Succeeding with What You Have ... Environment

Over four decades have passed since the publishing of Albert Bandura's seminal work on social learning. A central assertion to Social Learning Theory (SLT) is that an environment impacts social behavior which, in turn, impacts the environment.

Environment is more than the blog, the wiki, or the tweet. It includes the context of communications.

The importance of the environment has not been lost on history’s most innovative and visionary business leaders. Even as far back as 1917, steel industrialist Charles M. Schwab explained how a simple network of conversations can shift an organization toward a brighter, more productive and fulfilling future. For example, in his book Succeeding with What You Have, Schwab describes how chalking a single number (i.e. 6, 7, or 10) to indicate the day's production at a steel mill could generate a vision of the future that the workers could believe in and begin generating for themselves.

"Thus a fine competition was started, and it went on until this mill, formerly the poorest producer, was turning out more than any other mill in the plant."

Charles W. Schwab

Schwab's team was "tweeting" long before the advent of the online Twitter environment. The steel workers were so adept that they needed only one or two characters, not 140!

Self-Led Organizations

With communication networks operating at dizzying speeds, the contextual infrastructure of the social interactions within your organization is as important as the technical infrastructure. In the 1950's, Peter Drucker indicated that many people are still trying to run companies like they are factories or farms, with autocratic styles and rigid structures. Drucker pointed out that we are now in the age of the Knowledge Worker. Realizing that knowledge, not resources, equals wealth, is so startlingly huge, many of us cannot bear to face it.

The impact of social learning is undeniable. The technical capabilities of social networks are impossible to ignore. Today, we have the opportunity to create new, self-led organizations by following these steps:

• Standing for New Communicative Possibilities
• Managing Networks - both Technically as well as Contextually
• Creating Purposeful Conversations
• Listening

For more information regarding our social learning solutions, please contact us or dial (770) 685-6500.