In a prior post I wrote about working and learning online. It generated some comments about isolation (while working at home) and about support for learning at work (i.e., does the corporation make learning possible and do they value it). This article, Managing the Mobile Workforce raises similar issues in the context of managing different personalities and cultural influences among a  growing number of mobile workers (25% of the world’s working population by ’09 the study says).

Based on the findings of the Cisco-sponsored study that is the basis of the article, here are some considerations for supporting mobile workers (and I’ve added considerations for the online learners’ experiences below the bullet points):

• The article says your company must have hired the right people for mobile work – self-motivated, resilient, extrovered and independent (and says they should test for it).

Self-efficacy is something I’m sure we’ve all read about when discussing what makes a good online learner. (If you’re not familiar with the term, see here). What this point says to me if that we must help those who do not think they can learn online – recognize their successes, support them technologically, show them how others have experienced success with learning online; in short – remove the stress from the situation. We cannot make anyone a successful online learner but we can certainly help remove barriers. I certainly don’t think we should test anyone though. (can you imagine… you do not exhibit self-efficacy for online learning – so you can’t learn this way). As if we’re the same everyday. Anyway…

• The article says you must have hired the right leadership so as not to mismanage the mobile worker. Mismanaging the mobile workers includes lack of communication (isolation factor), too much communication (micromanaging), and those other things that make a bad manager in any environment – lack of interpersonal skills.

To me, this is a duh statement. My experience with good management is the individual who lets you manage yourself by adapting to who you are -some like a lot of communication, some don’t. I think the same holds true for online learners. Some like to read through all the resources you’ve provided, others like to skim and use them when they need them. A good learning experience means you let people manage their own learning while you adapt to who they are (you provide options).

• The article says you must have the right tools and resources for mobile workers. This might include video, social forums, and of course sufficient connectivity.

As learning professionals, we normally hopefully take resources into account for every experience we design. This is getting tougher I think for IDs and for IT who don’t always know what the setup is like for the mobile worker. Do you design for the lowest common denominator? Make multiple iterations? Do you have the right resources to do this?

• The article also raises good points about culture.

Localization of content, acceptance of online learning, distribution of workforce, technological infrastructure are all considerations we consider now.

Managing mobile workers is becoming more of a hot topic based on demographic changes, global work environments, and technology infrastructure. I think we’ve got a one-up on this topic in the learning field. We’ve been managing the online learning experience for quite awhile now. Been there. Doing it.

For a talent management spin on this study, see this post by Max Goldman at the SuccessFactors blog.

While catching up on some reading this morning two seemingly dissimilar topics are calling for similar actions. On a Jay Cross nanocast at Learning Light, Mark Oehlert talked about the lack of discussion around the design of learning in the face of (nearly) daily emerging technologies. He thinks we need to think about destroying how we think about design now – from many perspectives and create design. Kick status quo in the ass is what I’m hearing.

The other item was Steve Barth’s Emergence in Times of Emergency. It’s about the need for governments (‘the system’) to design for emergence in times of emergency vs. reorganizing post-emergency to create yet another massive bureaucracy (the status quo). He writes about ‘learned helplessness’ that leads us to believe ‘the system’ will take care of us. [is this like the organization who feels the training department will take care of a problem that may not be a problem training can even address?]. His contrast between system failure and ‘bystander success’ (successful reactions in terms of creating teams to address the emergency) made me think of status-quo ‘training.’ When faced with an emergency in our organizations do we respond with the status quo response and then fix it later for the next emergency? How can we design for emergence? I guess what I’m learning from reading both of these posts is that we are at a point in time where we need to take charge of emergent design.

I can relate this to a past ‘training’ situation where I failed miserably. Six weeks before a ‘training’ event I had no hand in developing or even knowledge of, I was asked by a senior manager to ”set up’ the event. This meant getting a room booked and making sure there was food and equipment available. Oh, yeah and collect all the PowerPoint presentations and get the attendees names in the LMS. Maybe help with travel arrangements. Coordinator of Suckfest right? It wasn’t training at all but an info-session on what is expected in the event of deployment due to a weather catastrophe (these were property claims adjusters). I didn’t want any part of it.

As I watched endless presentations about forms and expense accounts (all while making sure the coffee was properly refreshed) I wanted to cry. Here was a perfect opportunity to have designed a process for a potential catastrophe ‘teaching how to use tools to make the response happen so that the company would excel and so that adjusters could communicate with each other when emotionally spent. So my session would’ve been about access to and how to use the tools you can use to self-organize and react to the unknowns you’ll likely face. “The system” tiptoed up behind me and kicked my ass. How will you design so you can handle an organizational emergency? Is the money better spent on change management? Will you be part of the status quo or will you be Johnny- (or Jane)-on-the-spot? Coordinator of Kick-ass Design. Now that’s a title.

I haven’t read the book but this excerpt makes it sound like a worthwhile read for leaders wishing to create a learning organization “how lack of leadership skills may “hinder development of your knowledge workers.”

Learning in Action