First, there were several questions about determining an organization’s collaborative learning maturity. I’m not familiar with a model that specifically addresses collaborative learning; however, the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) has developed a Knowledge Management Maturity framework. As we discussed during the webinar, collaborative learning and knowledge management are closely related. The Human Capital Lab is a member of APQC and we found their model to be helpful in determining the maturity of our use of social media. The model includes initiating, developing, standardizing, optimizing, and innovating.

The next topic I’d like to cover is ways to support the adoption of a collaborative learning initiative. As I shared, it is often necessary to incentivize use until your system reaches a tipping point. Eventually there will be enough resources and people in the system that you won’t have to push usage – people will pull membership. To get to that point, we used a variety of techniques. Many platforms offer social equity titles, which motivate some users. We offered small prizes and recognition for the best peer-selected contribution. Anecdotal success stories encouraged participation and suggested innovative uses.

During the webinar, some members of the audience were concerned incentives might encourage resource clutter. For example, an award for most contributed material might cause users to dump questionable resources into the system. That was not our experience. We did not allow anonymous posting (which were unable to be rewarded anyway), so participants were publicly responsible for their material. Self-policing is an effective quality control mechanism. Please remember, your organization likely has policy statements about the use of email and the Internet. These same guidelines apply to a web-based, collaborative learning initiative.

Finally, the presentation relied heavily on the idea of correlation. I explained how drilling down to the measureable aspects of a business function and your collaborative learning initiative would allow you to determine if the activities were correlated. This means there is a relationship or connection (positive or negative) between these activities. Positive means they move in the same direction, and negative indicates they are moving in opposite directions. Manually calculating correlation can be complex, fortunately, most desktop productivity software greatly simplifies the process. I encourage you to create two small data sets – they don’t have to be more than 10 items each – and experiment with the correlation (CORREL) function.

With an understanding of your organization’s knowledge sharing maturity, incentives, and measures of effectiveness, I’m confident your collaborative learning initiative will be successful.

- Joe J. Hare, CPLP, PMP

When the economy spiraled and many companies were forced to downsize – although hanging on to those that were deemed the “best of the best” – many organizations kept a keen eye on their competitors in fear of them raiding their organizations and luring away those retained employees. It was not that employees were seeking to leave, as the risk of switching jobs with the volatile economy proved to be too high, instead, companies that needed to fill positions were poaching the best from competitors rather than looking to the pool of unemployed.

In a short time, and as the outlook has become more positive in the employment arena, employees are now more apt to consider leaving their organization on their own accord. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Mercer titled What’s Working,™ found that nearly 32 percent of U.S. workers are considering leaving his or her organization at the present time. Most concerning is that the youngest of employees, those identified as Millennials are the most likely to depart. This Mercer study matches one by SBR Consulting that found 70 percent of Millennials say there is a possibility they will change jobs when the economy improves.

Considering the generational makeup of your organization, these results may cause concern when considering the costs of turnover and loss of knowledge if and when this age group decides to walk out your door. More concerning is that there is already a shortage of Gen Xers and Millennials available to fill the leadership gaps forming as the baby boomers begin to retire.

In the Mercer study among things like base pay and benefits, scores for career development and performance management remain low. In fact, when asked to identify what’s important to Millennials, the top three priorities were:

• Compensation
• Flexible work schedule
• Opportunity to make a difference

Not far behind were:

• Having trust in company leadership/management
• Benefits
• Professional development opportunities

The latter, professional development and learning opportunities, matches what Gen Xers identify as important.

In the book “The NeXt Revolution” authors Charlotte and Laura Shelton found that both male and female Gen Xers ranked “opportunities for learning” as a top-five priority. Such surveys illustrate that both generations believe that learning and professional development are priorities in choosing to leave or stay with employers.

Are you providing such opportunities?

The common fear among leaders is that if you educate employees, they will just leave the organization and take the training – and education investment – with them, but research done through Bellevue University’s Human Capital Lab^SM indicates the opposite. A study done with Mutual of Omaha found that employees who participated in Mutual of Omaha’s tuition reimbursement program were half as likely to resign as non-participants and had more job changes than non-participants in every service tenure class.

Beyond learning opportunities, initiatives like mentoring programs have had success in retaining employees – and mentoring also ties to the Millennials need to have trust in leadership. At Sun Microsystems, a Human Capital Lab study found participants in the mentoring program had a retention rate 23 percentage points higher than nonparticipants. Additionally, the study found that those mentors involved in the program had a retention rate 20 percentage points higher than nonparticipants – amounting to an estimated savings of $6.7 million.

Developing learning opportunities and creative engagement initiatives have value to both Millennials and Gen Xers and studies find that initiating such programs also greatly impact retention. Considering such options may prove valuable in many regards for your organization. You develop more knowledgeable leaders, you meet multiple priorities or needs of the generations, and you retain your talent – your organization’s most valuable asset.

Jim Nekuda
Associate Vice President, Operations
Bellevue University

After analyzing responses, complexity was a major theme that emerged in this research. Global markets, economic uncertainly, workforce variances, and technological advances all contribute to the complex environment in which organizations are trying to survive.

CEOs named creativity (over integrity) as the leadership trait most necessary to compete in our complex world. According to this research,

• Creativity can encompass turning complexity into a financial advantage.
• Experimentation and exploration need to be integrated into the fabric of every department (not just new product development teams or R&D).
• Co-creating products and services alongside clients is essential, leading to customer intimacy.
• Simplifying operations, products, and increasing dexterity make creative efforts possible.

How does an organization actually implement the findings of this research?

How do we create the creative leader, and secondly, the creative organization?

The CEOs offered several suggestions:

• Develop a questioning mindset amongst employees, encouraging them to challenge assumptions.
• Identify distinct leadership skills – persuasion and influence – rather than command and control strategies when trying to get work done.
• Use a wide range of communication tools, including social media.

Based upon these suggestions, it appears these CEOs are envisioning a completely different type of leader and different type of organization than we typically encounter in the U.S., if not more specifically, in the Midwest.

These recommendations lead to more questions.

1. What organizational elements are required that would allow and encourage employees to challenge assumptions and develop a questioning mindset?
2. How can we create leaders who can lead with persuasion and influence rather than command and control strategies?

Workforce Questioning and Challenge of Assumptions

Employees must trust that their input, whether positive or negative, will be heard, and that they are protected from potential negative consequences due to their questioning. CEOs are suggesting that organizations become what Peter Senge identified years ago as “Learning Organizations,” where questions are expected and mistakes are treated as learning opportunities.

Second, employee input and questioning, if truly an organizational goal, must be embedded in the organization’s culture. From the CEO down to the first line supervisor, questions have to be expected. And, the time it takes to address them must be viewed as essential to organizational success.

Third, leaders must be psychologically and professionally mature enough to receive questions, comments, dialogue, and challenges without becoming personally insulted by them.

Leading with Persuasion and Influence

With regard to leading through persuasion and influence rather than command and control strategies, the former is much more difficult. There is an abundance of scholarly research that supports the necessity of persuasion, influence, power, networking, and inter-personal political skills, and this research has found that these skills are essential, but that they are much more difficult to apply. The career plateau point for many aspiring managers is when they find they cannot effectively influence others without the use of formal power structures.

Shared leadership, employee empowerment, collaborative teams, cross-functional work groups, inter-personal political skills, and influence are topics well researched, but strategically deploying and embedding these practices into organizational culture and practices is difficult. Why? Because organizations are comprised of humans – all of whom like to keep things as they are, get the things they want, and not have to put too much effort into it.

Organizations that seek leaders who can persuade and influence others successfully need to develop these skills in their leaders or recruit leaders who already possess these skills. Additionally, if organizations are going to seek leaders skilled in influence and persuasion, they must ensure that these leaders are morally intact and seek to achieve organizational goals, not their own self-serving goals or needs.

Jennifer A. Moss Breen, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
Bellevue University’s Human Capital Lab

Program Director
Ph.D. in Human Capital Management
Bellevue University

Michael E. Echols, Ph.D., executive vice president of Bellevue University’s Human Capital Lab,SM and other learning leaders have been tackling these same questions. Dr. Echols will be delving into the findings around these questions and more at the ASTD Regional Conference, “Human Performance Improvement: Doing More With Less” on May 18 at the La Vista Conference Center.

Here’s a preview into what Dr. Echols will be sharing:

What is collaborative learning? In its simplest form, collaborative learning is a model based on the idea that knowledge can be created through the interaction and collaboration of individuals. It is not driven by a specific tool, or learning plan, but is driven by the need for information and the accountability that those engaged have to one another. Where we decided to move from the verbiage “social learning” comes from the attempt to really define the term and realized that the focus continually goes back to “social” (and often social media tools) rather than to “learning.” It’s not about the tool, it’s about the learning and collaborative method by which it is accomplished.

Who is using collaborative learning, and how? This will obviously vary from company to company, but most likely it is being used to some extent in every organization. If your organizational culture is supportive of collaborative learning and provides avenues for employees to engage, then it is most likely more prevalent. Some companies have a strong presence in this arena and have leveraged collaborative learning as an integral part of learning. They use it in support of key organizational initiatives and challenge their employees to find best practices to share with others across the company. Still, while other companies are not quite there, their employees are nevertheless finding ways to bring it inside the organization unofficially.

How do we know if collaborative learning is adding value? Like many things, this must start with the end in mind. In order to know how collaborative learning is adding value in your organization, you must first understand the corporate objectives. Looking at these, you can then determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) that drive towards those objectives. Once KPIs are defined, you can gather the metrics and do analysis to determine what value is being provided and then, ultimately, the return on investment.

How is your company leveraging collaborative learning? Is it intentional and aligned to support the corporate objectives? If not, it’s most likely still being utilized unofficially, so it may be worth looking at. Aligning to corporate objectives, measuring the impact, and showing the value of collaborative learning will help garner the support from executives and allow you to best leverage this growing phenomenon in the workplace.

Come hear more about collaborative learning from Dr. Echols and collaborate with other engaged leaders at the ASTD Regional Conference, “Human Performance Improvement: Doing More With Less.”

For more information or to register for this event, visit www.astdregionalevent.com.

Tricia Danielsen
Associate Director, Client Relations
Bellevue University’s Human Capital Lab

Whether you are leading business operations, human resources, talent management, or organization development, the tighter the budget and the higher the demands, the brighter your ideas need to be in order to achieve more with less! So look around you, talk to your colleagues, look to experts in the field, or just find your favorite place to think creatively and come up with those bright ideas!

In addition to hosting the Human Capital Lab’s recent webinar, “Innovation on a Shoestring Budget: A guide for today’s learning leaders,” another way we are helping to create innovative solutions to doing more with less is by sponsoring and speaking at the ASTD 2011 Regional Event, “Human Performance Improvement: Doing More With Less” on May 18.

This event brings together business and talent management leaders from across the country to interact and learn from seven world-renowned speakers. It’s an entire jam-packed day of learning from the experts and collaborating with your colleagues, preceded by an evening of informal networking with our speakers and other conference attendees.

You’ll have an exclusive opportunity to hear from all of these experts in one day!

ANDREA NIERENBERG – The Nierenberg Group
“Kick Off Your Relationship Building Skills and Make This Conference One to Remember”
A leading business authority, Andrea Nierenberg will bring her expertise in networking and relationship building to show you how to maximize every opportunity to bridge the gap between you and everyone you need to know in order to get results.

CRAIG HICKMAN – Partners In Leadership
“The Oz Principle: Creating More Accountability with Less Resources”
Accountability Produces Results! Craig is co-author of the bestseller “The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability” and author of more than a dozen other business books, including the bestselling “Creating Excellence.” Craig will show us how to do more with less through a culture of accountability – one that focuses on future action rather than blame and excuses. You will learn how to use accountability to unleash the potential in your company and in yourself.

JACK ZENGER – Zenger Folkman
“Develop Yourself and Others Via Coaching”
Five decades of leadership development experience combined with a myriad of professional roles ranging from teaching at Stanford to serving as CEO of three highly successful training firms have made bestselling author Jack Zenger a world-class expert in the field of organizational behavior. Join Jack to find out how coaching provides bigger payoffs than you have ever imagined. You will learn how to develop yourself and others via coaching, as well as how to create a culture of coaching in your organization.

MICHAEL ECHOLS, Ph.D. – Bellevue University’s Human Capital Lab
“From the Lab to Social Networks – The Unguided Trajectory of Learning”
So much is changing so fast in the workplace that those who are responsible for employee learning and performance are struggling to sift the wheat from the chaff. Dr. Echols is an internationally-known thought leader on evaluating and improving the ROI on human capital. He will help you understand the implications from social networks and new trends in learning, as well as show you how to use feedback and metrics to do more with less.

RALPH KILMANN, Ph.D. – Kilmann Diagnostics
“Using the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) for Managing Complex Problems”
An authority on systems change and conflict management, Dr Kilmann will help you understand how to better deal with increasingly conflict-rich workplaces. You will learn how to use specific tools to understand how personality and preference determine how people approach conflict, as well as define and solve the most complex problems in an organization. By effectively managing conflict, you can minimize distractions and drastically increase productivity and performance.

TODD MITCHEM – Eagle’s Flight
“First Lead Yourself, Then Lead Others”
As a thought leader and expert in results-focused learning, Todd Mitchem will help you uncover the true origin of leadership. Where does leadership begin? It begins with you. Todd will take you through simple steps to help you understand how to unlock the leader within. In Todd’s interactive session, he will share how he has applied these principles through his own life while revealing practical steps that can be applied now to yours.

JIM “MR. ENERGY” SMITH, JR. – JIMPACT Enterprises
“This Is Your Now”
As a closing speaker, Jim Smith, Jr. won’t just send you off, he will inspire you right out of your seat. He’s not called “Mr. Energy” for nothing! The full conference day will end on a high note with the inspiring message of personal empowerment and professional development: “This Is Your Now.” If you want to do more with less for yourself and your organization, this day will wrap up with a call to action through Jim’s message.

So, join us for an exciting day of networking and learning with some of the most lauded experts in Human Performance Improvement and leave with an inspired plan for meaningful change. You will part with new skills, helpful contacts, and most of all, you will know what it means to be accountable for success in doing more with less!

For more information or to register for this event, visit www.astdregionalevent.com.

Tricia Danielsen
Associate Director, Client Relations
Bellevue University’s Human Capital Lab

• Organizational hacking
• Social learning
• Adaptive design
• Predictive analytics
• Business acumen
• Developing business advisers
• Social learning
• Adapting training to worker skill realities
• Lessons from the LearningElite
• Predictive analytics, and
• Social learning.

Did I mention topics included predictive analytics and social learning?

Of course, I’m exaggerating but measurement, specifically anticipating need, and social learning were hot topics. Even if they weren’t included in every workshop, attendees were discussing them during breaks and in the evening. Both have great appeal. I think everyone would like to predict the future, especially when it comes to training demand and organizational impact. And, social media has everyone’s attention. I don’t have to tell you how many people are on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. We learn so much from each other and robust search capabilities. Of course, we’d like to bring pull-based, experiential learning into our organizations.

Predicative analytics is a phrase that deserves some definition before it’s discussed. At its simplest, a person might mean anticipating a training requirement based on some organizational change. At its most complex, and strictly defined, it includes methods from statistics, data mining, and game theory to analyze historical data and predict the future. The simple definition is executed when a learning leader recalls the chaos following a new product roll-out and implements training to ensure success. The strict definition has created a strategic advantage for Wal-Mart as they manage inventory levels and distribution.

Most organizations we work with lack the analytical sophistication and data necessary to conduct predictive analysis.

There are ways to develop analytical sophistication. You can:

• Purchase software and attend the training.
• Hire people with the know-how.
• Identify people with an aptitude for analysis and create a team.

…But, it is nearly impossible to close the data gap.

Predictive analysis is based on historical data. Few learning organizations can determine who attended which interventions much less how attendance correlates to the internal or external environment. You have to understand what happened to anticipate what will happen.

I recommend implementing a data collection process and working to optimize ongoing interventions as a first step. As your analytical sophistication grows, you’ll have the data to support predictive analysis.

This “walk before you run” approach shouldn’t be discouraging. Conversations at the symposium indicate many people are using the “predictive analytics” term but few are applying it beyond the simple definition above. In time, I’m confident we’ll be better able to anticipate the learning needs of an organization but it’s especially challenging because we’re dealing with people. People often act in unexpected ways. Many attempts at prediction are not very successful despite enormous volumes of data, unprecedented calculatory power, and incredible incentives to succeed. Consider the stock market.

Social learning might be a softer target. Numerous organizations are implementing social learning platforms. We have one here at Bellevue University. We’ve had great success with content and expertise location. As you might imagine, I was very interested in the organizational impact of the system. The Lab identified several key performance indicators related to social media and developed measurement tools. The methodology isn’t ready to share and we don’t have results yet but we will by mid-year. When it’s complete, we will publish a case study and share the information at the summer Colloquium in Omaha.

It was a great symposium. I learned a great deal and had the opportunity to visit with numerous thought leaders. I believe the future holds great things for learning leaders and their organizations. Loosely defined, I guess that’s a little social learning and predictive analysis.

- Joe J. Hare, CPLP, PMP

Building an organization driven on innovation doesn’t require a formal R&D department. Your employees have the ideas, insights, and drive to implement innovation. Below are seven steps for building an innovative culture that thrives on failure.

• Set the strategy and communicate it effectively! A strategy for innovation must be illustrated through examples and language – your vision for the future. This takes time. To stand in a staff meeting and say “we are now going to become a team that experiments” will give the indication that this is the next flavor-of-the-month initiative. Innovation cannot be forced, and changing the culture won’t happen overnight. Employees will learn to innovate through consistent communication of successes, and just as importantly, the stories of failure.
• Brainstorm! Identify a specific time during the month for team members to brainstorm. This is a productive and important part of the work the team is doing. During the meetings, make it clear that no ideas are out of bounds. Sometimes those “crazy ideas” find focus with further discussion. In these brainstorming sessions, individuals don’t have to have all the details worked out. The idea is the purpose.
• Prepare a growth budget! Nothing speaks louder than allocating money to an innovation movement. Let it be known that some experiments will be supported financially.
• Allow teams to make decisions! Create teams comprised of varying levels and roles to determine what ideas move forward. This creates ownership in all directions. First, the individual must present a sound case for the experiment to the group. The group must then decide and stand firm in the decision to move it forward. The leader, after review, must indicate his/her commitment by approving the experiment and financial resources.
• Recognize the failures! Acceptance of failure is perhaps the number one driver of creating a culture of innovation. It helps builds trust! 75 percent of experiments conducted are going to fail. Learn from the set-backs and acknowledge the failures. What was learned? What will we do differently next time? Let’s try again!
• Document the findings! Business is sometimes cyclical. It’s likely that in three-to-five years, a similar innovation will be implemented. It is necessary that lessons learned from past failures be documented and easily retrievable to help with future initiatives. Documenting the approach, mistakes, and findings greatly impacts new and innovative ideas.
• Trust me! For the previous steps to work, all members of the team must venture with a sense of trust. As the leader, you can build the culture in many ways.
  • Thank employees for presenting ideas!
  • When ideas come up, even if they are terrible, respect them, and provide positive feedback. Don’t squash employees’ ideas or you may never hear from them again. Not all ideas are good, but all ideas might be great starting points!
  • Own the initiative even if it fails. When projects fail, learn! Make it known that no one will be held accountable for the failure, but everyone will take ownership in learning from it.

  Creating a culture where employees understand that idea exploration is important, failure is accepted, and risk-taking is the norm drives innovative teams. Savvy organizations that thrive on failure and continually learn from mistakes and take chances succeed in an ever-increasingly competitive market.

  Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, had seen his fair share of “failures” before enjoying the success of Zappos. By learning from his mistakes, and building on his ideas, he has been able to grow Zappos into one of the most enviable companies in the world. Hsieh said, in an interview with Steve Rosenbaum of MediaBizBloggers, “Entrepreneurs view failures as getting one step closer to success.”

  While not all business executives see themselves as “entrepreneurs” they are still in the business of growing their business, and innovation must be an ingredient. Innovation, after all, is not the property of entrepreneurs, and according to Hsieh, there are no points off for failing.

- Emily Redinbaugh

Retention planning begins with employee engagement. Choosing to make employee engagement a low priority could have detrimental impact. And, focusing on the bottom-line expenses of human capital is a prime example of penny-wise and pound-foolish.

As highlighted in a recent white paper I co-authored with Mike Freel, Ph.D., U.S. organizations are facing a congruent and unprecedented challenge: how best to replace the talent pipeline as baby boomers have reached retirement eligibility and the workforce available to replace them pales in comparison – an alarming 1:4 ratio. The intersection of this knowledge void with talent flight will be felt dramatically if organizations are not effectively managing the talent currently within their span of control. How do we stave off this crisis? How can managers and C-suite executives proactively avert a disaster – INVEST!

As human capital measurement emerges, and accounting practices begin to recognize how to truly account for the intangible investment in human capital, top managers will realize that the yield of this data may result in a valid return on investment when that investment is planted firmly in the roots of human capital despite the recession. Across the board cuts and hiring freezes can still give way to investment in your human capital through identification of top talent, training and development, mentoring, internal reorganization that result in a modified portfolio, and/or painting a clear picture of the organization’s tactical and strategic priorities.

How much can a single employee’s flight cost your organization? That will vary from organization to organization, and by industry, but can quickly equate to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for a large firm. In health care, a statistic often quoted estimates the cost of replacing a nurse can be up to twice that nurse’s salary! When one analyzes turnover, recruitment, and retention costs, one quickly surmises that a highly talented worker is much like a superstar athlete – whose skills open doors to opportunity. Not every employee is going to represent EXTRAordinary market value, however, CEOs must train themselves to recognize how to manage top talent and to maintain the organization’s solvency through proactive application of employee investment.

Some organizations are addressing the issue of talent flight by creating dynamic talent mobility solutions. Employees want to feel like things are progressing for them, despite the organizational lull created by layoffs, budget cuts, or declining revenue generation. Top managers posit that the temporary loss of efficiency from talent mobility will actually increase productivity over a period of time. CEOs must come out from behind the balance sheet and invest in their greatest asset: human capital. They cannot afford not to.

Bill Powers
Bellevue University

Without giving away the farm, the premise of the extensive three-day planning was to start with the end in mind. Start from what you want your organization to look like and then work backward to connect the pieces, the strategic plan, to help you accomplish your goals. The goal is two-fold: first, to establish a broad, clear understanding of the organization’s future picture and second, to align the entire organization around that future picture.

This was somewhat of a new concept to me, being grounded in more serial, process-oriented planning sessions in the past. As an advocate for a model of strategic management, I view strategy in organizations as a cyclical process, one of identifying potential impacts, formulating strategies, and measuring the effects. Identifying the wrong environmental impact to the organization or implementing a strategy ineffectively (or the wrong strategy) is usually discovered by the organization that also views strategy as a similar, cyclical process. Strategic planning, therefore, is a significant element of this process and directly contributes to the success of the organization…provided there’s a comprehensive future picture.

In working backwards from your future picture, your desired state, the organization is better equipped to identify what it really does well, its centers of excellence, and how they contribute to reaching the future picture. It also enables the organization to recognize other centers of excellence that are external to the organization. These either need to be in place for the organization to succeed, or the organization needs a plan on how to influence or change the external environment.

In addition to the centers of excellence, organizations are able to envision new services or products that may support the future picture. If a new service is necessary to reach the goal, but isn’t created yet, then action teams are used to set the process of development in motion. These action teams have a passion for the product or service, but more importantly, are driven to succeed strategically! All of their efforts and all of their decisions are strategically aligned and moving toward the future picture.

Just imagine your own organization aligned around a common set of values; a common strategic picture of what you could become. That’s a powerful image. Once everyone is aboard, once all of the efforts of the organization are strategically aligned, once you are able to envision how your efforts and decisions contribute to the future picture, you’re well on your way to achieving your desired state. But remember, putting your future picture first will help you plan strategically backwards.

Mike Freel, Ph.D.

Of course, what’s lacking in his motivation is a clear wrong-doing that requires global attention. It’s as if secrecy in any form is unacceptable. Individuals, organizations, and governments require a degree of privacy to function. All entities require space to develop new ideas, refine ongoing efforts, and collaborate candidly. This is exactly the purpose of the diplomatic cables. They were thinking out loud. The information shared was formative. It was intended to shape actions, decisions, and policy. These communications were not public position statements.

Regardless of the rationale for release or the nature of the information, it is the nature of the threat that elevates this incident as a defining moment. Assange has taken asymmetrical attack to an unprecedented level. At one time, opponents were symmetrical. One government faced another on the battlefield. Guerrilla tactics evolved; small groups faced larger armies. Then suicide attacks allowed individuals to damage a significantly larger enemy. This is especially disturbing because the attacker is guided by ideology and is no longer concerned with personal destruction. Assange is asymmetrical in the extreme; he has demonstrated that one person with a computer can achieve unprecedented global consternation with no discernable goal.

What is the lesson for learning leaders? We are often involved in knowledge management, human capital decisions, and organizational communication. How do we collaborate candidly if one disgruntled employee can turn the organization inside out and place poorly formed ideas center stage? First, acknowledge that privacy is an illusion. This shouldn’t be a surprise, but we have such an expectation of confidentiality that we forget. If it’s recorded, there is a very high likelihood it will eventually fall outside organizational control. Your policies and security procedures may delay exposure, but it will not prevent it. Second, monitor your motivations and act with integrity. If you would be uncomfortable with your words, actions, or images shared on the evening news, don’t do it.

Julian Assange may have hoped to create governmental transparency. But what he has actually demonstrated is that privacy is so transparent, it’s invisible.

- Joe J. Hare, CPLP, PMP