Many companies have become more entrenched against the use of My Sites for fear that proprietary information will be leaked; employees will spend their time chatting instead of working; or there will be legal consequences for inappropriate information being exchanged or shared.
Using a Leadership Development example, we will focus on how My Sites can provide a competitive edge through resource location, knowledge sharing, and business process improvement. You will also learn how with “directed play” these connections can be used to enhance the training evolution.
Join us for this TrainingIndustry.com webinar, sponsored by GP Strategies, and at the end of the session you will see that SharePoint and its social networking features within the platform are actually powerful tools that can and should be utilized to your organization’s advantage.
Lessons:
•My Sites can be a vital tool in curriculum development toolbox
•Social networking isn't a choice any longer— it’s how we learn today
•In order to succeed, your company has to be connected internally
1. DON’T LET YOUR TRAINING FALL OFF OF A CLIFF
Use SharePoint’s
My Sites to Extend
the Experience
Presented by
Jonathan Lightfoot
2. CURRENTLY, MOST FORMAL LEARNING ENDS WHEN THE CLASS FINISHES
Pass the Assessment On the job, aka
Complete Training real life
Complete Pre-work
Sign up for Training
Discover Need
2
3. MY SITES BRIDGES THE GAP BETWEEN LEARNING AND THE JOB
SHAREPOINT MY SITES
Formal Training On the job, aka real life
Close the gap with human to human interaction.
3
5. LEARNING INTEGRATION
Learning will be fully integrated into business processes in 5 years.
RESEARCH &
DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN
PRODUCTION
RESOURCES
TRAINING
SALES OPERATIONS
MARKETING
5
6. POLL QUESTION
Does your organization have SharePoint Installed?
Yes
No
I don’t know
6
7. A MAJORITY OF ORGANIZATIONS STILL UNDERUTILIZED SHAREPOINT
• More than 65,000 organizations have SharePoint licenses
• Most organizations primarily use it for content management
7
8. POLL QUESTION
What is the largest area for which SharePoint is used at your organization?
Collaboration platform
Content management
Reporting platform
Development platform
Internet and/or intranet platform
All of the above
We don’t use SharePoint
8
9. SHAREPOINT IS A UNITER, NOT A DIVIDER
› Training Plan
LMS
› Course Surveys
LCMS
› Books
› Courses
INTERNET › Blogs
RESOURCES › Web sites
SHAREPOINT LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT PORTAL
SHAREPOINT
› Project Sites (Scenario Based)
OUT OF THE BOX › Books
› Links to resources › Physical Resources › Courses
› Activities
› Surveys
› Discussion Board
› Announcements
› L&D Blog
› Personal Profile
› MySites › Newsfeeds
› Content › Shared Documents
9
10. UTILIZING MYSITES
Savvy companies are using My Sites to Surface Knowledge that exists within the
organization.
- Personal Profile
MySites - Newsfeeds
- Content Shared Documents
10
11. POLL QUESTION
Have you customized or updated your My Site Profile?
Yes
No
11
12. MY SITES: GUESS WHAT? IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU!
• A central location to view and manage:
• Documents
• Tasks
• Links
• Calendar
• Colleagues
• Everything personal
• A way for other users to learn about you
• A place for content providers to target information to you
12
14. SOME PROFILES ARE MORE HELPFUL THAN OTHERS
Complete contact info
List areas of expertise
Updated organization
chart
Completed bio
Recent activities listed
14
15. POLL QUESTION
Are you confident that you could accurately locate people resources at your
organization through a My Site People Search?
Yes
No
15
17. DISCUSSION BOARDS ARE THE GO-TO PLACE FOR GETTING ANSWERS
Ask questions.
Showcase knowledge.
Inspire thought.
17
18. BLOGS ARE THE BREEDING GROUND FOR THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Everyone.
Community comments.
18
19. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Leadership Development is just one example of how SharePoint and My sites can
enhance a curriculum or training program.
› Training Plan
LMS
› Course Surveys
LCMS
› Books
› Courses
INTERNET › Blogs
RESOURCES › Web sites
SHAREPOINT LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT PORTAL
› Project Sites (Scenario Based)
› Books
› Links to resources › Physical Resources › Courses
› Surveys
› Activities
SHAREPOINT › Discussion Board
OUT OF THE BOX
› Announcements
› L&D Blog
› Personal Profile
› MySites › Newsfeeds
› Content › Shared Documents
19
21. SO YOU WANT TO GET STARTED
Investigate the SharePoint environment at your organization
• Version
• Governance
• Tips
• Best practices
21
22. SO YOU WANT TO GET STARTED
Take advantage of available resources
• GP Strategies
• Microsoft SharePoint Web Site – http://SharePoint.Microsoft.com
• http://www.NothingButSharePoint.com
22
23. LET’S CONTINUE TALKING
Johnathan Lightfoot
Principal SharePoint Architect
jlightfoot@gpstrategies.com
410-540-5324 office
410-370-9569 mobile
Linkedin.com/in/johnathanlightfoot @exnav29
23
Hi My name is Johnathan Lightfoot with GP Strategies I will be presenting today’s presentation Don’t Let Your Training Fall Off of a Cliff. This is scheduled to be an hour presentation with the first 45 minutes set for the presentation and the remaining 15 minutes as a question and answer section. If you have any questions please follow Tim’s instructions for submitting those questions. Also as Tim said throughout the presentation we will have several poll questions that we would appreciate your assistance with in answering when we get to those sections.Let’s get started….
If you look at how the majority of learning activities are conducted you will see a trend. That being of:A need for training is discovered. (click)Training is coordinated and made available for sign ups. (click)The Learner completes any pre-work that may be required for the training activity. (click)Training is held and the trainees complete the training. (click)The assessments for the learning activity are completed. (click)And then…..what? The learner is sent back to their office space with no active follow up prepared for them. (click)The current state of training activities is that the learner falls off of the cliff after the formal training session ends. There is no follow up for them to be able to turn to when the real world does not match the training world they have left.
I propose a new way of doing things. (click)Once the training activity ends that the learner is then admitted to an informal support structure that they are able to leverage to get the follow on assistance they may need after the class ends. (click)In using the built in capabilities of a SharePoint instance the learners will have access to resources that can assist them going for3ward after the training session has ended. (click)
The word out nowadays is based around informal learning. Which is learning that occurs in a variety of places, such as at home, work, and through daily interactions and shared relationships among members of a society. It has been found to be quite effective in the transfer of knowledge but at the same this learning still must be tracked and saved so that:It can be validated as being correctIt can be shared with others going forwardIt can be built upon by future participants.In using SharePoint this can be done quite easily. (click)
In five years time Training resources will be deeply integrated into business processes. It will be a matter of fact that training resources (curriculum, course materials, simulations, case studies, etc.) will be available in federated searches of a company’s resources. No more will training be looked at as to being a place that you have to go to in order to receive the benefits it will be deeply ingrained in day to day business practices and procedures. Training resources will be located through search and I am not speaking to simply having a class show up in search results but the materials from classes will also be a part of the results. Thereby enabling the searcher to receive a Just In Time Training experience. (click)
We have a quick poll question that we would like to answer.The question is “Does your organization have SharePoint installed?” With the answers being “Yes”, “No” or “I don’t know”. This is not a question concerning if you are using SharePoint at your organization but simply do you know if it is installed.Tim while we are waiting do we have any questions that can be answered in while people are completing the poll?And what are the results of our poll?If the majority of the results say “Yes” – This is a common response a lot of organizations do have an instance of SharePoint installed in their environment.If the majority of the results say “No” – This is not surprising, in the next slide I will provide some numbers on the number of SharePoint licenses that have been deployed. That is to say that a lot of organizations do have SharePoint licenses but as you will see in a common slide many organizations are still trying to see how the platform integrates into their IT infrastructure.Let’s move on Tim. (click)
A lot of organizations have SharePoint already according to Microsoft as of October 2011 they have deployed over 125,000,000 licenses to over 65,000 organizations. (click)The organizations who have SharePoint licenses use it primarily for content management and storage. (click)It has the capability of being so much more however.The built in capabilities of the platform tied with the content that can be uploaded into SharePoint can be used to create powerful solutions that are of benefit to an organization.In the end I think of SharePoint as being an aggregating platform. (click)
We have another Poll question:“What is the largest area for which SharePoint is used at your organization?”As a Collaboration Platform, Content management, Reporting platform, Development platform, Internet and/or intranet platform, All of the above, or We don’t use SharePoint.While we are waiting for the responses to come in, Tim do we have any questions that can be answered?…Okay Tim what do the results look like?Very interesting we can see that the SharePoint platform does have a lot of uses in the various organizations of our attendees. But I find it interesting still that the majority answered that they use it for Content management.Let’s move on Tim… (click)
Often in my role here at GP Strategies people approach me wanting to know how to use SharePoint to replace a system. In the following example we will use the Leadership and Development program that we use here at GP Strategies to demonstrate this leveraging of the various platforms to provide a full training experience.While SharePoint does have a lot of flexibility it is not always best to replace an existing system. (click)Lets take a typical LMS (click)it has been designed to manage training as such it has a lot of features and functionality a part of it that are available Day One of its release. (click) Or the LCMS they are used to manage learning content. (click)And finally the Internet. (click)True one could attempt to replace these with a SharePoint solution but why go through the time, expense and aggravation of doing so? When instead SharePoint has its own capabilities that when combined with the an LMS, LCMS and the Internet you are able to build a solution that uses the best of all of the systems and ties them together for a functional solution. (click)There are sites which could be used to combine the elements of an LMS to create individual course sites for each of the courses being offered. (click)It has the capability to use links in order to connect to additional resources that may not be a part of the formal class but are still great resources to have access to for the learning experience. (click)Surveys can be used to gauge the effectiveness of a course or for soliciting input into ways that the course can be enhanced. (click)Discussion Boards can be used to collect questions that may arise around the subject matter which could be answered by coaches, trainers, mentors, subject matter experts or even other students of a course. (click)Announcements that can be targeted to specific audiences to provide pertinent information on the course or the entire domain. (click)A blog that can be used to convey the thoughts of coaches, leaders, mentors and subject matter expert. Again this is information that may not be worthwhile to have in the formal class but at the same time it is useful information that someone could use after the class ends. (click)And the My Sites of SharePoint can be used to track down talent that may be required related to the course.I want you to notice that we have not replaced any of the current systems we have simply melded them together in order to provide a more complete learning solution for our Leadership and Development program. In doing so we are using the systems to their fullest capabilities. (click)
I often receive questions around My Sites and the typical question often revolves around the topic of if they can be used for a business purpose? I typically answer the question with:Talent is often a few degrees away in most organizationsMy Sites enable people to showcase their skills and experiences to othersThe Personal Profiles are like an enhanced virtual directory. Not only can we locate contact information but we are also able to get information about the person as well.Newsfeeds can be used to see what others (experts, leaders, practitioners, etc.) are doing and working on.Instead of wading through the vast amount of information that is available now. The content that people are referring to, tagging or commenting on can be easily found. Thus alleviating the possibility of information overload. (click)
We have a poll question:Have you customized or updated you My Site Profile?Yes or No, and if you don’t use SharePoint you can answer with “No”.Tim, do we have any questions that can be answered while we wait for the responses to come in?If answers are Yes, that is very good I have to tell you that our group here today do not fall into the norm.If the answers are No, that is typical most organizations either do nto tell people how to update them, or have shied away from their use for various reasons.In the next slides you will see how the My Site profile can be used for very talent searching within an organization when they are used.Let’s move on with the presentation. (click)
My Sites are very powerful area that you can use to store artifacts that you may come across. And you are able to share this information with others if you so choose. (click)A way for other users to learn about you and your areas of expertise, current projects, and colleague relationships. One way that I have found this to be of benefit is going beyond the Job Description. I once knew a person who was an accountant for a large company that I worked for. While she was great at her job one day she told me that she was really passionate about programming and that she actually had a Master’s degree in Computer Programming and at night she loved nothing more than going home and working on home automation projects. She quickly became the person that I went to when it came to dealing with issues with the various accounting systems we had employed at the company. And she was wonderful! Now if this information was available in a My Site the rest of the organization would have been able to see this hidden talent that was available but was clouded by her title. (click)A place for content providers to target information to you based on the information that you and your organization provide in your profile, such as your title, department, and interests. With SharePoint, announcements, email messages and other content can be targeted to the audience. Instead of sending out a generic like announcement to everyone you could have a announcements directed to the people that could really benefit from it. In doing so you increase the likelihood of action being taken. (click)
Here you can see a My Site Search that was conducted on the “Lean Process Improvement” key words. Normally, one might expect that this type of search would return managers or higher level employees. But in this screenshot we can see that we have dug up a Marketing Specialist, a Strategy Consultant and a Manager. Each working in three different departments! Now if someone needed information on Lean Process Improvement they are not only going to see documents or classes listed but they are also able to see people who they can turn to in order to get information as well.How many times have you needed to learn something new and wished you could have simply been able to pick up the phone and talk to someone instead of wading through all of the static content available? (click)
My Sites as in all things SharePoint; is only as good as the information that is provided to it. This includes: (click) - Having up to date information for ways that you can be contacted. SharePoint through the use of its User Profile Service connects to Active Directory for its updates. As such as long as Active Directory is correct your contact information will be correct. But there are additional bits of information that you may have to add such as you mobile number or any secondary email addresses that you monitor as well. (click) - Remember my story on the previous slide. If you do not list your areas of expertise (even if they are not aligned with your current job duties) people will not know that you are have this experience. (click) - I have seen the organizational information used by Project Managers in order to find out who someone reports to so they are able to connect with them to bring them on to a project. It also assists others in knowing the areas of commonality you have with them as it relates to the organization. (click) - Often times organizations collect employee resumes and store them away, with them only being accessible to a few people. If you have interesting items in your background this is not known by the organization as a whole. In using your Bio in your My Site you are able to share this information with others. In doing so someone else may find out something about your history that could be of use to them. (click) - Every day it seems that I am called upon to help out with various projects or I may embark on an area of study into a topic around the SharePoint platform. By listing my recent activities I am actually opening up a way for people to know what I am working on and looking at. And if they have a need they know that I have worked on this topic and can be someone who is available to reach out to. (click)
Out poll question now is:Are you confident that you could accurately locate people resources at your organization through a My Site People Search?The answers being Yes or No.While we are waiting, Tim, do we have any questions that can be answered?Let’s see what the results are….If the Answers are yes then answer – This is a very good showing. It shows that the organizations that are represented on this call are very much behind the use of My Site Profiles.If the Answers are not then answer – This is a typical response which would go hand in hand with our previous poll question a lot of organizations have not realized the benefits of using the My Site profiles.Let’s move on to the next slide… (click)
I have several people that I consider experts or gurus on topics. As such I try to emulate them as much as possible. I have found that I like to know what are they reading, or tools that they are using. And I tend to read what they are reading and incorporate the tools that they use in my life as well. With a My Site your Coaches, Mentors, trainers and trainees have a way of doing the same thing. Imagine a Mentor being able to have a shared place where they can post the templates that they use for accomplishing certain tasks. These have obviously worked well for them in the past. (click)In doing so they have opened up a way for trainees to be able to use these templates as well. (click)And who knows they may even be able to improve on them. (click)In the end the goal of social learning and emulation is achieved. (click)
How many times have you been approached with a question that you have answered numerous other times in the past by other people? This is a common occurrence at most organizations. By using the Discussion Boards you can have a central place for answering questions. Also, by using a Discussion board many people are able to read and respond to a question. In doing so you are leveraging the internal expertise of your organization in order to get not only correct answers but also they may bring into the conversation other issues that should be thought of. In doing so the learner is able to gain insights that may have been overlooked in the classroom setting alone. Also, the organization benefits from having a place for the building of a knowledge base that can be leveraged and used through the use of searches.
Everyone can blog on My Sites….there is no waiting for an official blog opportunityI have found in my time with organizations that there is a lot of expertise that remains untapped. Instead an organization tends to single out a select few for thought leadership. I have found that this places a lot of undue pressure on those designated few people. While at the same time leaving other topics unexplored that could be shared by everyone in the organization. With blogs you have an informal way of giving people the opportunity to share their thoughts on subjects. When these writings are shared they can be read and used by others in an organization. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have stumbled upon a blog post by someone that I don’t know that has made me think about some aspect of my job that I would have otherwise ignored until I came across the blog post.Enable commentingWhen commenting is enabled a method of starting a discussion is opened which enables possible differing views to be explored and shared. In the end this provides additional information and topics for thought that would otherwise have not been recognized. All of this leads to the accomplishment of tasks faster and better accuracy than simply working in vacuum.
If you look at the diagram you will see that for our Leadership Development program that we have incorporated the powerful pieces of each system into one system. In doing so we have a system of informal learning that is backed and supported by formal learning. This presentation used the Leadership Development program as only an example of how these separated systems can be joined. But the same could be done for Safety, Management, Accounting, or any other Job Specific Training program.
When using the flexible nature of the SharePoint platform there are several iterations that can be done. This only a possible suggestion of how a melded solution could look to the learner:A Home link to take the person to the home page of the site from anywhere within the site.A Search Box can be incorporated for quickly locating specific information relevant to an issueA Links Section for guiding people to specific areas that are of interest to the person.Perhaps a quick Survey could be incorporated in order to gather information from the users of the site.A Hot Topics section showing the latest questions and answers surfaced from the Discussion boards.A Welcome Area for describing the purpose of the site along with information on best practices for using the site.An Announcements section for conveying relevant, audience targeted information concerning the portal and the information contained within it.A Blogs roll up section which can bubble up the recent blog posts from the various My Sites from subject matter experts, coaches, mentors, trainers and participants in the program.A Tag Cloud to show what topics or keywords are being searched for. Can be used by the trainees to see what the trends are or from the facilitators of the site to manage the content of the site.
If you would like to begin to use SharePoint to incorporate an after the classroom experience for your training activities you will have to do a little investigative work. Check Which SharePoint Version you have at your organization. This presentation was based on using SharePoint Server 2010 as such some of the functionality described in the presentation may or may not be available to you depending on your version.Find out what is the Governance Plan for your SharePoint environment. The solution discussed in this presentation may not be possible without first revisiting your Governance Plan and modifying if necessary.Take a look around to see how are other departments divisions or even other organizations are leveraging SharePoint. In the next slide I will proved a few links that you can use to refer to.What I spoke about in this presentation is not new. There are literally hundreds of organizations already doing this very thing in their environments. I know because I have been apart of implementing these solutions. As such there are several Best Practices that have already been laid out in order to get the functionality that you may be looking for with far less headaches. Also, you Intranet Management department may have several Best Practices that they use based on your environment.
There are several resources that are available to you in order to implement SharePoint solutions.We here at GP Strategies have a SharePoint Practice which does nothing but deal with SharePoint solutions. We have on staff architects, developers, designers, Project Managers and Business Analyst who understand both SharePoint and Learning environments. Feel free to call on us to leverage our experience in this very exciting field.If you are looking for information on the SharePoint platform I would first recommend Microsoft’s SharePoint site. A few years ago Microsoft decided that they would use the product themselves and have come up with a site which explains the platforms various areas very well while at the same time incorporating into it an excellent Case Study library on the ways that organizations around the world use the platform.And finally if you are looking for explanations into some of the varying ways that the platform can be modified or even used out of the box I would have to recommend the NothingButSharePoint site. It is a community driven site with input coming from regular people, developers, designers, architect, and business users on solving issues or using the platform in novel ways in order to provide solid SharePoint solutions. Also, if you have any doubt about the power of online social collaboration for solving business problems go to this site in order to allay any of your doubts.