm how networked learning principles can help you meet this challenge.  

Informal and Social Learning in the Workplace: A Story

After getting helpful feedback on my plan to help employees develop personal learning plans, I created an example story. To encourage an exploration of multiple learning avenues (formal, informal and social), I wanted to ensure the story included examples of all three. Let me know how you think I did.

Jane wants to develop her project management skills to eventually take on a project lead role. In the past, she has been through university and enjoyed formal education. However, she has discovered that she learns best when she receives small pieces of information and gets to digest and practice what she learns regularly. This is how she learned to use [a software package].

Working with her performance manager, she creates a plan to develop the skills needed to take a project lead role for Q4 2013.  She knows that there are a collection of project management videos on Youtube that accompany a book she will purchase from Amazon. Also, the company has many experienced project leads who would be willing to help. She maps out where she will get her knowledge from and who she needs to support this process, so that she may practice her project lead skills.

With her performance manager, Jane creates specific measurable learning goals in a learning plan that supports her overall goal of being a competent project lead by Q4 2013. She will read one chapter of the book every two weeks and watch the accompanying Youtube videos.  In a blog or wiki she will document her key findings and reflections from each bi-weekly period. She will then ask a current project lead for an informal coffee to talk about her findings and add to her blog if useful.

Her performance manager has talked to the current project leads to ensure they will support Jane in her goal. Jane’s performance manager will also work with Jane to help create opportunities to apply the knowledge and skills she has learned in each bi-weekly period. They know that without the opportunity to apply what she has learned, Jane will quickly forget and her efforts will not feel worthwhile.

At the end of the process, Jane will host a lunch and learn to let everyone know what her goal was, how she accomplished it, and what key knowledge and skills she learned on the way. In Q4 she will take the lead on her first small project. 

Supporting Workplace Personal Learning Plans

I work in a networked organisation, lacking a traditional heirarchy. As a result, learning plans and goals are not "pushed" out to our employees. We have accountability agreements that outline our general accountabilities and we create our own careers depending on interests, expertise and knowledge.

Performance managers help coach and support employees to achieve mutually-created accountabilities and goals. It places a lot of responsibility on the employee. In my role as a performance-supporting learning specialist, I was asked to create a guide to help our employees and performance managers discuss and create personal learning plans.

Every plan will be different, but I wanted to encourage support for informal and social learning. Furthermore, I also wanted to encourage the sharing of new learning and collaboration on learning. Here's my first attempt a open Google Doc that you are welcome to edit, comment and use if useful: Personal Learning Plan 

I'd like to acknowledge that I took a large portion of inspiration from peeragogy.org's Personal Learning Plan post by Geoff Walker.