What are the changes Digital Learning requires of your organizational culture?

Preface:

This is the third article in a 4-part Series for our Sunday Mālama in February, in which we kick off our Braver Experiments [with] Digital Learning initiative for Managing with Aloha Coaching (MWAC) in 2008.

If you missed them, this was part 1: Who is the Digital Learning Coach in your company?
This was part 2: What is Required of ME as a Digital Learner in 2008?

What are the changes Digital Learning requires of your organizational culture?

I talk to people all the time about our changing workplace demographics, and this site is about reinventing our work value by value for better alignment with what is real to people now versus what is old news and old-style ineffective.

Last Sunday we seemed to conclude that while we'd all love to have a digital learning coach, we presently get most of our digital learning informally and on our own.

One thing which is still glaringly real, is that businesses are terrific at downsizing positions, and horrible at creating better ones [and downsizing increases in a recession, which most Americans now say they are feeling despite anything the economists say to pretty it up to the contrary]. We give slick new titles to people without a second thought, but many times those new titles are like a coat of paint thrown over an old canvas to recycle it: Scratch off that new coat and you find the old brick wall of "the old way still works okay" is still there.

Until they are planned for in our business plans and models, those jobs which "don't exist today" will probably not get designed (and approved in your budgets) as soon as you need them, which most likely is right now.

What else might you be accepting?

If anything within this process of the way things now happen is inside your circle of influence, acting upon it is the first thing that is required of you as a Digital Learner: Work to enable the possibility of employing Digital Learning Coaches, and don't take "no" or "can't" for an answer. Dig deeper to find out if the person saying "we can't" to your inquiry really means "I won't" and why they feel that way.

In the time since I worked with Tony, and had to type in those maddening passwords, I have come to appreciate the fact that I at least had that option. For here we are, nearly five years later, and there are still those workplaces which do not give everyone on staff internet access as much as they should, much less introduce them to other new digital tools --- even simple ones like direction finding with MapQuest. That's like having a library that never opens its doors, or a bank where no one has the combination for the vault.

It's also pretty naive. People don't need internet access to go web surfing anymore: They can do it (and worse, do mindless gaming) on their cell phones.

Well, not everyone can do it.

The MapQuest example comes first to mind for me because of this true story:

A little less than two months ago I was waiting to check into a hotel, just behind a woman trying to write down the directions the desk clerk was giving her to a restaurant she was to meet a client at later that evening. She stepped to the side to collect her notes back into her bag as I stepped up to check in. However I noticed that she didn't leave when she was done, but waited for me to get my room key so she could have another shot at the desk clerk; as she read back over her instructions she clearly realized she missed something. The line had grown behind me however, and the desk clerk purposely ignored her, yelling out "Next in line!" the moment I said thank you for my key. (Very non-aloha.)

I'd been to the hotel before, and so I said to the woman, who looked to be about my age or slightly younger and was very professionally dressed, "You know what might be easier for you; if you don't have a computer with you they have a business center right down that corridor, and you can just print your directions out with a driving map on MapQuest."

She gave me a look that I instantly recognized as, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

I wasn't in a rush, so I said, "Tell you what, I have to look something up too, so let's go together." She told me she had just gotten a promotion with Honolulu as a new sales territory for her (and if you've never driven in Honolulu, it's a b*t!# to figure out), and had never heard of MapQuest or anything similar before, not needing it on Maui, her home island she knew so well. She was thrilled to learn about it and extremely grateful. As I wrote down the url for her notebook, and showed her what to do, she told me that she uses the computer fairly regularly, but strictly for email, her company intranet, and just to work with Word docs and Excel spreadsheets.

I instantly thought about my 75-year old mom, vowing to myself that I'd show her too, for she still travels a lot and she'll rent a car and drive, but she has no interest in the computer. My second thought? It wasn't all that long ago that I didn't know what MapQuest was either. Who taught me how to use it? My admin assistant while still in corporate America.

FACT OF LIFE: So much of our "civilized living" is determined by the tools we learn to use at work.

The majority of adults now in our workplaces have been out of school since we coined "PC" as short for personal computer. They have learned nearly everything they know about pcs, macs, pda's, and cells at work or from their kids. Think about how many "email-literate" people you may still know who have an email address at work, but not a personal one (a statistic I am all too familiar with from the constant complaints I get from HCers whose firewalls at work block my monthly e-letters... wish I had a dime for every subscriber I've sent a Gmail invitation to).

Not everyone is a "knowledge worker," something I think that many of us who are, fail to keep in mind or even think about. The local niche I have for MWA training in Hawaii's hospitality and service industries is a good example of this, where those who are white collar/knowledge and salaried are in the small minority. Those in blue collar (and "pink collar") positions may want more digital learning, but it is out of their reach, and employers are reluctant to fund additional learning that does not have direct job applications.

The question that many employers now grapple with is how elemental they must get with digital learning without being too condescending. Others feel that computer literacy should now be in the skill set employees come to the job with, or should learn on their own time. Me, I think that is an assumption that is a) a little selfish, b) just plain unrealistic, and c) very short-sighted. What can you possibly gain by keeping your employees in the dark, or doing things the old way when there may be a new way that is better, faster, cheaper, and makes them feel so much better, "with it" and in-the-know?

If you think of your staff as worthy business partners in your ‘Ohana in Business, you want to contribute to their lifelong learning as much as you can, supporting and encouraging them in their personal quests with self-mastery.

Further, digital learning is but one type of curriculum that I feel businesses must step to the plate with in offering varied educational opportunities to their staff. Financial literacy is another huge opportunity employers miss in equipping their staff with learning that can potentially translate to increased buy-in, involvement, creativity, and idea-generation at work.

An organizational culture contributes greatly to how the people within that organization view themselves.

Remember this? From The Role of the Manager Reconstructed:

MY MANA‘O (what I believe to be true) ~ ~ ~ 2. Place: Managers create great workplaces where people thrive. Focus on creating an environment where rewarding work happens. Continually work to remove obstacles, barriers, and excuses. Be the steward of a healthy organizational culture. AND 4. Vision: Managers expect and promote the exceptional. Never settle for mediocrity; champion excellence so people rise to the occasion. Lead, mentor and coach. Harness energy and drive action. Do with, not for. Foster sequential and consequential learning so people continue to grow.

How do you think people would describe themselves where you work? Cutting edge? Early adopters? Up to date? Getting by? Barely computer literate? Learning it and loving it? Whatever the answer might be, what I will usually find in the organizations I coach (including those who are all knowledge workers) is that there is a norm there that the majority doesn't stray too far from: The work requirements and expectations are what make most of the difference.

So now imagine what might happen if those requirements and expectations were dramatically increased, evangelized, and supported with company sponsored tertiary learning.

Think about this where you work:

What are the changes now required in your organizational culture? How could digital learning be embraced more and supported more? What can you personally do as an individual manager within the culture to help lead the way? Where could you start?

Let's share some ideas.
~ Rosa

Next Sunday, February 24, we continue with part 4:
Ready to create your Digital Learning List, tribe style?

Photo Credit: a-peeling on Flickr by jgrantmac, moleskine map by YGGG, and posing for a picture by BionicHedgehog