training – Page 2 – Tim O Lloyd

What does ‘advanced digital’ mean?

We’re regularly asked to provide advanced digital training.

‘Advanced’ is a pretty big bucket to understand. It spans the chasm between ‘Introduction to…’ or ‘Getting started with…’ and ‘What’s next in [delete as applicable] IoT/bots/millennials/VR/cyber/OMG’.

I’m generally a bit sceptical about categorising learning as being advanced. Learning is what it needs to be.

I’m planning to do my first marathon later this year. I could ask my running friends for some beginners’ marathon training. But the marathon I’m doing is cross country, over some of the hilliest terrain in the South of England. And, I’m a new Dad. So I don’t think the typical beginners plan will work for me. Nor would an advanced plan for more experienced runners.

I need support that meets my needs, but I need to be prepared to allow someone to help challenge and clarify those needs.

So when someone asks for advanced training in social media, online content, crisis response or whatever it happens to be, it’s essential for us to understand what they actually need. That’s regardless of whether the client has provided a really detailed brief, or not. And it’s very important for them to accept that our response could be a mixed of advanced, introductory and intermediate help, based on the needs that we perceive.

There’s really no such thing as advanced digital. Just skills, according to the needs of you, your team and of course, your audience.

If you’ve read this far, can you guess what happened at work recently?

Civil servants should be assessed for social media skills, not just TV and radio

I welcome any change that tasks more civil servants to speak publicly about their work, whether they’re being asked to account for something that’s happened, or explain a policy.

Civil servants can bring a greater level of credibility to Government communications than Ministers. For example, economists, chief scientists and medical officers are better able to explain complex issues to discerning audiences.

Social media continues to offer senior public figures great opportunities to communicate – and there are many who do this well, including Lynne Owens at the National Crime Agency.

So it seems strange that the UK Home Office is choosing to determine the suitability of senior candidates based on their potential performance on TV and radio, but not their confidence to communicate online.

In all likelihood the senior civil service candidates the Home Office are recruiting will find themselves under scrutiny on TV or radio, defending something. This much is acknowledged in their tender for ‘media’ assessments. But Home Office staff will also be under scrutiny online, in the places where people discuss the headlines they’re reading, where they speculate, ask additional questions and seek advice from other sources.

The web will also be the first place that new problems and criticisms are first raised, and also where voices of support and alternative views might be found.

So why focus on TV and radio interviews?

TV and radio communications isn’t really working out loud.

TV and radio can’t provide the same speed of response.

To harness TV and radio relies on lots and lots of experience, training and confidence, as well as all the opportunities in the first place.

TV and radio can’t even guarantee reach, that hoary old metric, which sounds great on paper but delivers so little.

Good online communication skills can provide all of the above, and more. Discussion. Engagement. A conversation, if you will.

So why focus on TV and radio interviews?

Art of the Possible, being part of a crisis exercise

I’ve neglected this blog recently, but I haven’t neglected blogging.

Here are some write-ups of projects that I’m proud to have supported:

1. What’s a crisis exercise really like?

2. Mastering the Art of the Possible

A year of learning

If 2014 was about first steps for the Digital Action Plan program, then 2015 has been a hop, skip and a jump. I think we have learned a lot, and still have a long way to go, to understand what exactly motivates and helps people to develop their digital skills.

204 people have taken on a personalised Digital Action Plan.
That’s 12 separate cohorts of people, from 6 organisations.
We’ve written, updated and edited 269 different pieces of content to help participants get to grips with new tools and ideas.
Taking an average of time spent per participant, I think we’ve spent in the region of 410 hours in coaching and 121 support…
…in addition to running 14 different workshops, in Leeds, Sheffield and London. The best bit about these, apart from the energy that people have brought, has been the venues we have found: a cinema, the ODI node in Leeds and even a Church.

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Key learning points from 2015:

We can help people who are even just a little bit curious, keen, or ambitious. We can’t help people who simply don’t want to learn, or have other concerns on their mind
The program can work for non-communicators. Until earlier this year, we hadn’t tested this approach with a complete cohort of non-communicators – people who might be able to get away with delegating digital to other teams, for at least a few years more. 2015 cohorts have included senior leadership teams, policy makers and project managers.
The more senior the participant, the more practical their needs.
Keeping on top of content about changes to apps and web-based tools is a greater challenge than we anticipated (but we’re fixing that).
Feedback from participants is what fuels us: keeps us happy, feeling rewarded. And what people tell us, about the platform, their learning experiences and needs, is constantly fascinating.

In 2016 I’m looking forward to running more cohorts in the private sector – we’re starting a cohort of staff working in a professional body, in January.

In terms of the business model, we need to get the balance right between helping people find motivation to read and explore for themselves, and providing 121 support where it’s needed. The emphasis will always be on doing, not talking.

And, of course, we need to keep gathering feedback and updating and improving our offer, so this time next year the whole project will have moved forward again.*

*And I’ll get better at remembering to take photos of our activity, as the credit below proves this is a weakness.

DSC04235 via photopin (license)

Learning

The second time that I turned back to face inland, the cliffs suddenly seemed a lot larger than before, yet the tide was sucking me back out to sea. Hangover instantly dissipated, I realised that although I liked to go for a swim in the sea now and again, I didn’t actually know what I was doing.

And I’d recently signed up to a triathlon.

Since that over-confident dip off the Dorset coast, I’ve started swimming regularly. Only after five weeks have I realised that my breathing is holding me back. And my breathing is bad because, essentially, I’m nervous.

I’m nervous because I’m rushing home to get to the pool before it closes. I’m nervous because there are some very slick swimmers alongside me. I’m nervous because I thought I was supposed to hold my breath under water, and I don’t like doing that.

Turns out my confidence is low, and my technique totally and utterly wrong.

But with a bit of support, swimming each week, watching other people’s technique (discreetly, for fear of looking wierd), practising things I’ve picked up online, and most important of all, setting some simple goals, I’m beginning to feel more confident and my technique is improving.

I’m making a few mistakes as I go along, like the occasional mouth full of water, but help is never far away.

It feels good to build confidence in something that I’ve been avoiding for a long time. As a result I hope I can bring a bit more empathy to the people we train as part of our business.

My own experience with swimming, and conversations with the people on our Digital Action Plans, make me think there are a basic set of ingredients to building skills and confidence:

1. Making a weekly habit (of whatever you are trying to improve)
2. Setting short-term, achievable goals
3. Having a long-term need, or target
4. Practising technique, with some knowledgable support

Right now I’m still splashing about; out of breath, but in a fairly safe environment, and swimming a little further each week.