New Trends in Social Learning & Development Part 5

This is the final post we’ll spend looking at the SkillSoft “The Eight Truths of Social Learning. Now.” white paper. To wrap things up, let’s take a peek at the final 2 “truths” and think about how they work from an onboarding standpoint.


Truth #7 – Don’t Forget Knowledge Preservation

Letting years of experience and knowledge walk out the door with retiring employees is a huge waste of irreplaceable resources. One of the most valuable opportunities presented by social learning technology is the way it allows you to capture the insights of your best employees to share with new hires. Make a point of reaching out to high-value workers and encouraging them to take a leadership role in developing your social platform.

When employees give notice (on good terms), they often feel a little guilty about leaving their coworkers in the lurch. Use this to your advantage by letting them know there is a simple way they can help ease the transition. The exiting employee can upload resources and advice to the social network where it will be available to the new hire who is replacing them. It’s a nice way for a worker to leave a positive mark. The person who is onboarded to take up that job role will feel especially welcomed by having customized learning materials provided by their predecessor.

Truth #8 – Target Simplicity and Security

In keeping with making social learning accessible to workers of all ages, you should pick a system that is intuitive to use. New hires who have access to Universal Onboarding are lead through a step by step wizard that makes sure everything gets done. A similar approach would work well for setting up a basic profile in the social network. The easier the platform is to use, the more people will get involved without extra prodding.

Finally, make absolutely sure you understand the security features of the social system you choose. This will dictate what types of information you upload. You don’t want competitors mining your social site for “goodies” or your hosting service selling data to marketing groups. At Emerald Software, we always take employee data privacy seriously. Check out Chuck’s blog for lots of great posts on this topic.