Well the first day of International Work Out Loud Day is nearly over. I started my week day in a way that I always do – by an hour of walking listening to business related podcasts.  This morning I listened to Chris Ducker’s The New Business Podcast – Startup and Small Business Marketing NBP105 on How to Launch & Grow a Membership Site.  I had no particular reason for listening to this podcast other than it was the only podcast that had downloaded fully from the cloud and onto my new device and as I couldn’t wait for others to download, it simply had to do. However,  in hindsight, I’m glad I listened to it as it gave me an appreciation of what a friend is currently going through trying to build his online community site to be able to have a steady stream of monthly income from subscriptions.

0700-0800 after an hour long walk, come home to write what needs to be done for work #wolweek#wolpic.twitter.com/h0azTcZHwJ

— Helen Blunden (@ActivateLearn) June 14, 2015

During my walk I had been thinking about my own products and services with Activate Learning Solutions.  Over the last month or so, I have been revisiting and reflecting on the markets I service and the Corporate Learning and Development teams are only one small market and I’m questioning how I can provide value to not just teams but individuals.  The type of work I love to do is to coach and help people discover the joys of learning and connecting with others through a spirit of community.  Although I get asked to run workshops, design and develop learning and development programs and provide training around using social media for networking, I’m quickly realising that there’s a myriad of options out there but people are asking the same question.

“How do I remain relevant in a changing world?”

I then went on a second walk with my good friend Marilyn Snider (@malmade1) from Be Think Global. (You can also see her in this work out loud video I made) and we discussed this question.  Marilyn confirmed that even in her field of helping schools with their global diversity curriculum, teachers were asking the same question.  It seemed that there was a world of people who are in their 40s, 50s, 60s genuinely fearful of the future and worried that their lack of digital skills and literacy would make them uncompetitive in the employment market.  Despite having years of knowledge, experience, skills and insights, many feel a dread and a fear that their lack of technology skills will hold them back.  This got me thinking about the importance of personal knowledge management and how this is a critical skill to have in this day and age – for everyone – regardless of age.

I’m nearing a year of out full time work and I’ve been reflecting on what I have achieved to date.  I started out my freelancing journey with a business plan around delivering social learning consultancy, design and development services to business teams and in the process, I have been exposed to many people across different industries – corporates, small businesses and “solopreneurs” and I’ve come to the realisation that the ‘social learning’ means different things to different people.

Today I was also asked what is ‘working out loud’ and it made me sit up and think.  How do I explain ‘social learning’ or ‘working out loud’ or ‘personal knowledge management’ to the wider population?  I’m beginning to think that the words are meaningless to many.

What value do these terms have to the small business operator?  The 55 year old who is looking at an upcoming redundancy and fearful of the future? The young graduate who is scared that she may not be competitive in gaining a role in the next rotation of the graduate program? The team member in the learning and development team?  Isn’t it really just about:

• Staying relevant?
• Working smarter?
• Having a voice?

Over the weekend I watched a comedy movie called The Internship and if you haven’t seen it, I recommend it. Sure, it doesn’t win any Oscars but it has the same questions underlying through the whole movie.  Here were the young folk and the main characters of the movie lamenting how to use their knowledge, skills and talents to complete a task.  In one scene, one of the young interns shrugs his shoulders and calmly states that his generation is over qualified and knows that they’ll never find work. Meanwhile the older ones also brought their own skills and talents to the team but also were fearful that they couldn’t compete when it came to technology skills. The both didn’t realise that a diverse team is made of people with different talents and knowledge.  I think many employers forget that.

This post is just a ramble of different thoughts I’ve been having today while working quietly at home on a social learning workshop for a retail client.  They’re all half baked but over time I’m sure something will come out of it.

Right, I’m ready to stop working now…

Oh, and yes, I got most of the items ticked off the list except for the Important ones. Typical.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
 Are you interested in activating your learning?

At the start of every month, I email out a newsletter with four tips, tools and ideas that get you learning and applying these to your own work, personal or professional development.  Share what you create and learn from others on how they’ve used the tools through posting your creation on social networks using the hashtag #activatemylearning.  Subscribe here.