Chief Learning Officer - December 2008 - (Page 16)

EFFECTIVENESS Customer Learning Keep them coming back for more • BY JAY CROSS earning is woven into the fabric of every modern and brings them back. Making a lesson stick takes more than a talkingbusiness. It’s the way we adapt to change. We’ve head video, no matter how compelling the speaker. got to rid ourselves of the notion that learning is just the chief learning ofﬁcer’s business. Learning is so much That’s why this community site challenges particimore than that. Learning is the lifeblood of commerce, pants to specify their goals, set up milestones and and it’s every corporate citizen’s job to make it better. receive reminders. There’s a personal learning journal for keeping track of progress, there’s a forum for asking It’s time to invite customers to join the party. Learning and social networks and customer questions and sharing opinions, and there’s a commucommunications and partner relations and marketing nity that enables members to learn with one another. and sales aren’t islands. They’re all facets of the same The entire site was designed with learning in mind. When thousands of people join a community, its thing: the corporate commons of work and learning. conveners need metrics to assess progress and chart Some astute companies are exploring how a social their next steps. Web-based analytlearning community can remove ics are easily baked into online barriers separating customer and communities such as this, and corporation. It’s all about learning DID YOU KNOW? Google now provides a service that conversations. The Cluetrain Manifesto enables a Web site to compare itself The Cluetrain Manifesto is available in its entirety to its peers. is one of the most important for free at cluetrain.com. Most people who visit a social business books of the late 20th networking site never go beyond century. Its primary message is the opening page. Yet, the promise that markets are conversations. of learning and community motivates six out of seven That conversation must be authentic; you can’t fake it. Its language is “natural, open, direct, funny visitors to the Covey site to continue on to other pages. and often shocking.” Honest conversation builds Visitors to the average community site stay for two minutes, whereas members of the Covey community lasting customer relationships. Conversations also are the most effective learning remain for nearly 15 minutes. Only one in seven visitechnology ever invented. Learning is social. Most of tors to a typical community site are back for a second what you learn, you learn from and with other people. time, but two out of three Covey visitors are repeats. You do so in the give-and-take of conversation. While People hate to be taught, but they love to learn. Combining learning and marketing is win-win. it’s a book about business, not learning, The Cluetrain Here’s why: Manifesto presciently challenges its readers to “imagine a world where everyone was constantly learning, a 1. Informed customers are better customers. They world where what you wondered was more interesting know the goods. They trust the brand. They buy than what you know, and curiosity counted for more more. than certain knowledge.” 2. Learning relationships are two-way. CustomerLast week, I came upon an example of an online learners keep coming back. Familiarity breeds loyallearning community that brings marketing, social ty. Participants bring in their friends. networking and learning under one roof. It’s a marriage 3. Analytics inform marketing decisions. Adminisof informal, self-service learning and business analyttrators monitor changes in customer interests and ics. In this case, it was the customer-facing site of Dr. behavior. They have a channel for direct feedback Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly and suggestions from the marketplace. Effective People, the business best-seller. You can set up an online social learning commuSix months ago, Covey replaced his traditional nity without waiting in line for IT to help. The Covey Web site with a free online learning community. Thirty-four thousand people from 188 countries have community runs on a turnkey platform. Cut it on, signed on as members. Many of them have enrolled in and you’re good to go. Isn’t it time to include customfree courses. Learning is the lure that brings them in ers in your organization’s learning plans? CLO L Jay Cross is CEO of Internet Time Group and a thought leader in informal learning and organizational performance. He can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. 16 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • December 2008 • www.clomedia.com http://www.cluetrain.com http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - December 2008

Chief Learning Officer - December 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Connections Business Impact Best Practices Effectiveness Guest Editorial The Future of Learning CLO Profile Learning Opportunities Embedded in Social Networking ManTech Leverages Knowledge Management Approaches for Social Networking Agility Training for the Learning Organization Creating an Agile Organization With Learning 2.0 2008 Learning In Practice Awards Corporate Social Responsibility: How Can Learning Contribute? Union Fenosa Corporate University: How CSR Education Impacted the Bottom Line Training in the 21st Century: Everything Old Is New Again Zions Bancorp.: Connecting the Dots Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - December 2008

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