- Now, I'd like to focus on internal social platforms
you can use to promote social learning.
Specifically, I'd like to give some tips
on getting started with social media-like applications
such as Yammer and Slack,
and don't sweat it if your company
doesn't use these hipster applications,
most of the points I'm going to make
also apply to the good ole' company internal website.
Social media-like platforms hold a lot of promise.
They can make those collaborative conversations
that usually take place between cubicles,
and in the break room, or in email, more visible,
which can help innovation and cut down
on the duplication of work,
which always seems to be a problem.
They can also be good for disseminating resources,
in that you're placing information
where your people already are.
It's important to remember that you can't force people
to collaborate on such a platform,
you can only encourage it.
How do you do that?
Probably the most important thing to do,
is to enlist the help of smart, likable people,
to champion the platform.
You recall, this is what I recommended
in that traditional eLearning example we digitized.
We're social creatures, if we see someone we respect
getting jazzed about something at work,
we're likely to get jazzed about it too.
Another thing is to let people know
that friendly chatting is fine.
The conversation doesn't have to be 100% work focused.
The conversation in the break room certainly isn't.
Okay, let's get down to the nitty gritty.
How can you use these new social platforms
in your training?
You can use them to introduce the course.
This is what I suggested we do in that icebreaker
in that traditional ILT we digitized.
You could have learners take a quick video
introducing themselves, and maybe respond to a prompt,
such as two truths and a lie.
You can use these platforms for people to show
what they've learned.
For instance, if you're leading an ILT,
you can have your learners do a teach-back
of some part of the content.
If the course is completed, you can have them reflect on,
or even better, demonstrate what they learned.
Because this is digital learning,
you might leave the format up to them,
maybe a selfie-type video, an audio clip, a spreadsheet,
that shows how the course made a positive impact
on their performance.
This almost goes without saying,
but you can moderate a discussion on such a platform.
You might create some structure around it,
by asking learners to contribute in specific ways,
like post at least one question they have about the topic,
or respond to at least one comment made.
And last, you can use internal social platforms
as a place to house helpful resources and documents.
These types of platforms tend to be easy to navigate,
and if your learners are already in this space,
not a bad idea to put the resources
where the people already are.
And there you have it, a few ideas on how to use
internal social platforms in your training.