When it comes to creating an effective team, cohesion is far more important than co-location.

Virtual meeting and collaboration tools can be a great servant, but not a great master. Rather than letting technology dictate processes, a virtual team should aim to take effective face-to-face working practices and adapt them to work virtually.

A shared vision, which is understood by all team members, acts as an anchor for decision making. Each team member’s responsibilities should be in service of the collective purpose.

A virtual environment should support relationship development, not simply communication.

4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We don’t respect titles; we respect people.<br> The internet has served as a great social equalizer. In most online communities your value (and therefore reputation and power) are based on what you contribute not who you are. A well-read 18 year old who knows his stuff and is constantly active in the editing process of a Wikipedia article may be revered more than the heavily credentialed professor who interjects, corrects, and condescends to the community of the page. These relationships break down entitlements and, instead, center on accomplishment and contribution.<br> So if you want to respected, simply play your part and contribute. You’ll be known for the actions you take that probably earned you that title in the first place.

Social media is actually a <strong>really poo</strong>r method for talking about things I shouldn't be discussing because through search and the very nature of social networks, it makes it extremely unlikely that I can keep this activity a secret for very long.&nbsp;

Consider what would happen, though, if we turned to social media for the majority of our interactions within an organization. If we're posting questions and answers on a blog or wiki, using social networks to interact and share information, as a learning professional I can monitor those channels to see where additional learning interventions might be appropriate.Not as a punishment, mind you, but as a sort of ongoing just-in-time learning needs analysis and opportunity for coaching. If a lot of questions suddenly start popping up on the network, that's a pretty good sign that as a learning professional I may need to do something.

<p>Current reality, however, is only <em>one</em> form of reality. And just because it's <em>current</em> doesn't mean it's the way it will always be. Or <em>should</em> be. </p> <div id="a000238more"><div id="more"> <p>Real innovators challenge excuses. Real innovators challenge the status quo. They do not concede to current reality.</p></div></div>

<p><em><strong>Information</strong></em></p> <ul> <li>Don’t let people know how well they’re performing.</li> <li>Give people misleading information about how well they’re performing.</li> <li>Hide from people what’s expected of them.</li> <li>Give people little or no guidance about how to perform well.</li></ul>

<li>Oftentimes, when social learning is discussed at an organization, some workers shy away. They see their knowledge as their power, and they’re afraid to give up that control. How to overcome this? Emphasize their ability to help others and play a bigger role in helping the organization, instead of hoarding the knowledge. (Sometimes easier said than done.)</li> <li>If you’re getting pushback on social learning technologies (ex. blogs and wikis), you may want to have evangelist(s) at your organization who take lead and emphasize the potential of these tools, show examples, etc.</li>

"What is the perfect social learning implementation? There is no such thing. Use whatever tools and methodologies that help your teams collaborate best."

<p>The bottom line: Organizations can no longer focus strictly on working, while ignoring living and learning. Neither can you, as a knowledge professional. The enterprise of the future must bring all three of those areas into balance.</p><p>Living means loving what you do and finding fulfillment in it. Working means doing what you love, in a way that is both challenging and rewarding. Learning means continually making new discoveries and putting those discoveries to work, both personally and professionally.</p><p>In essence, you and your organization, and your extended network, are now co-dependent. Your ability to grow is limited if your organization and network aren’t growing. Likewise, if you aren’t growing, you are inhibiting the growth of the organizations to which you belong. Think brain trust, as opposed to assembly line.</p>

People earning over $100,000 a year are almost twice as likely to apologize after an argument or mistake as those earning $25,000 or less, the survey found.

They were also asked whether they would apologize in three situations: when they felt they were entirely to blame for a problem; when they thought they were only partly at fault; and when they believed they were blameless.

In all three cases, "a person's willingness to apologize was an almost perfect predictor of their place on the income ladder," the study says.

<tr><td><strong>Scarcity</strong></td> <td><strong>Abundance</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>It’s every man for himself</td> <td>We can work together</td> </tr> <tr> <td>I never have time</td> <td>I take time for the things that matter</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Mistakes are disasters</td> <td>I can recover and learn from mistakes</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ideas are hard to come by and must be kept secret</td> <td>I can always have a great idea</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Our company is lacking</td> <td>Our company has everything it needs to succeed</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Look at all the resources we need</td> <td>Look at all the resources we have</td> </tr> <tr> <td>The market is full of threats</td> <td>The market is full of opportunities</td> </tr> <tr> <td>People are out to get me</td> <td>People are out to help me</td></tr>

I think that it's this picture of abundance that I find so engaging about the Internet and social media. A lot of people give generously of their time, their expertise and their support to write their own blogs, comment on others, create videos and podcasts and beautiful art that enriches the rest of us. And they do it for nothing.This is abundance thinking. This is a belief that there is an endless flow of ideas and information that we can connect and shape to create new things all the time.

You may have noticed three separate islands where you work. There's an island of senior executives with their top-down, bottom line, control-freak approach to the other islands. There's a far away island of gamers thriving on fun challenges and immersive gameplay. In between, there's an island of trainers, instructional designers and content developers struggling to reach out to both of the other islands.

But what information is it that is actually being "leaked" through Facebook by these irresponsible employees ?<br><br>The article gives no specifics, making me wonder if the threat is real or just imagined by the corporate control freaks.

I was touched by her comment of near resignation when she says "<em>Besides, I know that realistically our organization is not going to stop using a traditional LMS, so this is a thought exercise for me."</em> Christy, the hope of friendlier, more useful and adaptive tools is thankfully a 'thought exercise' for most of us. Those ideas will spawn the tools that will swallow your LMS.