Jane Hart clearly makes the distinction between social learning and Social Training. Her work and the work of her colleagues in the Internet Time Alliance are informing me about social artistry in the workplace. I discover better strategies to work with organizations as I learn from Jane and those at the ITA. Anyway, this type of informal learning happens individually - as people go about their daily tasks - as well as socially - when we are with others. Social learning is therefore not a new term or training trend, it is something that has been happening since time immemorial - both inside and outside organisations - as we learn with and from others. So we might learn from others (intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously) by asking questions of our colleagues,  through discussions in meetings , or even in casual conversations by the proverbial watercooler.  And, it is also in social learning that powerful insights to problems often arise that have been generated by the collective wisdom of employees

I think Jay Cross has his finger on the pulse of dying systems and knows the antidote that can prevent decay and irrelevance. I like his blunt words and the ease in which he tells it like it is. Those qualities inspire me as an aspiring social artist. A sustainable social business provides the means and motivation for workers to learn what they need: the know-how, know-who, and know-what to get things done and get better at doing them. This takes more than access to social networks, blogs, and wikis. Organizations must provide the scaffolding that focuses on discovery, practice, sharing, and reinforcement. Organizations that lack a clear understanding of their learning architectures are doomed to descend into an aimless world of social noise and meaningless chit-chat. Facebook-itus.

Hans Rosling is the Co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation. The way he presents data is astounding. I'm able to understand (to a point) complicated issues that would take me years of study to comprehend. I think his social artistry skill is his ability to use visualizations of data to quickly bring greater awareness to people.  Gapminder is a non-profit foundation based in Stockholm. Our goal is to replace devastating myths with a fact-based worldview. Our method is to make data easy to understand. We are dedicated to innovate and spread new methods to make global development understandable, free of charge, without advertising. We want to let teachers, journalists and everyone else continue to freely use our tools, videos and presentations.

I think working from a complexity framework is necessary in a world of rapid changes and uncertainties. Dave Snowden's Cynefin model can give us a useful lens for understanding and practicing  social artistry.  "The major difference between systems thinking and complexity thinking is that the former focuses on defining an ideal future state and seeks to close the gap, whereas complexity seeks to manage the evolutionary potential of the present.  Systems approaches range from three year plans, through idealised process designs to agreeing common values.  These approaches have dominated management in industry and government for the last three decades and draw heavily on engineering metaphors of the organisation.  Complexity theory offers an evolutionary alternative".

It appears that Barbara Ganly is interested in so many topics that I love to learn about. I'm glad she has joined our social artistry group and I'll have a chance to learn more from her. "After all, a healthy community is a basic premise through which deep learning and meaningful work come to life.  And yet it has been the messiness, the shifting, emergent nature of geographic communities and online communities outside the structure of semesters, grades, classes, disciplines, departments and majors that has really brought home for me how and why we need story to make sense out of the maelstrom of sensation and information-to slow down the rush of impressions, to make us confront our biases and fears and habits, and how we need storytelling to connect us and to build trust and curiosity and to push us past the façade of what we think we know so we can immerse ourselves in meaningful, creative work to bring better worlds into being".

I learn so much about story telling and presentations from Nancy Duarte. Her company and team is leading the field in transforming organizations and individuals.

Hugh MacLeod is a cartoonist that shakes the way I see the world. He brings a smile and a sense of wonder to how people live, work and play. A fun social artist that transforms my thinking and practice.