Objection #3: Control of Information
Jun 4, 2008 Implementation, Learning 2.0
Objection #3 is one that I don’t hear very often directly. It is usually indirectly, because no one wants to admit it. But they do say it through the questions they ask. “If we let everyone learn from each other, we give up control of that information.”
Answer: Yea & Nay. Let’s start with the Nay.
NAY: There are many ways to keep control of the information. You can watch it via RSS or email alerts. All the information is open to you and isn’t hidden. So if anything goes WAY out of line (which RARELY happens) you now see it and can correct it.
Plus there are almost always additional security measures. For example, in our area for HR information, only the HR director can post wikis or change them. There is another area where we let the employees post their HR information (for example a health and wellness and financial information) which is open. But if we opened up the official employee handbook (and yes, the official document is a wiki and not a MS Word Doc or PDF), any one could add vacation days (not that that would be all bad 
).
You can usually set up a moderating function on forums, wikis, comments, etc.
But the security measures must be use judiciously (see ‘The Fence’ below).
YEA: That is right. For the most part, anyone can post anything. Be it right or wrong (which is tomorrow’s objection/post). And, as counterintuitive as this may seem at first, it is not all bad.
Number one, the training department didn’t need to ‘write’ it. Instead the employees taught each other. How great is that? Ya, it is not as pretty as a powerpoint presentation you may have given, nor quite as polished, but it was good information everyone needs to know and now anyone can find it!
Giving up control in this respect is a good thing. It is what you want to do. Feel the release. Breathe in – Breathe out…
The Fence: By implementing a social learning solution you sit on the control fence. Control to much and it won’t be used. But not controlling it at all is unwise. There needs to be a balance – enough structure and processes to give guidance yet enough freedom to allow the users to do what they want.
What do you think?
Tags: control, social learning, training
July 11th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Hi, I am into Learning & Development. I believe a way of solving this might well be posting blogs from within the environment by people who are SMEs of a particular function or process and having employees respond to this on the company intranet. This facilitates healthy discussion – i.e. learning and also takes care of the fact that the information can be corrected if it is not appropriate.
In the larger world this is another matter altogether with people using their discretion and experience to sift through the plethora of information and deciphering for themselves what authentic information would be.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Good thought. Now define “SME” – not the acronym, but the definition. In some right I believe that just about everyone is a SME in some way. Everyone knows a system, process, industry, technology or other better than others in their organization. That would make them a SME.
So where would you draw the line? Or would you allow everyone to start a blog?
July 14th, 2008 at 5:19 am
I buy your thought – but let me be myopic for a moment and focus on the organisation I work for. The employee base is over 30000 – with about 23000 – 24000 being in the 19 – 24 age group.
In this case I would define a SME as someone who is tenured within the organisation, has risen from the ranks making them knowledgable of the process.
I visualised it as a group of such people getting together and starting a blog on a topic and facilitating discussion on the group intranet site. Don’t know if it will work – just a thought.
December 5th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I don’t mean to push back too mush Rahul, but I am not certain I agree with your definition. By the mere fact that this group of 19-24 year old workers was hired, you are saying that they are subject matter experts at least to some degree in some areas. They have some level of content knowledge and an ability to offer something of value in a discussion about their work area (or maybe even others). I work in an organization of 1100 staff and I would dare say that many of the most competent and knowledgable staff I have are those that have been here the least amount of time. While tenure is certainly useful, it does not necessarily equate to expertise.