How Influence will Transform Learning

A really interesting post from Ross Dawson on Five key trends in how influence is transforming society. I think that as informal and social learning becomes more commonplace in the enterprise, that we'll see a similar trend in the training space across these same five ideas.

http://rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2009/08/five_key_trends.html

1. Influence is democratized

As Dawson notes in the post, "anyone can become highly influential, shaping how we think" (and therefore "learn"). Some of your best SMEs are likely to be squirreled away in the organization somewhere. The way that job roles and job descriptions are viewed today have to be completely rethought to allow an entire ecosystem of experts (internal and external) to influence the best learning practices for your products and delivered in the right context, at the right time, at the right level of knowledge needed. Influences can also be 'connectors', bringing Communities of Practice to a whole new level by attracting more contributors and activating higher amounts of participation.

2. Influence can be measured

As with all sites already in the social learning space, new rating scales and reputations will propel all sorts of hidden talent into the spotlight, and hopefully the company, management and HR will recognize the influence this new breed has on user adoption.

3. Reputation shifts from the corporation to the individual

'Nuff said here. Better have a well thought out talent management practice in place, or you'll lose your top influencers which have incredible power over internal learning practices, as well as customer purchasing decisions, renewals, c-sat and loyalty.

4. “Influence is the future of media”

With the ease of opportunity to put technology in the hands of these influencers, the ability to create multitudes of short bits of content for informal learning needs goes through the roof. How that content might be tagged, organized, and managed for effectiveness is a whole 'nother post.

5. Business models for influence are emerging

The transformation of who the company superstars are will be turned on its ear. This new breed will need to be managed with a new style, and compensated appropriately. "This is the birth of a true 'influence economy', says Dawson. Amen to that.

What are your thoughts ?

~ posted by Jon Lloyd on 27 Aug 09
   tagged as: business of learning, social learning

 

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