Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2015 - (Page 54)

MEASURING THE ROI OF SOCIAL MEDIA WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION A few months ago, around 1:00 a.m., I walked into my bedroom, flipped the light switch and stopped in my tracks. I couldn't see anything; there was total darkness. My ceiling light had died. The next morning, after some examination, I realized I would need help fixing it, and I decided to look to social media for help. I sat down at my computer, typed in a search for "how to fix a ceiling fan and light fixture" and started clicking around. Within minutes, I determined the part I needed and then found a blog and discussion forum about that part. I typed in an additional question for this community, pressed "send" and launched the question into cyberspace. MOST LEARNING SCENARIOS AREN'T BLACK AND WHITE. When I returned from the store with my new part, I found four forum posts addressing my question. One connected me to a how-to video demonstrating the process step by step. I climbed my stool to start working and pressed "play." One hour later, I was finished. MAKING YOUR BUSINESS CASE While I always appreciated the potential value of social media's knowledge sharing 54 - PAU L L E ONE , Ph .D. MEASURING IMPACT solutions as on-the-job training tools, it wasn't until I started playing out specific scenarios (like the one described above) that I began to fully grasp the potential return on investment of using them in the workplace. What if I'd had to find, register, wait and pay for an instructor-led course on installing electrical fixtures? What if when I finally sat down to take it, I had to hear hours of lecture until we got to the module about relay switches? What if my facilitator were an expert in older models, but knew little of the newer, more sophisticated replacements? What would be the cost and time wasted if I had used just this one source of learning and received outdated information? When we consider a scenario like this one, it's easy to see a clear benefit for choosing social media and instant collaboration tools over traditional training alternatives. In these situations, it makes sense to connect with experts as quickly as possible. Admittedly, most learning scenarios aren't as black and white as changing a light fixture, but think about how different all

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2015

Delivery: Is This Where Technology Changes the Game?
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: The Pendulums Swing
Access Trumps Knowledge: Changes for Training Delivery
Hardwired to Learn
Using a Blended Approach When Crafting a Training Delivery Strategy
Planning, Developing and Implementing Serious Games
Let's Get Serious about Live, Instructor-led Training
Just What Employees Ordered: Personalized Adaptive Learning
Training with Pictures, Not Bullet Points
Anti-Social Learning?
Using Microlearning and Information Design to Elevate Soft Skills Training
How Improvisation Can Drive Employee Engagement
Accelerating Expertise with Simulations
Technology and Trends Driving the China Training Market
Helping Buyers of Training Services Become More Savvy
Are Bad Communication Habits Holding You Back?
Measuring the ROI of Social Media within Your Organization
Closing Deals
Company News
What's Online
Training Talk

Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2015