Predicting the future is tricky business...

This is the opening line in a post by Mike Prokopeak this evening in an Executive Briefing at Chief Learning Officer Magazine entitled, Direction for Uncertain Times. In this post, Mike goes to two of CLO's columnists, Elliott Masie (industry luminary and an introNetworks customer) and Josh Bersin (Founder of Bersin and Associates) to "gaze into their crystal ball". They state what we are all hearing from all sides it seems, layoffs everywhere, and subsequent massive retrenching with a focus on survival.

Yep. But they offer a ray of hope, and that's the part that got my attention.

They say:

While the ride will be rough, Bersin and Masie pointed to significant opportunities in the coming year for innovation. Both said social learning and social networks will grow more important and organizations will mature in their approaches.

“It won’t be a ‘what is it and how do I do it’ discussion,” Bersin said. “It will be, ‘We’re doing it; we’re trying it. It’s working in this group; it’s not working in that group.’”

So, to my earlier question today about being part of the problem, or part of the solution, I am encouraged that these two folks, who are right in the thick of it, are suggesting that the adoption of social learning and social networking will play an important role right now in the midst of this crisis. This moves the needle towards us being part of the solution.

Josh also said:

"learning organizations will move to a more centralized model that is tightly integrated with talent management. That’s going to be an imperative for everybody at every level to understand: what talent management is and [how it will] play a role in that strategy,” Bersin said.

I have had many discussions with clients about how our smart social network could help them in talent management, even though we don't normally talk about nor position ourselves as a talent management tool - that is a crowded marketplace already. I'm just saying, that the way we have approached the problem, it looks like we might be an innovative solution for that space as well.

(Note: it feels like I have to be online 24/7 these days to take it all in, there is so much change occurring all around, with really smart people weighing in on their specific area of expertise by the minute. I feel like each day is a Master Class, and there is no single Master to look to.)