In the first article of this series we looked at how search and L&D face the common problems of information overload and an increasing rate of change, and discussed how in internet search the latest solutions to counter these challenges focus on introducing human input into the process, signalling a recognition that technology by itself cannot provide the most effective method of knowledge share and discovery.

In this second article we look at how this new branch of search, labeled social search, could be harnessed by L&D professionals to deliver more effective discovery, assimilation and actioning of information within the organisations they work for, and in turn how this same technology could help them enhance the training programmes and services they provide.

Before discussing this though, it's worth recapping that by social search we're talking about involving people in the search process in an attempt to improve the relevancy, quality and ability for people to act on the results delivered. This could be in the form of people ranking or refining information, but increasingly it's being used to refer to how people use their social graph to source knowledge, their social graph being the people they know or are related to professionally or personally. They can do this indirectly by following the behaviour of people they know - examples of this include bookmarking web pages or liking sites on Facebook, or directly, by asking people they know and waiting for them to answer.

 

The challenge for the user here is to have a useful and suitable social graph, something which can take a lot of time and effort to acquire. The more relevant people they know or can access, the more useful this method becomes. The challenge then for social search is to make it possible for anyone to use this method, independently of whether they know the right people or not. If we imagine a new starter in a company who has yet to establish the necessary contacts, we've a very clear example of how a social search tool that allowed them to locate, converse with and learn from appropriate experts across the organisation would be of real benefit.

So how do we make social search work on the web, and how could L&D professionals make it work in business?

We need to get people involved, to share their ideas and know-how, be it in the form of simply tagging information or taking part in knowledge sharing through conversation or writing. Interestingly, we recently interviewed Ellen Pruyne, Ed.D, Ed.M, MA Mngt., BSc, BA and learning consultant in the Ashridge Centre for Research in Executive Development. She discussed the use of storytelling and participation in the learning process, and what struck home was that if there is no engagement, there is not much hope of learning taking place. We need people to engage with the material, be it in the classroom or online as part of a social learning platform. Given that social search allows learners to interact with other learners as well as with the trainer, there is a clear role for L&D practitioners as facilitators and instigators of productive online discussion and participation. In the same way offline trainers might set up discussion groups according to ability, or ask a particular student to work with another, these people skills can also be replicated online. Just as we might adjust our language and register for different students in a classroom, the same applies for motivating and engaging people in the use of social technologies.

Users of extremely popular sites such as Twitter or Yahoo! Answers will often complain of noise or poor quality comments. This is an inherent problem that all networks, user groups and forums face as number rise, and social search is no different. Whilst the focus is on the transfer of useful information, there still needs to be some way to surface and promote the good input from the not so good. One type of trainer intervention might be noting wrong answers and actually speaking to the person who posted, correcting them in a more private setting, this is an approach practised at BT as part of their Dare2Share programme, where engineers share their knowledge through podcasts and videos. In a similar way, good or exemplary answers can be flagged by trainers and made more prominent in search results, or even improved upon and amended. For websites with millions of users who are posting thousands of comments a day, this type of intervention is costly, time consuming and difficult to achieve. However, within organisations, where there are clear guidelines on participation, an established culture and good level of competence in the areas being discussed, this approach becomes feasible and can provide a highly effective way to surface, qualify and build upon an organisation's latent knowledge.

Finally, there's the need to learn from these conversations and information exchanges, where learning applies to the employees, the organisation and even the trainer. Social search offers real possibilities here, given that people are revealing their needs on the one hand, and areas of skills and knowledge on the other. In this way knowledge gaps can be highlighted and areas for further training identified. In some cases the trainer might react in real time by answering a query or clarifying a point of confusion, or it might be considered that the subject matter is complicated or sensitive and better dealt with in a more formal training environment, be that off or online.

 

The opportunity here is for trainers to be the first point of call, or be seen to be involved in helping people as and when they need help, a very different situation to preparing people in the eventuality that they might need help at some point in the future. If we ask ourselves in which of the situations the learner will be most engaged, we can see where the greater potential for learning sits. If we consider the appreciation or valuation of the training offered, then surely this will be highest when the learner has an immediate need. Given so many employees practice informal learning, by asking a friend, Googling or tweeting when they need help, it's clear that there's demand for ongoing support services both pre- and post-training. Something that trainers could look to provide by working in conjunction with social search.

L&D professionals can utilise social search technologies to offer significant benefits to organisations with regards improving knowledge share and the ability to action that know-how. The additional role for L&D in this scenario is to encourage and set out the guidelines for engagement, to maintain and improve the quality of the knowledge being shared, and to derive learnings from those conversations. It’s this last point, the use of analysis and reporting that we’ll discuss in the final article, where we look at the rational for how social search can drive productivity, and setting up a framework to demonstrate this.