My new Nexus 10 Google tablet is a blast. I’m learning how to use the apps from the Google Play Store and of course getting to use the touch screen keyboard. What I like most about my tablet is the lightness of it. My laptop is so heavy and lugging it around to business meetings was getting tiring. The Nexus 10 gives me just what I want, a more pleasant alternative to my smartphone for emailing, browsing the Internet and of course searching for information. I’m not giving up my laptop but I can envision a time when I’ll need it less and less.

Since I felt that I’d be using my tablet for mostly business I bought a Bluetooth keyboard from Logitech built to complement the Nexus 10. What I pleasantly discovered is that my new tablet is giving me a more fun and enjoyable experience online than I expected. I figured my tablet would just add to my options as I work on projects but with all the apps at my finger tips I’m having fun learning and connecting with others in ways that I never expected.

The Nexus 10 tablet has put the IPad on notice that it intends to be a significant player in the tablet market. The Nexus is priced $100 lower than the 16 GB IPad and claims a higher screen resolution. I am super impressed with the crisp, rich and detailed images and how HD videos look on screen.

You can find plenty of sites that go into the specs of the Nexus 10 and comparisons with the IPad. I like this one from techcrunch which focuses on a feature that allows multiple accounts to be set up, so mom, gramma or kid sister can use your tablet – NOT

Brent Collaboration in the Workplace nexus tablet

I’m inspired by a David Weinberg video where he speaks about the importance of narrating your work and sharing what you are learning. David is participating in the Adidas blog carnival on a new way of working and learning.

He says that by narrating your work you solidify or make sense out of what you are doing and when you share what you are learning with others, you add to the strength of the environment. Harold Jarche writes extensively about the importance of network learning. You can read many articles on this subject at Harold’s website.

As a consultant working primarily in the non profit and public sectors, I am interested in helping individuals and organizations be better at what they do through web based collaboration and networking tools. I’m also focused on deepening my understanding of our changing workscape and continuously improving my skills and abilities.

Writing on my blog is a way for me to make real and solidify what I’m learning. I also feel a sense of accomplishment after sharing my viewpoint or perspective. It’s more a case of making tangible what I’m thinking about than seeking to win readers approval or followers. Harold Jarche call his blog writing his “outboard brain”. I think I’m in that camp as well.

In the spirit of narrating what you are learning, here are a few snapshots of what I’m learning in my work with Boards, coalitions, committees etc. and non profit organizations.

Work with Boards of Directors, Coalitions and Committees:

In general, I find introducing and using social media tools to improve sharing, innovation and collaboration on projects a slow and difficult process. For these  groups I am finding that there is more openness to use social media as their work revolves so much around collaboration on projects. The fact that members of these groups only meet occasionally makes it more appealing to adapt collaboration and networking tools as a practical way to achieve outcomes.

Working with non profit organizations, business & public sector institutions:

There are so many challenges to integrating social media thinking and practices within non profit groups and businesses. The larger public sector institutions seem more open to adopting and integrating social tools to reach their audience. Perhaps using social media is just understood (and proven) to be a more cost efficient way to connect with their user groups and provide services. No doubt, user groups are increasingly expecting online services from their public sector institutions.

Non profit organizations (like the small business sector) have constant money challenges and are usually overwhelmed by service demands. I find that non profits have difficulty understanding that using collaboration and network learning tools improves individual and workplace performance.

The usual culprits that add to the slow adoption rate for non profits and businesses are: perceived loss of control by senior staff & Boards of Directors, resistance to co-learning, sharing and risk taking in the workplace and refusing to recognize that there is no normal anymore (thanks to Harold Jarche for that line which now is firmly planted in his blog header).

I added a slideshare created by Harold Jarche that does a nice job of describing what he calls work and learning in the network era. These visual calling cards bring together so many aspects of our 21st century work and learning environment.

Brent Collaboration in the Workplace

Hugh MacLeod from his Gapingvoid blog asked his readers to tell their story about how blogging or the Internet has given them freedom. His request is tied into the launch of his new book “Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear“.

As a huge fan of Hugh’s gapingvoid cartoons or social objects as he calls them, I’m pleased to respond with my story.

First off, a bit of context. I’m a life time community/youth worker who four years ago, switched to a career as a free lance social media consultant.

I’ve worked with many organizations over my 25 plus years and looking back I see that I was always attracted to developing and working on projects that were experimental and dare I say cutting edge. Along came the Internet and deep in my gut I knew these new forms of communications were as cutting edge as I’d ever experience.

In the late 1990′s, hardly knowing how to use a keyboard, I took the plunge into the computer driven world. I soon experienced my first inkling of autonomy and an appreciation for a new found ability to design programs and control my own professional/personal learning needs via the Internet.

Fast forward a few years and I’m increasingly using the latest social media tools such as blogging, video and podcasting as a strategy to empower youth by giving them a sense of pride and accomplishment as they created and published their stories. I was also blogging regularly on matters related to community/youth work and on breaking news in the world of social media.

My last JOB was with Street Kids International and again I was using blogging, video and social media tools to support the outcomes of my capacity building program. Specifically, I was disseminating the learning from a community of practice initiative that had practitioners from many sectors innovating around new skills and networks that can better address youth poverty.

As my role with Street Kids ended, I connected with Jason Mogus from the Communicopia and Web of Change organization that sponsored the first Social Tech Training Conference in Toronto (SST 2008).

It was at this conference that I decided on a new career path as a free lance social media consultant, helping groups in the burgeoning field of social tech integration or development of web 2.0 strategies to better serve their constituents.

Since that major turning point, I’ve never regretted my choice to work free lancer in the social media sector. It’s not being easy by any means as I discovered that paying work was at times, hard to find.

I also realized how difficult it is for leaders to adopt new strategies that open up their organizations and empower staff to share, connect and learn together.

Despite those challenges, I am continually learning, developing new skills and discovering new qualities of my personality. I deeply and intuitively know that I am on  the right journey.

We truly live in exciting times. I’m feeling very fortunate to be an active participant online, sharing my work via my blog and connecting with so many fellow travelers who are expanding their learning through the Internet.

Freedom is as freedom does – thanks for the challenge Hugh.

#Free­do­mIs­Blog­ging

Brent Collaboration in the Workplace

I’m a great believer in the axiom that says “if your Grammy doesn’t understand your explanation of what you do for a living, go back to the drawing board”. To that end, I’ve being working on simplifying how I communicate my business purpose.

I began by reflecting on the services I’ve being offering since starting my business about four years ago. The services I provide  to organizations are fairly diverse but two broad categories took shape. They are services that promote collaboration using social media tools in the workplace and using multimedia (mostly video) for communicating to stakeholders.

To get at typical challenges faced by organizations that I work with, I created a list of three “pain points”. These pain points are what keep senior managers worried about the success of their business.

To help my in my task, I went to Jane Hart, Jay Cross and Harold Jarche from the Internet Time Alliance. These folks are key people in my learning network and I follow their writings daily. Harold writes a lot about Personal Knowledge Networks and Jay Cross writes extensively on “working smarter” (see Working Smarter Fieldbook).

Recently, Jane Hart wrote a post titled “A New Framework for Supporting Learning and Performance in the Workplace“. It was this post that started me thinking differently about how I was communicating my work to colleagues and clients (& Grammy).

I encourage you to visit Jane’s Social Learning Centre site for an indepth read of what she calls her Workplace Development Services Framework.

After delving into Jane’s posts and others from the Internet Time Alliance, I started writing my new 30 second elevator pitch. This is a concise speech you can give anyone that succinctly expresses what you do and invites further discussion about your work.

This image by Oscar Berg in a post he called the Collaboration Pyramid (via Harold Jarche – You Simply Can’t Train People to be Social) helped me recognize the role of collaboration supported by social media tools as the core message in my 30 second elevator pitch.

30 Second Elevator Pitch

My name is Brent MacKinnon, owner of Social Media Tools for Work & Learning.

Organizations hire me to help them strengthen their services by improving how staff connect, share, learn and collaborate using social media tools in the workplace.

Typically, I help businesses & organizations, face new challenges such as:

• Keeping pace with emerging social media tools that extends the organizations ability to communicate with consumers and build trust with stakeholders.
• Developing and implementing new strategies and procedures that improve performance outcomes through collaboration and innovation in the workplace;
• Attracting and retaining competent and self-motivated staff who depend on a supportive learning workplace that fosters innovative practices for business and professional success.

I’ve served as Executive Director for many varied non-profit organizations for many years and continue to provide leadership on local Boards of Directors.

For complex projects, I draw upon a pool of specialists from diverse sectors.

Organizations choose me because I have both the hands on management and social media skills for developing collaborative practices within teams, projects and across departments.

To learn more about what I can offer your business or non-profit organization, give me a call and I’ll be happy to chat with you further.

I owe a big thank you to Tim Rooney from Rooney, Earl and Partners who taught me all I know about pain points and 30 second elevator pitches.  Any business or non profit organization looking to increase their sales and communication skills of their staff will do well to connect with Tim.

If you have suggestions on my elevator pitch, I’d love to hear from you.

Brent Collaboration in the Workplace collaboration, learning, workplace